Tuesday, September 10, 2013
One Life at a Time: Hope and Redemption Amid the Syrian Refugee Crisis
For Immediate Release
Christian Aid Mission
Contact: Amie Cotton, APR
(434) 327-1240
amie@christianaid.org
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA
(ANS) – According to most estimates, one–third of Syria’s population has been displaced, 2 million of which has fled the country. And that number is only expected to increase with no resolution to the civil war in sight. The Syrian government continues to fight against a faceless rebellion, unorganized and broken into sectarian militias. Without a clear rebel leader, there is no one to agree to a truce, even if the Syrian government wanted one.
Protein-rich powdered milk bags are passed out to Syrian refugees from a church in Jordan. These mothers are grateful for these critical needs for their family and are open to hearing the gospel and accepting Christ.
(Photo credit: Christian Aid Mission)
Meanwhile, it appears the danger level is only escalating for Syrians who remain at home. On August 21, rockets filled with poisonous gases crashed into suburbs, suffocating more than 1,400 people—one–third of whom were children. It was the largest massacre since the beginning of the conflict in 2011, which has already claimed 100,000 lives (though locals say this number is much higher).
And while the U.S. determines whether or not it will strike Syria with a missile attack as punishment for what it assumes was the regime’s use of chemical weapons, Syrians aren’t waiting around for the answer. According to a ministry leader in Lebanon, 16,000 Syrians crossed the border into his country in a single day.
“Several of the refugee families I visit have received even more relatives, with 15 to 20 people living in the same small room,” he writes.
Arriving in a strange country without a way to earn income, most wonder how they will survive. But apart from physical needs are the emotional needs—the trauma of having lost loved ones, homes, and businesses; the drastic change in lifestyle; and the danger still present in their daily lives.
Even the journey out of Syria is perilous. Buses and taxis are stopped at numerous army checkpoints, and passengers are commonly robbed at gunpoint of their few possessions.
And despite having put hundreds of miles between them and their volatile homeland, many Syrian families are finding it difficult to relax.
A recent car bombing in a Beirut suburb that killed nearly 40 people—the worst in Lebanon in decades—is evidence to many that the Syrian violence has followed them over country lines.
“People are terrified as rumors of more bombs and more infighting are spreading like crazy,” writes a Lebanese ministry leader. “Many on the streets are becoming suspicious of anything and everything.”
Each Life, a Light
Syrian refugee homes in the Bekka Valley in Lebanon. There are no refugee camps in this area so families find debris for makeshift housing.
(Photo credit: Christian Aid Mission
While reports of bloodshed and destruction paint a grim picture of the Syrian refugee crisis, indigenous ministry leaders are sending word of an unprecedented openness to the good news. “We have never had so many opportunities,” reports one Lebanese leader. “We are asking fellow believers to leave their jobs and work with the refugees because there is such hunger for the gospel. And they are! Christians are leaving their jobs and going out by faith. Life will never be the same for any of us.”
Another Lebanon–based ministry finds that an increasing number of Muslim parents are entrusting them to teach their children about Jesus. Of the 150 families they are reaching through Sunday school and women’s Bible studies, 98 percent are Muslim.
But revival isn’t only limited to Lebanon. A ministry leader in Iraq, home to 180,000 Syrian refugees, writes, “Christ’s message is very effective in such circumstances, and we find as soon as we open our mouths, a listener is praying, asking the Lord with tears of repentance for divine intervention. Hundreds of people have surrendered their lives to the Lord through our door–to–door visits. We pray with them and invite them to a house church meeting.”
In response to Christian Aid’s question about how indigenous ministries are handling the overwhelming needs and numbers, a consistent answer has emerged from nearly all of them: focus on one life at a time.
Following the pattern of Christ, Who chose only 12 men to disciple, ministry leaders have chosen to concentrate on a relatively small number of people.
One ministry has gradually increased its outreach to 50 Syrian refugee families. They began by approaching ten families at a time, visiting them at their homes multiple times each week to listen, pray, offer material aid, and eventually share the gospel.
Likewise, an Iraqi ministry focuses on discipling a small number of families it has led to the Lord, encouraging them to lead their friends and family to Christ.
Instead of becoming flustered by the amount of work to be done in the fleeting hours of each day, native missionaries are taking the time to sit and love the person in front of them—engaging in a personal encounter that means so much to someone lost and scared in a strange place. In this quiet way, lives are restored, hope is renewed, and the gospel goes forward. Against the backdrop of darkness, lights are appearing one by one.
What do these lights look like? Like the Syrian widow in Lebanon who gave her life to Christ when a native missionary discovered her a month after losing her husband in the conflict. Subsisting on a meager income by tending animals on a farm, she and her three little boys slept on a single mattress inside a concrete storage unit. Sharing the gospel message and the love of the Savior, the missionary provided her with three additional mattresses and warm bedding—resources that were purchased with funds sent by Christian Aid donors.
The lights look like the Muslim couple who became Christians when an indigenous ministry provided them with the funds to pay for an operation needed by the husband after he was hit by a car. “We will not forget what you did for us—we are in debt to you for the rest of our lives,” the wife told the ministry leader. He told her that she owed him nothing, but to thank Jesus, Who had seen them in their distress and loves them.
The lights look like the couple who escaped to Turkey with their two daughters. A native missionary assisted by Christian Aid visited them and found only a rug in their home on which the children slept. They’d left Syria without any possessions. The missionary returned with beds and food. Touched by the act of kindness, the wife read the New Testament left by the missionary to her family daily. They accepted Christ during one of the missionary’s regular follow–up visits.
The lights are the eight additional people this Turkish missionary baptized last month.
Hundreds more lights shine forth, as native missionaries who focus on one life at a time are freeing “captives from prison, releasing those who sit in dark dungeons.” Isaiah 42:7 (NLT)
For more information, visit www.christianaid.org/News/2013/mir20130905.aspx
Facebook: www.facebook.com/CAM53
Twitter: @LoveTheBrethren
About Christian Aid Mission
Christian Aid Mission is a non-profit organization that supports more than 800 ministries with over 80,000 indigenous or native missionaries that reach more than 3,000 different people groups worldwide. Our focus is on reaching the unreached – areas in the world where there are few Christians or where Christians suffer because of poverty or persecution. Christian Aid Mission is a 60-year-old agency and one of the first organizations to support native missionaries overseas.
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Christian Aid Mission
Contact: Amie Cotton, APR
(434) 327-1240
amie@christianaid.org–>