Although the war in Iraq may have intensified some hostilities between Muslims and Christians in the region, God has been able to work in that situation for good, Nabeeh Abbassi told an audience at the national Woman’s Missionary Union (WMU) headquarters in Birmingham.
“One of the blessings of the war — although I disagree with war of any kind — is having Iraq open and people coming to know Christ in thousands of numbers,” said Abbassi, pastor of Husn Baptist Church, Husn, Jordan, and president of the Jordan Baptist Convention.
Abbassi and his wife, Ruba, were in Birmingham to help their son Ramzi as he began school at Samford University.
While in town, the Abbassis shared about their work in Jordan and Iraq in Baptist churches and in a Sept. 6 conference sponsored by WMU, Samford and The Alabama Baptist newspaper.
Nabeeh Abbassi noted that before the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime in April 2003, there was no Baptist work going on in Iraq. Just two months after that, Abbassi and three others drove to Iraq to make contact with Christians there and explore the possibility of beginning a Baptist work.
As a result of that and subsequent visits, the first Baptist church in Iraq — the National Evangelical Baptist Church in Baghdad — was established and the first Iraqi Baptist pastor was ordained.
Now there are eight Baptist churches in Iraq, two in Baghdad and six in the north.
The war has also opened up doors for Christianity among the Kurds in northern Iraq because they were so persecuted under Saddam’s regime, Abbassi said.
The recent conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon has offered the same opportunity for Jordanian Baptists to go and help their Christian brothers and sisters there, he said.
Abbassi noted that a team had gone to southern Lebanon to work and Lebanese Baptists were helping refugees and others affected by the fighting to rebuild their lives.
Jordanian Baptists are also busy continuing the ministries in their own country.
They operate two medical and dental clinics, two schools and Jordan Evangelical Theological Seminary in Amman, where Abbassi teaches. He said some Iraqi pastors have graduated from the seminary and then taken that training with them as they return to lead churches in Iraq.
The health and educational ministries give Baptists opportunities to witness in the surrounding communities, especially at public events that are covered by local and national media, Abbassi said.
“I share from the Word of God why we do this as Baptists,” he said. “I’m very sensitive but I do not compromise.”
One way Alabama Baptists are helping in the convention’s work is through a three-year partnership between Samford and Amman Baptist School. Samford is sending professors to teach methods of education to the school’s teachers.
“The teachers are excited and feel better equipped,” Abbassi said.
Samford President Andrew Westmoreland expressed his hope for further developing the relationship, even to the point of sending Samford students to visit Amman.
“We look forward to good times in this relationship,” he said. “We’re in this for the long haul.”
The state’s Baptists will also have opportunities to support the work of Jordanian Baptists among Arab women through national WMU’s developing partnership with Arab Woman Today (AWT) Ministries.
The WMU Foundation has given a couple of grants to AWT Ministries for its work in helping Arab women develop practical skills and reaching Arab women with the gospel.
Through radio broadcasts, a Web site and annual networking conferences, AWT seeks to reach Arab women with the hope and message of the gospel, said Ruba Abbassi, founder and director of AWT.
She noted that Arab women have little education, little choice in careers and usually no choice about whom they marry.
“We can’t change (the Arab woman’s) life, but we know that we can offer her the love of Jesus in her life so that she can accept her life as it is,” Ruba Abbassi said.
Jean Cullen, coordinator of WMU’s International Initiatives, noted that national WMU will be promoting AWT’s work and will be offering Baptists the opportunity to support that work. National WMU is also organizing a couple of trips to Jordan, which will take place in the coming years and will be open to Baptist women to go and work with AWT.
Wanda Lee, executive director of national WMU, noted that WMU is always looking for new partnerships with Christian ministries to women and children worldwide.
“Arab Woman Today has been one of those … emerging partnerships, and it has been a joy to be part of that,” she said.
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