Momentum, the Weekly Newsletter from the Middle East Council of Churches
In the new issue of the weekly newsletter Momentum issued by the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC), Communication and Public Relations Department, you can find the message of the MECC Secretary General Dr. Michel Abs, which is entitled this week “Between safe migration and despair suicidal migration...a homeland”, for the occasion of the International Day for Safe Migration, designated by the United Nations on December 18 every year. In its word, Dr. Abs talked about the phenomenon of migration and its risks, and highlighted the Lebanese situation amidst the increase of the migration rate.
In the issue, you can also find a video report about the Ecumenical Prayer Service related to the “Season of Creation” made at the invitation of the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC), and besides the convening of the COP28 activities, Conference of the Parties on Climate Change, held by the United Nations in Dubai. The Prayer was held on Saturday 2 December 2023, in the Anglican Church of Christ, in Jebel Ali - Dubai. The video also the speech delivered by the Secretary General of the Middle East Council of Churches Dr. Michel Abs, following the Prayer.
The issue also includes a video presenting a testimony of a survivor in the city of Aleppo – Syria, from the earthquake that hit the North of the Antiochian Levant on the past February. She describes the first moments of terror following the catastrophe. The video also highlights the Middle East Council of Churches' ongoing relief and field work to restore hope to the affected people. MECC was able to secure the stability of more than 100 families in the city of Aleppo by retrofitting 28 buildings that collapsed as a result of the earthquake.
As well as, the issue presents media interview, the Director of the MECC Diakonia Department Office in Lebanon Ms. Nina Hallak who spoke at length about the work of the Diakonia Department Office which is distinguished by its humanitarian, social, health, cultural, and educational programs across various Lebanese territories without discrimination.
Moreover, you can find a news about the awareness sessions that the MECC Diakonia and Social Service Department, Lebanon’s office, continues to organize. It implemented, during the months of October and November 2023, several sessions on sensitive social topics such as gender-based violence and sexual and reproductive health rights, to 250 male and female adolescents students belonging to age range 12-16, at the Lebanese School and Al-Taraki School, in Lebanon.
The issue also includes a video report highlighting the environmental day organized by the MECC Eco Justice Unit in the Bekaa - Lebanon, on Saturday 25 November 2023. It was implemented under the auspices of the Heads of Churches, with the participation of the General Director of the Ministry of Agriculture Mr. Louis Lahoud, and in the presence of the region’s officials and Parishes’ Servants from various Churches, with the contribution of Michel Daher Foundation, as well as with the participation of a group of Bekaa Schools’ students.
In the issue, MECC launches its new WhatsApp channel. Hence, we invite you to join this channel for free by clicking here, where you can follow all the activities of the Middle East Council of Churches and its Ecumenical and humanitarian mission, as well as the news of all Church families in the Middle East. This is in addition to various Ecumenical topics, special reports and videos and other communication materials.
In addition, the issue presents a news about the training organized by the MECC for the finance team in which the Secretary General participated in a part of it. The course which was held on Thursday 7 and Friday 8 December 2023, at the headquarters of the MECC General Secretariat in Beirut, focused on the new financial program adopted by MECC, and that facilitates the accounting work and financial transfers, reports, analyses, and everything that responds to the requirements of modern administration.
Furthermore, MECC releases the Arabic version of the “Week of Prayer for Christian Unity” booklet 2024, under the title “You shall love the Lord your God... and your neighbour as yourself” (Luke 10:27), after it was translated into Arabic by the Council, as every year.
You can also find the 2022 Annual Report of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) entitled “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid" (Matthew 14: 27), in addition to Ecumenical reports, the weekly Prayer, videos, and news of the Middle Eastern Churches. As well as a socio-economic overview of the Middle East during November 2023 and the latest updates of the Coronavirus in the region.