The unexpected love for Jesus!
Every Wednesday night, eighty Kurdish men and women meet at our Hope Ministry Center in the Bekaa for a special Bible Study lesson in their mother tongue. Today, while visiting our Hope Center, I was surprised to see that almost half of the group was an hour and a half early, sitting in the Fellowship Hall praying and singing alone. This is dedication. It is the amazing, unexpected love for Jesus that has ignited such zeal in their hearts. God is writing a beautiful story in the lives of the Kurdish refugee population in Lebanon. It is a beautiful story of restoration.
This story started with a food package. A few months ago, and through the humanitarian aid packages distributed to refugee families in great need, our team in the Bekaa Valley met a Kurdish man who had recently came to faith. Khalil has accepted Christ as his personal savior here in Lebanon and was looking for an opportunity to share his faith with the refugee community in the valley. He started volunteering at Heart for Lebanon and was asked three months later to serve with us. His love for Jesus was evident and his passion to reach out to others was real. Along with our team, Khalil has significantly invested time in building relationships, based on trust, with many families. These relationships opened the door for frank and honest conversations about faith and salvation.
The humanitarian distributions that are part of our access ministries are the first step in sharing the love of Jesus in tangible ways with those who are hurting the most. This first step leads to opportunities for in-depth conversations that lead to unprecedented positive responses to the Gospel. But what is humbling the most is to see how energetic and how eager the individuals in our Bible Study and Discipleship groups are to learn.
Six months ago, a handful of Kurds attended our Sunday morning Worship Gathering. Today, over one hundred and twenty Kurdish men and women come every Sunday to our Arabic speaking services and eighty of them have requested a mid-week Bible Study program led in their native language. Watching them worship, pray, and study the Bible in Kurdish is so special.
Khalil, a Kurdish refugee fleeing to Lebanon three years ago, met Jesus while seeking help for his family. Experiencing the unconditional love of Christ, he desired to share that same love with others. Three years later, Khalil preaches the gospel in Kurdish to his own people group. He has unexpectedly encountered an overwhelming love and now, driven by the compassionate heart of Jesus Christ, Khalil, like Heart for Lebanon, is about seeing lives changed and communities transformed.
This unexpected, overwhelming love that started with a food package is now leading men and women to know Christ and to make Him known to others. To reach more refugees with humanitarian aid and the love of Jesus, click here.
