5 The few Evangelicals are mainly confined to the cities

6 Leadership for the churches is a desperate need

7 All peoples are unreached apart from Assyrian and Armenian minority groups

a) The Shi'a Arabs of Basra and the south

b) The Sunni Arabs and their future is entwined in that of Saddam Hussein

c) The Madan or Marsh Arabs are probably descended from the ancient Sumerians

d) The Bedouin, Persians and Gypsies are all totally unreached

8 The Kurdish Autonomous Region has emerged since the Gulf War and is under UN protection

a) A just settlement of Kurdish desires for freedom and security

b) Economic betterment

c) The Church

d) The growing number of Kurdish believers have also suffered intimidation and several have been martyred, but the little church fellowships are growing with new converts being added

e) The unevangelized in the KAR:

9 Christian support ministries:

a) The Bible Society has been actively involved in Iraq since 1985 and has coordinated massive imports of Scriptures from Lebanon and Jordan and overseen the printing of hundreds of thousands of NTs

b) Christian literature is in great demand

c) The JESUS film is available in 10 languages and has been shown on national TV several times

d) Christian radio broadcasts are one of the few means available for evangelism

Politics

Monarchy overthrown in a violent revolution in 1958.

Religion

Pan-Arab socialism rather than Islam is the ideology of the Baathist regime.

Churches in Iraq

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Geography

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Area 438,317 sq.km. Fertile plains of the Tigris and Euphrates, high mountains to the north and Syrian desert in southwest.

Population (2000) 23,114,884 +2.84%AGR

Capital Baghdad 4,850,000.

Peoples

Arabs 70.2%; Kurds 19%; Turkic 6.1%; Christian minorities 2.5%; Other 2.2%.

Literacy 58%. Official languages Arabic; Kurdish in the KAR. All languages 23. Languages with Scriptures 3Bi 2NT 1por 4w.i.p.

Economy

Oil-based economy – since Genesis 11! Profits used to industrialize and build a powerful army. HDI 0.586; 125^th/174. Public debt 174% of GNP. Income/person $540 (2% of USA). It was $6,600 in 1980.

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