Hope from the Edges
Watch the latest stories of what God is doing in Lebanon, South Sudan, Brazil and South Asia.
Lebanon: lifelines of hope amid crisis
Our goal is to offer practical help and be a gentle, loving witness to Jesus for 1,000 families in Lebanon. You can be part of this.
Find out more about the stories mentioned in this month’s Hope from the Edges:
Enemies turned brothers in Christ
Conflict and cattle-raiding have become communion in a South Sudanese church plant
Be sure to receive Hope from the Edges every time!
More stories you may like:
Video transcript
Hello everyone and welcome to Hope from the Edges. I’m Andy Roberts, CEO of CMS.
In the next few minutes, we’ll bring you inspiring news from three edges in our world, stories that you are making possible through your gifts and prayers.
First, we’ll go to South Sudan, where people from two tribes in conflict have planted a church together.
From there we’ll go to Brazil, where CMS partners are reimagining church and seeing people meet Jesus in a local park.
After that, we’ll go to South Asia, where a family in crisis got to see God turn things around for his glory.
Finally, we’ll stop by Lebanon, where CMS church partners are making a difference in the lives of those who need it most.
First, let’s go to South Sudan, where a cross-tribal church is thriving despite the odds.
How would you feel about sharing a church pew with someone who had robbed you? Or worshipping alongside a member of a community that, for years, had been locked in a deadly conflict with yours?
Brothers and sisters in Turalei, northern South Sudan, are doing just this. Christians from two tribes in conflict – Dinka and Nuer – have planted a church together.
These tribes have a longstanding conflict over grazing lands and many lives have been lost over the years.
CMS partner Paul Lueth, a Dinka himself from Turalei, knows the weight of this division first-hand. In early 2024, Paul and other Christian leaders from both tribes gathered to try to find a way forward, starting their time together with prayer and worship.
To their surprise, when they started discussing how the tribes could peacefully share the disputed grazing land, their shared faith helped them find a way forward. During the meeting, one participant looked around and asked, “What is this Jesus, that we are able to speak to each other beyond tribes?”
This impossible-sounding church plant now has over 450 members and new people join them every week.
Paul and other leaders are baptising visitors as they encounter Jesus for the first time and commit their lives to him. Adults from opposing sides of the conflict build community while their children play together.
How is this possible? Their explanation is simple: “God has done this.”
Now, let’s go to Brazil, where people who are unlikely to go to church are encountering Jesus through mission.
In Indaiatuba, CMS partners Marcio Ciechanovicz and Noemi Celeti and a team of volunteers are reimagining church, creating space in a local park for people to engage with fun activities, join in with worship events, ask questions and have meaningful conversations.
Over the past few months, Marcio and Noemi have seen God working through many different activities.
A young artist who was just walking past a worship event was invited to pick up a canvas and paint as part of the event, and painted a beautiful scene of Jesus holding a lamb. He said he hadn’t been to church in ages, and had never been given the opportunity to use his gifts as part of a worship event. He left feeling so recognised and welcomed.
Another weekend, a volunteer set up a clothes donation stall, which helped lots of people find items they desperately needed and inspired generosity in others. A man who was walking through the park with his family stopped at the stall. The volunteers wondered if he needed anything. To their surprise, he took off his brand-new tennis shoes, donated them and walked away barefoot!
Marcio and Noemi and the team have also recently joined in with prayer walks, an immersive prayer station, an art evening, visits to the local skatepark and a service at a tattoo studio. God is on the move in Indaiatuba, Brazil!
Next, let’s go to South Asia to meet a family who saw God change an impossible situation.
A couple who we won’t name for security reasons were living a very unhappy life.
They’d been married for a few years and had two children together, but they fought every day.
It was so bad that the police had to be called most weeks. So, why all this fighting?
Well, the wife was having an affair. As the affair continued, the fighting got worse. Even though the couple couldn’t see a way forward, everything was about to change.
A neighbour, Sister Nitu, was a Christian and belonged to a church planted and led by Asia-CMS partners Deepak and Kareena. Sister Nitu prayed for this family and invited the wife to come with her to church.
She made new friends at church who showed her Jesus’ love in action. They listened to her pain, read the Bible with her and prayed for her family. When the husband suddenly became ill, the church supported him too and over time walked through counselling with the couple.
It was the first time the wife had learned about the sanctity of marriage and the true meaning of faithfulness to God and to a spouse. But the story doesn’t end there.
While the couple’s relationship was still very fragile, the wife discovered that she was pregnant. The last thing she wanted to do was bring a baby into this home of non-stop fighting and even thought about ending her pregnancy. But her friends from church supported her through this as well, and she decided to keep the baby. Their beautiful, healthy baby was born a few months later. They were so grateful for this unexpected gift from God.
Earlier this year, the couple took the most significant step of their lives together – they were baptised, and started a new life on a solid foundation.
Finally, let’s go to the Middle East.
We recently launched an appeal focused on Lebanon, where 1.4 million people have been displaced due to airstrikes and ongoing violence, and many families have lost everything.
Our partners in Beirut are living between gratitude and grief, grateful to have survived but in grief at the loss all around them. Our partners are working tirelessly to provide emergency food packs, medicine and trauma support to people in desperate need.
With your help, we’re aiming to provide this lifeline of physical relief and spiritual refuge for 1,000 families. To support this appeal, go to churchmissionsociety.org/Lebanon and find out more.
Thank you for joining me for these stories from the edges and for your prayerful support, which makes them possible.
Please share this video with your church, small group or anyone you think could use some fuel for their faith.
Until next time, we are so grateful for your gifts and prayers as together we go:
With Jesus
With each other
To the edges
ENDS
Be sure to receive Hope from the Edges every time!
