The World Evangelical Alliance is in the process of setting up an evangelical network in Iraq in an effort to offer spiritual and physical support to Iraqi Christians by uniting them with the global body of evangelicals.
The World Evangelical Alliance, which represents some 420 million evangelicals worldwide, plans to open an alliance in Iraq next year, said the Rev Dr Geoff Tunnicliffe, international director of the WEA, in an interview with Christian Today.
"We are committed to seeing an evangelical alliance launched in Iraq," said Tunnicliffe. "We have already been working on it for a year and we think it is a very critical time for the Christians there - with the immense pressure that they are under - to have an alliance."
WEA leaders have been bringing together the small Iraqi evangelical population to build "bridges of understanding" across denominational lines and help them identify what they could do better as a group.
Although the specifics of the Iraqi Alliance's remit are still being discussed, some of its likely activities will include representing the evangelical community in discussions with the government, alerting the world about Christian persecution and kidnappings in Iraq, and helping to distribute humanitarian aid.
"Forming an evangelical alliance ... helps in negotiations with governments because the government becomes aware that this group of evangelicals - even though small in their country - is part of a huge network of people around the world," said Dr Tunnicliffe.
"When you negotiate different things with the government, having that backing is really important," said the WEA head.
The plight of Iraqi Christians has gained increasing media coverage with the Pope expressing concern about the minority group during his recent meeting with President Bush, and with the US Commission on International Religious Freedom holding its first-ever Iraqi minority hearing last month.
