Before the ceasefire last year, 800,000 Lebanese people were displaced to areas that are considered safer.

If attacks happen, people will be internally displaced this year, too.

Camille Melki with Heart for Lebanon says that southern Lebanon has “a very damp winter, (with) a lot of rain. Most of those families live in tent settlements or in makeshift homes, where it is very moist, and water gets into the house.”

At high elevations in the Beqaa Valley, many refugees and locals live in cold areas that will receive significant snow.

(Photo courtesy of Heart for Lebanon)

“Our team at Heart for Lebanon provides blankets, heavy coats, mittens, gloves, hats, anything that can help a family survive the harsh months,” Melki says.

Melki says, “If people flee and are living in the open air or in tents, that would significantly increase the risks (and) health hazards of being affected by the weather, as much as by the wars.”

Please join Heart for Lebanon in praying for peace as they work to fulfill needs this winter. Pray that needs will not become extreme.

“Everything we do, we give out, is given out and done unconditionally, but we also want to make sure that people who receive our aid know what drives us, what motivates us, what excites us, what takes us into the places that are hard and difficult to be in during conflicts,” Melki says. “Nothing motivates us except the compassionate heart of Jesus Christ towards those who are suffering the most.”

Please pray that this winter ministry will show the compassionate heart of Jesus Christ. Pray that it will lead to simple conversations that can turn into gospel conversations and will reach people who do not yet know God.

Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay

(Image courtesy Heather Haupt/TSC)

USA (TSC/MNN) — What is poverty? If you answered “a condition of being poor,” you’re right. Taken one step further, what is spiritual poverty?

According to The Seed Company, a billion people around the world don’t have access to the full Bible in their own language. The fact remains that there are still 4500 languages in need of translation, making the goal of access seem hopeless.

While it isn’t feasible to search person-to-person to ferret out a Bible translator in the 10/40 window, somehow God always provides a team willing to translate the Bible into their language. This has happened almost 1000 times with The Seed Company. God builds the team through the local church and international partners, and gives them both the desire and ability to translate.

That’s good news, and there are two precious resources this response requires: time and money. Once the team is assembled, the time has been drastically reduced through the cluster translation approach and new technology. As for fundraising, it takes foresight and communication.

This month, The Seed Company is inviting kids to step up get involved to help #EndBiblePoverty.

(Image courtesy Heather Haupt)

The bloggers behind ohAmanda & Cultivated Lives have joined together for a powerful Monthly Mission: raising funds to support Bible translation for the Tagasa language cluster in Southeast Asia. Their goal: $1,000.   

On their blogs, they outline the steps that can be taken to make these teachable moments for everyone involved.

Background on Tagasa: when Christopher Columbus left Spain, he was not looking for a new continent but for the Spice Islands, of which the home of the Tagasa people is a part. More recently, this volcanic island region became a resettlement area for people of different religions in a move to ease a population crisis in another part of the region.

In 1998, ethnic conflict resulting from the resettlement erupted into a bloody war that lasted until 2002. Religious tensions still run high. Completing the Bible for three people groups and helping implement and publicize an already-completed Bible for a fourth will provide a major tool for deepened faith and effective outreach in a turbulent region.

It takes just three minutes to start your own campaign. Click here to begin yours.

The children grow up working hard to provide for their families, but they are unable to do so without a proper education. They desperately want their children to have what they didn't, but they'll have to decide if their children will eat or go to school. The cycle continues.

According to Haitian government sources, this type of scenario happens all the time in Haiti, even when the food supply is relatively stable (as it now is). The vicious cycle of poverty seems almost unending in a country known to be the poorest in the Western Hemisphere and where 48 percent of the population is under-nourished.

Bright Hope International has been working to end this cycle of poverty through indigenous churches. They have planted seventeen churches with schools to reach children with the Gospel and an education.

However, Bright Hope has found that many parents can't afford both school and food. When families choose to sacrifice nourishment in the name of their child's education, children seldom have enough food in them to fuel their brains or concentrate–quite a fate since concentration must be at maximum in a classroom of 78 students per teacher. Their work suffers, and before they know it, they are falling behind.

But Bright Hope is not willing to see the children of Haiti suffer like this. To combat the downward spiral, Bright Hope has created a three-phase campaign. The campaign will provide physically, economically and spiritually for seventeen communities in which Bright Hope has already established relationships.

"We decided we need to really have a campaign to get people on board to help us," says Bright Hope's Craig Dyer. He says the campaign will serve to "feed the children, number one, supply the schools and the churches with materials and Bibles (which is phase two), and then phase three is a micro-loan program which we've been running for over a year now and have seen huge success. Now we want to take it to all seventeen communities and see more and more families be able to care for their own needs, eventually carrying on these feeding programs themselves."

In order to accomplish these three phases, Bright Hope is working through the seventeen indigenous churches it has already planted. By working through the churches, students and families will not only have their immediate needs provided, but their spiritual needs as well.

"Poverty isn't just a physical or financial situation: it's also spiritual," says Dyer. "That's why we've chosen to work solely through indigenous churches. It's a powerful mix that changes lives for today with physical needs, for tomorrow with economic needs, and for eternity with knowing Christ as Lord and Savior."

In order to spread the Gospel and make it through each phase for each community, Bright Hope needs your help. Now through November 1, any gift you donate will be matched.

You can help sponsor children by choosing specifically to supply food, school supplies or microloans. Click here to learn more and help in any or all of the phases.

In the meantime, prayer is imperative. Pray that the children of Haiti would have enough food to be able to attend school in full health, that they might gain an education and knowledge of the Word. Pray also that the church of Haiti would rise to the challenge before them and shine Christ brightly, even when up against spiritual warfare.