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This story and photo available online:

www.pcusa.org/pcnews/2009/09089<http://www.pcusa.org/pcnews/2009/09089

>Birds of a feather

Iraqi pastor makes history as first transfer to the PC(USA)

>by Bethany Furkin
>Presbyterian News Service

LOUISVILLE - At 33 years old, Jonah Salim feels like he's
finally found his way home.

Salim made history Feb. 3 when he became the first Iraqi
pastor to have a transfer of record to the Presbyterian
Church (U.S.A.).

>But his story started long before then.

As a child growing up in Mosul, Iraq, Salim witnessed the
realities of war firsthand. At that time, the Iran-Iraq War
was waging, and Salim recalled not understanding the reason
for his mother's fear or why she made him hide under
staircases when Iranian planes flew overhead.

"I could see the fear in her face, but I did not understand
what it meant," he said.

One day he came home after school to find that the fighting
had moved to the streets outside his house. Windows were
breaking, people were shouting and ambulances were wailing.

"At that moment, I understood very much what war meant," he
said.

Since then, Salim has also come to understand the
humiliation and fear that come with persecution and the
uncertainty of being an illegal resident in a strange land.
But he has also seen the work of God's hand in his life,
and says that his past struggles have deepened his faith.

"When someone persecutes you because of your faith, you ask
why they are doing that," he said. "You are not taking
(faith) for granted."

Looking for peace  Salim told the Presbyterian News Service
his first experiences with Presbyterianism were a result of
his search for peace. Unable to understand the reasons for
war, he found a Bible in his home as a teenager and was
soothed by Jesus' message of peace.

Reading the Bible helped his spiritual needs, but he was
still suffering physically. Some of his Muslim schoolmates
began persecuting him for his beliefs, and although he had
some Muslim friends, others were beyond reach.

After graduating from college in 2000, Salim served in the
Iraqi military for the required two years, where he worked
as a cleric. Although he calls his time in the military one
of the worst of his life, it was then that his relentless
search for peace took a new turn.

"All my life, I've been asking myself how to get peace," he
said. "Why don't I change the question and instead ask how
I can bring peace?"

That change of question allowed him to see his life in a
new way. He felt a call from God and a responsibility to
follow it by becoming a minister. Salim is from a very poor
family and knew he'd need a full scholarship to be able to
attend seminary but was confident that if God had called
him to ministry, he would also provide a way to make it
happen.

One day, a professor from the Evangelical Theological
Seminary in Cairo, Egypt, visited Salim's church in Mosul
and the two began e-mailing each other. Salim ended up
getting his scholarship and headed to Egypt.

>'Man without a country'

While in Egypt, he learned of the plight of foreign
prisoners, mostly illegal refugees from North Africa who
had no food, medicine or clothing. Salim began raising
money to help the prisoners and also worked to contact
their families and get them immigration paperwork.

When one of the prisoners, a Muslim, saw the good work that
this Christian was doing, he converted to Christianity. And
although Salim was focused on humanitarian, not
evangelical, efforts, the Egyptian government told him to
leave the country upon learning of the conversion.

Salim was given enough time to graduate from seminary and
became ordained by the Cairo Evangelical Presbytery of the
Evangelical Church in Egypt, which is in correspondence
with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

But once he was ordained, he had nowhere to go. He couldn't
stay in Egypt, and he couldn't go back to Iraq for fear of
persecution.

"I was literally a man without a country," he said.

After contacting embassies in several countries, he ended
up being granted a United States visa. After being in the
States for eight months, he lost the visa because he could
not find a qualifying full-time job.

He then applied for asylum, which he was told he had a 30
percent chance of getting. He received it in June.

"That was really a miracle from God," Salim said, adding
that this was one more example of God working to guide his
journey.

>A Presbyterian home

Salim now lives and works in Bay City, MI, where he serves
as the missionary in peacemaking at First Presbyterian
Church. On Feb. 3, the Presbytery of Lake Huron unanimously
voted to accept his transfer of record into the
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A), making him the first Iraqi
pastor to have his records transferred into the
denomination.

"I'm grateful to my Lord and grateful to the people who
gave me this opportunity," he said. "Now there's someone
who can talk in the PC (U.S.A.) officially about the
struggles of Iraqi Christians."

Salim stressed that he does not claim to speak for all
Christians in Iraq, but that he does offer a unique
perspective because of his experiences with religious
persecution.

Members of the presbytery had to confirm that Salim's
studies at the Cairo seminary were equivalent to those
taken by a Master of Divinity student in the United States.
Salim also had to pass the five standard ordination exams
and demonstrate his knowledge of the Bible.

He is now a part-time student at McCormick Theological
Seminary in Chicago, traveling there about one week a month
to attend classes.

In Bay City. Salim has most of the duties of an associate
pastor. He preaches, visits the sick and leads Bible
studies. He has also led an educational series about Muslim
culture and an interfaith dialogue between Muslims and
Christians.

He said the goal of these sessions is understanding ― Salim
wants members of both religions to be educated about each
other and to see that there are extremists and victims in
every group.

"When we think in a narrow view, that does not really help
us find solutions," he said. "Whenever we can understand
each other, that's how we express peace to each other."

Working with Salim has been a series of learning
experiences, said the Rev. Jeffrey Weenink, pastor of First
Presbyterian Church. Although there have been cultural and
language barriers, Salim has given the congregation "the
gift of new eyes."

"It's been a unique opportunity to understand the mind, the
heart and the spirit of an Iraqi Christian," he said,
adding that learning about Salim's struggles has been
valuable. "Jonah has given us the gift of taking a good
hard look at all of our assumptions. He's provided a
freshness for us."

And accepting Salim into the church community has given
members an opportunity to practice God's commandment to
love thy neighbor. Members have formed a "Jonah Team" to
provide him with assistance.

"Here's a chance for the church to really walk the walk,"
Weenink said. "We've learned how to welcome a stranger."

Looking back, Salim said he never would have imagined he'd
end up where he is today, but he can never see himself
going back. As a college student, he would often walk along
the Tigris River in Nineveh and watch the birds flying
freely together. He wondered when he'd get to be like them,
living without fear or boundaries.

"I see myself as a bird here. It's the freedom that I was
working for," he said. "The other bird is the PC(USA) that
I belong to."

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