On Spiritual Partnership and Institutional Policies

The Secretary General of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) Professor Michel Abs delivered this word at the MECC annual partners meeting, held between September, 10 and 11, 2025, in the Liqaa Center - Rabweh, Lebanon.

Professor Michel Abs

The Secretary General of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC)

It has been some time since our last in-person meeting, during which the region and the world went through many transformations and crises, some of which reshaped entire regions of great strategic importance in global politics and economics.

During that period, Lebanon, Palestine, and other Middle Eastern and Arab countries suffered disasters and calamities that deeply affected them and produced changes that were almost structural. In the midst of these events, institutions that have taken it upon themselves to heal people’s wounds and share their burdens continued to carry out their duty as much as possible, within the limits of their available resources, under economic conditions that cannot be described as favorable for the non-industrialized world already burdened with countless crises.

These institutions work with the mindset of “the stone that upholds the jar” or the “widow’s penny,” guided by the principle: “Do not give me a fish, but teach me how to fish.” That is, by relying on human capital and the skills that come from developing and refining it, given the scarcity of material resources for reasons known to all.

The phrase “building people before stone” is not realistic in our time, because building human capacities or knowledge becomes wasteful if there is no “stone,” i.e., material resources that support those capacities and increase their productivity. Building people must go hand in hand with building material foundations in order to raise productive efficiency and move society from poverty to a level of sufficiency, as a prelude to capital accumulation that leads to real growth.

Here lies the core of international support: the assistance provided by countries with industrial surpluses to those with economic deficits caused by weak, outdated socio-cultural structures suited only to a bygone era. This relationship was long called that of “donor and recipient,” meaning that one grants material resources to another in need to fund projects that might improve living conditions.

Initially, this relationship was almost purely material, as financially surplus countries sought out those in need, giving for economic reasons (such as limiting the inflow of migrant workers), political reasons (influencing the policies of weaker states), or religious reasons (solidarity and applying the teachings of faith). This was our case until not long ago.

But according to Talcott Parsons’ paradigm—that the economic being produces the social being, who then transcends him—the culture of donor-recipient relations transformed into one of partnership, where the recipient also has a say in outcomes. Since the 1980s, the culture of partnership emerged, shaping all relationships, even influencing the names of institutions and departments.

This was a radical shift in relations between North and South, and no one can deny the role of the Church, Christian values, and church institutions in this cultural change in Western thinking and perspectives. In this context, I wish to affirm, as someone active in the ecumenical movement since 1981, that the Church and the ecumenical bodies it inspired played a decisive role in these cultural shifts in the West, shaping how peoples view various issues and thorny questions on regional and international stages.

What concerns us today is the shift in financial support policies adopted by institutions in industrial surplus societies, which can be summarized as follows: the decline in church financial support—due to waning public commitment to the church and its activities—has led many institutions, in order to sustain their mission, to seek funding outside the community of believers, especially from large corporations working under the banner of corporate social responsibility, or from state development agencies in line with foreign policy. This explains the decline in free, unrestricted support from such institutions, replaced by conditional aid – restricted - tied to the policies of governments or corporations engaged in public affairs.

The decline of unrestricted support negatively affects the growth of recipient institutions, preventing them from conducting research- development schemes because of donor restrictions. A gap has thus arisen between donor institution officials or leaders, many of whom are highly sympathetic to recipient institutions, and the operational policies and standards of their organizations. I am certain there are deep and advanced debates on this issue.

In this reality, donor institutions’ staff, in coordination with recipient institutions’ staff, must align their efforts and goals to serve the afflicted, the needy, the burdened, and the exhausted, for whom honest and capable people strive to secure better days.

Bridging the gap between what is spiritual and what is institutional is not easy, as there are always differences between spiritual, personal, or moral considerations on one hand, and institutional considerations on the other. Thus, institutions’ policies do not always reflect the will of the individuals working in or leading them.

In closing, I must express my joy at welcoming true partners in every sense of the word, where spiritual partnership, mutual love, and shared values—shaped through decades of maturation—carry the same weight as material partnership through project funding or financial support in general.

I hope this meeting allows us to build stronger relationships and a closer shared vision, in service of those waiting for us to extend our hand and accompany them on their path toward a better life, adorned with the dignity that defines human existence.

Dignity is among the most important commandments of the Savior, embodied in all He said and did, and we must be instruments for its preservation.

May the Lord bless you all in your ministry, so that humankind may have a better life.

Beirut, September 10, 2025