By Teresa Sfeir
Communication and Editing Officer, Arab Baptist Theological Seminary
It all started with an Arab Baptist Theological Seminary (ABTS) student who died for his faith.
Back in 2003, I owned a big beauty salon in the north. I was preparing my immigration papers to Canada when a young Jordanian believer suddenly appeared in the area. He was an ABTS student who wanted to spread God’s love. He was so enamored with Christ; I couldn’t help but take him in. Before I knew it, he had grown so close to my heart. I had been a believer for 14 years, but my faith was traditional. I regularly attended church and pursued holiness, but I never thought of serving outside the church walls.
We began to serve together at a yearly book exhibition held in the north. We would rent a corner and there exhibit Bibles and Christian material; we certainly drew attention, including that of extremist religious groups. That year, my friend went to be with the Lord as a result of a bomb from members of those groups. I can’t forget standing near his blood and then taking care of his funeral details.
The Lord called me to continue the ministry of my dear friend. I said, “Lord, I am still in financial debt. I can’t do it.” From 2003 to 2008, despite the worsening security situation in the area, God blessed me, and I was able to pay all my debts. In 2008, I was ready to follow God’s calling. I left my job and began to study theology at ABTS. I studied for two years and graduated in 2010. After graduating I returned to my ministry at the book exhibition. Then in 2011 the Syrian crisis began, and so did our ministry with refugees.
As I happen to have good relations with the National Evangelical Synod of Syria and Lebanon and the Lebanese Society for Education and Social Development (LSESD), I started a relief ministry in the North through the latter. My ministry team and I realized that it was time to practically live out our Bible teachings. The Lebanese Christian community was not equipped for such a work. At first, the idea of serving Syrian refugees repulsed them because of the wounds the [Lebanese civil] war had left behind.
The Lord changed this with time, and he helped the church to grow in accepting and adopting this work. We went to them, and many opened up to us as they saw how we had genuinely embraced them.
Almost four years ago the community’s reality changed. We became more pressured as more extremist religious groups appeared in the area. We were threatened and blackmailed.
God turned his heart
Once, a group of 50 armed young men came for me; I was escorting a team that included 14 women. Upon reasoning with their leader, the Lord turned his heart, and he began to help us as we distributed aid. Then a police commander warned me to leave the area. He told me that a police undercover informant had heard an extremist group say that I was one of their targets.
Two months later, we had a big event at church. We had 200 to 300 attendees. The congregation was afraid, but our pastor encouraged us. A few extremist young men came to church on that day and directly threatened me. They told me that they were armed, and it was better for me not to contact the authorities, lest I would witness a massacre. I tried to reason with the leader, but he insisted that the matter was out of his hand. Upon this threat, we realized it was time for us to leave the area. We, the ministry team, began to pray that we might be able to start a center. We found a relatively safe area to which refugees can easily flock. In 2014 we built a wide, underground center.
We have a children’s ministry that welcomes 225 Syrian refugee children. We teach them English, Arabic and French. We set up summer camps and sports activities. In addition to this, we provide the children with medical assistance, and we provide alimentary aid, heating, hygienic material and clothes to refugees. We also have a home-visits ministry. Moreover, we provide young women with vocational training.
Graduation celebration
In April 2018 we had a graduation celebration for 26 Lebanese and Syrian women as beauticians under the patronage of the association of beauty salon owners in North Lebanon. We started giving a course on makeup art to 30 Lebanese and Syrian women (both Christian and Muslim) at the beginning of July. The course will stop at the end of 2018.
In all, our ministry has reached some 60,000 families. We also still take part in the yearly book exhibition. Every year, we distribute 15,000 to 20,000 publications (ranging from Christian books to Bibles or tracts) that talk about salvation through Christ alone. We follow up yearly with 200 to 250 people who fill out questionnaires.
We also have more than 600 young men and women who decided to become disciples of Jesus within the past three years. They put their trust in God’s salvation through Jesus after they had fully understood the message.
I praise God that we, with the help of LSESD and the brothers and sisters at ABTS, were able to help many people who had no hope. We found jobs for some and gave them a new chance. We fed the hungry and provided heating resources to those who were cold.
I believe that life is one big opportunity to share God’s love with the world around us. Most importantly, we tell them of redemption, forgiveness and a personal relationship with God. I always encourage ministry workers at the center to study theology. We now have six from our team who are studying theology through ABTS Online. Two will be studying as ABTS full-time residential students next year, by God’s grace.
Empowered by the Holy Spirit
I believe in the Holy Spirit who empowers God’s servants. We do our part in reaching out to others, but a miracle must take place in their hearts. My petition is for God to grow and establish the people we are discipling so that they would know more of His will and rise to obedience. We might try to lead them to the right way, but no one can change another person’s mind. They must be ready to make that decision for themselves.
Our campus halls once more echo with the lively chatter of anticipating students. Our classrooms are once more busy and put to use. Our returning students have many stories to share of a summer spent serving God and their people and putting to practice what they gleaned at ABTS. Both our returning and new students come with hearts aflame, having said “Yes” to God. They come with a willingness to be transformed into leaders fit for the calling — able to make a change in their communities.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This article is from an interview with a graduate of the Arab Baptist Theological Seminary who serves in the north of Lebanon, an area recently caught up in the struggle against religious extremists which has been playing out in Syria over the past few years. This article originally appeared in the seminary’s September 2018 newsletter.
For more information on the Arab Baptist Theological Seminary or to sign up for the seminary’s newsletter, visit www.abtslebanon.org.
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