Many Christians have been forced to flee Aleppo as the violent conflict in Syria continues. However, one pastor is convinced he must stay and speaks of renewed faith and many new conversions.
Before the war more than 200,000 Christians resided in the city, but now only about 20 per cent of those remain. Pastor Alim [name changed for security reasons] has remained there with his congregation, World Watch Monitor reports.
"I feel a calling of God. He wants me to be here till the end, as long as there is work to do in Aleppo," Pastor Alim says. Violence in the city is pervasive: "The situation in Aleppo has been unstable for a long time now. Ceasefires only last for a short time. As soon as the people catch breath, the fighting starts again."
He adds: "The other day, as we finished our meeting on Friday, a bomb exploded next to the church, killing a young girl and her brother. On Sunday, when we were getting ready for church, bombs exploded around our house."
In the midst of this war, Alim's church is reaching out to Muslims and Christians to support their needs. They pay rent, provide medical support and his church has dug a well so the community can access clean drinking water. These actions have helped previously tense relations with the Islamic community. Alim said: "Before the war, authorities put a lot of pressure on Muslim converts, investigating and interrogating them. We continued serving them, went with them to the police, and because of that they felt the church didn't leave them."
Alim says that "These people now see what the church does. There is now a greater appreciation for its role. Before, people reacted differently towards the church. Before, as we were distributing food, we heard people saying: 'Here come the infidels': now people are different."
As a result of that, many Muslims have been more open to Christianity and have subsequently converted, with some reporting encounters with Jesus in their dreams. "It happens more with the Muslims and the Druze," says the pastor. "God is speaking the language of each group. Muslims meet Jesus in dreams. A woman saw a man in a dream, he was dressed in white and his face was shining. She woke up and went to church, she was very afraid of being rejected. She was accepted with love."
Alim sees 15-20 baptisms in his church every year, with other new believers unable to make the public commitment due to pressure from their own communities. He adds: "There is hunger to come closer to God! There is hunger for the prayer meetings for example. Now the whole congregation comes to these meetings. The church is full of people praying."
Such news echoes other reports from Aleppo which describe a surge in new believers even as other Christians flee.
Alim still longs for peace in the area. He asks that people would "pray for an agreement to end the fighting so that we can live a normal life again". He says that despite the struggle and uncertainty, his faith has grown: "We have passed through very difficult situations, we don't know why we feel such a peace and hope! I think God is giving us double grace."
