Cuba Update - November 2016

Much has been in the news over the past months about the improving of relations between the U.S. and Cuba. For those of us who are not just “Cuba watchers” but “Cuba goers,” the changes occurring, as a result, are a mixed blessing. Charter companies were once the only way to get to the island and involved complex reservations and long check-in processes. Now, commercial flights have begun, and you can book online. On the other hand, more travelers are now flooding the island, both from the U.S. and elsewhere, making the limited number of hotel rooms both scarcer and pricier. Our partners in Cuba (the Presbyterian Reformed Church in Cuba and the Matanzas Evangelical Theological Seminary) also see the “good and the bad” of it all.

Syria Relief - September 2014 Update

“Exuberant” would be the first word which comes to mind when you meet Rev. Ma’an Bitar. Pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Mhardeh (Ma-har´-day), he follows in the footsteps of his father, who was pastor there before him. Located about 20 miles northwest of Hama on a major and strategic road to the nearby mountains, this village of about 23,000 is almost completely Greek Orthodox, except for the 1,200 Presbyterians who call it home. And for the last few months, it has been caught in the cross fire of the sundry wars raging inside Syria.

Middle East, Projects, MissionariesThe Outreach FoundationSeptember 25, 2014Syria Appeal, Syria, Marilyn Borst

Syria Relief - July 2014 Update

…teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age…

This familiar closing to the “Great Commission” of Jesus has taken on a deeply personal meeting to the Rev. Mofid Karajili, pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Homs. Arriving as the new pastor for 140 families, following the 37-year tenure of its previous shepherd, the Rev. Samuel Hanna, the war was beginning to make itself felt, intermittently at first, in this large city. Within a few months, the city was besieged, half of the families had fled as their homes and businesses were destroyed, and in May 2012, heavy shelling in the area brought down large sections of the sanctuary roof, knocked out all the utilities and blew apart most of the pews.

Middle East, Projects, MissionariesThe Outreach FoundationJuly 22, 2014Syria Appeal, Syria, Marilyn Borst

Syria Relief - April 2014 Update

What are the things that might keep you away from church on any given Sunday? Perhaps, you were worn out by a long week of work, or maybe a cold or allergies have you feeling punk. Depending on where you live, weather can easily be a determinate; yet one more snowstorm or torrential rains that make getting out just too much work. And, if we are willing to admit it, there are those Sundays when our favorite preaching pastor is out of the pulpit. I, like many of you, have given myself a “pass” on a Sabbath morning, using many of these excuses. But their shadowy “validity” left me feeling a bit sheepish, as they made a review through my head on a Sunday this January when I and our team from The Outreach Foundation sat in worship in the Presbyterian Church in Damascus.

Middle East, Projects, MissionariesThe Outreach FoundationApril 3, 2014Syria Appeal, Syria, Marilyn Borst

Syria Relief Update - February 2014

“Living in a ring of fire” is the expression used by the Rev. Adeeb Awad, Vice-Moderator of the National Evangelical Synod of Syria and Lebanon, to describe what it is like to be a Presbyterian pastor in Syria today.

Middle East, ProjectsThe Outreach FoundationFebruary 11, 2014Syria Appeal, Syria, Marilyn Borst

Syria Relief Update

Dear Friends in Christ’s Mission,

On May 21, the nine-member Outreach Foundation mission-vision team (from GA, TX, CA, AL, NY, VA and NE) also found ourselves overlooking a valley…the legendary Bekaa Valley of Lebanon, dotted with fertile fields and small villages, snow still topping the mountains which frame it, and Mt. Hermon looming majestically over it all at 10,000 feet.

Projects, Middle EastThe Outreach FoundationJune 13, 2013Marilyn Borst, Syria Appeal, Syria

Partner Updates