The National Evangelical Synod الســينـودس الإنجيــلي الوطــنــي of Syria
and Lebanon
في سورية ولبـــنان
To all
the friends of the NESSL Rabieh
Nov 8, 2013
Dear
friends and partners in the service of God,
Greetings
to you in the precious name of our Lord. Indeed we address you as part of the
family of God, and members of the Body of Christ.
We
praise God who in Christ has given us the hope of eternal life. Our prayer is
that you all be blessed and guided by the Spirit of God.
Friends,
it has been a while since I communicated with you on behalf of the NESSL, due
to the fact that I was visiting with churches in the USA since September 7, I
would like to express deep gratitude to all the friends and churches that
received me and gave me the honor of sharing the ministry of the NESSL among
the Syrian refugees.
I know
all of you have received the first report of the activities of our new relief
program as written by the Rev. Salam Hanna, the director of the program.
Indeed
violence continues to drive many Syrians out of the country, and create larger
groups of displaced inside the country. And there seems not to have much hope
that this tragedy soon comes to an end. And as just been declared by the UN
report almost half the Syrians now have either become refugees, displaced,
and/or have lost home, job, or is able to afford living expenses.
However,
the fear of the Christians is growing by the hour as some Christian communities
and ancient Christian villages are being targeted with no shame. Christian
communities have nothing to do with violence against anybody, rather they
have been advocating peace, reconciliation, and pleading for an end to
this madness going on for almost three years. Yet they have been
attacked, their churches attacked and destroyed, some priests and even bishops
have been kidnaped or disappeared. Even the Papal embassy in Damascus has
received rockets fired by those groups.
This
week Beirut witnessed a special meeting by the Christian leaders of all
traditions to affirm that the Christian community has been in the Middle East,
back to the early church history, a community that experienced much suffering
and continued to be grounded in the soil of the Middle East. It will continue
to witness to its faith in Christ until Christ comes back in His Glory. This
meeting was triggered by the intense attack on Christian villages in Syria in
recent months.
Ancient
town Maaloula, North of Damascus, was surrounded, and then invaded by armed
groups who went into churches, monasteries, and homes, threatened, and
broke icons, crosses causing the residents to flee, until the Syrian army drove
them out, and in the process much destruction took place.
The
town al-Raqqa, near the Turkish boarders, faced similar fate when churches were
attacked and destroyed, and its Christian community had to flee. On the other
hand two other ancient towns, Sadad, and Hafar were
besieged and destroyed, thousands managed to flee, yet
thousands,(1500 families) were held hostage and used as human shields 21-28 October
when the Syrian army drove them
out. During those days children, women, and old people were killed. In an
area not far, three armed militant got the statue of the Virgin Mary
from a church to the street and said: this cannot be permitted in the land
of Islam, only God's religion is allowed. They broke the statue to pieces and
stepped on the pieces. This was shown on TV screens. Other criminal stories are
told all over as to how those groups express hatred for the Christians and
other minority communities.
On the
first of November the NESSL committee on Ecclesial and Spiritual Affairs had its
regular meeting to discuss the needs of congregations, the following story was
told:
"When
the Armed groups invaded Maaloula, three armed men went to a home
where a man who was crippled was with his sister. It was clear that
this is a Christian home with icons.
They
asked the man, are you Christian? He said, yes. They said to him if you become
a Muslim now you will live. He said, no! I am a Christian and that I will die. They
shot him with three shots and killed him. They shot the sister who did not
die." The person who told the story ended it by saying: "Like the
early Christians who went to death for the sake of Christ with happiness.
During
the meeting there was a short report as to what some of our congregations in
Syria are experiencing:
Homs,
the church is completely destroyed, the congregation worships in
several locations.
Aleppo,
church is destroyed; congregation meets in the Pastor's home. Rev. Nsair, shows
deep commitment despite the fact that he was threatened.
Qamishly,
relatively stable, 20% have immigrated.
Hassake,
church and school work normally. However the pastor seems under pressure to
immigrate.
Kharaba,
the curch is occupied by the displaced.
Ghassanieh,
not functioning, 80% have moved to Latakieh, there they hold a worship service
on Saturday, and meet on Sunday with the Latakieh church.
Latakieh,
relatively stable. Hosting many displaced.
Malkieh,
relatively stable, but the pastor has left to Germany.
Oumar,
under pressure, partial services
While
several of our congregations have lost many of its members, other congregations
added members of those who became displaced.
Dear
friends, I have shared with you our situation, in order to urge you
for prayers to God for His mercy, compassion and peace.
Surely,
every day the church receives more requests for help and we have to respond.
Help us continue our ministry which is yours as well.
Thank
you for all you have been to us in this tragic situation.
To God
be the glory.
Mary
Mikhael, on behalf of the NESSL.
P. O. Box
: 70890 Antelias – Lebanon E-mail: nessl@synod-sl.org
ص .ب. 70890 – أنطلياس –
لبنان Phone : +961 4 525030
www.nes-sl.org
هاتف : 525030 4 961 + Fax : +961 4 411184 فاكس
: 411184 4 961 +
