Mission Crossroads

SPR 2015

Mission Crossroads is a three-time-a-year magazine focused on worldwide work of the PC(USA). It offers news and feature stories about mission personnel, international partners and grassroots Presbyterians involved in God's mission in the world.

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16 Spring 2015 As the son of a Baptist minister, I learned early the good, the bad, and sometimes, the ugly of church work. My father would spend 60 hours a week or more ministering to those in need. In my view, there was too much to do in our own community to worry about what was going on overseas. Ten I went to the Middle East. As a communications strategist for the PC(USA), my job was to cover the moderator's visit to Iraq and Israel/Palestine. It seemed to be a fairly straightforward task. But what I received was an education in Christian witness in Iraq and Palestine. I caught up with the moderator's delegation in Erbil, Iraq, and quickly realized the confict involving the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria/Levant (ISIS/ ISIL) was not specifcally Muslim versus Christian. As we traveled to Kirkuk, we met with nearly 100 displaced Iraqi Christians who had taken refuge at the Presbyterian Church. Many cried as they described how the militants gave them the ultimatum to convert to Islam, leave their homes, or face death. Some shared stories of how their Muslim neighbors took personal risks to help Christian families escape ISIL's clutches. I was struck by the compassionate acts of individuals of diferent faiths. Te walls of religious separation had been torn down by a common humanity. If ISIL had sought to drive a wedge between Christians and Muslims, the group's radical and violent approach appeared to have had the opposite impact. Moderator Heath Rada and his delegation listened to church leaders detail the struggle they faced to meet the humanitarian needs of not only Christian, but also Muslim families in the region. Days later, the delegation was in the heart of Palestinian territory, dealing with a diferent confict. Aida Refugee Camp, outside Bethlehem, has been home for hundreds of Palestinian refugees since 1948. Te camp has been scarred by gunfre. Te huge walls surrounding the camp have been covered with drawings and other grafti as residents struggle to tell the world their story. Te delegation befriended a young man at the Aida camp who has grown up in a confict zone. Muhammad Fararjeh, 32, is one of 14 children of a Muslim father who fed to Bethlehem as a young boy in 1948. Muhammad lost his mother when he was born, but he has experienced Christian compassion throughout his life. A Christian neighbor cared for him as an infant, and he spent fve years at a nearby Catholic day care. Muhammad told the team how a Palestinian Lutheran pastor had introduced him to the church and that he spent the remainder of his childhood and teen years nurtured in the Lutheran atmosphere, attending daily chapel and Sunday church services and singing Christian hymns. Muhammad actively shared in the school's prayer life while remaining a Muslim and studying the teachings of his faith. As Muhammad watched his family sufer the physical and emotional pain of displacement by the Israeli occupation, he felt compelled to join other youth in acts of violence against Israeli soldiers. "Yet, I couldn't because I had been taught about Jesus and loving your enemies at the Lutheran school," he said. "I began to engage in conversations with the Israeli soldiers and would get together with some of them who could no longer fght. I was not betraying the cause of our people, only seeking a diferent way to pursue peace." Muhammad's story is one of many echoed by Palestinians we encountered in our visit, each seeking a peaceful way of sharing culture and beliefs without resorting to violence. As we sit comfortably in our pews and ponder all that we do to glorify God, I can't help but think of Christian leaders choosing to stay in Iraq staying in the midst of battle to help strangers from all walks of life. I can't help but think of a new generation of Palestinian youth growing up in a world of concrete and mortar fre, shattered homes and jail bars. It's not about choosing sides; it's about hearing Christs' call to be a light in a world full of darkness. Observing compassionate acts by individuals of diferent faiths By Rick A. Jones Moderator Heath Rada talks to children in Iraq during his visit last fall.

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