Pierre Houssney with Horizons International says that in Lebanon there is mounting pressure toward forced repatriation as a solution.

“It’s like this stick. We’re threatening [Syrians] with a stick and making life more miserable for refugees here in Lebanon, with hopes that things will get miserable enough that they will find it less miserable in Syria,” Houssney explains. 

Throughout Lebanon, Horizons staff members meet with people in their homes to share the Gospel and pray together.
(Photo, caption courtesy of Horizons International)

“Well, that’s a whole lot of misery, and that’s really not a good solution.” 

In the midst of these challenges for the Syrian people they love and serve, Horizons sees a new gospel opportunity. Houssney explains that they are making plans for a different approach to repatriation.

“Because of the recent climate in Lebanon, we’ve been thinking about and working on plans to work with evangelical churches that we already partner with in Syria. [This would mean] trying to re-place believing refugees who have come to Christ here in Lebanon, [sending] them almost as missionaries back into Syria,” says Houssney. 

The ministry partners with evangelical churches in northern Syria, with whom they have labored to assess and renovate homes damaged in the 2023 earthquakes. That network would be the framework through which Horizons would not only send believers but also also “support them, and help them to get plugged into church communities, so that we can actually start reviving the Syrian society,” Houssney says. 

No path will be easy. Houssney says ongoing conflict zones, the threat of army conscription and even of blacklisting by the Syrian government are grim realities for Syrians. 

Pray for wisdom and courage for these believers and for this network of churches. Pray for God to build up His Church and bring stability. 

For firsthand accounts of the ministry with Horizons, consider joining one of the video calls they host.

“We call them digital roundtables, where people are literally just able to ask open questions to the people that are on the field here in Lebanon,” says Houssney. 

Click here to check out recent roundtables. Sign up for Horizons newsletters to keep informed about upcoming roundtable calls.

Header photo of refugees living in an abandoned factory near Saida, Lebanon courtesy of Anthony Gale via Flickr.

The Lebanese military raided homes and detained up to 100 refugees throughout the month. Then, armed forces reportedly drove the refugees across the border, handing them over to the Syrian military in batches.

Heart for Lebanon’s Camille Melki says the Syrian refugee population makes an easy scapegoat.

“Lebanese politicians are deceiving the population by convincing them that all their problems are because of the Syrian refugees in our country,” Melki says.

Lebanon is in one of the world’s most severe and prolonged financial crises. In March, Lebanon switched its currency to dollars to save its failed economy.

This “dollarization” set up another barrier for Syrian refugees in Lebanese society.

“Some of the Syrian refugees receive help from UNHCR [and] they receive that (aid) in U.S. dollars. They can then go to the bank and withdraw around $17 to $23 a month from the ATM,” Melki says.

It’s not a significant amount of money, but “[the average] Lebanese has no access to any U.S. banknotes,” he adds, saying that politicians quickly turn this disparity into ammunition.

“The Lebanese authorities and politicians [say], ‘The Syrian refugees are taking your banknotes; they are creating this downfall in the economy.’”

“We don’t differentiate between refugees and the local population. Hungry people are individuals created in God’s own liking (image), not after any political leader in Syria or a political leader in Lebanon.”
(Photo courtesy of Heart for Lebanon)

Pray Syrian refugees will place their faith in God as they experience His love through Heart for Lebanon. Learn how you can support Heart for Lebanon’s work here.

“We don’t draw a line between local and refugee people. Hungry people are individuals created in God’s own liking (image), not after any political leader in Syria or a political leader in Lebanon,” Melki says.

“Heart for Lebanon [balances] what we provide to the refugee population and the local host communities in order to help both move from despair to hope in Christ.”

Header and story images courtesy of Heart for Lebanon.

The report comes from a U.N. refugee agency. They noted more confrontations occurring at bakeries, where refugees have often been made to wait for bread behind Lebanese citizens.

Rawan Haddad with Tent schools International says, “The situation of the refugees is sometimes better than most Lebanese. Nations do provide basic support and limited facilities for refugees. But the Lebanese below the poverty line have no one to support them.”

Difficult conditions

Haddad recently traveled to Lebanon. She saw shortages of bread, flour, and medicine. People don’t make enough to buy what they need, and the government won’t help.

With these concerns in mind, Lebanese officials have announced plans to repatriate refugees back to Syria. Haddad says, “Despite this, Lebanon cannot return them to Syria, because the European countries will not agree to it.”

Tent Schools

Tent Schools continues working to provide education for refugees in Lebanon. Haddad says, “Please continue to pray for Tent Schools International, so we can continue to help the children and their families there. Because this next generation of children needs love, compassion and attention.”

“They need a place to grow mentally, emotionally, physically and educationally, more than ever before.”

Pray for healing to come to Lebanon. And pray for stability in the economic situation of the Middle East.

Header photo courtesy of Tent Schools International on Facebook. 

Concerns

The UN and rights groups oppose the move, saying involuntary repatriation puts the refugees at risk.

Nuna with Triumphant Mercy Lebanon says, “The reality is that Syrian refugees don’t want to go back. They are not sure that they will actually not be taken to prison. There is no assurance that they will not be taken to prison, forced to join the army, or anything like that.”

The Lebanese minister of refugees will go to Syria and oversee infrastructure for the returning refugees. But many refugees doubt the infrastructure will actually be ready for them.

Preparation

TM Lebanon has begun preparing refugees for the return. Nuna says, “Even our teachers are saying, ‘We’re going to train you to go back and open your own little education centers to your own neighborhoods and your own surroundings. You have so many skills now. We have trained you so much. Maybe now we can train you how to actually start something.'”

“We’re trying to push them to become a solution for their country.”

TM Lebanon will continue communicating with the refugees and helping them, even once they return to Syria, Nuna says. “We’re not leaving them. We will still be with them.”

Ask God to give the TM Lebanon staff wisdom as they navigate this difficult and ever-changing situation. Nuna says, “We have to discern if this is good or not good. Is this just a political game? What is it?”

Also, ask God to comfort and strengthen the refugees.

Header photo courtesy of Triumphant Mercy Lebanon on Facebook.

The Syrian refugees returning from Lebanon represent just a drop in the bucket. While each individual government works out how and when to start the reparation process, Syria’s public administration minister Hussein Makhlouf says over half of the six million internally displaced Syrians have gone home.

Syrian president Bashar al Assad is eager to show that his government has regained control and territory from the rebels after eight years of civil war. Makhlouf says 5,000 schools and 250 hospitals have been restored by the government.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees asserts that Syria is still too dangerous to return to. However, they are willing to help home-going refugees with documentation and to make sure their returns are voluntary.

Denise Godwin with International Media Ministries says that for displaced Syrians, the longing to go home is real.

“I was at a conference and there were some Syrian refugees and people working with them that said there is such a desire to go back and rebuild their country. I thought, isn’t that interesting? Some of us think if there is war, we’re just going to run away and we’re never going to go back. But there is this heart’s desire to go home and to fix what was broken.”

(Photo courtesy of International Media Ministries)

IMM creates videos that share the Gospel with the intent to put Jesus on every screen in the world. The ministry is currently working on a video series called The Heritage Project. It tells the stories of early Christians in North Africa.

One story is of Quodvultdeus, a Christian man who was exiled with other believers and became a refugee himself.

Godwin explains, “He and his fellow believers were expelled from what is now Tunisia, but at the time it was Carthage. They were expelled in a boat that the conquering people, the Vandals, thought would sink. But God miraculously brought them to be refugees in Italy.

“They start building a community and again asking, ‘What does God want of us while we’re here?’ Quodvultdeus really leads his people to recognize that Carthage isn’t our home and neither is Rome, neither is Italy. Our true home is with God in Heaven…and how can we serve Him where we are — wherever that is and whenever that is — as we keep our true hope in Heaven?”

(Image courtesy of International Media Ministries)

Quodvultdeus’ story in The Heritage Project will soon encourage other Christian refugees in the Middle East and North Africa when it broadcasts.

“We have several different outlets,” says Godwin. “There are some satellite channels that are planning to broadcast through North Africa and the Middle East, not just in Arabic or one of the larger languages, but also in some of the smaller heart languages of regional people.

“We also have an internet TV channel that is interested in using these, as well as the local workers who have great plans — sometimes at personal risk — to get these onto screens, maybe have showings in towns or in churches and get people in front of these stories.”

Among The Heritage Project’s eight video stories, there are several accounts of men and women in North Africa who were part of the early Church’s greater story. Godwin suggests that really, these stories are relevant to Christians across the globe as well.

“We all have a heritage that comes from these North Africans who helped support the Church at a time when it was persecuted, when it was challenged. I think as believers all over the world, we can look back and gather strength from these people who stood for truth in times when it meant persecution. It was hard. But today, we as believers can stand ourselves, strong in our faith, but also stand with refugees and people who are persecuted.”

(Photo courtesy of International Media Ministries)

IMM’s process of filming for The Heritage Project has even become an outreach in itself. “We have had people from North Africa who volunteered to be extras who aren’t believers. So here we are on set sharing with them the purpose of these stories and asking them to participate. So we just need God’s anointing and touch on every aspect of this.”

To that end, you can give in support of The Heritage Project with IMM! And please pray for IMM as they finish filming for The Heritage Project.

Godwin says, “Right now we are doing the drama part of the Heritage Project stories and while we’re doing this we find some pretty intense spiritual attacks, that there is an opposition to what we’re doing. We really covet people’s prayers over our team members, over our volunteers, over our travel, over the vehicles we’re in, over the equipment we’re using, and just that we would have wisdom and creativity in everything we do.”

Pray for refugees in the MENA region, especially Syrian refugees going home, to rest in God’s guidance and comfort. Ask the Lord to strengthen the Church in Syria and that local believers would sense His calling to reach their nation for His glory.

Header photo courtesy of Open Doors USA.

The Rohingya people are a stateless minority from Myanmar who fled ethnic violence. Many of them ended up in Bangladesh. While the repatriation process was postponed, most have no desire to return to Myanmar.

(Photo courtesy of Food for the Hungry)

The Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh is now the largest in the world with over one million people. But it is not in a great spot.

Gary Edmonds with Food for the Hungry explains, “They have…created these what are called ‘spontaneous settlements’. In other words, they find some open land [and] they find some places where they try to create a little bit of shelter, get some food, water, [and] sanitation conditions. But it so happens that where they have settled is also in a highly vulnerable floodplain.”

The monsoon rain in the refugee camp brings the dangers of collapsing buildings and tents, floods, landslides, and waterborne diseases. Bangladesh’s monsoon season typically lasts from June to October. The first weekend of monsoon season in early June saw 15 inches of rain and winds roaring in at 43 miles per hour.

“With the rains as well as these very, very concentrated living environments, you’ve got a situation where malaria, cholera, diphtheria — waterborne illnesses — are likely to be spread, and spread rapidly.”

Food for the Hungry is trying to get ahead of the problem in the Rohingya refugee camp, along with fellow ministry partners.

(Photo courtesy of Food for the Hungry)

“We have been a part with Medical Teams International of building health clinics…and then educating the people and training healthcare workers to allow them to navigate this kind of a season. [The problem is] you just can’t get to the health clinics right now. Roads are literally washed out. There is no way of transport.”

Part of the solution is to train local Rohingya people in disease prevention and sanitation so they can teach others in the camps. Footbridges will also hopefully be built over flooded roads and gullies so people can still get across.

Tangible aid is also still needed. “We try to equip them as best we can with boots and rain slickers and garments and so forth…. The second side of it is to get clean water and to get food to these people. That’s what Food for the Hungry is working at as well right now.”

As Edmonds puts it, “A hard place has simply just become harder for us to work and operate in. But nevertheless, it doesn’t inhibit us in a sense and it doesn’t create a situation where we’re simply just trying to wait it out.”

As believers, there are multiple things we can do to respond to the Rohingya crisis. But one thing we can’t do as a Church is nothing.

Zohrab is one of thousands of Rohingya mothers who fled Bangladesh and barely survived with her baby, Noor. (Photo, caption courtesy of Food for the Hungry)

“This is the kind of thing that breaks God’s heart as a father who has created these people in His image. Therefore, might it break our heart in such a way that it will lead us to respond, and respond appropriately [at] this time in history. I think this is one of the crucial ways that we can be witnesses to the love and the grace of God that comes to us through Jesus Christ.”

Edmonds suggests, “First of all, search, go on the web, get yourself educated. Many, many people are not educated about the Rohingya people and the crisis and all that is happening. This is viewed as likely one of the biggest humanitarian emergencies of history — more than one million people who are stateless people.”

Additionally, Father’s Day was earlier this week. With this focus recently on our minds, Edmonds says we can pray that the Rohingya people would come to know their Heavenly Father.

“God the Father has actually fashioned, created these people. They are handmade people by the Father of Heaven. He loves them,…He knows them by name, He knows their gifts and their skills and their abilities. So pray that God would intervene.

“Then lastly, if you are inclined, if you are looking at this, we would love for people to give. This is one of those kinds of crisis areas. We do get some grants from larger groups, UN bodies, and so forth, but we need to constantly supplement that for our staff. Private donations, people who give, churches who give are the instrumental way for us to actually respond.”

Click here to give to FH’s Rohingya Refugee Crisis fund!

(Header photo courtesy of Jordi Bernabeu Farrús via Flickr: https://goo.gl/daSWrS)

The United Nations General Assembly committee demanded last week that Myanmar end the military campaign targeting Rohingya which has “led to the systematic violation and abuse of human rights”.

Shep Owen with Food for the Hungry says, “The people are still arriving every day and the current number of refugees is estimated at around 800,000. When this began a couple of months ago, the population was in the high 300,000s…. Fifty-two percent of the refugees are children, which is an interesting and alarming statistic.”

A Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh. (Photo courtesy of FMI)

According to CNN, the estimated number of Rohingya refugees is estimated to grow past one million in the coming weeks. And those arriving every day in Bangladesh are in desperate need.

The International Research Committee says 40,000 Rohingya children currently need life-saving treatment for malnutrition. Three-quarters of Rohingya refugees have a lack of food and 95 percent are drinking unclean water.

On Monday, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi proposed that Myanmar enact a ceasefire to end the ethnic cleansing, begin repatriation of Rohingya refugees, and work towards a long-term poverty alleviation solution. Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s de facto leader, said Rohingya who can prove they were residents in Myanmar would be allowed to return.

But with their homes destroyed and their communities scattered, what is there to go back to? And is it safe or even advisable?

Currently, Myanmar plans to resettle most returning refugees in new “model villages”. The UN has criticized this move, saying it would just be creating permanent camps to contain the Rohingya within Myanmar.

Of the Rohingya, Owen says, “They are a group of Muslim people who live in a primarily Buddhist area that borders Myanmar and Bangladesh, and it’s an area that has been a bit disputed in terms of which country they belong to.”

Myanmar is a Buddhist-majority nation, and the Muslim Rohingya minority has suffered severe oppression for generations. The government has denied them citizenship and refused to recognize them as an ethnic group.

Food for the Hungry has been working in Bangladesh since 1971. They primarily serve communities with long-term development programs to enact sustainable solutions to poverty.

“We’ve been monitoring the [Rohingya refugee] problem for some years actually. This has been brewing and it’s really hit a peak this last year. So we decided we can no longer simply just watch the situation and realized the government and the actors that were responding needed help. We went in quickly to do an assessment with some partners, including the teams that are with one of our partners on the ground right now.”

As FH works with government and humanitarian agencies to provide aid for Rohingya, Owen says they could really use the support and prayers of the Body of Christ.

“[Be in] prayer primarily for obviously the refugees, but also for the political situation in Myanmar and also between Myanmar and Bangladesh…. Pray for our teams as we work there, that they’ll be safe and that the government of Bangladesh will continue to be a helpful partner in allowing us to help there.”

If you’d like to give in support of FH’s aid work among the Rohingya, click here.

Header photo courtesy of Jordi Bernabeu Farrús via Flickr: https://goo.gl/daSWrS

It was the deadline for Christians from South Sudan to
either leave or be stripped of their rights. Since the secession from the North, the Khartoum government began
registering Southern Sudanese as foreigners.

Carl Moeller, president and CEO of Open Doors USA, confirms
that a majority of them were stripped of their identity cards and other
documents, and most don't have the money to pay the hefty registration fees. That leaves many in limbo. "There's been
no process, there's been no clarity to that, so it has put Christians in an
extremely precarious place because at any moment the government could begin
to act in very aggressive ways toward this group and claim this deadline as a
pretext."

Moeller goes on to explain that "one of the process
problems, of course, is how do they either apply for official repatriation to
the South, or the process by which they would approach a new citizenship in North Sudan?" 

South Sudanese Christians fear authorities will use the
occasion to rid the country of Christianity, according to the CDN report. Although Khartoum denies it, Moeller says
it's hard to believe religious rights are not  involved. "This is a very strong concern of ours
because the idea of religious cleansing is really behind this. Many in the North, from an extremist Muslim viewpoint, are calling Christians a 'cancer' in their country. This is often the kind of language that's
used before more aggressive actions take place."

Human rights organizations have called on Khartoum to grant
them more time to either leave or apply for citizenship. However, Moeller says the effect can already be felt in
Sudan's churches. "Churches have
been, for the last several months, increasingly closing and emptying because
people are leaving. They are fleeing to the South. Many who can't or won't leave, for a variety
of reasons, still want to maintain their Christian identity, but it's becoming
increasingly difficult to do so."

South Sudan seceded from Sudan in a referendum last July 9.
The government of Sudan has begun issuing national numbers to designate
citizens of Sudan, denying the designation to Sudanese of southern origin.
Without a national number, Southern Sudanese have no citizenship rights to work
or to get an education. Moeller says, "They will officially have no rights, and if
persecution does break out more aggressively, as it has in the past against
those Christians, they could be extremely vulnerable, without any legal
recourse."

However, Southern Sudanese may not be welcome in South
Sudan, either. Moeller explains, "What's next for the Christians who try
to flee to South Sudan? There's no guarantee that they would even be admitted,
because again, this is a very turbulent time where some of the issues of
repatriation haven't even been addressed yet."

What does the future hold for the Church of Sudan and South
Sudan? Chaos makes it hard to lay down
plans for any kind of ministry. Moeller
says while that won't stop the Gospel, please pray for believers trapped in the
situation. "This is the Church that
has endured great suffering and has come through that suffering with a profound
faith. They truly believe that God has a plan through all of the turmoil and
all of the persecution that they're enduring."