Reflections

Why Lebanon?

Invitation to CBM to come and celebrate with one of their partners as they celebrated 25 years as an organization. This invitation went out to partners around the world, and in order to make the celebration longer than just a couple of days, they arranged for a few events to all happen back to back to back… so we attended the Middle East Consultation, the LSESD 25th Anniversary Celebration and Conference and the ABTS Graduation. Our team had a couple of days on either end of this string of events, so that we also had some opportunities to be at a local church on both Sundays, to do a bit of extra sightseeing, and to be with the CBM field staff.

And so, CBM invited a group of mostly pastors from across Canada to join in.

From Truro and Halifax (Nova Scotia) Michael & Hannah and Rhonda

From the GTA, Jonathan who was himself Global Field Staff with CBM in Rwanda a few years ago, CBM Executive Director Jennifer Lau & Adrian Gardner who is the Director of Canadian Partnerships, as well as Meredith who is a chair of the board at a CBOQ church.

From FBC Regina, Cheryl who is their pastor of Children & Family

And then Peter & Wendy, a couple from Calgary, who have been longtime CBM supporters and who have been particularly committed to CBM’s partnerships in the MENA region.

And we were hosted by the CBM Field Staff in Lebanon:

Elie & Mireille Haddad,

Joe Bridi and

Evangeline (Evie) Hammond who just arrived in Lebanon a couple of weeks before we did, after working for the last couple of years at Gull Lake Camp in Central Alberta but who is now settling in Lebanon longterm as she is marrying a Lebanese man she met while studying in Lebanon a few years ago.

What did we do?

There were three main aspects to the trip: 1 – Learning. 

This is an opportunity for you to learn and grow as a leader as you spend time with gifted leaders from the Global South.

2 – Encouragement. 

We have been invited by the partner as they celebrate.  They will be encouraged by the fact that you have made the effort to be with them in solidarity.

3 – Dreaming. 

When you have opportunity to travel like this and visit global partners and projects you can explore opportunities for your church to potentially partner in the future.

LSESD to Thimar

Thimar has a holistic approach to ministry that combines the demonstration and the proclamation of the gospel. As explained by the Micah Declaration on Integral Mission: “If we ignore the world we betray the word of God, which sends us out to serve the world. If we ignore the word of God we have nothing to bring to the world”. Thimar also applies an integrated approach to ministry where each one of LSESD’s six ministries complements the other in its own field of expertise. This enables LSESD to tackle issues and challenges from different angles rendering the suggested solutions and impact more durable and holistic.

Thimar passionately serves the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region through its six specialized ‘branches’ or ministries. These ministries are divided into three areas of focus.

Visited, met staff, saw the fruit of most/all of these branches of Thimar’s work.

CBM partners with Thimar in two main ways:

ABTS - Arab Baptist Theological Seminary

Elie Haddad is the President of ABTS and one of the professors

MERATH - Middle East Revive and Thrive - the Relief & Community Development branch of Thimar

So, how was it?

Amazing, inspiring, heartbreaking, transformative, encouraging, eye-opening, challenging…

But let me share one main takeaway…

The privilege of travel - even with delayed and cancelled flights, running through the Paris, Frankfurt, Amsterdam and Vancouver airports, and a suitcase that in both directions, thought that styaing an extra 24hrs in whatever European city we stopped in, travel is absolutely a privilege.

One of the main privileges of this trip for me turned out to be taking the role of GUEST.

I was invited, by both Thimar and CBM and was not in charge of my own trip, my own itinerary, my food, my accommodation, or my daily schedule. And, I like to be in charge of all of those things.

But when we take the posture of being a guest, a space opens up… in us.

Being a guest in Lebanon was a surprise. Surprisingly elegant and generosity that I can only describe as “killing the fatted calf”…

Dinner in an olive grove…

It was a delicious trip. With the best hummus of my life. And many more yummy things beside.

It was an eye-opening trip. And an ear-opening trip.

I knew that Arabic is more than just the language of the Koran. But I realized in my time in Lebanon how much the stereotypes of the Arab and Muslim world have impacted my assumptions and my reactions.

Arabic is a language of Christian theological reflection and worship.

The Arab world is beautiful and I was given the privilege of interacting with people from Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Jordan, Bahrain, Yemen, Sudan, … and they all told beautiful and heartbreaking stories of how God is at work in their communities. And how people are coming to faith in Jesus again and again and again.

In these places, as the church both proclaims and DEMONSTRATES the love of Jesus, people - and many of them Muslim in background - are coming to faith in Christ.

We asked how… what is the common denominator in the stories of people coming to faith in Jesus.

And they said it was two main things:

People are experiencing the love of Jesus through His people providing practical needs in crises and difficult circumstances.

AND

Many of the people are also reporting having met Jesus in dreams… and they come then to God’s people asking them to tell them more about this Jesus who has come to them in dreams and visions.

Friends, I know this doesn’t make the news. But the church in the middle east and north Africa is alive and well. It’s old - as in it has a long history - and it’s young - as in, there is vitality and vibrancy and new leaders are emerging and being trained and raised up through places like ABTS.

Seeing the beautiful people and a country was a bit like our visit to one of the nature preserves to see some of the remaining “cedars of Lebanon” that have survived centuries of deforestation. In some ways, this is an apt metaphor for the church in the MENA region. Despite decades and centuries of “deforestation” God continues to work through and in the people in the region who follow Jesus.

And their number is growing. As they leverage what they have for needs they see and experience around them.

Being a guest in Lebanon let me see the beauty of this OLD place (and if you’re interested, I have lots of pictures and stories from the things we were able to see)

and the way in which the church in Lebanon and the MENA region is full of youth and vitality. They are creative and know how to use modern technology and traditional means of hospitality.

Let me tell you one story about a church that we were able to visit just 90 minutes east of Beirut in the city of Zahle which is in the Baqaa Valley. (between Mt. Lebanon and the mountains that are the natural border between Lebanon & Syria.

This is the True Vine Church.

building

Syrian refugee crisis

Food

Education

Land

Innovation - aquaponics

Youth movement

Being a guest in Lebanon meant sometimes not understanding exactly what was being said or sung…

For me, this meant listening to all or mostly-Arabic sessions, with headphones and the great translation work of Rubia.

Where the slides often looked like this

It meant learning to recognize repeated words… like the one on the bottom of this slide… Can you see it?

Maybe you can hear it… (Al put up the slide in Arabic and play the audio clip)

Alleluia

Love minor keys.

And they love medleys. Sometimes mixing Arabic and English songs....

Goodness of God.

lead into prayer

Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done.