“My children said that we couldn’t have two martyrs in the family – so I was the one sacrificed!” Pastor Samir Yacco says with a smile. He makes light of the fact that his wife and children live in the safety of the United States while he returned to strife-torn Syria to pastor a church.

Pastor Yacco told remarkable stories of his work when he visited Sydney for talks with Anglican Aid. Syria has been wracked by six years of civil war, with bombings, food and medical shortages and an estimated 50 per cent of the population forced from their homes.

In the midst of this, Samir Yacco pastors a Baptist church in the capital, Damascus. As well as leading his own congregation he also provides emergency assistance to many internally displaced people who have fled the fighting in other parts of the country.

“The crisis was a surprise,” he says. “We never expected that one day, we would be facing what we are facing.”

Hopes were high when a freedom movement emerged in Syria in 2011, but Pastor Yacco adds, “When the [freedom] movement was Islamised, we began to be afraid. We knew what would happen, because we had a lesson from what happened in Iraq.”

This has taken its toll on the Christian population. “When the French left Syria in 1946,  Christians were 20 per cent [of the population – we even had a Presbyterian Prime Minister,” he says. “When Tony Blair visited [in 2001] it was 12 per cent. I believe now it is 6 per cent.” Pastor Yacco has also been caring for a former Anglican congregation since the war began. Before then, he worked with a string of Australians including Jim Doust, Andrew Lake and Peter Smart. It was through the Smarts that the church was introduced to the Archbishop of Sydney’s Anglican Aid and the Damascus church aid program began.

“Before the crisis, our church was of 80 adult members – we knew each other – all of a sudden we saw many people coming,” he says. “We had no experience in managing a crisis but the Lord helped us. The Lord is seeing us through.”

Pastor Yacco shows pictures of the old church building with its entrance jammed with people.

“Our old building wasn’t enough for the newcomers and there was no emergency exit... if fire broke out we would all be charcoal,” he says.

“When we were praying, there was a neighbouring house and when the old lady passed away her family sold the house to us. A French organisation helped us enlarge the hall and areas for Sunday school.”

Amid the rubble of Damascus, locals thought they were stupid to invest in building. “But actually when the order came from above – we couldn’t say no – trust and obey,” he says. Now, we have more than doubled our space. We can seat 250 people and we often have more. More and more people are coming to Christ, and evangelism, in fact, it is easier now.”

The church has many ways to help those forced from their homes in other parts of the country. “The primary need is food, medication, accommodation and some household goods,” Pastor Yacco says.

“We have a big event called ‘Back to School” – we are planning to help 400 kids. The whole school year costs something like $50 each for the whole year. We give them stationery, school bags, textbooks, notebooks and we are planning to increase the number if are able to.”

Other help includes an annual public Bible distribution where the congregation goes to public places such as gardens and parks and sets up distribution tables.

“To those who are newly displaced we give blankets, pillows and household goods,” he says. “On Mother’s day, to any woman, we gave 300 coupons to go to the church store to get rations of food. Twice a month we have a meals on wheels. We serve families something we know they can’t afford like meat or a kebab. The kids especially appreciate  it.”

Listening to Pastor Yacco’s enthusiasm in the face of a long line of refugees, it is clear the gospel is a shining beacon in a difficult place.

Then he turns to the photos of a treasured moment. An Afghani family, which went to Iran through UNHCR, found themselves in Damascus for processing. The church made contact with their son Daniel through youth group. He accepted Christ and told the gospel to his whole family. The 12 members of the family are now in Greece, but not before Pastor Yacco baptised them all in the church’s new building.

“Trust and obey – isn’t that right?” he asks, echoing the old hymn. “To be happy in Jesus, you trust and obey.”