While allied soldiers are steadily advancing in Iraq, Christian relief workers prepare for the large influx of Iraqi war victims. Jacob Kramer with the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee says there's a reason the camps are largely empty. "Most of it, I suppose, is that they reacted too late to get out and now the Iraqi divisions are holding the roads there to the north and to the west and are sending the people back." Kramer says thousand will flood the region after the war because of the collapsed economy. That will give churches a chance to minister. Meanwhile, Iraqi believers are asking Christians to pray for post war rebuilding. "They are very much afraid that they will lose all the freedom that they have had. One said to me, he said, 'how many churches are in Saudi Arabia? If that group, which is the great friend of the coalition, if they're approached, what will be left of us as churches.'"

The Trans World Radio now acts as a large source of information for Christians and non Christians alike in Iraq. Accordign to the British Broadcasting Channel, Iraqis rely on outside information because Iraqi state radio is controlled. Approximately 600,000 of the 23 million Iraqi citizens are Christians. Please pray for the strength of their testimony and their faith during this troubled time.

By Pauline J.