
Where Does Our Help Come from?
Lebanon has been enduring a severe and prolonged economic depression, and it is hard to imagine that the situation could still get worse. Yet it does, every single day, and an even bigger storm is coming.
Lebanon has been enduring a severe and prolonged economic depression, and it is hard to imagine that the situation could still get worse. Yet it does, every single day, and an even bigger storm is coming.
What does it look like to care for Jesus when He is sick? It looks like providing daily food for people infected with COVID-19 who are too sick to cook for themselves.
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.