Earthquake response

Prayers from the heart of the Turkey-Syria earthquake

Imagine life in the aftermath of a devastating earthquake.  As wintery conditions do their worst, all you have is a temporary shelter to keep the cold weather at bay.

Now imagine too that you are displaced, by war and economic collapse. That is the heart-breaking reality for so many in Türkiye (formerly Turkey) and Syria in the wake of the recent earthquake.

But at least they have that shelter. And thanks to the incredible and rapid generosity of BMS World Mission supporters, the people of Syria and Türkiye have not just shelter but also much-needed medical kits, blankets, heating tools and mattresses.

And now more than ever, as the work of rescue becomes the work of rebuilding and restoring, they need your prayers.

BMS is part of a co-ordinated response with our partners on the ground – and a team from our partner the Baptist Forum for Aid and Development (BFAD) is now operational in the region, too. BMS is humbled by the response of leaders and churches in Türkiye, Syria and Lebanon, and the BFAD team.

Please support all those caught up in this disaster in prayer using the prayers below. We are also accepting gifts to our disaster relief fund using the button below.

Map showing Turkey and Syria with the epicentre of the two earthquakes and the position of
Please pray for the area affected by these two major earthquakes.
Please lift up the victims of the Türkiye-Syria earthquake in prayer. Please pray for:
  • The leadership of the Turkish Baptist Alliance
  • The leadership of the Baptist Convention of Syria
  • Our partners in Lebanon working with Syrian refugees, that they might support people from Syria who are suffering from afar
  • A team from our partner the Baptist Forum for Aid and Development, working on the ground
  • The rescue operations, that they might still yet find survivors under the rubble
  • The families who have lost loved ones or whose loved ones are currently missing
  • Wisdom for those making decisions about the disaster response in both Türkiye and Syria
  • The compounded pain of the millions of displaced persons in Syria and Lebanon

When you and your church give to support BMS disaster relief, you’re helping people affected by disasters like the one in Türkiye and Syria today, and wherever it is needed in the future.

Go to the Disaster Recovery appeal page

The only safe haven

“The only safe haven”

Syrian refugees in Lebanon still need your help

Julie’s family fled Syria for the safety of Lebanon back in 2013. So why, in 2022, does Julie’s dad Mahmoud* describe a BMS World Mission-supported learning centre in Lebanon as the only safe haven for his children? The truth is that life in Lebanon remains tough, and Syrian refugees desperately need your help.

“We faced the same situation as the Ukrainians, and we feel for them. We passed through war, and it is very difficult to leave your home and become a refugee in another country. In times of war, people die, and others get injured. You lose people you love.” – Mahmoud, Julie’s father.

For Mahmoud, news of the war in Ukraine felt intensely personal. It reminded him of his family’s own experiences, fleeing the Syrian capital city of Aleppo back in 2013 and narrowly escaping a life-threatening interrogation from violent ISIS soldiers. It showed him once again the way in which war brings out the best and the worst in people – Mahmoud knew what hardships Ukrainians were going through but was genuinely pleased to see them being so well looked after by their European neighbours. More than anything though, it made him worry for his family’s future. For every Ukrainian person he saw being welcomed as a refugee, he could think of many Syrian families who had been rejected, turned away and discriminated against as they tried to cross into safer nations. He also saw the costs of living in Lebanon skyrocketing as a direct result of the invasion.

Group photo of Julie's family
A BMS-supported Church Learning Centre in Lebanon has given Syrian refugee families renewed hope in 2022.
Could you support Julie and her family through the cost of living crisis in Lebanon?

£160 could provide a young Syrian refugee like Julie with vocational training and schooling, giving them the chance to forge a new future. Families are desperate and the needs are so urgent. Please fill out the form to give today.

“We witnessed and are still witnessing the effect of the war in Ukraine on Lebanon,” says Mahmoud. Julie’s family owned their own home in Syria, but in Lebanon they needed to pay rent on their accommodation – rent that has doubled in the past two months. The family has also limited their use of electricity, switched off their internet connection and stopped buying fruit, dairy products and meat in order to make ends meet. Julie is 14 years old now, but she first arrived in Lebanon at the age of six. “Life was beautiful in Syria,” she told BMS partners back in 2013. Life in Lebanon promised safety, and now the increased costs of day-to-day life have threated that safety more than ever before. “Our situation was difficult to start with and I already had trouble providing for my wife and three children,” Mahmoud says. “The increase in prices has become very hard to live with.”

A graphic showing the cost of living crisis in Lebanon.




The family’s one lifeline has been a BMS-supported learning centre that Julie and her siblings have attended since arriving in Lebanon. Back then, ten-year-old Julie dreamed of becoming a pharmacist and living in Australia, somewhere far away from the war. The possibility of attending school after two years of unrest was a miracle for Julie’s family. “My wife and I were overwhelmed with joy and hope when our children could finally get an education again,” said Mahmoud at the time. “The biggest reason why we fled Syria was to give them an education and a chance of a better life.”

The school has done all that and more, giving Julie and her siblings the chance to enjoy subjects such as English, Arabic, maths and art. In fact, Mahmoud describes it as the only safe haven his children have experienced while living in Lebanon. “We tried to enrol them in public school for a while but there was verbal and physical abuse there,” says Mahmoud. “The teacher would hit the children and use foul language.” At the learning centre, Julie and her siblings are safe and cared for. “They feel valued and they love their teachers dearly,” Mahmoud continues. “They tell me they wouldn’t mind being there all day from morning to night!”

A photo of a young Syrian girl
At the age of ten, Julie dreamed of being a pharmacist.
An image of Syrian refugee Julie at the age of 14.
Now aged 14, Julie still loves her school and teachers.

Life may not be easy for Julie’s family. They live day-to-day not knowing whether they’ll be able to afford the next day’s bread. They still hear of terrible violence happening back in Syria too, including the kidnapping of Mahmoud’s brother. Julie’s family and other relatives were forced into paying what they could to guarantee his safe release. But there are things that give them hope: the learning centre, the food vouchers they receive through BMS’ partner, and most of all, their faith in God. “We believe in Jesus Christ, and we hope that what’s happening and what’s coming is all for the best. Jesus does not give up on us,” says Mahmoud. “We believe that even after all this sorrow and hardship, there will be happiness and relief.”

Could you help bring some of that happiness and relief to Julie and her family, and others like them? Any amount really does make a difference. Give today using the form at the top of the page, or head to the BMS World Mission Global Cost of Living appeal to find out more.

*Name changed.
Words by Hannah Watson, Editor of Engage, the BMS World Mission magazine

A tale of two crises

Ten years on:

A tale of two crises

Ten years of fighting. Ten years away from home. Ten years with the constant threat of danger and death. But also, in spite of the heartbreak, ten years of God’s incredible love. This is the Syrian civil war, ten years on.

It may have largely disappeared from our news feeds, but the Syrian civil war and subsequent refugee crisis are still raging on – and in many ways, are worse than ever. According to the Lebanese Society for Education and Social Development (LSESD), BMS World Mission’s partner in Lebanon, the number of Syrian families in Lebanon now living in poverty has increased from 55 per cent to 90 per cent over the last year. But even in the midst of these devastating crises, our partner has seen God at work.

It's estimated that one in four people in Lebanon is a Syrian refugee.

Crises within crises

BMS World Mission has been supporting Syrian refugees in Lebanon since 2011, when we first provided vital food and hygiene kits to families in desperate need. Over the last decade, we’ve continued offering crucial food support, and have also helped get Syrian children back in education at BMS-supported learning centres. But since the Syrian crisis began in 2010, the situations in both Syria and Lebanon have grown more and more desperate with each passing year. Today, around one in four people in Lebanon is a Syrian refugee. And Lebanon itself has faced a financial crisis, the Covid-19 pandemic and the tragic Beirut blasts, all over just a couple of years.

Our partner tells us that these challenges mean that both Syrian and Lebanese families are struggling more than ever to find work so they can afford basic necessities like food and rent. Rabih*, a Syrian man, told our partner that, “I believe that the refugee crisis has worsened the economic crisis… If I make any money, I feel that a Lebanese person is more deserving of it.”
In the midst of such tragedies and despair, it’s hard to see how this situation could come to any kind of positive conclusion. But that’s where you come in.

A father stands in the centre surrounded by his two young sons and daughter in a camp supported by BMS partners LSESD.
"If I make any money, I feel that a Lebanese person is more deserving of it.,” said Rahib, a Syrian man supported by LSESD.

Your faithful generosity

Throughout these crises and tragedies, BMS supporters have responded with incredible compassion and generosity. You might remember our Syria’s Forgotten Families harvest appeal back in 2016, which raised an incredible £435,479.90 – the biggest response to any of our harvest appeals to date.

Because you refused to forget Syria, you’ve made a real difference to people like Nour*. Nour and her family regularly struggled to get enough food on the table, and in the tough economic climate, her husband often can’t find work. But thanks to your generosity, her seven-year-old daughter Samia* was able to start school at a BMS-supported learning centre back in 2019. Even though the Coronavirus pandemic struck a few months into her schooling, Samia was still able to keep learning with lessons sent over WhatsApp. “I thought they would not care about our family much,” said Nour. “I was surprised when […] the teachers actually called to help with the lessons.”

Not only is the centre providing Samia with the education she deserves, it’s also a lifeline for Nour herself. She receives food parcels from the centre every week, and it’s also become a place she can go to unburden herself of her worries.

“I eagerly waited for one of the staff to call me because I can cry and laugh and vent to someone,” said Nour. “My husband is burdened already, I cannot add to his sorrow, so whenever the teachers called, I felt relieved.”

Nour’s is just one story from among many who have received vital help from the centre. And without your support, that just wouldn’t have been possible.

*Names changed

Thanks to your support, we were able to get food parcels to struggling Syrian families.

Another decade of despair?

  • Despite the light of God clearly shining in the lives of many Syrian refugees in Lebanon, the conflict in Syria and the fragile situation in Lebanon are both far from over. Please keep praying for Syria, and for the work of our partner in Lebanon, that we might see God’s powerful justice at work.
  • Pray for the many families receiving relief from the BMS-supported learning centre. Pray that the Lord will provide for both Syrian and Lebanese people involved in this project. Pray also that they wouldn’t struggle to find work or put food on the table, like Nour’s family did.
  • Pray for the children receiving schooling at the learning centre, that the ongoing economic crisis wouldn’t cause children to drop out of school in order to find work.
  • Pray for our partner in Lebanon, that they would feel God’s presence with them as they work through so many challenges.
  • Pray for the ongoing situation in Syria, that discussions with the UN would be constructive and that peace would soon become a reality.
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Words by Laura Durrant
Photos: MERATH

From 2009-2019: The lives you’ve transformed

From 2009-2019:

The lives you’ve transformed

Supporting this

God’s done incredible things through your support over the past ten years. Join us as we look back on the last decade of BMS World Mission work, to revisit some of the wonderful people whose lives you’ve changed forever.

2009: Bringing the light of God to France

Two pages from a magazine next to a pen pot on a table.

Back in 2009, Engage magazine looked a little different! Way back in Issue 4 of Engage, we caught up with BMS workers John and Sue Wilson, serving in France, who introduced us to four people who had come to Christ through your support!

2010: Fighting drug addiction in Thailand

A man in front of a sign.
Our 2010 Harvest appeal video, Redemption, introduced us to Deekley, who was fighting his opium addiction to help his family.

We visited our partners the Thai Karen Baptist Convention back in 2010, to meet some people you helped raise out of addiction. Your generous gifts were used to buy medicine for recovering addicts, as well as fertiliser which helped give addicts and their families a way to grow food and fight poverty.

2011: Planting seeds of faith in Peru

A man stands in a field.
Your support helped Peruvian flood victims replant their crops in 2011.

You came with us to Peru in 2011, and we showed you the village of Yucay where 350 people lost their homes and 400 farming families lost their crops after devastating flooding. But your support for these families allowed us to provide seeds for them to plant and rebuild their lives.

2012: Celebrating the undefeated

A magazine and a leaflet on a table with a cup of coffee.

In 2012, Engage got a makeover, and we celebrated the excellence of Paralympians, along with the rest of the UK, with the London 2012 Paralympic Games. Our Undefeated resource shed light on some of the global injustices facing people with disabilities across the world. Your support also helped three Haitian athletes compete in the Paralympics!

2013: Lifting up North Korea in prayer

A country that lays heavy on many of our hearts is North Korea, one of the toughest places in the world to be a Christian. We know how much our supporters want to see release and revival in this closed nation, which is why in 2013 you joined us in prayer for North Korea as part of our Project Cyrus initiative.

Feeling nostalgic?

We’re looking for pre-2012 editions of Engage for our archives! Do you have any? We’d love to hear from you! Get in touch by emailing ldurrant@bmsworldmission.org to let us know which issues you have.

Two hands and the words Project Cyrus! Pray for North Korea.

2014: Standing with women across the world

A woman in profile and the words: "Dignity. Taking a stand against gender based violence."

The 2010s was a decade where the struggles of women across the world were brought to the fore, which is why we launched our Dignity resource in 2014, to campaign against gender-based violence (GBV). Your support enabled us to equip and educate leaders and congregations across the world to handle the harmful impacts of GBV.

2015: Sending relief to Nepal

A house in ruins surrounded by rubble.
BMS supporters responded incredibly after the devastating earthquakes that struck Nepal in 2015.

Two devastating earthquakes struck Nepal in April and May of 2015, killing over 8,000 people and directly impacting over 8 million others. You gave over £650,000 – the biggest relief response of the decade! Thanks to your generous giving, you provided trauma victims with necessary counselling, and rebuilt schools destroyed by the earthquakes.

2016: Stepping out in faith in India

A man talks among a crowd.
BMS worker Benjamin Francis is bringing the light of Christ to some of the least evangelised communities in India.

In 2016, you gave to the incredible work of BMS evangelist Ben Francis, planting churches in some of the least evangelised communities in India. Ben’s team and many other Christians living in these parts of India are faced with horrific persecution from religious extremist groups, but your support made it possible for them to continue to step out in faith.

2017: Sharing art from Syria

Children's drawings.

Another tragedy facing the world this decade was the Syrian refugee crisis. In a newly designed issue of Engage magazine in 2017, we showed you some artwork created by Syrian refugee children you supported in Lebanon. Their work might reveal the trauma they faced in their home country, but your support showed them how much UK Christians care about their future, by getting them back into school.

2018: New life in Afghanistan

A woman holding her baby.
Taban, featured in Life's First Cry, and her young daughter, Chehrah. Thanks to you, Taban didn't have to worry about losing Chehrah in childbirth.

We couldn’t talk about 2018 without mentioning Life’s First Cry. With an award-nominated feature video, we introduced you to Andisha, Taban and Laalah: three mothers from Afghanistan, all of whom have had to watch their children die in childbirth. You enabled them to learn safe birthing practices and now they all have children who are thriving.

2019: Chosen by God in Uganda

A boy holds a yellow balloon.
Innocent has Down Syndrome. Your support means that he is growing up knowing that he is loved by God.

And last but not least, in 2019 we introduced you to Innocent, the God-given boy of Gulu, Uganda. Innocent has Down Syndrome, and his mother was told to abandon him when he was young. But she knew that he was special, and now, thanks to your support, he’s able to attend a group with other children with Down Syndrome, where he can feel loved, accepted. He knows he has a part in God’s plan.

We can’t wait to see what God has in store over the next ten years, and beyond! If you want to be part of God’s work, please give to BMS work. This is your chance to make a lasting change across the world.

Want to support God's work? Click here!
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Words by Laura Durrant.

‘Bring me a teacher’- the Syrian girl who demanded an education

‘Bring me a teacher’

The Syrian girl who demanded an education

I'm praying for this

BMS World Mission supporters like you are helping to get Syrian children back to school.

Bombing, fighting and the threat of being kidnapped forced Shakala* and her family from their home in Syria. When they arrived in Lebanon, Shakala spent two years out of school because her mum was too scared to let her leave the house. But now, she goes to class and has dreams of becoming a detective. This letter she wrote to her teacher shows how much her life has changed.

“My beloved teacher, despite the distance between us, your image is in my heart and in my mind and it will never leave.”

Shakala didn’t know if she would survive until nightfall most days when she and her family lived in Aleppo, Syria. Bombings, fighting and kidnappings were part of daily life. In all the chaos, Shakala herself was almost kidnapped. A man tried to carry her away, but her mother found her and took her back just in time. “It took her four years to get over that,” said Ashti*, Shakala’s mother. “She started having nightmares and crying at night saying, ‘They came for me.’”
Ashti had to lock her children in the house whenever she went out to buy food to stop people getting in and taking them. Eventually, they were forced to flee Syria and try and make a new life in Lebanon.

Shakala and her family live in a single room in Lebanon. Y
Shakala and her family live in a single room in Lebanon. Your support is giving her hope of a future different from her past.

“As hard as the days might be on us… you are healing my wounds.”

Shakala and her family left Aleppo in 2012, when she was just eight years old. They were supposed to find a better life. But life in Lebanon was almost as hard as the one they’d left. When Shakala’s mother found work, she wasn’t accepted by the people she worked with. “They started saying bad things about me and I used to come home and cry,” she says. Only the hope of finding a better life for her children could convince her to stay. But Shakala and her siblings weren’t finding their new life any easier than their mum. Haunted by Shakala’s attempted kidnapping, Ashti kept her children in the house without education for two years. But Shakala was determined to go to school.

“From you I’ve learnt that everything is possible.”

“Bring me a teacher!” Shakala asked her mother over and over again. Her mother didn’t know what to do. She knew how important it was that her children had an education and that school would bring some stability to their lives. But she was terrified of letting her children go. For two years, Shakala asked for school and her mother had to say no. But then some neighbours told her about a BMS-supported learning centre, held at a nearby church. This was the chance that Shakala had been dreaming about. She started school. And she thrived. She loved it so much that she asked for school during the holidays, and the church was able to set up camps for the children to go to. Her teachers didn’t just teach her about maths and English, but about commitment and working hard. Things were starting to look up for Shakala. But her future was still uncertain.

“You’ve taught me a lot about perseverance and sacrifice.”

From Shakala’s letter you might think that she was leaving school. The reality is that she knows it’s likely she will leave the area soon and have to say goodbye to her beloved teachers forever. Her letter shows how uncertain her life still is. Her father and extended family are still in Syria, but if Shakala were to go back there, she might be forced to abandon her education and marry her cousin. She is 14 years old. Her mum doesn’t want that to happen: “I want her to study and pursue her dreams,” she says.

“I will go with my head up to face the world.”

Shakala is determined to achieve her dreams. “She wants to continue studying and travel abroad and become a detective,” says Ashti. Shakala’s letter shows how much her school means to her. They’ve taught her to believe in herself. Because of Christians like you across the UK, this learning centre can employ more teachers to inspire children every day. Your support is bringing stability back into the life of a child who would otherwise have been forgotten. Your support has allowed her to have dreams and has given her the ability to make them a reality. But there are still children that need help.
“I want to thank you a lot for not forgetting us,” says Ashti. “I wish that you would continue and maybe make the projects bigger because there are some students that are not registered and there’s no place for them.” With your continued support the learning centre can be expanded. And more forgotten children can be found again.

A letter of thanks written from a student to her teacher
Shakala’s beautifully written thank you letter to her teacher. She wrote it in Arabic, but we’ve translated it into English for you below.

“You will always be my teacher, the one that I love, and I will never forget what you’ve done for me.”

Please pray

  1. For peace and justice in Syria.
  2. That all the Syrian refugee children in Lebanon, and across the world, receive education, and that they will be as passionate about learning as Shakala is.
  3. For the teachers at the learning centre in Lebanon. Pray that they know that the hard work they are doing has an amazing impact on the children they teach.
  4. That the learning centre will be able to expand and that more teachers will be trained so that they will be able to accept all the children that come to them and give them the education they deserve.
if you're praying with us Click Here
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You can see from Shakala’s letter how much her teacher means to her. With your continued prayer and support, more children will be able to write letters like Shakala’s. Because more children will be getting the education they deserve.

Download below the prayer points and a full English translation of Shakala’s letter, and use them as a daily reminder to pray.

Download now

*Names changed

Their homes have been destroyed. Don’t let that happen to their education.

Their homes have been destroyed

Don’t let that happen to their education

Christians like you are giving hope to Syrian refugee children. But much more can still be done.

We can’t help them. The situation’s hopeless. Syria – it’s a basket case. The people who’ve left it are best not thought about: unfortunate, sure, but not our problem. Not like us. Them. Refugees.

Praise God, most Christians BMS World Mission knows don’t feel this way – nor do they think of refugees as ‘swarms’ or terrorists. But it’s easy to fall into the habit of obscuring human beings with that word: refugees. And it’s easy to think there’s nothing you can do.

But there is. You can help refugee children today.

Children with names and personalities and potential. We’re excited because we have the privilege of introducing you to two of them.

We asked their teachers (who you can help support) to introduce us. We asked their parents if they’d let you get a glimpse of two funny, charming, big-hearted boys from Syria called Gabi and Maher.

Gabi and Maher are half-brothers. Gabi is ten and Maher is 11. They come from Homs in Syria and today they live outside Beirut in Lebanon – a country they’ve been living in for seven years.

Two Syrian refugee boys sit in a classroom in Lebanon
So many Syrian children like Gabi and Maher have had their school years ripped apart. You can give them hope of a better life.

Our temptation when we meet children like Gabi and Maher is to treat them like statistics. Case studies, defined by the worst parts of their stories and the story of their country: the bombings and beheadings, the murdered family members. That’s not what we want. Gabi is not a victim, he’s hilarious. He loves English and learning new words, and while he likes playing football, he’s not nearly as good at it as Maher. And Maher is cheeky. And confident. And says he gets in trouble a little more than his brother – but their teacher tells me they’re both good boys.

Their family lives in a tent. That’s not life for all refugees, but it is for their family. They sleep on mattresses on the floor and when I ask them to describe the tent, Gabi looks impatient, like I’m a little slow: “It’s just a normal tent,” he says. And to him it is.

A Syrian refugee boy stands in front of a classroom whiteboard
We want to help more refugee children like Maher get back into the classroom, where they can learn, be inspired, and get their childhood back.

Children like Gabi and Maher have had their entire lives disrupted and uprooted by war. They’re living in a country that was once invaded by Syria. They’re in danger of missing years of school, of losing all hope for a future of employment and fulfilled potential. And that’s where you come in.

You can give right now to help us support the learning centre that is changing their lives. You can make sure other children get the chance they’re getting.

There are so many Syrian children who we haven’t yet been able to help. So many not yet blessed with what BMS supporters have given Gabi and Maher: a supportive, caring environment where they can learn and grow and hear about God’s love.

Here's what you can do

Give £15 – this can pay for a desk and chair for a child

Give £32 – this can pay for one child’s school transport for half a term

Give £113 – this can pay for a teacher for a week

By giving now you can make a real difference, stepping into the gap and helping children like Gabi and Maher, as well as children and adults around the world whose lives God is transforming through BMS work and UK Christian support. And you can help other human beings in need around the world, too.

Be a part of that miraculous story today. Reject the message of hopelessness and make a donation – every amount makes a difference – and show that no child, no human being, should be defined by a label.

I want to give today

Gabi and Maher’s names were changed by request.