Welcoming displaced children in His nameWelcoming displaced children in His nameWelcoming displaced children in His nameWelcoming displaced children in His name
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  • Home
  • Who we are
  • How we work
  • What we do
    • Earthquake response
    • Beirut explosion response
    • Covid-19 response
    • Basic needs
    • Education & Child Protection
    • Livelihoods
  • News
    • Blog posts
    • Press review
    • They talk about us
    • Sign up
  • Get involved
    • Pray
    • Donate
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Quarterly highlights – Q3 2019
October 4, 2019
They’re dreaming of a warm Christmas
December 18, 2019

Welcoming displaced children in His name

December 4, 2019
Categories
  • Basic needs
  • Education & protection
Tags
  • child protection
  • education
  • local communities
  • psychosocial support

The Syrian crisis has dragged hundreds of thousands of children away from their homes and communities, forcing them to live in places where they face harsh living conditions, are deprived of education opportunities, and do not feel welcomed. In this challenging context, our partner churches are answering their calling to welcome vulnerable children and their families and care for them, giving them a chance at a more hopeful future.


“Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.” As we read this verse, we cannot help but wonder: “what does it mean to welcome little children?”
When we talk about welcoming children, it is not about just making room for them to be present, it is about making them feel they are valued and wanted here with us. We can clearly see that in the churches we are exposed to through MERATH: churches that  are doing all they can to welcome into their midst children who no one else seems to welcome. Not only have they opened their doors to vulnerable and refugee children and their families, but they have also opened their hearts to them. One of our partners once told me “The people I serve are not just numbers to me. I consider them to be like my family.”
Whether our partners are providing families with food and other daily necessities, or out-of-school children with education and psychosocial support, they are not only answering material needs but a deeper longing to feel listened to, understood, and cared for: a longing to feel welcomed. A refugee mother who has four children in one of our partner learning centers told us: “when we enter the center, we feel like human beings again!”. Another mother said: “I see the love of God in the church team. Through them we benefit from many things, beyond just food.”
Because our partners are churches and faith communities, they welcome those children and their families not in their own names, but in Jesus’ Name. And we believe that each time they have done so, they have welcomed God himself. We pray that in everything we do, to God be all the glory, forever and ever!

 

HELP OUR PARTNERS WELCOME MORE CHILDREN

> Learn more about our basic needs assistance

> Learn more about our education and child protection projects

> Learn more about our livelihoods initiatives

> Check out our annual report!

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Pictures by Helen Manson for World Renew

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Our mission

Through local partners, MERATH implements relief and development projects for thousands of displaced and vulnerable families in Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq in the fields of basic needs, education and child protection and livelihoods.

Latest posts

  • Through Him who gives us strength
    March 1, 2023
  • Quarterly highlights – Q3 2022
    November 2, 2022
  • Winter in the time of Cholera
    November 1, 2022

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agriculture basic needs Beirut explosion child protection COVID19 development education faith-based partners food security health home rehabilitation hygiene internally displaced Iraq Lebanon livelihoods local communities migrant workers prayer focus psychosocial support recovery refugees relief staff care Syria training winter assistance women

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© 2019 MERATH is the relief and community development arm of the Lebanese Society for Educational and Social Development (LSESD)