A Palestinian musician who played on the soundtrack of the film The Passion of the Christ joined SAT-7’s weekly We Will Sing hymns programme recently. Playing the oud and singing a number of songs he had composed, Naser Musa added a new flavour of Arabic worship to the popular worship show – the Arab Gulf tune. Among his songs was […]
Assyrian Christian leader tells how his humanitarian aid inspired a friend to plot his escape, on a motorbike, disguised as a jihadist fighter FATHER Jacques Mourad has told how he escaped the so-called Islamic State (IS) in Syria with the help of a friend whose family had been helped by the priest’s programme of aid to the poor and disadvantaged. […]
In ignoring thousands of migrants who risk drowning at sea, are UK Christians also refusing Christ? A Middle Eastern Christian asks the question. There is a strange and powerful image that has often come to mind in the last 12 months. It is of a submerged bronze statue of Christ – His barnacle-encrusted hands upraised in blessing – in the […]
In the fall-out of war, the need for food, shelter and other basic needs is obvious to all. But refugees’ “spirits also need care”. Dr Kathryn Kraft describes how Lebanese churches are doing this and how we can learn from them. A few weeks ago, I was sharing with a friend at my church in London about my research with […]
Two Christian refugees look for hope in Jordan and Kurdistan One year ago (9 June 2014), the Iraqi city of Mosul fell to militants belonging to a Sunni Muslim movement calling itself the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS. Thousands of Christians and other religious minorities, threatened with execution, fled. These are the stories of two who have […]
A Christian children’s home nestled in the Chouf mountains outside Beirut and close to one of the country’s famous Cedars of Lebanon reserves is today aptly named Beit El Safa – “The House of Serenity”. But it wasn’t always this way. Originally donated to the Beirut Free Evangelical Church for summer youth camps, the site was twice occupied by different […]
As you listen to Fatma* tell the story of why she, her husband, Ibrahim* and their three girls became five of Lebanon’s one million Syrian refugees – you start to understand why so many have taken the ultimate step of leaving their home country. The chaos and violence have made life in their home country impossible and they feared especially […]
After being forced to leave her home country because of her new faith, Karema has become an ambassador for Christ to Syrians made homeless by war. Karema shared with us her journey to Christ from a Muslim background and how God has led her to new ministries while studying theology and training in Lebanon. Science graduate Karema was working in […]
What is it like for families to live as refugees without schools or work to go to and only canvas between you and the elements? SAT-7 Lebanon producer Johnny Jalek set out to answer these questions for his viewers when he began planning a filmed a visit to Syrian refugees. Johnny knew that, while many Lebanese have reached out to […]
It’s an old but live question: should Christians give their support to dictators and regimes with dubious human rights records if that seems the safest option for their own community, or should they join with those voices demanding change – even if it may mean worse conditions for themselves? What would you do? From the perspective of those facing harsh […]