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The fatal blast in Beirut last month became yet another blow to an already plagued country. In recent months, a financial crisis with a free-falling currency and rising unemployment has further undermined the Lebanese economy. Add to that one million Syrian refugees and the COVID-19 pandemic, and the contours of a fragile nation facing monumental challenges emerge.

In a joint statement, the World Council of Churches, ACT Alliance, and Middle East Council of Churches appealed to address the most urgent needs in the wake of the catastrophic explosion that ripped through the heart of Beirut on 4 August.

George Ziadeh is CEO of the Compassion Protestant Society, which has started a fundraising campaign, “Beirut Hope,” to help the hundreds of thousands of people affected by the explosion in the port of Beirut on 4 August. The interview below is excerpted from an original interview of Ziadeh produced by the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland, that joined the appeal for donations for the victims of the explosion in the port of Beirut.

The Middle East Council of Churches has issued an appeal in response to the large explosion that took 137 lives, with many people still missing.

In the wake of a tragic explosion in Beirut, Lebanon, the World Council of Churches (WCC) sent condolences and called for prayers for those who lost loves ones, for the injured, and for the ongoing work of the rescue teams.

Once considered the shining example of diverse Middle Eastern peoples and religious groups living in harmony, Lebanon’s decades-long civil struggle has spiralled into economic collapse and governmental paralysis.

Dr Souraya Bechealany is secretary general of the Middle East Council of Churches. On 26 March, the WCC and Regional Ecumenical Organizations released a historic joint pastoral statement affirming the urgency of standing together to protect life amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The WCC has since been gathering viewpoints from diverse regions about the importance of taking care of our one human family.

From 31 January - 2 February in Beirut, Lebanon, His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Holy See of Cilicia, hosted a group of church leaders at Antelias who explored a more responsive and inclusive ecumenical vision.

As 25 experts in geopolitics and theology gathered in Lebanon from 6-8 December, Dr Souraya Bechealany, secretary general of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC), highlighted the vital importance of the process they were undertaking.

World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit expressed grave concern for people’s rights and well-being in Lebanon.

Eighteen leaders from the World Council of Churches Ecumenical Disability Advocates Network met in Beirut, Lebanon on 3-5 July, to addresses concerns in the region and to evaluate the strategic plan.

Restoring human dignity where people suffer most is the ultimate calling for churches in the Middle East and their partners worldwide, stated an annual partners meeting of the Middle East Council of Churches held in Ain el Qassis, Lebanon this week.

The WCC Permanent Committee on Consensus and Collaboration issued a communique on 9 April calling for the release of two metropolitans of Aleppo, His Eminence Boulos (Yazigi), from the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East, and His Eminence Mor Youhanna Gregorios (Ibrahim) from the Syrian Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East.

The WCC Permanent Committee on Consensus and Collaboration is meeting from 5-10 April at the Patriarchal Monastery of Our Lady of Balamand in Lebanon.

From 23-25 March, 1,600 young people from 43 countries came together in Beirut, Lebanon with the brothers of the ecumenical, monastic community of Taizé (France). Middle Eastern and Western Christians discovered how fruitful and stimulating an ecumenical exchange can be.

On 25 March, His Holiness Moran Mor Ignatius Aphrem II, Patriarch of Antioch and All the East and Supreme Head of the Universal Syrian Orthodox Church, officially blessed and opened Suboro TV, which will offer religious, cultural and social programs that aim to fulfill the spiritual needs of Syriac people.

The Churches of Lebanon, Middle East Council of Churches, and the Taizé community are holding an International Ecumenical Youth Meeting in Beirut from 22-26 March.

‘History’ and ‘Time’ were the thirteenth and fourteenth subjects covered in a workshop which took place in Erlangen, Germany, 12-14 December as part of a project “Key Concepts in Interreligious Discourses.”

World Council of Churches leaders spoke on the theme “Hospitality: On a Pilgrim’s Way of Justice and Peace" at a symposium on 23 August at the Protestant Theological University Amsterdam.

On 27 March, a hug between a 7-year-old girl, Majida, and her grandmother reflected the bright light of possibility that the ecumenical Humanitarian Corridors project continues to bring to refugees arriving in Italy. The child was waiting with other family members at the Fiumicino Airport in Rome as her grandmother arrived, safely and legally, in Italy from Lebanon.