Each year, the Mission Committee identifies a worthy mission partner to receive a special Christmas Offering that runs through the Advent season. This year, the Outreach Foundation and Good Samaritan Ministries in Syria and Lebanon will be our Christmas Offering recipients.

For over a decade, St. Andrew’s has supported these ministries which are official Mission Support Groups of the Presbyterian Church, USA. The funds raised through this offering will benefit the elderly, refugees, and displaced families with needs such as medical care, medication, food, baby formula, clothing, and blankets. The needs of civilians have recently been amplified by the current conflicts in the region with 1.2 million people displaced in Lebanon and Syria. The Presbyterian Church in Lebanon is currently using a summer Conference Center to house displaced people. It needs many of these basic supplies.

St. Andrew’s link to this ministry started through Rev. Nuhad Tomeh who recently spoke to our congregation in September. Nuhad is a Presbyterian pastor in Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq and has attended St. Andrew’s for many years when he is in Tucson. Although Nuhad is officially retired, he still works with Good Samaritan Ministries, traveling back to the Middle East several times a year.

We invite you to pray and consider participating in the Christmas Offering during this Advent season. To ensure your offering goes to this cause, please write “Christmas Offering” on the designation.