
The "Vicar of Baghdad" shares his extraordinary journey through war-torn Iraq, where faith thrives amid chaos. Winner of the Ultimate Christian Library Award, Andrew White's memoir reveals why "taking risks saves lives" - wisdom that's inspiring reconciliation across religious divides.
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Picture a Sunday morning in Baghdad. Not the serene sanctuary you might imagine, but one surrounded by blast walls and armed guards, where arriving for worship means navigating checkpoints and praying you won't be the next casualty. This is St. George's Church, where Andrew White serves as what many call the "Vicar of Baghdad"-leading perhaps the world's most dangerous congregation. His journey from London operating rooms to Iraqi war zones defies every comfortable notion of ministry. Here's someone who traded a promising medical career and the safety of English parishes for a place where wearing a cross can be a death sentence. What compels a person to choose such a path? White's story isn't about heroism or martyrdom-it's about discovering that faith becomes most real when everything else is stripped away. White never planned to become a priest, let alone one working in a war zone. As a medical professional at St Thomas' Hospital in London, his future seemed mapped out-surgery, anesthetics, a respectable career. Then came that night shift, the one that changes everything. He felt what he describes as an undeniable divine calling, the kind you can't rationalize away or ignore. Despite his resistance, he found himself at Cambridge studying for ordination, even as his body began failing him with myalgic encephalitis, forcing him to complete his studies partly in a wheelchair.
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