Near the biblical city of Sidon, Christians are building a new ministry center to serve local Lebanese in a predominantly Muslim area.

Camille Melki of Heart for Lebanon says, “For the first time in modern Lebanese history, a Christian community is buying property from Muslims to build a church on it!”

Sidon Sea Castle, Lebanon (Photo courtesy of Haytham Dalank via Usplash)

In an area largely populated by Shia and Sunni Muslims, this development became possible only after nearly 20 years of consistent presence, practical help, and genuine love. Over time, the ministry earned the community’s trust.

“How did we get to purchase a property from a Muslim community? Right now, my only answer is by God’s grace,” adds Melki.

The Hope Ministry Center stands in southern Lebanon, a region home to many refugees and displaced families. Despite the ceasefire, drones still buzz overhead as Hezbollah activity continues. Years of conflict with Israel, coupled with the nation’s economic collapse, have left parents unable to educate their children and businesses struggling to survive.

“A lot of the problems that this country has been experiencing are because it is spiritually poor, where the Gospel is not reaching the masses,” Melki explains.

But change is happening!

Lebanese children (photo courtesy of Hussein Haidar Salman via Pexels)

Alongside biblical teaching, the Hope Ministry Center takes a holistic approach — offering education, healthcare, and discipleship training.

The Hope Ministry Center will provide education for children and adults, along with a sanctuary for Arabic- and Kurdish-speaking congregations, a leadership training hub, a safe playground, and medical clinics meeting physical needs while pointing people to spiritual hope.

Each weekend, over eight hundred people already join the ministry’s spiritual programs. “This new Ministry Center,” says Melki, “will add at least 30 to 40 percent capacity, and so we can imagine how many more people will be blessed.”

It’s a season of transformation, as the Gospel brings hope to weary hearts across Lebanon. Pray for Heart for Lebanon as they continue to demonstrate Christ’s love in practical ways. Ask God to make local churches grow and multiply with joy, despite hardship.

“We’re so grateful for what God has done in our midst, and by faith we look for amazing things this center will accomplish, all by God’s goodness and provision,” Melki says.

Representative header photo: Lala, Lebanon (photo courtesy of Ibrahim Zada via Unsplash).

Disaster aid

Meanwhile, relief efforts into the country have been hampered by gang violence. Various groups have blocked roads and even hijacked vehicles transporting food. One gang leader has offered a truce to allow aid into the damaged peninsula where the earthquake hit, but it’s not clear how much of an impact it would make unless more gangs commit as well.

As the aid trickles in, some politicians have begun supplying it themselves or even using their planes to transport injured patients. They are especially motivated to do so by the upcoming general elections.

AMG’s work

Brian Dennett says AMG International is trying to get food to affected areas as well. “Most of the clinics and hospitals were severely damaged and are unable to meet the needs there. AMG has a hospital that’s northwest of that area. We are open and trying to attend to some patients from the area. But we’re also lacking a lot of medical supplies. The entire country is.”

You can help get medical supplies into the country by supporting AMG. You can donate here.

Dennett says at least 30,000 people lost their homes, so AMG is working to provide clothing and blankets as well. “Those that were not severely hurt or injured are leaving and heading to other areas. For example, where our clinic is located, we see people coming in looking for help.”

Pray for the hope of Jesus to meet Haitians after this devastating earthquake. Dennett says, “Haiti needs hope: the hope we’re able to give as we help to meet basic needs of health and food and water.”

Header photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain. 

A Turkish ministry leader we assist shared with us that desperate Syrian mothers are leaving their young children alone in refugee camps while they try to find work in the city…they often return to find their children missing. The leader has started ministering to several of these mothers while providing them with material provision. (Photo and caption courtesy of Christian Aid Mission)

Steve Van Valkenberg of Christian Aid says, “A lot of children grow up malnourished, and often the mothers are malnourished and they cannot properly nurse the children. They do not have baby formula. So, a lot of children grow up with just a myriad of issues.”

The ministry recently shared the story of a three-year-old boy who cannot walk or talk. Malnourishment is thought to be part of the problem. But children aren’t the only ones facing health problems. Deadly illnesses can fly through the camps, threatening people of all ages. And then there are the medical issues that come with time and genetics.

Van Valkenberg says, “Many, many people have serious issues, medically. And many of them really don’t have many options.”

Barriers to medical aid

Refugees face quite a few challenges when trying to get medical assistance in Turkey. To get government help, they’re required to have a resident card. In order to get that, they have to have an official address.

There are a number of refugees who refuse to risk the squalid conditions of the official refugee camps, and who cannot afford to share an apartment. They don’t have an address. Christian Aid’s partner suggests that 10-15 percent of refugees—those who have taken up shelter elsewhere—cannot get medical care.

A Syrian child passes the night in dilapidated quarters in Turkey. (Photo and caption by Christian Aid Mission)

But even if they can, there’s another barrier entirely: language. It’s rare that both the doctor and patient know enough of either Arabic or Turkish to communicate symptoms and correctly diagnose an illness.

With these internal problems, medical aid from foreign groups is especially needed. But that doesn’t mean it’s readily available.

Turkey is the largest host of Syrian refugees. But, Van Valkenberg of Christian Aid Mission says, the amount of outside medical help the country receives poorly reflects that.

“Almost nobody goes to Turkey, even though Turkey has the highest number of refugees,” he says. Part of the problem could be that Turkey isn’t as easy for foreign organizations to work in as some of the other host countries.

The final problem is the relatively low number of Christians compared to other nations. In some areas, ministries are able to work with the local Church to fill in the gaps. But Turkey has a significantly smaller population of Christians. The local Church isn’t as extensive of a network.

False promises replaced with eternal hope

Sadly, when foreign agencies do show up, it can add to the agony. Time and time again, these refugees have told their stories to foreigners who’ve seemed keen to help them. These groups leave behind the impression that they will return with the resources to do something. But despite their best intentions, that plan often falls through.

“I think that it’s pretty common for the refugees to be, I guess, jaded, because they are promised help by foreign groups, foreign people coming around, and often they don’t get any help.

“It comes across [as] empty promises,” he continues.

But God has connected Christian Aid Mission to local Christian ministries in the area who are reaching out to these communities with consistency. They are helping to provide for the many physical needs, including medicine. However, Van Valkenberg says it’s important that they are not only focused on answering the physical needs. They want to be able to share a hope that doesn’t disappear if humanitarian aid runs out.

(Photo courtesy of Christian Aid Mission)

“That’s one thing they can offer is a hope that they don’t have right now, and the hope of Jesus Christ. The ministries that we assist will give out food and clothing and medicine, but I think that more than that, they listen to the stories of the refugees, and they cry with them and they’ll pray for them, and it gives the refugees hope that somebody does care.”

And even though the refugees don’t always respond right away to the presentation of the Gospel, it’s a message that they take with them, even as they leave the country. Some refugees have even contacted the ministry from their new host country to tell them they have accepted Christ.

Pray for the worker

There are a few ways you can respond to this story. First of all, you can contribute financially. Click here to do so.

But also you can pray. Van Valkenberg reminds us that while we should pray for the refugees, we also need to be supporting our brothers and sisters with prayer. Every day, they come face to face with situations that seem hopeless. They hear countless stories of loss and despair. And while they work to encourage these people, they need to be lifted up as well.

“One of the main ways to pray is just for the Christians there—that they would have the encouragement of Jesus Christ, that they would have the strength, and they would be knowing how to deal with just their own processing of the grief that they see, and how to properly reach out, and how to help.”

Congolese soldier (Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

What caused such a massive upset of the country’s people? National tensions had already been building in the DRC leading up to their elections, which were supposed to take place in November 2016. But then President Joseph Kabila refused to step down from his position in December, stirring up a lot of political outrage. Now the election postponement could take even longer as the nation’s budget minister essentially says they can’t afford the $1.8 billion it would cost to hold the elections.

The outrage has led to multiple protests, and clashes between ethnic groups and the militia. Just in the last five months in the DRC’s central Kasai region, over 500 rebels and security forces were killed. Investigators with the United Nations have discovered several mass graves since the unrest began.

Nick Frey with Mission Aviation Fellowship in the DRC explains, “The violence, first of all, in the Kasai region has been ramping up for the last few months…. two UN employees, one American and a Swedish woman, were kidnapped and eventually killed in the region. So that really brought international attention and forced the international community to get more involved.”

Flag of the Democratic Republic of the Congo

The last civil war in the DRC ended in 2003, but there are new fears that recent tensions could lead to another civil war.

MAF works to fly ministry partners and humanitarian workers into remote regions in the countries they serve to bring aid, supplies, and share God’s love. The MAF team in the DRC has continued their aviation services, even since the start of the unrest.

“Since then, we’ve done a handful of flights. I think we’re up to somewhere around 10 to 15 flights now to the region, mostly for medical teams that are going to work in hospitals there. Sometimes we’re taking vaccinations and medications and other things, and then mostly health staff — doctors, nurses, logistics people — to and from so they can help the internally displaced people in the region and the other people affected by the violence.”

So where does the Gospel come in? Frey says it’s in everything they do, from how the aviation staff conducts themselves to the conversations they have.

“Before we fly, for example, we give the pre-flight briefing for the passengers and then we always start with a prayer. So that’s a perfect opportunity to pray for the country, pray for the people affected, pray for the passengers and the work they’re going to be doing in the humanitarian area, and then integrate God’s grace into that.

“[We] thank Him for the daily grace He gives us, for Jesus dying on the cross, and for the hope that is found in Him that is so much more solid than hoping in international aid groups that can come and save us for a day, but not save our souls. So there’s doors into all kinds of really great conversations that we’ve been having with these humanitarian aid workers.”

Many MAF planes, like 9Q-CMO in the Congo, are equipped with cargo pods in order to better serve the needs of isolated people.
(Caption courtesy of MAF/Photo courtesy of Mark Hewes with MAF)

However, the MAF team in the DRC has still faced challenges. The biggest one Frey shares is the need for more hands on deck.

“With this current increase in flight requests, we’ve been really short-staffed. So we don’t have a lot of pilots and mechanics right now. It’s a constant need in MAF around the world. Most of the programs I know about are understaffed in terms of pilots and mechanics, especially maintenance specialists. So that’s a real need right now. We have pilots flying five and six days a week, and we all have other duties to maintain. We have lives here, and our children are here, and our families are here. It just takes a lot of time to pull all this off and it’s pretty straining on our program.”

Interested in service or career opportunities with MAF? Click here to see the listings at their website!

But most of all, they could really use your prayers — for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the people they serve, the partners they serve with, and the MAF ministry.

“We would really appreciate prayers for the country. It’s been a year of much instability in different regions and different areas, including the city of Kinshasa where our main base is. So we really covet prayers for the country, for the country’s leaders…. We really appreciate prayers for peace and for opportunities to share Christ’s love with people on a daily basis and to point people in the direction of real hope.”

Mobile medical clinic making its way to refugees across northern Iraq. (Photo courtesy of Christian Aid Mission via Facebook)

In the Kurdish regions of northern Iraq, there aren’t often medical facilities. Even if there are local medical facilities, they can be easily overwhelmed by large refugee populations, and they’re not always accessible.

However, one team of local medical professionals is traveling across northern Iraq from camp to camp bringing their expertise to IDPs. The mobile medical clinic is staffed by Christians and supported by Christian Aid Mission.

Steve Van Valkenburg with Christian Aid Mission explains, “They can see from 100-200 people a day and they can help them with their medical needs. There are doctors, there are nurses, there’s a lab technician, a pediatrician, [and] they have a pharmacy there.

Mobile medical clinic making its way to refugees across northern Iraq. (Photo courtesy of Christian Aid Mission via Facebook)

“There are just many basic needs like infections and things like that that need antibiotics that really doesn’t take a professional to diagnose and prescribe. But there are other things that are far more serious, and without that, they would be dying and more often sick. This allows them to then have a time when they can actually receive medical care; otherwise, there is no medical care available for them.”

For a refugee or internally displaced person, medical assistance can address health issues, but the Christian medical staffers also care about their spiritual well-being.

“Refugees may not have much, but through Jesus Christ, God can be their shepherd, their fortress, and their encouragement. Showing medical love by reaching out…helps them with their physical needs, it helps them emotionally, but also it’s a natural way to share the Gospel.

“They can give out New Testaments, they can verbally share the Gospel, [give out] the mp3 players…. The mp3 players include a Gospel presentation and the New Testament, things like that.”

Mobile medical clinic making its way to refugees across northern Iraq. (Photo courtesy of Christian Aid Mission via Facebook)

However, supplying medical assistance and giving out Gospel materials doesn’t come cheap. It costs $10,000 a month just to keep the mobile medical clinic running.

Van Valkenburg says that’s where the greater Body of Christ comes in. “We can’t be there, but they are there and they’re ministering in the name of Christ. One thing we can do is help them by providing for them the $10,000 a month they need for medicine, and the $10 mp3 players, and also the Bibles [and] New Testaments. Bibles are $5, New Testaments are $3.50. These are all things they can use to go out and touch the hearts and touch the physical lives of these refugees.”

Click here if you’d like to give to Christian Aid Mission’s “where most needed” fund as they support ministries like the mobile medical clinic in Iraq.

And then, here’s a few things you can pray for:

Mobile medical clinic making its way to refugees across northern Iraq. (Photo courtesy of Christian Aid Mission via Facebook)

• Pray for the Christian staff with the mobile medical clinic, that God would give them stamina and boldness as they provide urgently needed medical aid and share the Gospel.
• Ask God to heal the hearts and souls of refugees who may feel confused and worried, that they would find rest in their Heavenly Father and His Word.
• Pray for this medical clinic to receive the funds it needs to stay in service.

Preventable diseases are responsible for the deaths of 9 to 10 million children every year. Even the highest estimates of those dead from Japan and Haiti's earthquakes add up to around 168,000.

However, preventable diseases go rather unrecognized in comparison to other crises.

Bas Vanderzalm with Medical Teams International (MTI) says, "That's a quiet disaster. We often know about famines, and we know about wars and conflicts, but there are these other terrible things going on as well."

Often diseases run rampant due to poor living conditions. Lack of clean water, food and sanitation tend to bring on malaria and diarrheic diseases. Also, parents in impoverished situations who lack adequate  hygiene can unknowingly put their children in jeopardy.

The raw statistics at times can be overwhelming. How much of a difference can one person make? Vanderzalm states, "As I look at it, as a Christian I think to myself, ‘Well, I can't change the entire world, but I need to do what I can.'"

Medical Teams International definitely does all they can. They have been shipping medical and humanitarian aid since 1986. In just the last year alone, they sent $189 million worth of aid supplies to 47 countries.

When Medical Teams International brings aid, they try to target the poorest communities with the greatest needs. They come in with their medical teams and volunteers and not only bring treatments for the issues, but also target the root causes of the issues. This can mean anything from bringing bed nettings in malaria prevention to providing clean water resources.

According to Vanderzalm, it doesn't take much to make a difference. "For $10, you can prevent malaria. For $5, you can provide clean water to a person that would help a child. All of that would reduce the number of children who are dying."

Ultimately, their mission is to show Christ's love along with the aid they provide. Medical Teams International always works alongside local churches or Christian organizations to make it obvious that they are assisting in the name of Christ.

"We provide the healthcare and address some of the health problems," says Vanderzalm. "But we trust that the local churches with which we work will pray with people, will reach their arms out to people, and will also share the love of Christ with them in a language they understand and a culture they're familiar with."

To contribute to the work of Medical Teams International and combat preventable disease, click here.

The UK is joining ranks with several other countries and organizations boycotting Malawian government for failure to respond to issues in their country. There have been several months of diplomatic attempts to resolve Malawi government actions, but to no avail.

Malawi government officials have neglected their duty to human rights, fair governing, and fuel importation issues, and have restricted their people's ability to demonstrate peacefully against government practices.

Amidst the demonstrations and chaos, CURE International has been in the thick of it. Their Malawi base, CURE Malawi, closed at the start of the riots and even had protesters passing as close as their front gate.

CURE Malawi is now operating again and established a security committee to determine which areas are safe and which areas are too dangerous for staff.

For CURE Malawi staff, the danger cannot prevent them from doing what God has called them there to do. They provide medical assistance and surgeries to children who are physically disabled.

Stuart Palmer, CURE Malawi Executive Director, writes in an update, "All non-state owned radio stations have been taken off the air. Only Facebook and Twitter are enabling us all to find out what is happening on the ground. CURE Malawi continues to operate but in a limited capacity for the safety of our staff and patients."

While many demonstrations started out as peaceful, Catherine Ashton, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, stated that police used force and live ammunition to subdue protestors.

As of Friday, July 22, the Ministry of Health and police officials confirmed 18 deaths, 250 arrests, and several critical injuries. Looting by bandits has also occurred under the chaos created by the civil unrest.

With the loss of so much aid and government funding, the needs of the people are only climbing, making CURE Malawi's assistance in the community even more critical, as well as the message of the Gospel they bring.

The people of Malawi are looking for hope in these desperate times. CURE Malawi pairs everything they do with the message of hope in Christ. The Malawian people can find a more stable hope in Christ as government officials disappoint with their actions. Hopefully through CURE Malawi's ministry, they can show the greater assurance of faith in Christ.

Please pray for the safety of the staff with CURE Malawi in these times of tension. Pray also that their medical and evangelistic ministries would only expand and that more people would receive the physical and spiritual healing they need.

Chile's president, Michele Bachelet, declared a "state
of catastrophe" in three central regions of the country. Several hospitals were evacuated, and
communications with Concepcion were knocked out.

The toll is ghastly: the loss of life is climbing, and
damage estimates are in the double-digit billions.

Jeff Palmer is with Baptist Global Response, a key partner
of the Southern Baptist International Mission Board in disaster relief
situations.

He says they have an assessment team en route to support
their team on the ground there. U.S.
headquarters got word from IMB leaders in Chile that all field personnel have
been accounted for and are safe.

In the meantime, Southern Baptists have released $50,000 for immediate relief needs in Chile. Palmer says, "We've already gotten reports
and some requests for help. We're able to provide immediate things like the food, the water, the tent materials,
shelter needs for those who are living outside because either homes have
been damaged or homes have been destroyed, so they need some type of
shelter." 

A compassionate response during a soul-searching time opens
many doors. "By touching people
where they need help physically, by helping them where they are, that's
the first way of ministering to them. Communicating the love of Christ speaks volumes–communicating the love of Christians around
the world who want to respond and help."

Keep praying for the team. Missionaries indicated that on Saturday, they "were stunned, almost
immobilized, but today we are beginning to think about how God can use us." You can help. Click here.

According to the National Disaster Management Agency, 809 people died in the magnitude 7.6 quake. 241 more are listed as missing–numbers
aggravated by temblor-triggered landslides in Padang Pariaman. In addition, 1,250 people are injured and more
than 135,300 buildings severely damaged.

Roadways also collapsed, cutting off access to smaller
villages. Weeks after the initial
quake, there are some villages who have had no help at all. Al Goff with Global Aid Network (GaiN USA) spoke
to us from the United Nations' Disaster Headquarters. "They have been
absolutely beside themselves trying to figure out why nobody has shown
up." 

Aid groups are getting immediate needs met in large-population
centers. Goff says remote villages are
too far down the priority list. "What we've tried to do is really focus our attention in areas that
are very difficult to reach–villages where people just can't get
to."   

GaiN USA is working with local partners to supply food,
water, medical supplies and other essential aid to those who desperately need
it. Their Disaster Assistance Relief
Teams endeavor to adhere to the Code of Conduct for the International Red Cross
and Red Crescent Movement and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in Disaster
Relief and are committed to the Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Disaster
Response (Sphere) in delivering assistance to the most vulnerable.

The areas where they're sending medical teams are
mainly Muslim areas, making ministry trickier. However, Goff says, "What we have generally found
is that when you have gone that far out of your way to help, people do ask for
the hope that is within you. So, we told our people, 'Be absolutely willing to
share, to love, to pray.'" 

You can help. If you're
interested in more details, click here.

The unemployment rate has sky-rocketed to 94 percent. According
to BBC News, the inflation rate is higher than any other independent nation in
the world, and it is thought that around 3,000 people leave Zimbabwe for
neighboring countries, Europe, or the U.S. every day.

"Zimbabwe has just about the worst-performing economy in the
world," according to BBC News.

Global Aid Network reports that it is hard to simply obtain the
basic necessities of food and clean water. Also, hospitals and medical clinic
have deteriorated, and too many people are dying from preventable diseases.

Back in May, GAiN took a short-term team,
consisting of ten members, to Zimbabwe. The team delivered  a 35-foot self-contained medical
mobile unit to help provide for the needs of as many Zimbabweans as possible.

Since May, GAiN has continued their partnership with LIFE
Ministry Zimbabwe in providing medical care and sharing Christ's love and hope
with these people who need it so bad.

Their main goal is to reach the rural areas of Gokwe, Dinga,
Mudzi and Muzarabani with the clinic, as well as the Gospel message. As they establish
the clinic, they will provide basic health care, medical supplies, vaccinations
and treatments for cholera and malaria.

GAiN believes they will be able to impact thousands of people
in this outreach to Zimbabwe. If you would like to help GAiN in this mission,
click here.