The Syrian refugee crisis: how you can help

This harvest, will you and your church stand with Syria’s forgotten families?

Brutal. Heartbreaking. Endless. The civil war in Syria and its effects on millions of innocent people are indescribably sad. It’s right to mourn, it’s right to feel angry – but it’s also right to respond.
 
This harvest, BMS World Mission is asking you and your church to use its Syria’s Forgotten Families resource and to give to the appeal. BMS has been helping Syrian refugees since 2011, first with immediate relief – food, blankets, medical help – and then, alongside continuing relief needs, with longer term support for families.

As the crisis stretches on, we want to ensure that Syria’s next generation is not lost. This means investing in the education of Syria’s children. It means providing educational support and safe learning spaces. It means coming alongside refugee families, trying to understand their needs and support them both physically and psychologically. It means having people on the ground to help co-ordinate this relief and support. And it means having people in the UK praying for BMS and giving financially to make it all possible. 

Speak to your minister about supporting the appeal and order Syria’s Forgotten Families free of charge today. 

Not long ago, a small team from BMS head office had the privilege of visiting some Syrian families who are living in Lebanon. The team met a heartbroken father who used to be able to provide for his growing family and whose greatest wish is now simply that his children can get an education and his family can one day go home. They met a ten-year-old girl who lives in a tent with her auntie and uncle and is desperate to go to school. They met a woman whose husband died shortly after they fled the war in Syria, leaving her a widow with five young children. They met people like us. People whose circumstances have forced them into a life they could never have imagined.

The result of that visit is the Syria’s Forgotten Families resource, and BMS would love you and your church to use it – watch it, pray over it, talk about it, share the stories, and give to the appeal. There’s a whole load of resources to help you think and respond, including: an engaging seven-minute feature video; a beautiful reflection video set to a new Lucy Berry poem; a two-minute video sharing Avine’s story; and a leader’s guide containing service and sermon suggestions, fundraising ideas and a useful fact sheet.
 
Your support will help vulnerable Syrian families. It will help some of the world’s neediest people. Now is not the time to lose hope – it’s the time to step up and act. 

Thank you.

This article first appeared on the website of BMS World Mission and is used with permission.