Lebanon
Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in Western Asia, on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It is bordered by Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south. Lebanon's location at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian hinterland has dictated its rich, sometimes violent history, and shaped its unique cultural identity of religious and ethnic diversity. Before the Lebanese Civil War (1975–1990), the country enjoyed a period of relative calm and prosperity, driven by tourism, agriculture, and banking.
The main work of the Lebanon Reformed Fellowship (LRF) is radio broadcasting, with additional ministries of biblical training and counseling. There is a fully equipped recording studio in Beirut producing Arabic gospel broadcasts. From the Beirut center, we provide training to pastors and evangelists so that they can carry the Gospel back to their communities. MERF's Arabic Gospel broadcasts are also prepared in Beirut (and Cairo, Egypt) with a special emphasis on appealing to Muslim young people. These daily half-hour radio programs extend to the whole of the Middle East and North Africa, with 340 million Arabs able to tune in daily to a thought-provoking, conversational broadcast on a popular radio station. Hundreds reply by text message, email, or letter and receive personal follow-up. The engaging, youth-centered Arabic website receives almost 5,000 visits per month, and workers follow up with all enquirers.
Additionally, the LRF distributes a Sunday School curriculum in Arabic for the churches to use, based on a simple catechism and including crafts and memory verses. There are around 100 evangelical churches in Lebanon, not all them Reformed. Around 3 new churches have been formed this year (all outside Beirut), so they are seeing conversions, however there is some pressure to force Christians out of Lebanon. Pray for our brothers and sisters in Lebanon, especially as they minister to refugees from the violence in Syria.