Updated July 28, 2006

As the crisis in the Middle East continues to escalate, we have communicated the thoughts and prayers of many throughout our churches with our partners in the region and with the overseas staff of Global Ministries.

Several partners and missionaries have sent emails, updates, prayers and notes of thank you to Global Ministries, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and the United Church of Christ in recent days. We share with you here some of their words and whereabouts.

In addition, various official statements and reports have also been issued or signed by the UCC and Disciples and other ecumenical partners and organizations. You can find the text of these and other resources on  globalministries.org ,  www.ucc.org  and  www.disciples.org.

For those wishing to respond to the urgent appeals that have been issued by partners for emergency relief in Lebanon and Gaza, information for giving can be found at  One Great Hour of Sharing and  Week of Compassion. Water, electricity, medicines and basic needs are in short supply and travel is difficult and dangerous. OGHS and Week of Compassion have already made an initial response of $21,000 to provide emergency relief to Lebanese without food, shelter, medical care and necessities, and will continue to respond as additional appeals for aid are made.

Currently, Global Ministries has six members of our mission personnel assigned to partners in Lebanon or the Palestinian territories and Israel: Ruth Edens, a member of the United Church of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, a Global Mission Intern (supported by Week of Compassion), commissioned to serve the Forum for Development, Culture and Dialogue, based in Beirut; Catherine Nichols, member of First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Tucson, Arizona, assigned to the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center in Jerusalem as Program Associate in Interpretation and Writing; Marla Schrader, a member of Lafayette Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Lafayette, California, assigned to the Ramallah Friends Meeting in Palestine of the Religious Society of Friends, but who is currently based in Washington, DC at the request of the partner; Tracy Hughes, a member of Trinity United Church of Christ, Tiffin, Ohio, serving as a long-term volunteer with the Christian Peacemaker Teams in Hebron, Palestine; and Eric Fistler, a member of the Congregational United Church of Christ in St. Charles, Illinois, a short-term volunteer who has been serving in Bethlehem with the Ecumenical Accompaniment Program sponsored by the World Council of Churches.

Finally, Global Ministries Co-Executives Rev. David Vargas and Rev. Cally Rogers-Witte arrived on Thursday, July 27th for a long-planned partner and now also pastoral visit to the region. They will travel to Cairo, Istanbul, and Jerusalem with Dr. Peter Makari, Area Executive for the Middle East and Europe.Unfortunately their plan to visit partners in Lebanon had to be cancelled due to the destruction of the Beirut airport. Please keep them in your prayers as they travel, and remember in prayer our partner Churches and their communities in the Middle East, all leaders that they may have the vision and wisdom to sow peace where there is violence, and all those who are victim to the bombing and violence being carried out.

Update on Partners and Mission Personnel Working in Lebanon and Palestine

Ruth Edens, a Global Mission Intern commissioned to serve the Forum for Development, Culture, and Dialogue in Beirut was helping coordinate a conference for youth from the region in the mountains when the bombing started. She and a busload of about twenty youth evacuated over the mountains through Syria and into Jordan. She then flew to Istanbul where she was received by Global Ministries’ missionaries Ken and Betty Frank. Ruth wrote from Istanbul on July 20, “First and foremost, thank you for all of your love, support, thoughts and prayers throughout the past week. Your support matters.” Ruth’s mother, the Rev. Jill Edens of First Community Church of Chapel Hill, NC, wrote an expression of thanks to our Churches and Global Ministries. She told about a prayer service she attended at Lancaster Seminary: “Then the group prayed specifically for deliverance for Ruth and for all those in desperate circumstances in the Middle East. Then they sang ‘Great Is Thy Faithfulness.’ All I can say is that we serve a mighty God and a faithful church. Our debt is great. Please know that Ruth is grieving for her friends, whose tireless efforts gained her deliverance, and yet are still in harm’s way Lebanon. Our love and our prayers are with them.”

Near East School of Theology
On July 19 Mary Mikhael, President of NEST, wrote from the seminary in Beirut after returning from the U.S. where she was a guest at Mix in ’06. “I come to my office and find the pile of messages from so many concerned good friends. Thank you all for your prayers and for your concerns for me personally and for NEST and Lebanon. My friends, I am still in a state of shock, what Lebanon has built in fifteen years Israel destroyed in six days – The suburb of Beirut has been flattened by daily fighter attacks, some children are still under the rubble, thirty six thousand people are now displaced with new Israeli promises of more destruction of villages. A systematic and relentless destruction of the entire country – the human tragedy is enlarged day by day. How can any nation have this much hatred—I keep asking the question “how can the Israeli soldiers sleep at night after striking Lebanon with this much violence?” Friends, please keep praying for us. May God forgive us all.”

Middle East Council of Churches
General Secretary Guirgis I. Saleh writes “I thank you for your heartwarming messages received these past few days as I thank you for your sympathy, solidarity and prayers in these dreadful times. I also appreciate the efforts many of you are deploying to put an end to this terrifying war. Indeed, the violence of the war on Lebanon has not spared any one and Lebanon is paying a very high price. The extent of the destruction and suffering is unimaginable.”

Arab Group for Christian-Muslim Dialogue
A July 17 statement signed by the Rev. Dr. Riad Jarjour, General Secretary, declares “[The group] bears witness to what has befallen and continues to befall both the people and institutions of Lebanon — the dreadful slaughter and widespread savage destruction. It also bears witness to the human suffering of tens of thousands of families forced to flee from their homes and villages. Finally it bears witness to Israel’s firm resolve to persist in its transgression of killing, uprooting and destroying… The group passionately calls upon churches throughout the world, upon ecumenical bodies, upon international humanitarian organizations, and institutions of civil society to bring moral and spiritual pressure to bear upon their countries’ governments to halt the Israeli killing machine, and to take immediate action to provide humanitarian assistance to the disaster-stricken Lebanese.”

Forum for Development, Culture, and Dialogue (FDCD)
Executive Director Sam Rizk wrote on July 21 to thank the UCC and Disciples for support through OGHS and Week of Compassion of FDCD’s emergency appeal to provide food, supplies, and medical kits to those in need. “The violence has not yet stopped and we suspect that once the cease fire is in place we will see great destruction of a country that had much potential as a beacon of diversity, democracy and openness in an increasingly hostile region.”

World Student Christian Federation-Middle East
Elias El Halabi, Middle East Regional Secretary, writes from his home town Tripoli, “The world and the region will not be a better place. The hatred and the phobia to the west…will exacerbate. This will make the Christian presence in the region at great jeopardy. In short we are facing a Lebanese version of the Iraqi Scenario… the outcome will be dragging the country and perhaps the region back into sectarianism and civil war.”

Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land
Bishop Dr. Munib A. Younan, the Lutheran Bishop in Jerusalem, wrote in reply to the Pastoral Letter John Thomas sent to Palestinian partners on July 13, “The gate of peace and justice is Jerusalem only. I am afraid if we don’t insist and swim against the wave then the winner of the war in the long run will be extremism in all sides. I really appreciate the fresh voice that you have sent representing your Church and showing us your solidarity and speaking out with a voice which is different than the voices of injustice of the political leaders.”

Haigazian University
“The country is in a state of shock,” wrote Rev. Dr. Paul Haidostian, President of the Armenian Evangelical-related Haigazian University in Beirut, on July 19. “,,, now, with a suspended Summer session and uncertain days ahead, we are simply hoping that by the end of September there will be a start of the Fall semester, the ruined bridges will be rebuilt, the internal displacement problems will be solved, and we will see and end to the hostilities before the Summer ends.” Dr. Arda Ekmekjian, Dean of Students at the University and international board member of Global Ministries, writes “Classes are suspended at the university but most of our evangelical schools are hosting hundreds of refugees who have left their houses fleeing the bombardments. They are mostly women and children and need EVERYTHING. From clothing, to food, detergents and basics. Unfortunattely relief is very slow to come since the war started unexpectedly and even the NGO’s and other caritative organizations were unprepared. Furthermore we are totally under siege. We pray to God that it will not last too long. More than half a million are displaced already and we hope that in this Lebanese humid and hot July, epidemices will not erupt. People are very scared and have lost their confidence in US assistance and promises. They feel that you are very successful in starting wars but less in bringing them to a satisfactory closure. Remember us in your prayers and use you influence in D.C. to halt these atrocities. Regards and all the best, Arda.”

Anglican Diocese of Jerusalem
On July 25, The Rt. Rev. Riah H. Abu El-Assal, Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem, sent a communication to the international churches: “As I write to you, I am preparing to leave with other bishops for Nablus with medical and other emergency supplies for five hundred families, and a pledge for one thousand families more. On Saturday we will attempt to enter Gaza with medical aid for doctors and nurses in our hospital there who struggle to serve the injured, the sick, and the dying. My plan is that I will be able to go to Lebanon next week – where we are presently without a resident priest – to bury the dead, and comfort the victims of war. Perhaps as others have you will ask, “What can I do?” Certainly we encourage and appreciate your prayers. That is important, but it is not enough. If you find that you can no longer look away, take up your cross. It takes courage as we were promised. Write every elected official you know. Write to your news media. Speak to your congregation, friends, and colleagues about injustice and the threat of global war. If Syria, Iran, the United States, Great Britain, China and others enter into this war – the consequence is incalculable. Participate in rallies and forums. Find ways that you and your churches can participate in humanitarian relief efforts for the region. Contact us and let us know if you stand with us. I urge you not to be like a disciple watching from afar.”