lebanon — the gateway NatIon

By divine providence Lebanon has been the only country in the Middle East with a Christian president as required by its own constitution since 1943. At the same time, Lebanon has the most religiously diverse society of all states within the Middle East and is the most open country in the Middle East for sharing the good news, making this country the Gateway to the Middle East.

Lebanon is a sovereign nation in the Middle East with Syria to its north and east, Israel to its south, and the Mediterranean Sea to its west. The capital of Lebanon is Beirut, once called "the Paris of the Middle East."

Lebanon is the smallest recognized country on the entire mainland Asian continent. ​It has an area of only 10,452 sq. km, which is about 39 times smaller than the state of California. The population of Lebanese nationals in Lebanon is around 4 million.

Beirut, having been inhabited for over 5,000 years, is one of the oldest cities in the world and the capital of Lebanon. Until a brutal civil war broke out in the ‘70s, Beirut was the intellectual capital of the Arab world. After decades of reconstructing the nation and capital, the city regained its status as “the Paris of the East”.

Despite such progress, an influx of 1.5 million Syrian refugees over the past ten years has put tremendous strain on the economy. This coupled with COVID-19, the devastating “Beirut blast” on August 4th of 2020, a severe food crisis, gasoline shortages, and a worthless Lebanese pound is leading many to identify the nation as a failed state.

As things go from bad to worse in Beirut, the opportunity has never been greater for the church to rise up and let their light shine before others.

More than 2,000,000 Syrian Refugees are in Lebanon

In the last 6 years, Lebanon has received over 2 million refugees* from the neighboring war-torn country called Syria. As you can imagine, such a large number of refugees would bring a very serious humanitarian crisis to Lebanon.

​According to a ​UN assessment in 2016, 93% of the Syrian refugee population was estimated to have some degree of food insecurity. Among the surveyed children of primary school age (6 to 14 years), 48% were found to be out of school, with the highest rate of out-of-school children found in the Beqaa (70% not attending). These rates are significantly higher among children of secondary school age (15 to 17 years): 84% of children of this age group are out of school.

​Syrian refugees in Lebanon are in desperate need of food, medical care, education, jobs, winter kits, etc.

*this is a higher but more accurate estimate than the official government published number of 1.3 million because many refugees chose not to register with the government.

Sadly, the war in Syria has caused much suffering to many people and the situation looks gloomy from a humanitarian standpoint. However, an amazing spiritual phenomenon is happening at the same time. Since almost all of the refugees were brought up in a conservative religious environment, if there has been no war most of them would never have the chance nor the interest to know the truth about Jesus Christ. However, the trauma of war and the ongoing difficult living condition have made their hands wide open to receive Christian help and their hearts to receive Jesus’ love.

​More amazingly, by divine providence Lebanon has been the only country in the Middle East with a Christian president as required by its own constitution since 1943. At the same time, Lebanon has the most religiously diverse society of all states within the Middle East and is the most open country in the Middle East for sharing the good news.

"When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” (Matthew 9:36)

​Lebanon has become both a physical and spiritual refuge for millions of refugees to find a temporary and eternal home.