Compassion Protestant Society Conflict Update
Estimates are that more than one million people are currently displaced in Lebanon. Most are from southern Lebanon, having been forced to flee the latest hostilities. Many went to Beirut, but 50 miles north, people in the town of Tripoli saw waves of displaced people arrive.
The National Evangelical Church of Tripoli, one of the churches in the National Evangelical Synod of Syria and Lebanon (NESSL), sought ways to offer relief. At the same time, the Compassion Protestant Society (CPS), the diaconal arm of NESSL, discerned how local churches could respond meaningfully to the growing humanitarian needs of the crisis.
The two groups, CPS and the local church, joined to provide hygiene kits to displaced families located in a school converted into a shelter. On their first visit, they distributed hygiene kits to 55 families. It began as a simple relief initiative, but it quickly became something much deeper.
After just one visit to the shelter, Rev. Rola Sleiman, pastor of the church, shared how profoundly the experience affected both her and the volunteers who accompanied her.
“What we saw was people who are just like us,” she reflected, “They are educated, cultured families who had thriving lives before suddenly losing everything… I cannot help but think it could have been me or any one of us.”
Wanting to do more, the church explored other needs of the displaced families. They learned the shelter wasn’t receiving food on weekends. So the church collected what it could to provide meals for the displaced families living in the shelter.
“We could not simply stand by and do nothing,” Rev Rola reflects, “Even if all we could offer was a meal or maybe two, we wanted these families to know they were not left behind.”
Three months after the first wave of evacuation orders, through a collaboration between CPS, the church, and the Ministry of Social Affairs, the church continues weekly visits to the shelter to offer hot meals. The initiative is evolving beyond emergency food support into broader community solidarity effort. Plans are underway to organize shared meals bringing together displaced and host communities around one table as neighbors.
More than a simple relief effort, the National Evangelical Church of Tripoli has become part of CPS’s goal of strengthening social cohesion in an increasingly polarized environment. The relationships being built today, through these shared meals, can become a way of breaking down the barriers that exist between the various groups in Lebanon.
And for CPS, this initiative reflects a profound lesson.
“Our role goes beyond the mere provision of humanitarian assistance,” reflects CPS’s leadership. “In times of crisis, the Church is called to be a space, and perhaps the only space, of compassion, dignity, encounter, and human connection.”
THE OPPORTUNITY
Pray for the work of CPS as they continue to serve the people of Lebanon and Syria. Pray, too, for wisdom, protection, and peace for Lebanon and the wider region.
In addition, The Outreach Foundation is seeking gifts of any size to support not just the humanitarian relief efforts, but also the ongoing mission and ministry of Compassion Protestant Society. You may make a gift by mailing a check to the address below with CPS on the memo line. You may also make a gift on the GIVE page of our website www.theoutreachfoundation.org.
