Baptist seminary provides refuge to people displaced in Lebanon

The Arab Baptist Theological Seminary near Beirut is sheltering displaced individuals who fled their homes as fighting between Israel and Hezbollah forces tons of of 1000’s of civilians across Lebanon to hunt refuge.

About 170 internally displaced persons are staying on the seminary’s campus while the institution continues its educational work online for roughly 250 students, the Southern Baptist Convention’s news service, Baptist Press reports, quoting the seminary’s president, Wissam Nasrallah.

Israel’s military campaign against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia has forced large-scale civilian movement across the country.

The seminary, situated on the eastern outskirts of Beirut in an area considered relatively protected, is providing food, housing and other basic necessities while staff attempts to balance emergency relief with the varsity’s long-term mission of coaching Christian leaders from across the Middle East.

The displaced people staying on the campus come from southern Lebanon, the Bekaa region and suburbs of Beirut, and a few quarter of them are children, in line with Evangelical Focus.

Residents gathered on the campus help kitchen employees prepare meals and attend day by day community chapel services organized through the crisis, while the sounds of drones and bombing can still be heard across the region.

The Arab Baptist Theological Seminary trains Christian leaders from across the Arab world. The institution was founded within the late Fifties by Southern Baptist missionaries and now operates under THIMAR, the Lebanese Society for Educational and Social Development. Baptist partners within the United States proceed to support its work.

The conflict escalated after Hezbollah began firing rockets at Israel on March 2, saying it was responding to the killing of Iran’s supreme leader at the beginning of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, triggering an intensive Israeli bombing campaign against the Lebanese armed group and a latest wave of displacement across the country, in line with Reuters.

Over 700 people have been killed and 1,774 others injured in Israeli strikes in Lebanon for the reason that fighting began, and not less than 26 medics and first responders are among the many dead, in line with Lebanon’s health ministry, while Hezbollah has launched tons of of rockets across the border into Israel.

Israel has warned that it might goal ambulances and medical facilities in the event that they are used for military purposes by Hezbollah, a claim the group denies, in a development that has raised concerns because hospitals and medical infrastructure are protected under international law unless they lose protected status through military use.

The fighting has forced about 800,000 people to flee southern Lebanon in roughly 10 days, and about one-fifth of the country’s population of around 4 million is now displaced by the violence.

Israel has also expanded its military posture along the northern frontier and signaled it’s preparing for a chronic campaign against Hezbollah, while Israeli aircraft dropped warning leaflets over Beirut, threatening damage just like the devastation seen in Gaza during Israel’s war with Hamas.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has called for a ceasefire agreement and Israeli support for the Lebanese army to disarm Hezbollah, accusing the armed group of risking the destruction of villages and threatening the soundness of the Lebanese state.

Christians make up about 30% of Lebanon’s population, roughly 1.2 million people. Evangelical believers account for about 1% of the population, around 40,000 people.

Among those displaced are members of the Baptist Church in Deir Mimas, a congregation situated near the Lebanon Israel border whose members fled north as bombardment intensified within the south.

© The Christian Post