When the missional rock band No Longer Music boldly and creatively proclaimed the Gospel during their 2008 stage show in Beirut, not many would have anticipated how Steiger’s ministry in the Middle East would explode in the coming years:

For the last six years our multinational team — Steiger Middle East — has been sharing God’s love with the globalized youth in Beirut, Lebanon and beyond. And the response has been phenomenal! Young people from every religious background — Muslim, Druze, New Age, and Atheist — are flocking to our events and now we find ourselves at maximum capacity.

Multiply what God has been doing in and through our ministry by helping us launch an EVANGELISTIC COFFEE SHOP that will allow us to bring our meetings to the streets. Opening our own location will enable us to boost our current evangelism and community-building initiatives as well as to reach more globalized youth with the Gospel.

Since starting a weekly Bible study for young people to bring their spiritual questions, we have seen a diverse, tight-knit community of students, artists, and young professionals form over regular prayer and worship nights, weekly lunches, camping trips, and social events.

When we connected with a Lebanese atheist club and started hosting regular well-attended debate nights in our homes, it quickly made sense to host these debates publicly. So we rented a space and have packed it with 150 people twice already.

Currently, the opportunities in evangelism and discipleship are growing at a rate clearly surpassing our current capacities. We have to discuss whom not to invite, because, when we hold an event, our living rooms are overrun with young people longing to experience true community and to ask their questions about God.

This is why this living room needs to get to the streets! We have realized the need to open our own space in Beirut, a café called The Living Room. This space will push everything that started on those couches in a private home to the next level.

We want to create a space where we can:

• Bring more visibility to our current weekly events, the Bible study, discussion nights, community meals, and movie nights
• Host more large-scale events like public debates
• Attract a wider range of young people with new events like workshops, poetry nights, and concerts, all of which will give us creative means for gospel proclamation
• Recreate the intimacy of a living room in order to curate a thoughtful space for spiritual conversations and encounters with God
• Begin to meet as a church plant and continue discipling new believers

We envision The Living Room as a vibrant place brimming with life, where people gather who want to discover more about the Gospel. Even more importantly, it’s where these people themselves come alive as they encounter Jesus, the very source of life himself.

Ultimately, the dream is not simply a startup in Beirut with great cappuccinos (they will be great) but a movement: young people passionately in love with Jesus going out as agents of salvation in Beirut, in Lebanon, and the entire Middle East. The Living Room is an important step towards realizing this vision, as it will both deepen and multiply the impact we’re already experiencing in our ministries to reach an entire generation of young intellectuals, entrepreneurs and artists who are likely to be the upcoming key decision makers in the Middle East.

Funding our startup requires a total of $320,000. We are looking to raise $275,000, while our team members will contribute the rest privately through their personal networks.

Donations will be used to cover start-up costs and salaries, as well as building and operating expenses. The budgeted $275,000 will be invested in these three major areas:

• $100,000 in start-up costs, including equipment, renovation, and marketing
• $100,000 in employee salaries*
• $75,000 in building and operational expenses, which encompass rent, goods, maintenance, and utilities

This amount will provide all the funds needed to open and operate the coffee shop for three years, giving ample time for the startup to become self-sustaining.

* No donations will be used to employ Steiger team members. Funds will go toward employing baristas and other local staff.

Any donation will make an impact
Please consider these examples: You could help 1 guest be seated on a stylish chair ($100), enable us to grind our precious beans with a commercial grinder ($850), cover 1 month's rent ($4000) or make sure every cup we serve is outstanding by investing in a top-notch espresso machine ($9,500).

Share on your social media pages and email this campaign to your contacts with a personal recommendation.

Join us in this crucial moment to multiply Steiger Middle East's impact in the entire region. All donations will be processed by Steiger International in the USA and will be channeled directly into this missional startup in Beirut.

Once we reach $200,000 in funding we will be able to rent a location and begin setting up shop.

In the meantime, we are connecting with local partners and getting all the appropriate training as we continue to grow our ministry in our homes.

For the last six years, we’ve been partnering with the Lebanese production house One:Sixteen to communicate the Gospel outside the church in a relevant way. The Living Room is a project by Steiger Middle East in cooperation with One:Sixteen.

Steiger Middle East is a regional Steiger International branch implementing the mission to reach and disciple the Global Youth Culture for Jesus. Steiger International raises up missionaries and equips the local church to proclaim the message of Jesus in the language of globalized youth and establishes long-term teams in cities through ongoing outreach, discipleship, and local church partnership.