This summer finds the team at the Life Center at the heart of a crisis like Lebanon has not seen before – and the country has endured many crises. The economy of the country has collapsed with inept and corrupt leadership and on top of an already dire situation COVID-19 has brought an extra layer of suffering leading many to lose hope. In the midst of this suffering however there is hope as the Life Center team continue to proclaim the Good News of Jesus.
The “Feed the Hungry” program due to its importance has been the main for the team, and one of its priorities is to offer families the nutrition that they wouldn’t receive otherwise and to provide a hot meal at home as well as nappies, amenities, and milk for babies.
Message from Pastor Said
You probably heard the saying: “Don’t tell your God how big is your mountain, but instead tell your mountain how big, how great and how strong your God is”.
What a challenging world we are living in! Yet we recognize that the God we serve is much greater than any obstacle can be: Please allow me to share a personal testimony of God’s grace with you, I hope that it will lift up your faith.
With the 2019 famous Lebanese economic Crisis still breaking bad, followed by the October revolution, crowned by the Covid 19 pandemic, the Life Center has lost all of its natural income and resources while the need around us is growing, we all thought this is the END! The end of ministry, the end of the church, even the end of our lives on earth. But this is not the end, it was the just a divine beginning, through it all we witness the spread of the living body of Christ in all the nations around us and we are so thankful to God.
While 80% of our church members lost the little jobs they held and the Life Center lost all income it used to generate by:
- Renting out the Life Center halls for events to be held or other congregations to meet.
As the economic crisis started at the beginning of 2019 with the inflation of the Lebanese lira, most Lebanese laborers lost their jobs, or 80% of their salary value, as a consequence this has affected the domestic workers in Lebanon, ( Ethiopians, Africans, Philippinos, Asians, etc…) most of those domestic workers lost their jobs and are now sleeping on the streets in front of their embassies waiting for their help to go back home to their children and families… they cannot afford US dollars to buy the airfares.. we won hundreds of those domestic workers to Christ in the past years. Some joined the Lebanese churches others formed their own church community under the cover of our ministry. Together we formed the Union of International churches, out of 20 different churches.
Those churches used to rent spaces at the Life Center to meet weekly and monthly, yet since the beginning of last year they have not worked enough to afford paying rent and the number decreased, however, they continue using the Life Center facilities especially the Ethiopian, Sri lankan, Philippino and Armenian churches as well as our Lebanese and Syrian church. We lost 99% of income from rent.
Also with the cancellation of LLI for the Pandemic, we lost the participation of a big percentage of Bible School partners as well as the income coming out from renting the apartment and rooms.
- Cancellation of all fundraising events, namely:
a – the Annual SOL dinner, (cancelled twice)
b – the Beirut Marathon cancelled twice)
c – the Ladies Christmas Brunch - The 3 months Closure of churches led to the loss of all income from donations, offerings and a big chunk of tithings from the different churches and members.
- The closure of the airport led to losing all income from visitors and short-term missions, who rented the facility, ministered and donated.
- Furthermore, a few Lebanese brothers and sisters used to support our center for children at risk with monthly payments, but because of the pandemic and economic crisis we lost much of this support.
Mentioning all the above losses, to give glory to God who is present in time of troubles, our God is here, Praise His Holy Name, out of distress and death, New initiatives & projects to reach lost souls have burst to life, as the prophecy said: “Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth Sweetness” Judges 14:14.
We were able to reach all those around us with Love in Action, through giving away food parcels, cooking 240 portions of hot meals twice a week for the needy, giving away 400 bread packs and vegetables almost weekly, supporting their rent, and responding to medical emergencies. We cook for children, teach through social media and do daily follow-up. We’ve started new video shows on you tube and Facebook, for kids, that attracted the attention of the catholic televisions, and now it is broadcasted there. As a result, we won new souls, not just Syrians, but many Lebanese, they are now willing to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to receive the Father’s Love through Christ.
Come on now: He deserve all our praises!
My heart jump of Joy as I see how the 2 fishes and 5 loves of bread filling thousands of hungry people.
Thank you for being a partner.
Stories from the Frontline
Noura
We faced many challenges during the quarantine, but this did not prevent us from serving the needy families. We continue our daily follow-up with all the members, and give them appointments to receive the food and clothes required, we also helped a few families with their monthly house rent as they had lost their jobs and were not able to afford paying it preventing them from ending up on the streets with their children. We also helped a lot of children with hospital fees, sadly a woman who needed a rapid C-section operation had been refused admission to hospital because her husband didn’t have the sum needed to down pay, and while he was trying to find help the child died in his mother’s womb.
Sabha
My newborn needed an incubator due to early childbirth and I couldn’t afford it, your immediate help rescued his life.
Khwala
Khawla says that her life would be miserable without our support: When her son fainted due to a sudden high blood sugar- it reached 700- the child would have died without our support for the hospital fees. She also says:“ I would have died from hunger with my eight children, especially after my husband stopped working because of the quarantine. You have overwhelmed me with your love.
Sarah
Sarah wants a better childhood for her three children, but struggles to provide a hot meal that they can enjoy together, because of their very low income. Her eleven –years old child started working at very early age to get paid a very small salary in the aim to support his family. When the life center lunched “feed the hungry “campaign we called her to come and take a hot meal for her family. Few days later we were surprised that this woman sent us photos of her children while eating the meal. She wanted to show us how happy and grateful they were since they hadn’t had such a good meal for a long time.
Feed the Hungry
The “Feed the Hungry” program due to its importance has been the main for the team, and one of its priorities is to offer families the nutrition that they wouldn’t receive otherwise and to provide a hot meal at home as well as nappies, amenities, and milk for babies.
The need is constant nutrition but this is a start, and your help is so valuable to us. Differences have been set aside and everyone has come together to be as one. Your positive impact is helping to cause the change you have been wanting to see in this suffering world.
Food Boxes Distribution
The importance of this program is to help families who seek daily to fight hunger and to support them through the current crisis by increasing their sense of security and hope.
Here is the story Farid to highlight the importance of this ministry:
He lost his job few months ago, and nowadays it is very difficult to find a new one. His mother was the only Householder to the family and unfortunately due to the lockdown she lost two of their monthly salaries. His sick aged father needs very special care because of his many diseases: disability to move, eat and even wash on his own. So, it was impossible to provide the expenses needed for medication, house rent and nutrition. He was so glad we visited him and very thankful for the food box that we gave him, and we hope to do that again next month.
The Lockdown and Ministry
For the safety of families and due to the fast spread of the Coronavirus all prayer meetings as well as the Bible Institute LLI, (Life Leadership Institute) starting mid March have been cancelled.
The annual “Kingdom Fiesta” Churches festival, had to be cancelled, but instead a closed meeting for pastors and leaders from Syria and Lebanon was held just prior to the lockdown and closure of the airport. The leaders were prayed for and since that time they have held online Sunday and Wednesday services with live prayers on social media, to the satisfaction of all church members who have access to internet.
During lockdown the team have been producing video shows for Kids, and Adults, that attracted the attention of some Arabic Christian TV channels.
From the beginning of June the cell groups, Life groups and church services have gradually resumed, but not at full potential yet.
An Alpha course is also being run for the Lebanese new comers. Please keep the team in your prayers as they were planning for around 12 students, but to their surprise more than 36 unexpected guests showed up!