Israel’s Arab Christians Bring Hope to Syrian Refugees
We can’t tell you the name of the organizer of this beautiful act of love originating from the Israeli Body of Messiah to the Syrian people. We can’t show you many of their faces for fear of persecution or retaliation.
Although my name is on the bi-line, this story is from God’s people among Israel’s Arab Christians who have reached out to the Syrian refugees who have fled for their lives into Jordan.
Here is their story …
The United Nations said recently that Syria’s “hemorrhaging” of its people is the worst refugee crisis in modern history. Such a statement doesn’t begin to describe the situation accurately. In our visit to Jordan early this year, we met so many Syrian refugees and displaced people for whom life has turned into one long nightmare. The U.N. and many NGO’s are trying their best to ease the disaster but they can’t begin to take care of 1,500,000 Syrians in the small and poor nation of Jordan.
Despite the dark tunnel the Syrians live in, we are shining a light with the gospel of Jesus Christ through the Jordanian churches. Our team of six Arab believers from Israel worked with several churches in Jordan and carried the Light of the gospel to every city and home we visited.
We met hundreds of Syrians in Jordan and heard so many sad and horrifying stories about their exodus from Syria to Jordan via the desert. They shared with us their fears and pain as they lost loved ones and family members whom they will never see again. To be honest, we couldn’t hold back our tears as we heard their stories. We, in turn, shared with them the Only Hope for the world today—Yesua HaMasiach (Arabic for Yeshua HaMashiach) of Nazareth.
The Body of Messiah in Israel—both Jews and Arabs—gave us $34,000 to reach out to the Syrians in a practical way. Since all the goods we planned to give to the Syrians had to be purchased in Jordan, we went to Jordanian grocery stores and clothing stores and bought essentials that the U.N. and other organizations don’t offer—such as milk for children, diapers, jackets, warm clothes, toys and candy for children.
Other items we purchased, also not provided by any other humanitarian aid organization, were hygienic kits and personal cleaning items such as soaps and shampoo. We also bought heaters and blankets, small cooking stoves, cooking pans, milk for older children and mattresses.
