Interview: Open Doors President on Iraq Centers, IDOP
Carl Moeller, president and CEO of Open Doors USA, one of the world’s oldest Christian persecution advocacy groups, spoke to The Christian Post this week about Open Doors’ educational centers in Iraq and the upcoming International Day of Prayer on Nov. 12.
CP: Where did the idea to open educational centers in Iraq come from?
Moeller: Any project that Open Doors engages with comes from a request from the local church. So the local church in Iraq – whether it is a historic ancient church or local congregation of new believers from a Muslim background – the denomination or local church leader makes the request for the center or for anything it needs.
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The center also falls into the category of what we would call Christian Community Development in Iraq. Open Doors is committed to building the economic infrastructure for Christians in society, especially in Muslim society where Christians are discriminated against, [so] Christians can get good job and training.
CP: Is there anything about the centers outwardly that would render it a Christian center? Such as a cross or visible Bibles?
Moeller: No, our work usually is done very, very unobtrusively. There would be no reason for us to put a cross or any other overt Christian symbols on the outside of the building for a number of reasons. One is just for practical reason – we don’t want to be targeted, there is no reason to target yourself.
Secondly, we are primarily working within the Christian community here to train them; we are not advertising outside of that community. It is a community that needs the economic support we are offering to it and so it is not necessary for us to put that on the outside of the building. I think also that goes with most of Open Doors’ work around the world, you’ll never see the logo Open Doors or the name on just about everything we do because it draws unnecessary attention to our work.
CP: How open are Iraqis to Christianity?
Moeller: This is one of the great misconceptions in American’s mind that because this is a Muslim country and Iraq is a place of great hostility – we see bombs exploding on the evening news – that somehow Iraqis would not be interested in the good news of Jesus Christ. The absolute truth is that many Iraqis when they are given the opportunity to hear clearly the Gospel of Jesus Christ – the hope, the love and the peace that is offered within a relationship with Christ – they are turning to Christ. In fact, most mission agencies working in the Muslim world are documenting record numbers of Muslims turning to faith in Christ. So we are also seeing that despite the violence and despite the opposition, Christians are reaching out to their Muslim neighbors and their Muslim neighbors are turning to faith in Jesus Christ.
CP: Why is prayer important for the persecuted church?
Moeller: Many people think of prayer as something you can always do but what they really need is medical supplies, training, Bibles, or whatever else they may need practically. But I would say it is vital for the American and the worldwide church in the free world to remember that the most effective spiritual weapon we have to combat persecution worldwide is power of prayer. What is ironic is because it is so available to us we don’t believe it has real power.
I was with some friends of Open Doors this past weekend and we gathered on Friday morning to pray for a specific Christian, Helen Berhane, who since May 2004 has been incarcerated in a shipping container in Eritrea in Africa. As we prayed for her by name we began to just understand that God was using our prayers. We closed in prayer and by 10:30 that morning someone handed me a Blackberry with an email from our office that said, “Praise the Lord, Helen Berhane has been released from prison.”
The reality is that prayer opens doors, it sets the captives free, it moves the hand of God to bless the persecuted Christians out there. As Christians in America, prayer is the most vital thing we can do. It is the first line of action not the last resort.
CP: Why have you taken up the cause to advocate for the persecuted church?
Moeller: I have taken up the cause because the lives of the persecuted Christians that I’ve met with have impacted me to such a degree that I can’t keep silent anymore about their situation. My life as a pastor in America, as a Christian for many years, as someone who is involved in different churches in different locations around the country, as a father, a husband, and basically as an American has been so profoundly altered by meeting, praying with, and understanding the need of our persecuted brothers around the world; I just can’t remain silent anymore.
CP: Is there anything you would like to add?
Moeller: I think it is important for Christians who are reading this article to understand that there are literally hundreds of millions of Christians around the world, we estimate about 230 million, who can’t just freely pick up a paper and read about their faith or read something as dangerous as a publication called The Christian Post – that would be an act of treason in dozen of countries that we serve.
So on Nov. 12, when we are calling the world to pray for the persecuted Christians, we want them to remember the plight of their brothers and sisters and do whatever it takes or whatever God puts in their hearts – whether it is giving, going, or some other way – to get involved on behalf of the persecuted around the world.
