The current issue of Christianity Today magazine carries an article on “Pastor M,” a church leader in Baghdad for whom Christians have been praying since his abduction and disappearance–along with several others–in mid-September. Reproduced here is a short excerpt. To read the entire article, click here.
“There has been no further word about them,” said Bishop Clive Handford, who is responsible for the Anglican diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf. “We have to presume that they have been killed. There has been no claim of responsibility. In this case, no news is bad news.”
The team of five Iraqi-born Christians had been visiting Amman, Jordan, for a church conference.
The party included: Maher Dakel, the principal lay leader and translator; his wife, Mona, who worked with the women in the church; their son, Yehya, a musician; senior assistant Firas Raad; and the group’s driver.
If they had been kidnapped, Handford speculated, there would have been a ransom demand. Maybe insurgents were involved, but “there are lots of holdups with robbery, sometimes killing and sometimes not,” the bishop said. “Their abduction has had a considerable impact on St. George’s congregation. They are very depressed.”
