St Mungo’s gave nearly £25,500 through our Christmas Gift Collection in 2019 to Open Doors for their ongoing work especially in Iraq and Syria. They express their thanks – and have shared many stories of individual lives touched by their work as well as the broader help through the local churches.

Through war, persecution, economic collapse and now Covid-19 the church continues to be a Centre of Hope. The lockdown has restricted movement, meaning many Christians in these countries who work as daily labourers lost their income overnight. Churches distributed food and essentials – to stand with people and show Jesus’s love to them.

Open Doors is establishing Centres of Hope through churches which are places to run community projects. Already 65% of the Iraq churches and 20% of those in Syria are now Centres of Hope. The faithful remnant are holding on to this hope with help from Open Doors and have received training in discipleship, trauma awareness and livelihood projects. They aim to help people rebuild their livelihoods, earn an income for the family, recover from the trauma of conflict and persecution and learn skills to reinvest in the life of the church. It is hoped that the church in these countries will show that hope comes from healing from trauma, which is a long-term process, as the injuries of war and persecution are so deep. But it mainly comes from faith from something deep within us which we cannot express.

Like us the lockdown means church services are now online. The vision is to build up a new generation that has a strong vision about strengthening the Christian existence in these countries. This is a challenge, because the people have all gone through a lot of wars, conflicts and trauma and this needs long term care. Do continue to pray for them.