The Middle East has been an area of turmoil and strife for years. That applies to a country like Syria. 7 of Syria's 22 million inhabitants have fled the country. Of these, 2 million live in Lebanon, out of a population of 5 million Lebanese, especially in the Bekaa Valley and the capital Beirut. And conditions are often very poor.
The government is doing very little to improve conditions. It has its hands full with the problems in Lebanon itself. However, there are churches that care about the plight of refugees. In Beirut, this is the (originally) Armenian church, Spring of Life Church. This congregation supports 100 families with food and medicines. They also help them find work. 50% of them are Armenian/Lebanese and 50% are Syrian. Their vision is to visit people in their homes. Christina and her team from this congregation do this faithfully. The target area is the immediate vicinity of the church. They do not ‘screen people at the gate’. They genuinely want to build relationships; this can also develop into a friendship, leading to people getting to know Jesus Christ and becoming part of the congregation. They would love to support more people, but they lack the resources.
Why this project?
The vision of this church is to share the love of Jesus Christ, by helping the most underprivileged; to gradually teach them the knowledge of Jesus Christ and let them enjoy life with Christ.
It is the desire of this congregation to lift as many families as possible out of poverty through charitable works and enable them to become self-sufficient and live a life in the power of Jesus Christ. The congregation believes in the working power of the Gospel. Thus, these families go on to become part of the Kingdom of God until they no longer need material support and are able to serve others themselves.
It is a vision they call 'integral'. The spiritual, social and economic aspects are all looked after and included in the assistance.
Impact
Refugees in Lebanon are here temporarily. They either want to go on to Europe or back to their country Syria. This project helps both groups. The Europe-goers are stuck in Lebanon, mostly unable to move on because of the European Union's agreement with Turkey. They do not want to stay there, but in practice their children are growing up there and their homes are becoming more permanent. The returnees still mostly consider it too dangerous to go to Syria and wait until it is safe. In practice, this shelter in Lebanon will help them a lot.
