Lebanon (MNN) — On May 15, Lebanon will hold general elections. But most Lebanese don’t believe they will bring any real change. Many have said they will not vote at all.
Tom Atema with Heart for Lebanon says people are looking for hope. “More and more people are knocking at our door and saying, ‘What’s the answer?’ Not only, ‘Can you help me?’ but, ‘What’s the answer to this? where’s this going?’ And of course, we have the answer: Jesus Christ.”
“Yes, we do humanitarian aid and education, but not without the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”
Heart for Lebanon addresses the needs of families by providing food, shelter, and medical care. According to Heart for Lebanon, roughly 60 percent of the Lebanese population struggles to put food on the table.
They also work to supply education, especially for refugee kids. Atema says, “If you help them with that, if you give them an education, they’re going to listen to what you care about. They’re going to draw you into a conversation. More and more people are coming to faith in Jesus Christ.”
How to pray
Other groups have different solutions to Lebanon’s problems, Atema says. “You have Hezbollah and you have ISIS all recruiting. And we are recruiting. So we clash every once in a while. How do we work through that? we need wisdom.”
Pray people across Lebanon will continue finding hope in Jesus.
And ask God to bless Heart for Lebanon’s ministry. Atema says, “I never would have believed when we started this in 2006 that we would plant two churches. I never dreamt that we would be serving all these people and have all these children in our school.”
Header photo courtesy of Heart for Lebanon on Facebook.
