Thank you to the Lutheran Women's Missionary League (LWML) for its support of LHM's outreach to refugees in Lebanon. LWML President Patti Ross presented LHM President & CEO Kurt Buchholz with a grants check for $72,000 while the LWML Executive Committee met at LHM's headquarters Feb. 3.
The grant to assist LHM's "Mission Outreach to At-Risk Women and Children in Refugee Camps—Lebanon" project was approved during last summer's LWML National Convention. The goals of the project are:
• To share the Good News of salvation through Jesus Christ to the Muslim Arabic-speaking people and to form relationships that enable Lutheran Hour Ministries to freely and personally share God's Word through outreach meetings and events; and
• To provide relief to the women and children in the refugee camps with basic humanitarian supplies including food staples and hygiene kits so that they can live with dignity; and
• To influence long-term growth and expansion of the Gospel to destitute women and children living in refugee camps now and after they return to their country.
An estimated 9 million Syrians have fled their homes since the outbreak of civil war in March 2011, with about 3 million seeking refuge in the neighboring countries of Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan, and Iraq. Many of these refugees are women and children who not only are at risk for the bare necessities of food and essential household items but face uncertainty and insecurity in Lebanon after fleeing their homes hurriedly and leaving most of their personal assets behind. Many women also tell stories of fleeing for fear of abuse or torture and talk of lost relatives, destroyed homes, and little or nothing to which to return.
During frequent visits to the camps, LHM—Lebanon staff builds one-on-one relationships with the refugee families and large groups of children. This allows them to share the Gospel while also providing care for their physical needs that larger refugee-assistance agencies may not realize. To date, LHM has served thousands of refugees in this region with humanitarian assistance and with a personal witness of Christ's love for them.
"We are proud to partner with the LWML by coming together in mission to share God's Word with those who have not heard it," said Buchholz. In addition to receiving the grants check following LHM's weekly chapel service, Buchholz presented Ross with a replica of Lutheran Hour Ministries' processional cross.