Syrian man tells Belfast Presbyterians: I feel like one of you

Rev Fadi Elia Dagher of the National Evangelical Synod of Syria and Lebanon said: “Although thousands of kilometres separate me from my home country, I feel as if I am standing in my own church, in front of my own congregation and with my fellow ministers.”

He told of the devastating impact of the conflict in Syria, saying: “In the past five years, churches have been destroyed, congregations relocated, elderly and children dead and suffering; youth injured, immigrated, lost their jobs, couldn’t continue their education.”

He added: “We are at war with limited resources and unlimited needs. Yet our Christian faith has kept us rooted in the region where Christ also suffered.”

The Presbyterian Church was thanked for its “moral, material and financial contributions” to assist countries which have been “groaning in pain for more than six years”.