Peeking!

Did you ever try to peek through the folds and wrapping paper on a present? Most of us have! Sometimes it's fun to find out early. Sometimes, it is meaningful to know what is behind the wrapping paper. The Strategic Giving Opportunities Gift Catalog allows you to "peek" at some meaningful ways you can support brothers and sisters, pregnant women and children, and refugees and churches. Opportunities to advance the Gospel among some of the least-reached peoples.

Early November is typically a time to pray for and recognize, our brothers and sisters in countries and cultures where they are persecuted for their faith. Typically known as IDOP - International Day of the Persecuted Church.

One of IDOP's featured videos this year is of an Alliance church in northeastern Syria. The war there has continued for 10 years. A tumultuous decade that most of us can't even imagine. It is "the largest refugee and displacement crisis of our time." Those who are refugees (living in other countries) number more than 5.5 million. An additional 6.2 million are displaced within Syria. As a result, 70% of Syrians are living on less than $2 per day. This is considered "extreme poverty." Through all of this, the C&MA church of Syria has chosen to remain, to live compassionately alongside their neighbors!

Pastor George, in the aforementioned video, has been a student at our seminary in Lebanon. This year, in August, a grain storage unit in Beirut exploded. The explosion was less than half-a-mile from our seminary. The blast killed 178 people, left 6,500 injured, displacing more than 300,000 people, and severely damaged the country's infrastructure. Lebanon is also helping nearly 1.5 million Syrian refugees — the largest number of refugees per capita.

Let's peek behind the wrapper…our current events, COVID, and political "noise"…asking God how he would have responded. Behind each of the projects in the gift catalog are the unfinished stories of individuals, communities, and peoples whom God loves. Projects #22 and #24 are directly related to this conversation.

Take more than just a peek at the Strategic Giving Opportunities catalog. Some of our own NCD IWs have projects represented here. On some of us, God has placed a burden. On us all, he has placed a responsibility. It requires more than just a peek…it calls for prayerful consideration and faith-driven action.

(For additional copies or more information, contact me.)

Dave Manske

Missions Mobilizer
North Central District of The C&MA