Lebanon

Welcome to The Lebanese Republic

Lebanon is a meeting place between Islam and traditional Christianity and resulted in a civil war between 1975 and 1991. While central government forces now control the majority of the country, cross border fire between the radical Islamist group, Hezbollah, and Israel has been ongoing. The sudden escalation of conflict in July 2006 led to bombing raids on Beirut, civilian casualties and a renewed mass exodus of foreigners and refugees.

A country of religious diversity, the Greek Orthodox Church and the Armenian Apostolic Church is seeking to convey Christian spiritual truths to the next generation. Early religious instruction for children has proven to be one of the most powerful predictors of a lifelong Christian faith.

We received a plea from Metropolitan Khodr and Metropolitan Audi, leaders of the Lebanese church who are serving under the Patriarchate of Antioch, asking us to provide much needed resources for the children of Lebanon. Accordingly, we have begun the process of translating Bible curriculum and making it culturally relevant, so that Lebanese children may have the opportunity to learn the Word of God.

Reviews from the Field

“I think that this project is filling the need that is found in the Orthodox Church in Lebanon by bringing a child focused and Bible based curriculum in the local language and contextualized for the local culture and tradition. The church has ownership of this project because the end product is for the church. Although the curriculum is written in the US, once it get translated and contextualized to the local context and language it seems as if it is developed by the church itself.”

Ziad Abi Abdallah | Christian Commitment Coordinator and YBC Project Manager | World Vision Lebanon

Project Development

Our primary objectives in Lebanon are:
1. To help train and mentor Christian leaders across Lebanon.
2. To develop culturally relevant, age appropriate children’s Bible lessons for young people ages 2-18.
3. To print and distribute needed curriculum and teacher’s materials to the Orthodox Church.

Curriculum Development and Usage

Age 8 Part I in Arabic has been printed for the Greek Orthodox Church
Age 8 Part I and II and Age 12 Part I in Armenian has been printed for the Armenian Apostolic Church.

Children have not used the curriculum yet, but plans are for all of the Greek Orthodox and Armenian Apostolic Churches in Lebanon to use it as it was blessed by the highest local authorities in both churches.

Teacher Training

About 50 teachers have been trained, with about 25 from each from the Greek Orthodox and Armenian Apostolic Churches.

Country Information

Full name | The Lebanese Republic
Capital | Beirut
Major language | Arabic
GNI per capita | US $6,180 (World Bank, 2006)
Population | 3,925,502 (July 2007 est.)

Children under 14 years
26.5% of the population (male 523,220/female 502,372)

Religious Breakdown
Muslim 59.7% (Shi’a, Sunni, Druze, Isma’ilite, Alawite or Nusayri)
Christian 39% (Maronite Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Melkite Catholic, Armenian Orthodox, Syrian Catholic, Armenian Catholic, Syrian Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Chaldean, Assyrian, Copt, Protestant)
Other 1.3%

Note: 17 religious sects recognized