A Child is Born, God is Incarnated

This message is sent from the Secretary General of the Middle East Council of Churches, the servant of the Churches and the people of the area where Christ is born, the area named the cradle of civilization, and at the same time the cradle of Christianity. The birth of the incarnated Savior on his land, the land of the Levant, the land of Palestine, is by itself a message to humanity.

The preparations for Christmas and the Birth of Jesus Christ our Savior in the MECC General Secretariat’s family started in an annual spiritual retreat entitled “The Christmas star”, and took place in Saydet El Bir Monastery, Bkennaya - Jal El Dib, Lebanon.

In another recent update concerning the Beirut blast, Fadi Sawan, the judicial investigator assigned for the Beirut case, was suspended from the investigations as two former ministers, who were accused of negligence, submitted a demand requesting that the case should be transferred to another judge.

This is the unified weekly bulletin of the Middle East Council of Churches. Through it, we shall communicate to Church Leaders and parishioners, sisters and brothers of the International Ecumenical Family as well as individuals and organizations concerned with the MECC, its attitudes vis-a-vis what is happening in a world in turmoil and its actions in the different fields where its teams are intervening.

El MECC continúa implementando la formación profesional para aquellos que quieran entrar en el mercado laboral. Se implementaron extensos entrenamientos durante un mes y medio en Izraa y el Sheikh Meskin en la gobernación de Dara'a.

Report: 1 to 15 December 2020

Report: 1 to 15 December 2020

As Christians around the world brace themselves for Christmas and all the joy the holidays bring, the MECC would like to remind our readers that poverty has reached dangerously high levels in the Middle East. According to UNICEF, the Middle East is experiencing one of the most fraught situations in the world, with more than 32 million children in need of humanitarian assistance.

Syria and Lebanon

Humanitarian Update

Reporting period: from 14 to 21 December 2020

MECC continues to implement vocational trainings for those willing to enter the labor market. Extensive trainings were implemented for a month and a half in Izraa and Sheikh Meskin in Dara’a Governorate.

An extraordinary meeting of the Executive Committee in Bkerke

During the year 2020, that is coming to an end, the 12th General Assembly of the Middle East Council of Churches, entitled “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid” (Matthew 14:27), was supposed to take place in September at the Maronite Patriarchate in Bkerke, Lebanon. However, the unpleasant circumstances imposed by the Coronavirus pandemic impeded it, which led the MECC’s Executive Committee to hold an extraordinary meeting on the 17th of September, during which the member churches’ representatives decided to set a new date for the General Assembly in September 2021.

New aids for the homeless & the affected

In a latest update on the Beirut Blast case, Caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab, refused to be questioned by a judge who accused him and three former ministers of negligence in connection with the explosion.

Believing that education is the foundation of peace and security in the world, MECC implemented remedial classes for the 9th grade’ students in Aleppo and Rural Damascus within the activities of the Education Program.

Syria and Lebanon

Humanitarian Update

Reporting period: from 7 to 13 December 2020

The week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2021”, from 18 to 25 January 2021. With the title “To remain in God’s love and in self-reconciliation" John 15: 1 -17.

The judge Fadi Sawwan investigating the Beirut port explosion has charged Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab and three former ministers (former finance minister Ali Hassan Khalil, public works ministers Ghazi Zeaiter and Youssef Finianos) with negligence which led to the devastating event in which 200 people were killed and swathes of buildings left in ruins.

Through the Incarnation, the love of God was made manifest among humans; as a result, the human rights started by preserving the justice, peace and social harmony.

MECC implemented a WASH campaign within its Cash for Work Program aiming at providing a temporary employment to unemployed people in Izraa and Sheikh Meskin in Dara’a.

Syria and Lebanon

Humanitarian Update

Reporting period: from 30 November to 7 December 2020

Developing together the ecumenical and ecclesiastical relations

Dr. Michel Abs, the Middle East Council of Churches Secretary General, held on 2 December, an online meeting with the Gulf Fellowship of Churches (GFC) Executive Board Moderator HE Bishop Mesrob Sarkissian.

French President Emmanuel Macron and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres chaired on the 2nd of November, Wednesday, a virtual international conference to "support the Lebanese people", four months after the devastating explosion in the Beirut port. Heads of state, international organizations, multilateral donors, non-governmental organizations and representatives of the Lebanese civil society were invited to participate in this conference.