Refugee Appeal - August 2021

Misery “by the numbers”

In this broken world, 1 out of every 95 people has been forced to flee their home---and many cannot go back. Let that sink in….

In round numbers, lives displaced by manmade disasters (like war) or natural ones (like volcanoes) are 82.4 million: that is slightly less than the entire population of Germany…. or more than 4 times the population of the Netherlands. Need to bring that a bit closer to home? Think the citizens of California + Texas + Ohio running for their lives.

Some flee to other parts of their own country---we call them “displaced.” If they cross borders, they become “refugees.” Within both groups, 50% are children.

Refugee Appeal - December 2020 Update

…an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him. Mathew 2:13

With a global pandemic raging, they no longer get front-page billing. But in this Christmas season, it is well worth remembering that the Babe born in Bethlehem was one, for a time: a refugee.

These refugees whom The Outreach Foundation has served since 2012 and whom you have supported, came into Lebanon from Syria during the long war and from Iraq, beginning in 2014 because of ISIS. They have been cared for by our partners in tender, life-giving ways. Here is one of their stories…

Refugee/Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) Appeal - January 2019

Generous friends,

Late last fall, we sent this word on behalf of the three Christian refugee ministries with which we partner in Lebanon and Jordan: “winter is coming.” Your response over the next month allowed us to make available $25,000 to be shared by Together for the Family and Our Lady Dispensary in Lebanon and the Orthodox Initiative of the Middle East Council of Churches in Jordan. Soon, food parcels, blankets and heaters plus medicines and assistance with rent were bringing Light and Hope to thousands of Syrians and Iraqis, both Muslim and Christian. In Lebanon’s Beqaa Valley, where Together for the Family serves many who live in tents, the context turned dire recently when intense winter storms brought bitter temperatures along with rain and snow. On January 16th I received an unsettling update on these vulnerable Syrian refugees from Mrs. Izdihar Kassis, founder and director for Together for the Family:

Middle East, ProjectsThe Outreach FoundationJanuary 29, 2019Refugee IDP Appeal, lebanon, Jordan

Refugee/Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) Appeal - March 2018 Update

Every blessing you receive is for you to be grateful and to pass it on. We remain committed to our mission, the mission that our Lord Jesus Christ entrusted to us: we must continue to be there for the stranger, the refugee, the child and the most vulnerable. We want to be his ambassadors, and we are always open to be used as tools for our Lord. We are aware that with the little we offer to those people we are making a big difference. This is an opportunity for everyone to step in with us, hand in hand, to continue this work, as partnership is what our Lord Jesus Christ meant when he said, “for where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” These words of Wafa Goussous, who directs the Orthodox Initiative (of the Middle East Council of Churches) in Amman, come from deep within her heart. For it is into the midst of her nation of Jordan that tens of thousands of Syrian and Iraqi refugees have sought safety and help... and The Outreach Foundation has come alongside this ministry, over the past two years, supported by your generous gifts.

Middle East, ProjectsThe Outreach FoundationMarch 7, 2018Refugee IDP Appeal, Jordan

Refugee/Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) Appeal - November 2017

The Years the Locusts Have Eaten

How does one keep faith following a sustained tragedy? The prophet Joel importuned God, in the aftermath of a disaster in Judah, concerned that even the priests were doubting God’s presence asking, “Where is their God?!?” God responded, taking “pity on his people”: I am sending you grain, new wine and olive oil, enough to satisfy you fully; never again will I make you an object of scorn to the nations…I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten…

In August, I spent a week with Outreach partners in Jordan who are ministering to refugees in Jordan. The Orthodox Initiative, which we support, is under the umbrella of the Middle East Council of Churches; its director, Wafa Gassous, has a huge heart for Iraqi Christians who were driven out of their homes by ISIS in Mosul and from the surrounding villages. 250 of these families have found a haven at the Syrian Orthodox Church in Amman. I was with them on the morning when modest food parcels were distributed: rice, sugar, flour, pasta, tomato sauce, tuna, corned beef, oil and tea filled bright blue bags, neatly arranged in the courtyard of the church. Inside the crowded church hall, the families gathered. As their names were called, they came up to a table in front and presented their “ID” – for all of them, this was a photocopy of their UNHCR Asylum Seeker Certificate. They were given a slip of paper and then took that “receipt” out to the courtyard to receive their parcel.

The Outreach FoundationNovember 3, 2017Refugee IDP Appeal, Syria, Jordan

Refugee/IDP Appeal - July 2016 Update

by Marilyn Borst

In the midst of multiple crises unfolding in the Middle East, The Outreach Foundation has used your generous gifts to strengthen the hands of Christian partners in the region. They are the face of Christ to many who have lost everything…
JORDAN
Siham and Jeries Abd Rabbo are a Palestinian couple from Bethlehem who are serving Muslim refugees on behalf of the Shepherd Society – the mission outreach of Bethlehem Bible College.

Partner Updates

Misery “by the numbers”