Welcoming Word of the Secretary General of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC), at the TOT Session, organized by the Association of Theological Institutes in the Middle East (ATIME) - Our Lady of the Well Convent, Lebanon, 9-13 November 2026.
To Rise to the Challenge
On behalf of the Middle East Council of Churches, it gives me great pleasure to welcome you to the opening of this training program organized by the Association of Theological Institutes in the Middle East (ATIME), one of the bodies affiliated with the Council and an essential platform for cooperation and interaction among theological education and formation institutions in our region.
We extend a special welcome to our brothers and sisters who have come from Egypt to participate in this program, foremost among them the Honorary Secretary General of the Middle East Council of Churches, who also serves as Associate-Executive Secretary of the Association. We also welcome the Associate-Executive Secretary from Lebanon, as well as all the participants, educators, and trainees. We extend our sincere greetings and appreciation to the President of the Association and to its Executive Secretary for their efforts to develop its mission and broaden the scope of its work.
We would also like to express our gratitude and appreciation to the international organizations supporting this activity, particularly FELM, whose partnership contributes to strengthening the capacities of church and educational institutions and to investing in the human person, who remains the foundation of every renewal and every sustainable transformation.
You are gathered today for a training-of-trainers course, intended to prepare people who will, in turn, assume responsibility for serving parishes, as well as for training parish ministers and those working in the church field. The choice of “change,” within the framework of leadership skills, as the theme of this course carries profound significance. We all know how greatly the Church needs to renew itself continuously, while at the same time remaining capable of contributing to the transformation of its surroundings. A Church that fails to understand the changes taking place in society and to engage with them risks losing its capacity for effective presence and meaningful witness.
The change of which we speak does not mean abandoning our foundations or the essence of faith. Rather, it means acquiring the ability to read the signs of the times, renew our methods and approaches, and understand contemporary human beings, their concerns, and their questions, so that the salvific message may reach people in a language capable of addressing their minds, hearts, and lived reality.
Throughout this course, you will engage with a variety of themes relating to the life of the Church and society, with ample space for dialogue, interaction, and the exchange of experiences. This is of great importance, because those who will carry the mission of the Church in the future need solid intellectual, cultural, and spiritual formation. Carrying the message faithfully cannot depend on good intentions alone; it requires knowledge, competence, discernment, analytical ability, and the capacity to look toward the future.
You are being formed for service in a region that, to a considerable extent, encapsulates many of the conflicts and contradictions of the world: wars and disputes, migration and displacement, poverty and marginalization, social and cultural transformations, economic crises, and the growing rhetoric of division and hatred. The challenges facing the Church and ecumenical work in our region therefore require leaders who possess firm faith, open minds, high competence, and a far-reaching vision.
Historically, the Church has proven itself to be a vital component of societies in the Middle East and throughout the world, not only on the level of faith and spirituality, but also in the educational, social, cultural, health, and humanitarian fields. Preparing future leaders therefore becomes a fundamental responsibility, because the quality of the Church’s service tomorrow will depend, to a great extent, on the quality of the people we form today.
The visits you will make to Church leaders also have particular importance in this context. They are not merely protocol visits, but opportunities to encounter closely the diversity of our Church families, to listen to the experiences and visions of their leaders, and to deepen the ecumenical identity of the trainees. Ecumenism is not learned from books alone; it is also formed through encounter, knowledge, and shared experience.
Here, we must emphasize the distinctive role played by the Association of Theological Institutes in the Middle East. It represents one of the finest models of common Christian and ecumenical work, bringing together institutions belonging to different Church traditions around a shared responsibility: the formation of people and the preparation of Church leadership. From among those formed in these institutions will emerge the future leaders of the ecumenical movement, including those who will one day assume responsibilities within the Middle East Council of Churches and the various institutions of our Churches.
What you are doing during these days, therefore, goes far beyond the boundaries of a training course. You are participating in the formation of a new generation of ministers, educators, and leaders capable of combining faithfulness to the faith, ecumenical openness, professional competence, and a deep awareness of the needs of their societies.
For this reason, I urge you not to allow this course to end when its sessions conclude. The knowledge you acquire must be transformed into initiatives, experience into tools for action, and each one of you should return to your institute, Church, parish, and institution carrying a genuine and practical project for change.
We want you to become agents of change, not merely recipients of knowledge; to transmit what you learn to others; to open new spaces for dialogue and cooperation; to help your Churches read the challenges facing their societies with courage and awareness; and to make ecumenical work a daily practice rather than merely a slogan.
Begin in the places where you serve. Ask what needs to change, what can be developed, and who needs to be involved. Then move from diagnosis to initiative, and from ideas to implementation. The Church is not renewed by good intentions alone, but by people who are prepared to assume responsibility, work, and persevere.
Today you are trainees; tomorrow you will be trainers, leaders, and decision-makers. Your responsibility therefore begins now: to make what you learn a force for serving the human person, renewing the Church, and strengthening its unity and witness in our societies.
Let us leave this program not simply with a new body of information, but with a clear commitment: to be instruments of change within our Churches, bridges among our Churches, and witnesses to living hope in our societies.
Welcome to Lebanon and to the Middle East Council of Churches. May this course become a significant milestone in your journey of service, responsibility, and renewal, rather than merely a passing moment along the way.
Professor Michel Abs, MECC Secretary General