“Books for Life” Christian Resource Center organizes a series of “talks”

 

Beirut-LEBANON: As part of its mission, Books for Life Christian Resource Center, managed by the Bible Society in Lebanon, organized a series of “talks” addressing contemporary issues of interest for young people from a Biblical perspective. For five consecutive Thursdays starting August 18, 2005, a number of its members, youth groups and passers-by came to the Center to participate in the one-hour long sessions and interact with the presenters. This was followed by a time of refreshments and acquaintance.

The purpose for organizing these “talks” was threefold: To introduce the Center to new-comers, to challenge the young people with subjects of interest, and to illustrate that the Bible has the answer to many of today’s highlighted issues.

 The first “talk” was about the subject of sex before marriage, presented by the married couple Lydia and Thomas Liechti. The next week featured artist Michel Mattar on the subject of the illusion of New Age, followed by Dr. Naji Abi-Hachem – Clinical and Cultural Psychologist – who talked about low self-esteem amongst youth. The last two sessions included Father Paul Feghali, who tackled the topic of the Historical Jesus, and the final session was with Rima Karam on the issue of Physical and Emotional Abuse. All these subjects were presented from a Biblical and/or Christian approach.

 Hundreds of young people attended these sessions and several of them became members at Books for Life, where they can access much Christian literature and materials on these subjects and issues.

Questionnaires were distributed to the participants in order to receive some feedback. The vast majority responded that the topics, presenters and logistics were “good” to “excellent”, and all of them encouraged the concept that Books for Life would repeat organizing such “talks”. Many of them suggested new and challenging topics for the future and gave sound advice on how to attract more participants. The overall evaluation was very positive and encouraging.

Books for Life Christian Resource Center is a public meeting place with the purpose of:

• offering, particularly to youth and young people, the opportunity to grow spiritually and socially through interacting with God’s Word

• providing reference  material to support Biblical studies

• serving church leaders and school teachers.

Books for Life seeks to carry out its task through providing and lending books, audio-visual resources, and the use of computers and internet access for Christian purposes.