Until late 2023, there were no Alpha team members in Iraq, and only around one or two Alpha courses had ever run there. Since then, Alpha Iraq’s fledgling team has been introducing Alpha to churches of different denominations, with encouraging results.
Over the last quarter alone, 11 courses (six Alphas, three Marriage Courses and two Alpha Youths) were launched in Kurdistan, northern Iraq, while hundreds of kilometers south, in Baghdad, another Alpha Youth also got underway, in collaboration with YFC Iraq. Since January, nearly 220 people in Iraq have participated in Alpha, The Marriage Course or Alpha Youth – significantly more than the 80 people reached throughout last year.
That really touched me!
“It’s helpful for people who are just starting to understand Christ, trying to learn how a believer’s life can be transformed,” commented Sarah*, 24, who is attending Alpha in a church in Erbil, Kurdistan. She was particularly moved by the video about the atheist-turned-pastor, “because I used to be an atheist myself…Such a dramatic transformation in his life – that really touched me!” she said.
TMC is a particularly relevant focus for Alpha Iraq, with plans in place to run six TMCs in different churches around Mosul by the end of the year, sponsored by a French organisation called SOS Iraq.
Missing element
“Churches in Iraq already have courses for engaged couples, and they are ministering to kids and teenagers through Sunday Schools,” notes Alpha Iraq’s coordinator. “But none of the churches have focused on supporting couples after they’ve married. So when I introduce TMC to churches, they say, ‘We would be very happy to see this happen in our church because this has been a missing element of our teaching.’ This has encouraged me to keep contacting more and more churches about TMC. And it’s a good point of entry that could lead to them running Alpha and Alpha Youth.”
I’d love to have a team of people that can cover the north, the south and the middle of Iraq. If we do that, the miracles will happen!
Alpha Iraq is excited by the openness of churches to Alpha, and the value that it brings them as they carry out their mission. As the tiny team grows the work, their dream is to be officially registered as an organisation, and to expand so that they can serve more churches across the country.
“I’d love to have a team of people that can cover the north, the south and the middle of Iraq,” says the Alpha Iraq coordinator. “If we do that, the miracles will happen!”
*Name changed to protect identity
