Updates from Thimar
Editorial
In early September, one of our international partners delivered an encouraging message at our weekly morning chapel. Speaking from 2 Corinthians 6, he reminded us of our calling to be joyful in every circumstance, especially the hard ones.
The past several years have given people in Lebanon plenty of reasons to be bitter, angry, and resentful. What is there to rejoice in as your country and life fall apart? Without Christ, not much.
In his letter to the church in Corinth, a city in ancient Greece, the Apostle Paul wrote of the great affliction he faced in carrying out his ministry: beatings, imprisonment, riots, labor, hunger, sleepless nights — the list is long. Yet he contrasts these hardships with fruits of the Holy Spirit, with endurance and strength given to him “by the power of God”. Though grieving, he was always rejoicing; though poor, he enriched many; though having nothing, he possessed everything.
Paul’s joy didn’t come from earthly riches. He wasn’t satisfied by appeasing his flesh. To the contrary, he rejected them both, bringing upon himself physical suffering. To the average person, such a life might seem miserable and insane. But for Paul, it was just the opposite. He looked beyond his immediate, earthly suffering and saw instead the eternal, heavenly purpose of the path he walked. He gave everything for the Gospel. He was imprisoned for his faith and, according to church tradition, ultimately beheaded.
We walk our own journey here in Lebanon and the wider Middle East. Though unique in its own way, it entails its own long list of hardships and difficulties. But like Paul, there is strength, comfort, and joy to be found in the love of our Father.
A new school year, despite the challenges
At one of MERATH’s education centers in Lebanon, located in the Beqaa Valley, students stepped off the buses, excited to have arrived for another day of school. It was only their second day of the new school year. With their backpacks on, they lined up by grade level before heading to their classrooms with their peers and teachers.
The Apostle Paul and the Promised Land
“It can be stressful and confusing to live in Lebanon with the ongoing fighting between Israel and Hezbollah,” writes Dustin Ellington, ABTS Associate Professor of New Testament. “The situation is full of complex realities which I will not pretend to address here. Instead, I want to deal responsibly with one issue that lies underneath a lot of what’s happening in Lebanon and the region: how Christians read the Bible with respect to the promised land.”
A Summer of Renewal
This summer, Thimar’s church discipleship ministry Salt & Light hosted family conferences and children's camps across Lebanon in collaboration with local church partners, providing spaces for people to come together for games, activities, and time for much needed rest and renewal.
How SKILD Center is turning inclusion from a promise into a daily practice in Lebanon
At the heart of a truly inclusive society lies a simple truth: every child’s mind matters, and every child’s hands have the power to create. In Lebanon, that truth is harder to live out than it is to say. Instability, stretched resources, and long-standing assumptions about what a “good student” looks like shape our classrooms far more than we like to admit. Children who learn differently have too often been sorted quietly toward the edges of the room — present, but not reached. That is the gap SKILD was built to close.
Building Strong Roots: Launching the NICOT & NICNT Commentaries in Arabic
On September 22, Dar Manhal al Hayat (DMAH) and the Arab Baptist Theological Seminary (ABTS) celebrated an important milestone for Arabic theological publishing: the launch of five volumes from the NICOT and NICNT commentary series in Arabic. During the launching ceremony last week, one question remained at the heart of the gathering: How can serious biblical scholarship help the Arabic-speaking Church engage more deeply and faithfully with the Word of God?
