Last month, the Beirut Nazarene church in Achrafieh Lebanon, celebrated the two-year anniversary of its “Discover Bible Study” small group program.

The program began when church leaders were visiting their members and others in the community and noticed that many people had many questions about the Bible. To address this, they decided to start a weekly bible study. However, when the COVID-19 pandemic started, they had to get creative and split the group into several smaller gatherings. Two years later, what started out as a group of 15 participants and three leaders has grown into a ministry that includes 98 weekly participants.

At the celebration, members were given the opportunity to share their testimonies. One participant shared her experience in the Bible study.

“I am a mother of three adult daughters who attend the Nazarene Church in Achrafieh, Lebanon,” she said.  “They were baptized around six years ago, and since then, have been inviting their father and I to join them. They encouraged me to attend a small group where people gather around to study the Bible, and in the past, I refused but would occasionally go to the Church’s main meetings. Then Jesus began to work in my life miraculously.”

This family experienced the church in action when church members showed up for them in such tangible ways. She went on to explain “One night, my husband got sick, and we took him to the hospital. While he previously did not have any health problems, suddenly his lungs were full of water, and that affected his blood pressure and oxygen. When we arrived at the hospital, the doctors were shocked and said that this is really a bad situation. My daughter and I prayed, our pastor and church members prayed, and I knew that Jesus would protect him. My husband stayed in intensive care for two days, and then Jesus healed him.

The doctor was surprised that his lungs cleared so fast. Jesus was our answer to that! I thank the Lord for the miracle that we witnessed, and I want to thank Him also for the church that was there to encourage us.”

– shared by by Kristin Burchfiel on behalf of the Eastern Mediterranean Field Communications Team

– photos from Beirut Nazarene Church, Lebanon