22/10/2019
Rebuild Broken Lives in Syria
Bible Society Australia (BSA) has called on Australian churches to commit to praying for peace in Syria.
In a letter to churches, BSA’s new CEO, Grant Thomson, wrote of the desperate correspondence coming from colleagues at Bible Society Syria, concerned for Christians and others who are being persecuted in the renewed fighting.
Mr Thomson wrote, “the latest email communication tells us that agencies on the ground are predicting that up to 450,000 people could be internally displaced in the near future because of the renewed military operations.
“Would you, as the body of Christ, commit to praying for protection for Christians and other persecuted people in Syria.”
Bible Society Australia has also just launched an appeal for Syria, to raise funds for Bible-based trauma healing in this severely traumatised country. Trauma healing programs were launched by Bible Society Syria in 2015 in response to the huge need.
Bible Society Syria says that while there is a high demand for trauma-healing programs among the Christian community, their aim is for trauma healing to become an encouragement to all regardless of religious background or political affinity.
To enable this, there is a need to train and equip an additional 500 psycho-social workers in many types of therapies for different traumas. Bible Society Syria is also developing a psycho-social manual for trauma healing specifically modified and contextualised for the Syrian community.
When asked what Christians here in Australia can do, Bible Society Syria responded, “you can pray. Pray, Pray, Pray!
“You can also help us continue the work that we believe is the work He, our Father, with the active help of the Holy Spirit has asked us to do in this land of suffering.
“And please, stand by His Church in this country. Make the Church feel that we are really part of the same Body of Christ!”
Mr Thomson: “I can hear the desperation in this prayer and am asking the churches of Australia to pray for Syria. Help them know that we do indeed hear them, we care about them and the Body of Christ would be incomplete without our Syrian brothers and sisters.”
“Another practical response to their urgent needs is to support BSA’s appeal raising funds for the Syrian Trauma Healing Program.”
To find out about the Syria Appeal, visit www.biblesociety.org.au/healing
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For more information or to interview Grant Thomson, please contact Penny Mulvey, Head of Communications and Public Affairs
M: 0403 063 499
