BEIRUT, Lebanon – Wouldn’t you like to pray with Christians in Lebanon?
Specifically to pray with followers of Christ providing shelter and emergency aid to uprooted Lebanese amid the latest round of Israeli bombing countered by missile fire from the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia in parts of the volatile Mideast battleground.
You can join a virtual prayer gathering March 26 for the work of the Lebanese Society for Educational and Social Development, also known as Thimar, or “fruits” in Arabic. (See related story here.)
Registration for the prayer gathering can be accessed here, said Middle East Baptist Outreach (MEBO), the stateside organization supporting Thimar. Registration will provide a link to the meeting via the Zoom internet platform.
“You’ll hear from our partners in Lebanon about the current situation, have a brief time for Q&A, and pray together for Lebanon and the region,” according to a MEBO alert on March 12.
Nabil Costa, Thimar’s CEO, noted in a March 14 statement, “While fear and displacement are spreading across Lebanon, our Baptist ministries are choosing to focus on hope – opening our doors, serving our communities and trusting that God is at work even in the darkest moments.”
The regional upheaval began March 2 with evacuation warnings from Israel affecting more than a half-million people in 50-plus villages in southern Lebanon along with neighborhoods in Beirut’s southern suburbs and the 75-mile-long Bekaa Valley in central Lebanon.
“Today, we are living through a painfully familiar scenario,” a Thimar communique stated March 2. “Tens of thousands of people are now displaced, seeking refuge in schools, public buildings, churches, and any available safe space. Urgent needs are expected to increase daily, including food, clothing, milk for children, and medication.”
Ongoing endeavors
Thimar, amid Lebanon’s longstanding Mideast unrest, encompasses:
- a 1,400-student K-12 school in the heart of Beirut founded in 1955, now in the process of accreditation with the New England Association of Schools and Colleges.
- a publishing house, founded on the outskirts of Beirut in 1959, seeking to extend Christian discipleship resources throughout the Arab world.
- a seminary in 1960, sharing its campus with the publishing house, which has awarded certificates in ministry and bachelor’s and master’s degrees to 499 students not just from Lebanon but also Morocco, Algeria, Iraq, Sudan, Tunisia, India and Palestinian territories.
All three ministries were begun by Southern Baptist missionaries.
Beginning in the late 1990s, however, Lebanese Baptists began taking responsibility for the entirety of the work when the International Mission Board transitioned to a focus on the world’s unreached people groups. The work didn’t wither, but flourished under Lebanese leadership, including periods of Israeli-Hezbollah warfare.
“Courageous and talented leaders have continued to improve and innovate ministry with excellence and enthusiasm,” said David Wilkins, who served as the IMB’s Jordan-based liaison during the transition. “Their impact in Lebanon and throughout the Middle East and North Africa is clearly beyond the dreams and perhaps limitations of their beloved missionary predecessors.”
Lebanese Baptists have added three ministries:
- Thimar’s relief arm, Middle East Revive and Thrive, or MERATH, originally called Lebanese Baptist Aid, which regularly responds to the human toll of upheaval in Lebanon and neighboring countries.
- Thimar’s discipleship arm, Salt & Light, that has been nurturing four churches and one church plant in recent years.
- SKILD, an acronym for Smart Kids with Individual Learning Differences, focusing on students of all ages with learning difficulties and developmental challenges whose needs are often overlooked..
In addition to the school’s 190 faculty and staff, about 140 full- and part-time staff members comprise the rest of Thimar’s workforce, working with several dozen partner churches ranging in size from 50 to 200 members in a land where Jesus performed his first miracle at Cana and where its prized forests, known as the “cedars of Lebanon,” are referenced numerous times in the Bible.
‘Bombing in the background’
After the current Israeli-Hezbollah clash erupted on March 2, the Arab Baptist Theological Seminary began housing evacuees from Hezbollah’s regional strongholds. Within a few days, the seminary reached its capacity of 170, counting families with children and the elderly. Its classes moved to online status amid the influx.
The seminary, which also is providing meals, has two four-story buildings – a guesthouse with 37 rooms and a student residence with 37 rooms.
“Pray that even in the midst of this difficult season, many would encounter the love of Christ and find their true refuge in him,” the seminary said in a March 2 communique.
On March 6, the seminary reported, “While our space can only host a limited number of families from the multitudes who are displaced, we pray that they see the love of Christ in all that we do.”
A daily chapel service began March 9, “inviting all those on campus to join us in worship and prayer. While the bombing continued to be heard in the background, we chose to praise God and keep our eyes on him.”
Beirut Baptist School, meanwhile, also having moved to online classes, has become a community relief center in the Mediterranean port city of 1.7 million people. The school draws the large majority of its students from the surrounding non-Christian sector of the city.
The Lebanese Red Cross is in discussions with the school to open a clinic at the campus. The school has been providing hot meals for families sheltering in the surrounding area and distributing for food boxes, blankets, diapers and personal hygiene items. MERATH likewise is distributing aid through partner churches reflecting the compassion of Jesus in their communities. A church in northern Lebanon near the Syrian border is delivering dairy products to churches providing shelter and humanitarian aid in various parts of Beirut and the Bekaa Valley produced at its farm and factory, started with Thimar support (see video here).
In a March 7 communique, Thimar described its endeavors as “reflecting the gospel and the love of Jesus Christ, presenting an alternative to the death, destruction and despair that so many people have long been accustomed to.”
Further information about the six ministries in Lebanon supported by the Middle East Baptist Outreach is available at mebo.org.
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