In spite of the unrest that threatens civil war in Iraq, a Christian agency sees quiet growth.

Iraq (MNN)–Iraq’s unrest borders on civil war and may delay the upcoming elections.

While many humanitarian aid groups pulled out, International Aid’s Sonny Enriquez says they launched four church-based clinics and water filtration systems in Baghdad, Basra, Mosul, and Kirkuk.

The project is organizing an appropriate water committee to help manage the water system in terms of service and distribution, and engaging the local community as major stakeholders in the project to ensure sustainability of services. These clinics and systems are indirectly benefiting 20,000 people across the four cities.

However, I-A lost contact for a while with the clinic in Baghdad. The silence from the others was equally unnerving, and left questions as to the surivival of the clinics.

Enriquez finally reached their Baghdad partner for an update. “The situation in the city has been very difficult, but what was exciting was when I asked him, ‘how’s the clinic?’ He said, ‘The clinic is still doing well.’ In fact, they’ve expanded; they’ve added on three more doctors.”

That’s the good news; the bad news is because travel is risky, the churches have been unable to communicate with each other.

Enriquez says the church-based clinics create an opportunity for ministry, adding the association carries its own danger. “People are not going to the churches anymore, not visiting because the church has become a target of terrorist attacks. Fortunately, for this particular partner, their church is kind of in an inside alley, so you can’t just go in through the church, you have to go through a certain set of roadblocks, so that helps them and protected them.”