Pray for Kurds and Kurdistan!

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​"Why are the Kurds mentioned in the Bible but not in the Qur’an?”

Rakan’s voice quavers with passion as he asks this question. He read somewhere on the internet that the ancient “Medes” are the predecessors of the Kurdish people, and that the Bible mentions them a couple of times.Rakan is Kurdish. He grew up as a Muslim in a Muslim country, but he has never felt accepted in the Muslim community where Arabic is the only holy language: prayer has to be done in Arabic and the word of God is only really accessible in Arabic, too. I shared the story of Pentecost with Rakan and his wife, Shirin, and we discussed how God demonstrated in the language miracle that he speaks to us in every language. At the end we looked up the verses that mention the presence of some Medes at Pentecost, among other ancient ethnic groups from our area: Maybe there were already some “Kurdish” believers in the first church in Jerusalem? Rakan and Shirin are both full of questions concerning scripture and faith. But they are also full of fear that they may have to face persecution if they followed Jesus. Rakan and Shirin are still hesitant to grasp the offer to study the word of God regularly.

Please pray that their interest will become a real, lasting hunger and thirst for God.



Please also pray for peace in Iraq. Since the referendum for independence last week there have been threats of violence from all sides. Pray specifically that the governments in Baghdad, Erbil (the capital of Kurdistan) and Istanbul would seek and find peaceful solutions.