Egypt (MNN) — As believers around the world prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus, Voice of the Martyrs Canada is preparing to host their Christmas Blessing project. Each year, VOM Canada’s Christmas Blessing packages are sent to Christian families suffering persecution, with a special focus on children.
(Photo courtesy of Sophia Valkova via Unsplash)
In the past few years, Christmas Blessing packages were sent to Christian families in Syria and Jordan. This year, VOM Canada’s Levi MacGregor says they’ll send the Christmas Blessing packages to Egypt.
“The reason we are picking Egypt this year is due to the fact that there has been a lot of attacks in Egypt this year in particular — a lot of churches have been attacked, a lot of bombings, a lot of fires set, a lot of damage to churches. So the Christian community there really needs some encouragement.”
Minority Coptic Christians and Muslim-background believers in Egypt face increasing hostility from their Muslim neighbors. This year, twin bombings in two Egyptian churches on Palm Sunday killed 45 people. It was the worst terror attack on Christians in Egypt’s modern history and a reflection of the growing hatred against this religious minority.
(Photo courtesy of Open Doors USA)
MacGregor adds, “Something else we found out was that there is actually a lot of Christian refugees coming from Iraq and Syria and actually taking refuge in Egypt, and they could use some encouragement as well.”
Christmas Blessing gifts mainly have items for children such as school supplies and a children’s picture Bible. But they also provide the family with food items like bags of rice. Their goal this year is to encourage 3,000 Christian families in nine Egyptian villages with Christmas Blessing packages.
“Really the focus is on letting them know they are not forgotten, they are loved, cared for, and prayed for.”
VOM Canada has also found in years past those families who receive Christmas Blessing gifts will often multiply them.
“We’ve heard of a number of families in Syria and also in Jordan a few years before where the families that are blessed by this project take the extra rice and extra food we give them in this project and they host a Christmas dinner and invite their Muslim neighbors over. This has an overflow effect into allowing our persecuted brothers and sisters to actually have an impact and to evangelize those Muslims around them that are often one of the causes of the persecution that they face.”
Christmas Blessing is one of VOM Canada’s largest projects in the year and provides significant encouragement at Christmastime to Christian families who may be struggling or suffering persecution.
If you would like to support Christmas Blessing with VOM Canada, click here to give at their website. You can also make it a family effort!
“There are some families that we have even heard of who, instead of doing Christmas presents for themselves, they will choose to make a donation to a non-profit organization,” MacGregor shares. “I’ve experienced that myself. There was one time where my own family decided we were going to make a donation to a non-profit organization and help encourage someone else at the end of the year rather than use that for ourselves, and I just remember the blessing of that.”
