At the conclusion of the regular meeting of the Executive Committee of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC), which was held in Beirut on Friday 17 and Saturday 18 November 2023, the participants issued a final statement. It was read by the MECC Secretary General Dr. Michel Abs, as you can find in the video what the statement included.

November 2023

The Executive Committee of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) held its regular meeting in Beirut, during two consecutive days, Friday 17 and Saturday 18 November 2023. At the beginning of the meeting, the participants observed a minute of silence and prayed for the relief of the souls of the victims of the bloody war in Palestine, especially in the Gaza Strip. During the sessions, the Executive Committee discussed several issues especially the difficult circumstances that the region is witnessing. In the video, you can find details about the first day of the Executive Committee meeting.

“Street Children and Human Dignity”

Thursday 30 November 2023 - 7 pm Beirut Time

The Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) has the honor to invite you to participate in its monthly webinar entitled “Street Children and Human Dignity”, on Thursday 30 November 2023, at 7 pm Beirut time.

You can participate in the webinar via the following Zoom link https://rb.gy/wlscrd, and live on the MECC Facebook Page.

The webinar, which includes three interventions, will start with an opening speech by its moderator Dr. Laure Abi Khalil, and will be followed with a speech by the Secretary General of the Middle East Council of Churches Dr. Michel Abs.

Middle East Council of Churches Executive Committee Meeting

Beirut, 17-18 November 2023

The Executive Committee of the Middle East Council of Churches held its regular meeting in Beirut on Friday and Saturday, November 17 and 18, 2023. The meeting was chaired by His Eminence Anba Antonios, Archbishop of Jerusalem and the Near East for the Coptic Orthodox and MECC President for the Eastern Orthodox family, His Beatitude Patriarch John X, Patriarch of Antioch and All the East for the Greek Orthodox and MECC President for the Orthodox family, represented by His Excellency Metropolitan Antonios Al Souri, Metropolitan of Zahle, Baalbek and their dependencies, His Excellency Rev. Dr. Paul Haidostian, President of the Association of Armenian Evangelical Churches in the Near East and MECC President for the Evangelical Family, and His Beatitude Patriarch Raphael Bedros XXI Menassian,  and Catholicos Patriarch of Cilicia for the Armenian Catholics and MECC President for the Catholic Family, represented by His Excellency Archbishop Boutros Marayati, Archbishop of Aleppo. The meeting was attended by members of the Executive Committee from Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Egypt, Jordan, Cyprus, and Palestine, representatives of the Middle Eastern churches, members of the MECC, the Secretary-General Dr. Michel Abs, the Associate Secretary Generals, and the General Secretariat team of directors of departments and sections, and administrators.

On the Agenda Are the Latest Harsh Developments Happening in the Region

The Executive Committee of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) held its regular meeting in Beirut on its first day, on Friday 17 November 2023, and will be continued on Saturday 18 November 2023. Hence, the Executive Committee discusses the difficult circumstances that the region is witnessing, especially the ongoing war in Gaza. The meeting’ sessions started with a minute of silence for the souls of the martyrs who fell in Gaza, raising Prayers on the intention of peace, ending wars, and healing the wounded. The agenda also includes a follow-up to the spiritual, administrative and financial MECC affairs, especially the preparations taking place for the celebration of the 50-Year Jubilee of the MECC founding.

You can find photo albums from the Executive Committee meeting of the Middle East Council of Churches, which was held in Beirut on Friday 17 and Saturday 18 November 2023. On its agenda were the latest painful developments which are happening in the region, in addition to various issues related to the Middle East Council of Churches.

The Executive Committee of the Middle East Council of Churches held its regular meeting in Beirut on Friday 17 and Saturday 18 November 2023. In the video, you can find a highlight about the activities of the first day of this meeting, which began with a minute of silence in honor of the souls of the martyrs of Gaza.

“Our presence in this region is strong and rooted. We reject the language of war and always strive to be advocates of peace”

At a time when the drums of war are growing louder, and the region is witnessing from crises, scourges, wars, persecutions, displacement, destruction and killing, the Executive Committee of the Middle East Council of Churches convenes and emphasizes the presence of the Church and its essential role in supporting the people who are suffering and standing by the wounded amidst escalating crises.

This is what was stated by the participants in the meeting of the MECC Executive Committee in Beirut, in which attendees from various countries of the region participated.

They also mentioned the importance of this purposeful and effective meeting, which addressed in its sessions Ecclesiastical and national issues in order to sorrow a glimmer of hope in the heart of humanity marginalized and tired as a result of crises”…

The Executive Committee of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) starts its meeting with a minute of silence for the souls of the martyrs who fell in Gaza. Prayers are raised on the intention of peace, ending wars, and healing the wounded.

Reverend Dr. Paul Haidostian, President of the Union of the Armenian Evangelical Churches in the Near East, President of Haigazian University in Lebanon, and MECC President for the Evangelical Family, said:

We meet with hope and faith at a time when our countries are passing through dangers and challenges, especially in Palestine. We witness great sadness and pain…

The United Nations has designated November 16th as the International Day for Tolerance, commemorating it through various activities. Furthermore, the year 1995 was designated as the United Nations Year for Tolerance. Member States have adopted the Declaration of Principles on Tolerance and the Plan of Action for the follow-up to the United Nations Year for Tolerance.

Undoubtedly, this Declaration of Principles is a valuable and important document that should be examined and reflected upon due to its values and aspirations, which secure a better future for humanity. However, we also witness an escalation of intolerance, rejection of others, and the resulting hate speech, which threatens to overthrow all the progress humanity has made in terms of openness, love, and yearning to mature and interact with others who differ from us in several ways. This difference does not necessarily lead to conflicts and wars if countries, societies, and peoples manage this diversity well.

In this regard, we must address some of the social ills that require society to be aware of the disasters they carry.

The first concept is stereotyping, which is an idea or image we form of a person or group based on an excessive and sometimes harmful simplification of existing or supposed characteristics of that group. This stereotype may be negative or positive and is based on prejudices that nullify the privacy of individuals.

What Are the Meanings that this Booklet Carries?

The Middle East Council of Churches 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). What are the meanings and symbols that it presents? The answer is in this video that highlights this booklet and the theme taken for this year.

What Are the Meanings of this Annual Historical Date?

With the preparations for Christmas, Churches in the Middle East and the world are being ready to celebrate an annual and historic Ecumenical station in January, which is the “Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.” A station that includes eight days of daily Prayers around the world, extending from 18 to 25 January of each year. Hence, we walk together as one united family according to the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ, especially since He commanded us “that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you” (John 17:21).

Middle East Socioeconomic Overview

Report: October 2023

Undeniably, the Middle East region entered a new phase due to the violent events occurring across occupied Palestine. Atrocities are threatening to expand to an unprecedented scale. Despite the calls for restraint by various international and regional actors, blood is being grotesquely spilt like never before and the intensity of the violence might exacerbate more violence in the rest of the Middle East. It is a pity how the Holy Land, where Jesus Christ was incarnated and lived, is being used to spread evil and a lust for violence. Hopefully in the coming months a ceasefire will be declared to ease the human suffering. However, knowing the key players involved in this violence, war will drag on for quite a while.

In the new issue of the weekly newsletter Momentum issued by the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC), Communication and Public Relations Department, 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.

As for the message of the MECC Secretary General Dr. Michel Abs, it is entitled this week “Violence against children and crime against childhood are scourges that are out of control”, and it is for the occasion of the International Week of Science and Peace determined by the United Nations to be celebrated yearly between 9 and 15 November. In his word, Dr. Abs said that building trust between science and people is necessary, but countries, universities, research centers and laboratories must prove to us that people can trust what is being produced behind closed doors.

Tomorrow begins the International Week of Science and Peace, which was first celebrated in 1986 as part of the celebration of the International Year for Peace.

Following the success of this, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the “International Week of Science and Peace” as an event that is repeated in November of each year and plays the role of catalyst for the promotion of peace.

According to the United Nations page dedicated to this occasion, the role of this week is to encourage academic exchange and sensitize people to the relationship between science and peace, with a focus on cooperation between the applications of science to promote peace as well as on the relationship between progress in science and technology and maintaining peace and security in the world.

As for the year 2023, the activities revolve around the topic of building confidence in science, as the United Nations page dedicated to this topic states that “the role of science in shaping our collective future cannot be activated except when there is confidence in it.” It considers that confidence in science is the gateway to responding to the challenges our world faces. However, according to the same website, building trust between science and society is not an easy endeavor in light of the many questions about scientists’ methodologies and society’s trust in them.

“You shall love the Lord your God... and your neighbour as yourself” (Luke 10:27)

The Middle East Council of Churches 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). The title has been chosen at a time when the world and the Middle East are suffering from many wars, conflicts, crises and divisions in light of a wave of injustice, inequity and hate speech...

Hence, the booklet invites us to Pray and work together in mutual love during this difficult period that the world is facing, especially that the love of Christ which unites all Christians is stronger than their divisions and will overcome all violence.

The booklet is centered around the biblical text from Luke 10:25-37, in which Jesus reaffirmed the traditional Jewish teaching from Deuteronomy 6:5, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might”; and Leviticus 19:18b, “you shall love your neighbour as yourself”.

The Middle East Council of Churches, in cooperation with ABAAD Organization

In an Awareness Session About Breast Cancer

Under the title of "You Deserve Life", and on the occasion of the Pink October Month, the international awareness month of breast cancer, the medical team at the Middle East Council of Churches, Lebanon’s Office, in collaboration with ABAAD organization conducted an awareness activity at the "Martyr Hassan Khaled Educational Center" which is affiliated with Dar El-Fatwa. Participants were 60 women from different nationalities.

The activity included a presentation which highlighted the importance of early detection through self- examination and mammography as well as the types of cancer, and the methods of treatment, which were presented by Dr. Sameer Shleweet who is specializing in Obstetrics & Gynecology and from the MECC team. Moreover, the women participated in some recreational activities that contributed to reducing the daily pressures that may surround them.