Protestant Churches of Egypt

The Protestant Churches of Egypt (PCE) includes 16 officially-recognized Protestant denominations in Egypt, the largest of which is the Presbyterian Synod of the Nile of the Evangelical Church of Egypt.  The PCE, although smaller in membership, participates in the ecumenical witness and presence of the Christian community in Egypt, along with the Coptic Orthodox (the largest church in Egypt) and the Roman Catholic Church. 

Capacity Building Programs

Churches can be a driving force that changes society. In Egypt, churches are playing a significant role in the current and future of the country. The Protestant Churches of Egypt is equipping church leaders in Egypt to acquire planning and leadership skills through connecting individuals and groups with existing tools, capable trainers, and coaches. In addition, the Protestant Churches of Egypt aims to create an atmosphere of collaboration between existing initiatives of the churches.  The trainings provided through the program will include strengthening of church leaders’ capacities in ministry models, administration, leadership development, resource development, and financial and program management.

The Protestant Churches of Egypt is implementing this capacity-building training with five congregations and 25 leaders from these congregations in Alexandria, Egypt.  Next they will work with an additional 10 churches in two additional cities.

• A gift of $20 provides training materials for one ministry leader
• A gift of $40 provides translation of materials for one ministry leader
• A gift of $100 provides transportation for ten (10) ministry leaders
• A gift of $800 provides all costs to provide training for one ministry leader

Social and Psychological Response Trainings

Another capacity building program for pastors and church leaders in Egypt includes training in the fields of social and psychological skills.  People who live in rural areas often face limited access to essential services, education, health care, employment, and income opportunities.  Therefore local churches provide these services, through conducting literacy classes, providing health services, and implementing job trainings. The Protestant Churches of Egypt has recognized and have received positive feedback from local church leaders regarding the interest in providing additional opportunities to learn techniques in the area of social services and providing basic psychological assistance for community members.

Through this project, the Protestant Churches of Egypt would like to train 100 church leaders (30 women, 70 men) in areas of assistance in accessing social, civic, health, and political rights.  The trainings would include initial, in-depth training of these core participants, and then will grow into providing short seminars in various geographic areas for additional church leaders to attend and receive a more brief training in these topics. The project will begin with training church leaders from the rural areas of Minia, Assuite, and Beni-suief.

Parliament Training for Youth Program

One of the major crises that Egypt suffered during the presidency of Hosni Mubarak (1981-2011) was the lack of democracy and the lack of formation of potential parliamentary candidates who can express their opinions and advocate the needs of their constituencies. During the Mubarak era and afterwards, minorities including most Christians, have not been able to participate in the political scene. 

In response to this issue, the Protestant Churches of Egypt recognize the potential of training qualified Christian parliamentary candidates who can participate in the political scene in Egypt and able to push Parliament to enforce the existing laws and regulations stipulated in the 2014 Constitution, and also to participate in passing new laws that will allow Christians to have access to additional rights.

In order to accomplish and prepare qualified Christian representatives in Parliament, the Protestant Churches of Egypt will form a committee of pastors and Christian leaders who are experienced in political work. The role of this committee will be to prepare a curriculum of training for future parliament candidates. Then they will choose a team of individuals to train the first 50 persons, and to implement the program.