Greetings friends!
Despite increasing tensions in our region, we continue to see God moving through the church in the Middle East.
Regional Conflicts
Since October 2023 Lebanon’s southern communities have endured daily strikes between Hezbollah and Israeli armed forces, displacing over 90,000 people. CBM’s key partner in the MENA region, THIMAR, in partnership with local churches, has actively assisted many such families.
Recently Lebanon witnessed a marked increase in cross-border hostilities, raising fears of an all-out war. Many embassies are developing evacuation plans and have strongly recommended for foreign nationals to leave the country while commercial flights are available. Please pray for peace.
Relief & Development
My work has continued to be centered on supporting the monitoring and development of projects with THIMAR. Through CBM’s partnership with the Canadian Foodgrains Bank, THIMAR’s partner churches have provided basic food assistance to 31,000 vulnerable individuals across Lebanon and the region over the last 3 years. We praise God that these projects were recently renewed, allowing more churches to give tangible support to their communities as economic crisis and wars continue.
This spring I gave special focus to supporting THIMAR’s education projects. With CBM’s help, THIMAR supports 6 faith-based education centres and 1,400 students each year. Soon I will lead a three-day conference for teachers at similar education centres, teaching brain-body smarts and positive behaviour management strategies.
Such non-formal education centres are the only schools available to many refugee children. With rising anti-refugee sentiment and increasing forced deportations in Lebanon, many refugee families are considering returning to war-torn regions despite the dangers there. We pray for their safety.
Children and Youth Ministries
Given my background and love for summer camp ministry, I feel excited and blessed to be participating with many child and youth programs this summer. Each summer THIMAR works with partner churches to provide “VBS” style day camps to their community members.
Recently, Khalil, my husband, and I led a day camp for the children of two new church plants in mountainous areas of Lebanon. CBM supports projects working to share the gospel in such areas. We are seeing powerful testimonies come from these ministries as many hear the story of Jesus for the first time. Praise God!
I look forward to working with our partners to develop training for young leaders in children’s ministries, to be held later this month.
God bless you all.
Prayer requests
- An end to the conflict in Gaza and mercy for all those suffering as a result.
- Unity among churches in Lebanon.
- Provision for displaced families with nowhere to go.
- A breakthrough in education policy in Lebanon, allowing accreditation for non-formal learning centers.
