The Hope for the Middle East petition is closed! What next?

The Hope for the Middle East petition has now closed! At least 784,000 people have signed it globally, although we'll have the final number of signatures on Monday - we're still waiting to hear from other parts of the world. But we do know that 186,390 people have signed from the UK and Ireland!

The Hope for the Middle East petition has now closed! At least 784,000 people have signed it globally, although we'll have the final number of signatures on Monday - we're still waiting to hear from other parts of the world. But we do know that 186,390 people have signed from the UK and Ireland!

Thank you so much for helping us reach this incredible number. If you signed it, if you shared it on social media, if you printed out a petition sheet and took it to your church – you have helped to show our church family in Iraq and Syria that they are not forgotten, and our leaders that they must not forget Christians and minorities in the Middle East either.

It’s the huge support that the petition has gained that has helped us to secure key meeting at the UN on Monday (11 December) and with the UK government on Wednesday (13 December). Noeh, a 12-year-old boy from Karamles, Iraq, is in New York with his father, Hathem, to present the petition to the UN. And Father Daniel, one of our local partners in Erbil, Iraq, will be in London on Wednesday to help us present the petition to the UK government.

We’ll have more updates on how these meetings go next week, but for now, please pray. You can order a free wristband to remind you to pray for our church family in the Middle East.

Please pray:

• That nothing prevents these meetings with the UN and UK government from going ahead
• For safe travels and good health for Noeh, Hathem, and Daniel, and that the leaders who meet with them will be moved by their stories and spurred to act
• That the UN and UK government will commit to support Christians and minorities in the Middle East, and that the actions of our leaders will make a real difference to our brothers and sisters in Iraq and Syria.