How a family from Iraq are finding a home far away from home.

Worshiping in the comfort of Hope Lutheran Church in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Adli, Naila, and Leo are a long, long way from home—and the journey hasn't been easy.

Born in southern Iraq, Adli Juwaidah was raised in Basrah. His wife, Naila Toma, was raised in Babylon. "We were born and raised in Christian families—going to church, praying, and living the life of faith," says Adli, whose grandfather was a preacher at the Protestant Church in Basrah. As an adult, Adli was leading the worship team until he moved to Baghdad in 1986.

Though Iraq is now known as an Islamic country, Christianity there can be traced back to the first century a.d., long before Islamic conquest. In the 1980s, the number of Christians—spread among Protestants, Catholics, Orthodox, Armenians, and Assyrians—was almost 1.4 million. "The churches used to reflect the nature of the society in general and Christians in particular as being united and strongly bound. The Christian Iraqis were role models as kind, loving, honest, and trustworthy. Hence, Christians were respected and loved," Adli says. Also, because Christians did not have political ambition, they "were not targeted by the different governments and regimes, including Saddam Hussein."

Fearing for safety

In 1980, life became more difficult. "In my childhood, I remember the church in Basrah as big, but it became smaller and smaller as many people started to move to Baghdad," says Adli. People moved because Basrah was under continuous attacks during the 1980 to 1988 war with Iran. "Infrastructure and the services were retreating due to the wars and the regime's policies," he explains.

Adli and Naila, who were married in September 1989, noticed the same thing happening at their church in Baghdad. "After the 1991 war and the embargo, more and more left the country due to the difficult life and the ambiguous future," he says.

For all residents, the difficult life included times when water and electricity were not always available—even when the temperature reached 120 degrees during the summer. Yet the situation grew even more serious for Christians after 2003. "The radical and fundamental parties had more power and started to force their ideologies, beliefs, and thoughts by all means, which made it difficult for the Christians to live their lives," says Adli. Individual Christians were targeted through threats and murders, and churches as a whole were also targeted.

Making changes