Two Days in Northern Iraq: Come Pray with Us
Ramadan (the Islamic month of fasting) and Lent (the traditional Christian period of fasting leading up to Easter) coincided in 2025, giving us a wonderful opportunity to pray. Pastor David Wigington from Indiana, photographer David Dobson, our host Austin Elder, and I took a prayer journey across this beautiful land in Northern Iraq. We visited six ministry centers and three local churches. Local Assemblies of God pastors — to whom our hearts and eternities are knit — hosted us. We want you to take this missionary journey with us, stopping to pray for God’s beloved Kurdistan along the way.
PRAYER STATION 1: BAHADRE
The drive from Erbil to Bahadre was sedate. Fresh green shoots of new barley and wheat adorned the sandy, irrigated farm soil on our left and right. Rainfall this year has been low; therefore, food security fears are high. Mountains appeared to the Northeast as we approached Bahadre and a Yazidi refugee camp.
The Yazidi are an ancient people who predate Christians and Muslims. Their religious beliefs are intentionally wrapped in secrecy. Essentially, they believe that God is good but is inactive in the world. Satan, on the other hand, is bad but is active. Therefore, people must appease him. Yazidi shrines and temples often have an image of a peacock representing Satan. ISIS (the Islamic State) despised the Yazidi, and ISIS soldiers killed thousands of Yazidi men and took women into sexual slavery. The new generation of Yazidi children suffer “secondary trauma” as their parents retell the terrorizing tales. Many traumatized Yazidi parents struggle to show physical affection to their children, neither holding nor hugging them. Many of these children come to the ministry center for hope and hugs.
Thanks to the generosity of partners like Shelter Now International, Voice of the Martyrs, North Coast Calvary Chapel (Carlsbad, California), and Project Rescue, there are two ministry centers in Bahadre where our church members serve. One is for women; the other is for children. We visited both. Both offer education, trauma care, and friendship. Both liberally share the love of Jesus practically and the gospel orally.
Prayer Points
• Pray for the precious Yazidi people who have been traumatized and terrorized for many years. Pray that they will find rest, shelter, and peace in our Lord Jesus.
• Pray for the peerless staff from our Assemblies of God church in Erbil who volunteer at these centers. Pray they will have renewed strength, bold hearts, and God’s endless supply of wisdom and compassion.
• Pray for the Yazidi staff at both centers who have not yet accepted Jesus as their Savior. Pray that their hearts will be drawn to Him, and that they will trust Him as the only true Savior, Healer, Baptizer in the Holy Spirit, and soon-coming King.
PRAYER STATION 2: DUHOK
Leaving the shy smiles of the vulnerable and valuable we drove to Duhok. The Assemblies of God pastor in Duhok was born into a Chaldean Christian family but grew up in a Yazidi village. He and his wife have poured out their lives to plant a Yazidi church. Aged and beautiful, with no natural children of their own, Jesus has given them a family of Yazidi who love them and regard them as father and mother.
This modern-day Abraham and Sarah evangelize and disciple the old-fashioned way. They do not major in books, curriculum, classes, or lectures. Rather they invite the sons and daughters they bring into faith in Jesus to join them on the adventurous road of ministry — like Rabbi Jesus did. The new disciples learn by sharing life, observing behaviors, and participating in ministry.
Our pastor in Duhok introduced us to a young pre-believing Yazidi man. He was afflicted by evil spirits. The pastor invited us to join him in asking Jesus to cast out these spirits. We prayed together for this young man and then the pastor led him to Jesus as he confessed faith in Christ.
We then met three of the pastor’s disciples — young, handsome, and vibrant men with sweet spirits. Full of potential and love for Jesus, in a simple and strong way they reminded us of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. We talked about God’s missionary heart and the possibility that God will call them to be His ambassadors at home and abroad in the “regions beyond.” What a delight it was to pray over them, believing that Jesus will fill them with His Spirit and send them to the uttermost. By faith it was a commissioning service.
Prayer Points
• Pray for pastors “Abraham and Sarah” — that Jesus will give them many more spiritual sons and daughters among the Yazidi.
• Pray that these new Yazidi disciples will become church planters and missionaries. This small Yazidi church has a vision for a new church plant in Sinjar — the mountain capital of the Yazidi people.
• Pray that the Yazidi church will be a dynamic, missionary church and that these people who have been deeply hurt will become God’s redemptive agents for healing, reconciliation, and gospel advance — especially to the Islamic fundamentalists.
PRAYER STATION 3: ALQOSH AND RABBAN HORMIZD MONASTERY
With full hearts and hungry stomachs (few restaurants are open during Ramadan) we got into the car and headed for Alqosh. Nahum 1:1 mentions that the prophet was from this town (Elkosh or Alqosh). This is plausible because Alqosh sits about 30 miles north of ancient Nineveh (called Mosul today) — a town that Nahum prophesied against.
We visited Nahum’s alleged tomb (filled with Hebrew script and visited by Jews throughout the centuries) and then wound our way up a switchback road to the Monastery of Rabban Hormizd. The monastery, founded by Rabban Mar Hormizd in the seventh century, is nestled into craggy cliffs, close to a sustaining spring that emerges from a small cave in the cliff wall. For centuries, Alqosh was the seat of the Eastern Church in Iraq. Genealogies tracing both ecclesiastical succession and Christological definition are posted on the monastery walls.
Standing on the parapet of the monastery you can almost see Nineveh/Mosul. From Mosul the ISIS militias advanced toward Alqosh. The townspeople fled and a few brave young men retreated to the monastery to see what would unfold. By God’s grace the terrorizing wave stopped just before reaching the city.
Prayer Points
• Pray that once again Alqosh will become the center of God’s prophetic voice. Pray that Jesus will again be the center of every conversation. Pray that God will raise out of this Eastern Christian town, born-again men and women who will fearlessly proclaim the gospel everywhere, and once again lead the church.
• Pray that the Eastern Christian Church in Kurdistan (where it has many branches) will be revived. Since the first Gulf War, approximately 90% of all historic (and evangelical) Christians have fled Iraq. Pray for those who stayed to remain full of hope and vision for what God could do — one more time.
• Pray that the wave of false religions will be repulsed, be spent, be turned back. Pray that the gospel will be preached in every former stronghold of ISIS across the land.
PRAYER STATION 4: THE YAZIDI SHRINE
On the way back to Erbil, we had just enough light to scrape our way up to a Yazidi shrine that is prominently planted on the top of a small hill. As the sun went down, we met a young man excited to see us. After trying multiple languages, he responded with a friendly, but confused grin. We soon discovered he was a German backpacking adventurer. Some Yazidi elders had invited him to pitch his tent on the hill and even provided firewood for a small fire to stay warm at night.
One Yazidi ritual is to tie knots in fabric around their temples and shrines. When you visit the shrine, you offer a request in prayer by tying a knot, and you help another’s prayer be answered when you untie one.
Prayer Points
• Pray that Jesus will answer the prayers of sincere Yazidis (or young adventurous Germans) and that He will do it in such a way that it is clear He alone is the answer.
• Please pray that the sun will rise on Kurdistan. The Kurdistan flag has a yellow sun disk in the center with 21 equal rays. Both the sun and the number 21 have significance in cultural and religious Kurdish history. Pray that God’s light will overcome all darkness — that a new day will dawn on this nation that God cherishes.
• Pray that God’s children in Kurdistan will know how to spiritually resist all that sets itself up against the rule and reign of Jesus. Pray that politics will not divert God’s church in Kurdistan, but that it will only fight so all — Kurds and Yazidis, men and women of all faiths and traditions across the land — will experience the great gift of eternal life as “The Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in his wings” (Malichi 4:2, NLT).
PRAYER STATION 5: ERBIL
Catching our breath from day one, day two began in Erbil. Our host pastor invited us to his church to show us what God has been doing through their various ministries. Ministers from his church oversee the ministry centers we visited yesterday as well as outreaches through daycare centers and small business endeavors in town. They also have 18 people from their congregation currently studying in a Bible school on campus, and they have a newly built and beautiful safe house (thank you to Project 42, the Stone Table, and Project Rescue). The safe house serves both trafficked women and those who need shelter from family or other hostiles because of their faith decisions.
Prayer Points
• Pray for this amazing Assemblies of God church in Erbil. It is a beacon of light, a center of ministry, and a provider of ministers for the region. Pray that God will raise many more church planters from this vibrant congregation.
• Pray for the pastor of this church and his family. They serve as spiritual parents and mentors to so many global workers, so many local ministries, and so many strategic church and ministry partners. Pray that Jesus will bless their leadership and protect them from “all the fiery darts of the enemy.”
PRAYER STATION 6: SULAYMANIYAH
Cozied up toward the Iranian border (just out of sight over the mountains) Sulaymaniyah is a beautiful and artistic town known for its welcome to free thinkers and cultural icons. Our pastor in town is a Kurdish MBB — Muslim background believer. When he was young, he was a radical Islamist, in fact a mujahid — a holy warrior. His dream was to travel to Europe and the Americas to convert the kuffar (unbelievers) to Islam. But Jesus had other ideas.
Our pastor, his wife, and their children now lead a church of about 60 believers, all of whom are Kurds and former Muslims. They have their own indigenous Kurdish worship, are active in media and local outreach, and have vision for raising church planters for the places without gospel access — including over the border into Iran. What a delight to pray with this family.
When we asked the pastor how he has strength to evangelize Muslims knowing that the cost to those who believe can range from beatings, to loss of family and job, to prison, and even to death, he simply said: “Before I became a follower of Jesus I had family, employment, and safety, and money . . . but I had no peace. Now I have Jesus and I have peace in my heart, and that is worth more than all those other things combined.”
Prayer Points
• Pray for the regular community outreach events. This Kurdish MBB church is legally recognized. This gives them great boldness to share their faith. They are adding a podcast outreach in the local language. Pray that many will listen to the good news through this podcast.
• The church is also outgrowing their current facility. Please pray with us that they will be able to locate and purchase an expanded space for the growing church. With its 60 Kurdish MBB believers, it is our largest MBB church in the area.
PRAYER STATION 7: KOYA
Leaving lovely Sulaymaniyah as the day began to wane, we had one last stop — an incredibly multi-component community center designed to be a blessing to the Kurdish people. It includes a library, a conference room, computer labs, seminar halls, English classrooms, café, offices, internet labs, and more. Some of the staff are Kurdish and some are Syrian refugees.
In a touching moment as we prayed over the center, I sensed the sweet presence of Jesus and teared up. One of the young male staff members, a Syrian, — not yet a follower of Jesus — gently reached over and plucked a tissue from the tissue box. With a kind smile he handed it to me to wipe my tears.
Prayer Points
• Pray for these gentle Syrian refugees, that in this house of hope they will find the only One who can grant hope to them eternally.
• Pray that this community center will indeed be light and salt. Sitting on the divide between two political parties, may the center be used to show that Jesus can break down the wall of hostility.
• Pray that spiritual transformation will be the result of all these magnificent social ministries.
Thank you for praying through Kurdistan with us. Kurdistan is a beautiful land with beautiful people, desperately in need of our beautiful Jesus.
This article originally appeared in WorldView magazine, Vol. 11-6. Used with permission.
