A Baptist church in Zahlé hosts 150 people who fled the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in the south. They were already working with Syrian refugees.
A church in Lebanon, archive image. / Photo: [link][/link], Unsplash, CC0.
Christians in Lebanon have seen how the conflict between the Israeli army and Hezbollah’s militias has led to a national crisis.
Churches and Christian organisations are offering help and responding to seeking answers to forced displacement of thousands of families who flee the southern regions of Lebanon.
One of these Christian groups is the True Vine Baptist Church in the city of Zahlé (central region of the governorate of Beqaa). Himmelsperlen, a Christian NGO in Germany, which is closely partnering with this church of 400 members, which was already active serving Syrian refugees with medical assistance and other services like clothing. True Vine also runs a school for refugees serving 600 children: for security reasons the classes had to be suspended.
Now, according to German news agency Idea, at least 30 families fleeing from the attacks in the south of Lebanon have found refuge through this Baptist church. A total number of 150 people are hosted either in the school, in church premises or in homes of church members.
Despite the fact that attacks from the Israeli forces in their combat with the Hezbollah militias have at some point targeted the city of Zahlé (including the neighbourhood of True Vine’s worship place), the region is safer than the south of Lebanon.
Margret Meier, chair of the Himmelsperlen, told Idea that the leadership of the True Vine Baptist Church has been able to serve families from Muslim background. “It is a privilege to be able to serve Shiites in the name of Jesus”, they expressed.
These days, the German mission agency is filling a container with relief supplies that is expected to reach Lebanon by sea.
According to sources, there are 32 Baptist churches in the Lebanon, with a total of 1,600 members. The country's population is mainly Muslim, but around 30% of the population identifies as Christian.
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