Syria and Lebanon

Humanitarian Update

Reporting period: from 4 to 11 January 2021

The history of humanity is filled with wars, baptized with all sort of names … as if wars needed names! Is it an attempt to make them more human? When going through history one finds amazing details and information about the typology and effects of wars and has the impression that human race builds a civilization just to destroy it by war.

The Middle East Council of Churches is still pursuing its disaster relief role in the wounded Beirut, in response to the urgent necessities resulting from the Port Blast and its catastrophic repercussions.

In light of the worsening economic crises in Lebanon and the massive outbreak of the Coronavirus Pandemic all over the country, the Middle East Council of Churches continues its humanitarian mission by providing a new batch of relief supplies to the poorest and neediest families.

A glimpse of hope in the beginning of the year

Recently, the FBI released a report claiming that only 500 tons of Ammonium Nitrate had exploded, negating earlier claims that 2700 tons of the substance was responsible for all the damages in Beirut.

Report: 16 to 31 December 2020

As nations in the ME region still quarrel with the pandemic, other countries prepare to send vaccines to the region. Although some experts from the medical community detest using the vaccines due to unknown side effects that may befall a patient, there is no doubt that many people are willing to give it a try.

Report: 1 to 15 December 2020

Syria and Lebanon

Humanitarian Update

Reporting period: from 28 December 2020 to 4 January 2021

Syria and Lebanon

Humanitarian Update

Reporting period: from 21 to 28 December 2020

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.