What do you do when everything you’ve ever trusted in has crumbled beneath your feet, and you have nothing left to rely on but the grace of God? Corrie Ten Boom is attributed with first saying, “You may never know that Jesus is all you need, until Jesus is all you have.” For Lebanon’s primary mental institution, the reality of this truth has become all too clear over this past year.
After a relatively warm December, winter hit Lebanon and Syria hard in January and is expected to continue bringing heavy rains, hailstorms, and snow at higher altitudes. As many vulnerable families in both countries lack indoor heating, we are thankful for our local partners who have reached almost 10,000 families with winter items so far and helped rehabilitate 100 homes damaged in the Beirut explosion, among other much-needed assistance.
With the Beirut explosion leaving approximately 300,000 people homeless, ABTS decided to open its arms and its residences to those in need. Upon hearing the shocking news, ABTS staff and partners jumped into action to repaint, remodel, and fix up their student dorms to house those whose homes were destroyed.
For years, we’ve been hearing that the church is not the building, it is the people. Now the time has come to walk the talk! How are churches reacting to this pandemic and what adjustments have been put in place to ensure the preservation of the congregation?
The coronavirus is now officially spreading through Lebanon, Iraq, and Syria, as well as in other countries in the Middle East. This follows a harsh winter and unprecedented economic and financial crises that have already severely impacted the most vulnerable.
Disappointed by the cancellation of the Baptist Children and Youth Ministry (BCYM) Children’s Camp that they had flown all the way across the Atlantic Ocean to help out at, the Canadian Baptist Ministries (CBM) team from Lorne Park Church was surprised to learn that their visit was nevertheless an unexpected answer to a struggling pastor’s prayer.
The war in Syria is far from over. Since early December, over one million people from the Syrian province of Idlib have been displaced with nowhere to find refuge. In other places that are considered “safer”, humanitarian needs have never been greater.