Lebanon #1: Beautiful Ministry Visits in Beautiful Beirut
Beautiful Ministry Visits in Beautiful Beirut
By Nancy Fox
Outreach Trustee, National Presbyterian Church, Washington, D.C.
Three board members of The Outreach Foundation gathered over a few days for partner visits in and around Beirut, Lebanon; first Lois Andrews, then Rev. Nancy Fox, and finally Rev. Lisa Culpepper. Rev. Linda Macktaby, Director of two Beirut partner ministries, Home of Hope in Beirut and Blessed School, served as our capable host, guide, and teacher.
The over-arching theme was the challenge of ministry – and simply of daily life – in Beirut since Lebanon’s economic collapse has catastrophically plunged the middle class into poverty. Even servants such as teachers are reluctant to work because transportation to their schools costs more than they are paid. Hunger and food deprivation are widespread and effects are visible everywhere.
Because students are on summer break, we simply toured the facility of Blessed School, also a training center, focused on special needs populations of children and young adults who are blind, on the autism spectrum, or with other special needs. The focus is on loving the children and clients and preparing them for either independent living or to contribute to their self-support with skills in carpentry, mosaic artistry, weaving, and other handicrafts as well as cooking or simple mechanics. The school was out of session, but we were able to see the various training centers and how the center has been restored after the destruction of the Beirut port explosion a few years ago.
We also visited Home of Hope, a residential program that serves kids and young adults, ages 6-19, who are assigned by the courts because of abuse, neglect or trafficking. Home of Hope helps them find their passions and then learn and grow in those so they can support themselves. Joining a couple of classes to read and do math with the students was inspiring and even intimidating! One young teen can speak and read in five languages! It was a privilege to meet the new director of Home of Hope, Caroline, who will soon take over leading the ministry.
Linda then included us in a quick food distribution trip. We helped load the van with simple but fresh, hot, and nutritious meals. The meals were nicely packaged by women who were paid but otherwise would have no income. As we drove through the city, we looked for people scavenging for food or living under bridges, stopped the van, and simply handed them the meal with a fork and clean napkin and a brief greeting or non-sectarian blessing. It did not take long to give away forty meals!
On day three, we drove to the Bekaa Valley to visit the center for Together for the Family (TFF), gradually built up by Izdihar Kassis into a lovely oasis in the desert. Many ministries in that space are now inside shipping containers, which make small but serviceable training rooms connected together to make a lovely campus with gardens and murals created by the children. Izdihar spoke to us of the particular need for regular funding for their Baby Ministry, which has been paused for lack of funds. TFF is seeking supporters who will commit to regular support for a baby for a year – they would like to be helping 90 babies and their families with basic necessities: clothes, medicine and medical care, diapers, and parenting skill training.
We visited TFF’s sewing and beauty schools and saw the woodworking and electrical skill training centers. Such skills enable young people to have other opportunities for income and employment and thus avoid working in the fields, which are dangerous, especially for young women. We learned that TFF has a new psychologist to help with trauma counseling and trauma healing groups for children and young people, especially for young women who have been raped while working in the fields.
We returned to Damascus to meet Grace Boustani, Director of Our Lady Dispensary (OLD), which also provides trauma care and counseling and provides practical help for social and psychological support, and medical help. OLD is in a neighborhood in Beirut that holds many immigrants and refugees. We enjoyed a special prayer time together with Grace, for all those people with intense needs whom she is seeking to help and support.
Sunday morning, we joined for worship in the oldest Reformed Church in the Middle East, the National Evangelical Church established in Beirut by Presbyterian missionaries. Pastor Linda Macktaby led the service and Pastor Nancy Fox brought greetings from The Outreach Foundation. Pastor Linda preached from John 9, highlighting God’s gifts of special needs children and adults.
Following worship, we enjoyed a beautiful lunch on the Mediterranean with Linda and our driver before departing for the women’s retreat in the mountains. The beauty of the ministries we visited is in stark contrast to the painful and even dark situations that have made these various ministries necessary. As we read in Isaiah 61:1-3, it is in the midst of great suffering that God sends his Servant(s):
“The Lord…appointed me to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor…
and provide for those who grieve…
to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes…
the oil of joy instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.”
