Lebanon’s Disaster - Go Partners in Need

I expect most of you have seen the destruction from the 2750 metric tons of ammonium nitrate that exploded and leveled Lebanon’s main seaport. The videos that captured the explosion are horrific and unprecedented in terms of recording the terror that the city experienced on Tuesday evening. Many have died, thousands were injured and 350,000 are without homes.

Gateway has been in communication with the two ministries in Beirut that our Go ministry supports. Resurrection Church (RCB) has sustained major damage to one of its satellite campuses and yet is mobilizing its congregation to be the hand of help to those who are in deeper need. You can read their update here.

     RCB Relief Fund  

The Philemon Project’s Grow Preschool Center is located 2 miles from the blast center. It sustained heavy damage and the building may not be repairable. At least one teacher for the Grow Center has lost her home. One cannot fathom what millions have lived through in Beirut, not just this week, but for decades in the midst of civil war and constant unrest. For an update on the Grow Center, please take a look here.

     GROW Center Recovery  

Gateway will be responding as best we can from our Go budget, however, we extend the invitation to everyone here in our community to consider supporting the rebuilding of the Grow Center and contributing to the significant efforts of Resurrection Church to meet the needs of the most desperate. In particular, RCB has ministered to the needs of refugees from Syria and Iraq who have already lived through their own horrors of losing family members and home through war and persecution from authorities and antagonistic communities. Please see the links to find out how to make a tangible difference by contributing in their time of need. You can find information about how you can financially support these partners in the links above.

Thank you for the incredible track record of generosity that you have shown over the years. Gateway exists to connect people to Jesus Christ and to one another not just in our community, but around the world. Our Go trip to Lebanon (canceled earlier this summer) would have been in support of these ministries. We trust that you will consider this extraordinary need among two of our most strategic partners.