THOUSANDS of Syrians are racing to escape the violence of civil war. As these refugees seek safety, Christians see an opportunity in the midst of tragedy.
In Jordan, they’re stepping in to bring the refugees help and hope.
‘We Hope God Will Keep Us Safe’
Syrian warplanes recently claimed more victims during government bombing raids against rebel positions north of Aleppo.
The country is now marked by death, destruction and darkness as tens of thousands flee for their lives, either across borders or inside Syria.
CBN News was given a rare look into the plight of one Christian family. Their home destroyed, they now live with friends in another Syrian city.
“It’s so hard to be out of our home,” one man said.
“I’m sad that we left all our memories behind,” the man’s wife explained as she sobbed about their loss. “Our church was also destroyed. My children were baptized there and we were married there. We hope God will keep us safe and everything will be okay.”
Hope for the Suffering
Most Christians remain in Syria while others, Alawites and Sunni Muslims, are leaving.
The United Nations estimates the number of registered Syrian refugees at more than 170,000. They have scattered across the region, ending up in Turkey, Lebanon, Iraq, and Jordan.
Tens of thousands more are unregistered. Their needs are overwhelming. But Christians in some Jordanian churches are doing what they can to help them.
“Many of the people get to Jordan with just the shirt on their back. They have no food, no clothes,” Tom Doyle, with the Dallas-based ministry E3 Partners, explained.
Doyle’s group works with Jordanian Christians to bring help and hope to the suffering refugees. He said many Syrians have moved from border camps to apartments.
“They have nothing in there, nothing even on the floor, but they are empty apartments, not in the best places in town that’s for sure,” he said. “And so that’s where they are going in the major cities.”
A Lasting Impact
CBN News met one family helped by the effort. We covered their faces to protect their identities. We called one male refugee “Hamza.”
He’s a Sunni Muslim who served as a medic for the Free Syria Army, or rebel movement. He said his efforts led government agents to torture and imprison him.
“They made it worse for us medics because they didn’t want rebels to receive medical help. They were seeking information about my friends and their movements. I refused to tell them anything,” he said. “It was terrible. They beat me so badly, I couldn’t lie down for one week.”
“Hamza” said his captors let him go after he paid them money. He and his family later fled to Jordan and now live in an apartment.
Hamza is unemployed; a Syrian friend pays the rent. But Hamza said it is food deliveries and regular visits from caring Christians that have made a lasting impact on his family.
“They have been a great help to us. I see them as brothers. I don’t have a problem with them being from a different faith,” he said.
Some of the refugees attend church services like the one CBN News visited. “Hamza” told us the help given by the Christians was noticeably different than the aid they received from other groups.
“Going to the church we are respected, we maintain our pride and dignity. Most of the other organizations are not providing help,” he said. “The biggest difference between the church and the other organizations is the love and feeling the Christians have for us.”
The Bible People
Doyle said God is using Christians to transform lives.
“As the believers get a chance to feed them and then they are trusted as safe people, they’ve had many opportunities to share the Gospel with some of these refugees,” he said.
“And there are even enough of them that they’ve started some small house churches, so God’s being glorified in the midst of this mess,” he added.
Doyle witnessed how the effort affected the life of one refugee.
“Some of the people were pushing them around and it was mass chaos and this woman looked at me and she said, ‘but it was the Bible people that came to us and gave us food and clothes and loved us and played with our children. It was the Bible people who were there for us,'” Doyle recalled.
“When she got done sharing her story she looked at me and said, ‘And I want you to know, I love Jesus now!'” he said.
Out of wartime tragedy, “The Bible People” are having an impact on the lives of the refugees by sharing the love of Christ, meeting material needs and shining light into the lives of Syrians fleeing chronic darkness. CBN News
