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Baptist Press
Today is Thursday, Mar 10, 2005
2 tragic anniversaries mark Week of Prayer for Kurds
Mar 9, 2005
By Staff
Memorial garden
The memorial cemetery at Halabja, Iraq, is for victims of the gas attack by
Iraqi troops. The attack of March 16, 1988, on the village has become the
symbol of Saddam Hussein~Rs attempt to exterminate the Kurds from Iraq.
Multiple names on tombstones record family members who died in the attack.
RICHMOND, Va. (BP)--Two tragic anniversaries will fall on the week of March
15-21, marking events that men intended for evil -- but that God is using
for good.
One year ago on March 15, anonymous gunmen attacked five Southern Baptist
humanitarian workers near Mosul in northern Iraq. Larry and Jean Elliott,
David McDonnall and Karen Watson died. Carrie McDonnall continues to recover
from multiple wounds.
Seventeen years ago, on March 16, 1988, more than 5,000 men, women and
children were killed in a chemical attack by Saddam Hussein's regime on
Halabja, also in northern Iraq. It became known as "Black Friday" -- the
most infamous of many attacks that destroyed or damaged thousands of
villages in the region and killed more than 100,000 people.
The connection: Both incidents involved the Kurds, the world's largest
people group without their own homeland. Overwhelmingly Muslim, about 30
million Kurds live in Iraq, Turkey, Iran, Syria, Armenia and other nations
in the region.
The Southern Baptist workers who died last year were trying to help Kurds in
Iraq rebuild their lives, gain access to clean water -- and discover that
God deeply loves them.
This March 15-21, Southern Baptists can honor the service of their slain
workers -- and help carry it forward -- by participating in a Week of Prayer
for the Kurds. Free resources that will help churches or small groups
effectively pray for the Kurds can be downloaded at http://imb.org/kurds,
including: a seven-day prayer guide; a video featuring International Mission
Board President Jerry Rankin; a video tribute to the fallen Southern Baptist
workers featuring a message from Carrie McDonnall; and a PowerPoint "virtual
prayerwalk."
"This is an important season of the year as we focus on North American
missions and our responsibility to reach our own nation for the Lord,"
Rankin said. "I encourage you to give generously to the Annie Armstrong
Offering that supports the work of our North American Mission Board. But
would you pause and through this week join us in also praying for the Kurds?
As they observe a day of infamy and tragedy in their own history, and as we
remember those of our own mission family who gave their lives, let us pray
that the Kurds might join us in God's eternal Kingdom and through faith in
Jesus Christ become a part of His family."
The Kurdish people are the fourth-largest ethnic group in Central Asia and
the Middle East. Only the Arabs, the Persians and the Turks outnumber them.
Yet they have lived a life of conflict and turmoil across the ages. Not
having a country of their own, they have struggled for a sense of identity
and belonging. They have been dominated by the giants of Turkey, Iran, Iraq
and Syria -- and subjected to many abuses. "The Kurds have no friends but
the mountains," a famous Kurdish proverb asserts.
But the Kurds do have a friend: The Lord of the mountains, the God who sent
His Son, Jesus Christ, to free all peoples from their spiritual chains: "...
not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance" (2 Peter
3:9b).
The majority of the Kurds have little access to the Gospel. High illiteracy
rates and different Kurdish dialects create additional obstacles. But
Christian workers are creating audio and visual materials to communicate the
Good News to them. As a new wind of spiritual openness sweeps through the
region, small but growing numbers of Kurds are discovering the giver of true
freedom -- Jesus Christ - and sharing Him with others.
One young survivor of Saddam's 1988 chemical attack on the Kurds of Halabja
has become a follower of Jesus. The Southern Baptist workers who were killed
last year befriended him. In an interview soon after their deaths, he
expressed the special relationship he had with them. Tearfully, he told how
the day before their deaths, Larry Elliott hugged him and said, "You are my
son," while David McDonnall had been "like a brother" to him.
"As you pray, thank God for those who gave their lives in the hope that
these people would one day know our Lord Jesus Christ," Rankin said. "Pray
especially for the Kurdish people -- neglected, oppressed and lost. Christ
died for them as He did for all the peoples of the world, and He desires
that they too have an opportunity to know Him."
Baptist Press
Today is Thursday, Mar 10, 2005
2 tragic anniversaries mark Week of Prayer for Kurds
Mar 9, 2005
By Staff
Memorial garden
The memorial cemetery at Halabja, Iraq, is for victims of the gas attack by
Iraqi troops. The attack of March 16, 1988, on the village has become the
symbol of Saddam Hussein~Rs attempt to exterminate the Kurds from Iraq.
Multiple names on tombstones record family members who died in the attack.
RICHMOND, Va. (BP)--Two tragic anniversaries will fall on the week of March
15-21, marking events that men intended for evil -- but that God is using
for good.
One year ago on March 15, anonymous gunmen attacked five Southern Baptist
humanitarian workers near Mosul in northern Iraq. Larry and Jean Elliott,
David McDonnall and Karen Watson died. Carrie McDonnall continues to recover
from multiple wounds.
Seventeen years ago, on March 16, 1988, more than 5,000 men, women and
children were killed in a chemical attack by Saddam Hussein's regime on
Halabja, also in northern Iraq. It became known as "Black Friday" -- the
most infamous of many attacks that destroyed or damaged thousands of
villages in the region and killed more than 100,000 people.
The connection: Both incidents involved the Kurds, the world's largest
people group without their own homeland. Overwhelmingly Muslim, about 30
million Kurds live in Iraq, Turkey, Iran, Syria, Armenia and other nations
in the region.
The Southern Baptist workers who died last year were trying to help Kurds in
Iraq rebuild their lives, gain access to clean water -- and discover that
God deeply loves them.
This March 15-21, Southern Baptists can honor the service of their slain
workers -- and help carry it forward -- by participating in a Week of Prayer
for the Kurds. Free resources that will help churches or small groups
effectively pray for the Kurds can be downloaded at http://imb.org/kurds,
including: a seven-day prayer guide; a video featuring International Mission
Board President Jerry Rankin; a video tribute to the fallen Southern Baptist
workers featuring a message from Carrie McDonnall; and a PowerPoint "virtual
prayerwalk."
"This is an important season of the year as we focus on North American
missions and our responsibility to reach our own nation for the Lord,"
Rankin said. "I encourage you to give generously to the Annie Armstrong
Offering that supports the work of our North American Mission Board. But
would you pause and through this week join us in also praying for the Kurds?
As they observe a day of infamy and tragedy in their own history, and as we
remember those of our own mission family who gave their lives, let us pray
that the Kurds might join us in God's eternal Kingdom and through faith in
Jesus Christ become a part of His family."
The Kurdish people are the fourth-largest ethnic group in Central Asia and
the Middle East. Only the Arabs, the Persians and the Turks outnumber them.
Yet they have lived a life of conflict and turmoil across the ages. Not
having a country of their own, they have struggled for a sense of identity
and belonging. They have been dominated by the giants of Turkey, Iran, Iraq
and Syria -- and subjected to many abuses. "The Kurds have no friends but
the mountains," a famous Kurdish proverb asserts.
But the Kurds do have a friend: The Lord of the mountains, the God who sent
His Son, Jesus Christ, to free all peoples from their spiritual chains: "...
not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance" (2 Peter
3:9b).
The majority of the Kurds have little access to the Gospel. High illiteracy
rates and different Kurdish dialects create additional obstacles. But
Christian workers are creating audio and visual materials to communicate the
Good News to them. As a new wind of spiritual openness sweeps through the
region, small but growing numbers of Kurds are discovering the giver of true
freedom -- Jesus Christ - and sharing Him with others.
One young survivor of Saddam's 1988 chemical attack on the Kurds of Halabja
has become a follower of Jesus. The Southern Baptist workers who were killed
last year befriended him. In an interview soon after their deaths, he
expressed the special relationship he had with them. Tearfully, he told how
the day before their deaths, Larry Elliott hugged him and said, "You are my
son," while David McDonnall had been "like a brother" to him.
"As you pray, thank God for those who gave their lives in the hope that
these people would one day know our Lord Jesus Christ," Rankin said. "Pray
especially for the Kurdish people -- neglected, oppressed and lost. Christ
died for them as He did for all the peoples of the world, and He desires
that they too have an opportunity to know Him."