Hundreds of Lebanese Muslims who had taken refuge in Lebanese Baptist institutions said good-bye to their hosts Aug. 17. Meanwhile, Lebanese Christian leaders continued to care for refugees still in Beirut.
As a cease-fire took hold in the month-long conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, hundreds of refugees who had fled the fighting for the relative safety of Christian parts of Beirut began to leave the Beirut Baptist School.
In an Aug. 17 update with the title “Uneasy Peace,” leaders of the umbrella organization that runs the school and nearby Arab Baptist Theological Seminary said the departure was bittersweet.
“Our more than 750 visitors for the past month or so have left. The farewell between the children, youth, women on the one hand and our team members on the other was at times quite emotional,” the update from the Lebanese Society for Educational and Social Development said. It noted that the handful of other refugee families staying at the seminary “who come from the southern villages are still cautious, preferring to remain at ABTS for a few more days.”
In addition, Lebanese and other Baptist personnel in Beirut continued to go to refugee centers near the schools, leading activity programs to occupy displaced women and children.
At the conflict's height, Lebanese Baptist officials estimated approximately 800 refugees were staying at the two schools, located in the Christian parts of Beirut. Many of the displaced families are Shiite Muslims who came from hard-hit Hezbollah strongholds in southern and eastern Lebanon and Beirut's Shia-dominated southern suburbs.
International Baptist relief workers, including a medical team from Hungarian Baptist Aid and church groups from the United States, have provided other services to the refugees.
The release also noted that, because of the halt in fighting and departure of the refugees, both institutions would begin their 2006-2007 academic years Sept. 25.
Recent news reports detailed Lebanese returning to villages and cities that had been all but destroyed in the 33-day conflict.
“There are those who go back not knowing what awaits them. Will they find their homes in place or will they struggle to identify through the rubble what was once their home and shelter?” an Aug. 14 Lebanese Baptist update said. “And for those, much uncertainty is in store for them. Where will they go next? And until when?”
Israeli air strikes and ground troops have wreaked havoc on the nation's infrastructure, which was just beginning to return to the state it was in prior to Lebanon's 15-year civil war, which ended in 1990.
But news reports Aug. 16 indicated that the United Nations-brokered cease-fire was still exceedingly fragile. Several Hezbollah leaders said they would not disarm, as required by the UN resolution that brought about the cease-fire. Meanwhile, the New York Times reported Aug. 16 that Israeli military officials have said they will not retreat from areas of southern Lebanon they have occupied until the promised joint force of Lebanese and international troops arrives to keep the peace.
Gen. Dan Halutz told an Israeli parliamentary committee that his troops will remain in place “until the multinational force arrives, even if that takes months.”
Despite the fragile nature of the cease-fire and the horror of the conflict, Lebanese Baptist leaders reported positive news.
The practice of Baptists providing activities for Muslim women and children may not end with the conflict, the leaders wrote. “Our teams are receiving repeated requests that we hold similar programs in the areas of origin of our displaced friends,” they said. “God willing, these are the beginning of new and fruitful interactive relationships between Christians and Muslims. May God be glorified in the process!”
The update also requested prayer for Baptists who were returning to their homes and churches in Deir Mimas and Marjeyoun, two hard-hit villages near the Israeli border.
An earlier dispatch told of a Lebanese Baptist youth worker, Joseph Azzi, who was speaking to a group of refugees about why Christians help their neighbors, using Jesus' parable of the Good Samaritan from Matthew 5.
A Muslim man in the group, according to the report, had lost a 17-year-old son just days earlier in an Israeli air raid that destroyed an apartment block in South Lebanon. Another air raid interrupted the funeral procession, injuring one of his other sons.
“And here, Rev. Joseph recited to them Matthew 5:44-45, ‘But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven,' ” the Lebanese dispatch said.
“At this point the father of the deceased said: ‘We have many Christian friends, but we never knew that you have these teachings.' Please pray for this and many other hurting families that we are visiting daily.”