WORLDWIDE DAY OF PRAYER - MARCH 9, 2003
Turlock is one of three or four hubs of Assyrian cultural activity is the US. Our neighbors here are asking all of the churches to pray for their extended community of churches--particularly for the Christians who are still living in Iraq. See the ELCA background information on the Assyrian churches

The following is the AUA press release

The Assyrian Universal Alliance is sponsoring the Worldwide Day of Prayer for the Christians of Iraq.
The Churches representing the two (2) million Christians in Iraq are:
The Holy Apostolic Assyrian Church of the East
The Holy Ancient Apostolic Church of the East
The Chaldean Roman Catholic Church
The Syriac Orthodox and Syriac Catholic Churches
The Armenian Churches
The Protestant Churches

These Churches also serve an additional two (2) million Assyrian, Chaldean and Syriac Christians scattered in over forty countries around the world.

This special Day of Prayer on March 9, 2003 is for the Christians of Iraq. An urgent appeal is going out to the Worldwide Christian Community for a Day of Prayer during the Sunday Church Services and throughout the day for those Christians currently beleaguered in Iraq.

Urgent prayer is being requested for protection for this special Christian Community, the oldest Christian Nation in the world struggling for survival in a sea of turmoil in the land of their forefathers.

Please pray for the Assyrian Church of the East that this oldest Church in the world, will endure this trial experience and return to its roots as the largest missionary force in the world.

Urgent prayer is also being asked for opportunities through the media of Newspapers, TV, Radio, Magazines, etc., to get the word out to the world that this Christian Community in Iraq is on the verge of another survival situation. Between 1914 and 1918 and again in 1933 these Christians went through massacres in which over 2/3 of the nation was slaughtered.

Urgent prayer is also being requested for these indigenous Christian people of Iraq so that this time such an inhumane holocaust can never happen again.

With signs of war with Iraq increasing every day, lost amidst the fog of war are these Christians, once a proud and very influential nation.

The liturgy of the Assyrian, Chaldean and Syriac Churches is still today in Aramaic, the language spoken by Jesus Christ. Early in the first century the Assyrian Church sent missionaries to China, Central Asia, India, Mongolia, Japan, Siberia, Ethiopia and the rest of the known world.

Urgent prayers are asked for this nation that is remembered in prophecy (Isaiah 19 : 23 - 25).

It is their history that is little known. It was to them that Jonah came to bring the message of repentance and they repented. It was to them that the Apostle Thomas came and their King Abgar repented for his people and Assyria became the first Christian Nation. These Christians of Iraq, for whom we ask your prayers, today are the remnants of Assyria that was the creator of much of our present civilization.

The Christians of Iraq because of their Christian faith have suffered greatly in an area that is almost completely Muslim. In the past they have been oppressed by the Persians, Mongols, Turks, Kurds and Arabs. Today these Christians face another problem in Iraq. They are plagued by the Iraq Government program to "Arabize" all citizens. The Christians as other minorities in the region suffer under this Arabization program. Although they are not Arabs they have been forced to sign forms that require
them to renounce their ethnic ideates, religion and declare themselves to be Arabs.

Urgent prayer is being requested from the worldwide Christian community so that Almighty God will hear our prayers and protect His children, Assyria the work of His Hand.

Please let us know that you will join us in prayer on March 9, 2003. Please inform us by Fax, letter, e-mail or phone. Our organizing committee is in need of volunteers. We need your help.

Assyrian Universal Alliance
Tel: (773) 274-9262
Fax: (773) 274-5866
e-mail: auaf@aol.com

Organizing Committee information:

- Rev. Ken JosephJr. Chairperson email: info@keikyo.com
- Sen. John J. Nimrod email: JohnNimrod@aol.com
- Carlo Ganjeh email: ganjeh@aol.com
- Hon. Homer Ashurian email: libashur@aol.com