A Movement for Wholeness in the Fragmented Middle East

Journal Day 1 by Ken Moore

Our group of eight pilgrims arrived in Beirut, Lebanon on Wednesday, December 2, 2009 just before sunset. As we made our way through the airport we saw dozens of Muslim friends and family members gathered to greet and welcome home those who were returning from pilgrimages to Saudi Arabia. One of our group heard someone comment that our group did not look like pilgrims. Nonetheless ours is a group on a pilgrimage to learn all that we can about the ministries of our mission personnel and mission partners in the Middle East.

We had the opportunity to experience rush hour in the city of just over 1 million as we traveled from the airport to our hotel. When we reached the center of the city, Peter Makari pointed out the clock tower of the Congregational Church. The church was built during the 1800s. All but the tower was destroyed during the Lebanese Civil War. The congregation had a capital campaign to rebuild their church building in the style of the original structure. The pastor describes his congregation as being “Congre-tarian”. By this he means that it is a blend of the Congregational and Presbyterian traditions. Nearby is the American University that was begun by members of a Congregational missionary family. The current President is Presbyterian. We traveled along Bliss Street to get to our hotel. The street was named after an early Congregational missionary.

The Near East School of Theology is a brief ten-minute walk from our hotel. We were greeted by the President of the Seminary, Dr. Mary Mikhael, who introduced us to the faculty and other visiting scholars. Dr. Mikhael is familiar to many Disciples because she was a speaker at the “Mix in ‘06” and was a member of the Global Ministries for a number of years. She explained that the United Church of Christ was one of the parents of the Near East School of Theology. Seventy-seven years ago the Congregational seminary merged with a Presbyterian seminary that had been located in Athens. More recently the Episcopal and Lutheran denominations were invited to become a part of the school. She said that 95% of the pastors in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Palestine of the partner churches are graduates of this seminary. She explained the originally the faculty were all from the Congregational and Presbyterian denominations. That changed following the Lebanese Civil War in the 1970s. Since that time, the faculty have come from a variety of partners. Peter Makari, the Global Ministries executive for the Middle East and Europe Office, serves on the Board of Managers of the seminary.

Dr. Mikhael said that at one time the seminary had 110 students enrolled, which is its maximum capacity. There were only a small number of students during the Civil War. Since the 1990s the schools has had around 36-42 students each year. The current enrollment is around 30 students. This is due in part to the fact that the Lebanese government has made it difficult for pastors to come to the seminary from Africa. The current student body comes from a variety of countries in the Middle East and Germany. Until recently the school had a branch in Iran. Since the Iran Revolution, there have been few students from Iran. Dr. Mikhael said that “whether we like it or not the political situation affects the churches. That is why it is so urgent that there be peace in the Middle East.” Another factor affecting student enrollment is that most congregations are small and there is little sense of urgency to raise up and prepare new pastoral leaders.

The President said that in the recent past up to 40% of the students were women. Women are still not allowed to be ordained by the Middle Eastern churches. When some of the Presbyterian women graduates pushed for the right to be ordained there was a backlash which resulted in fewer women students attending the seminary. The current student body is about 25% female. Most of these students are enrolled in the B.A. in Christian Education program which is taught in partnership with the American University. Dr. Mikhael is hopeful because more and more women are being granted licenses to preach. They cannot serve the sacraments, but otherwise they are providing pastoral leadership. One woman is currently the pastor of a large congregation in Tripoli.

Dr. Mikhael has devoted much of her life to this seminary. She attended seminary at the Near East School of Theology and completed her doctorate in the United States in 1987. She recently completed a study on
Joshua that is being used by our churches. As she worked on this project assigned to her she found many parallels in the story of Joshua to the experiences of Christians in the Middle East.

The seminary also offers a one year program for foreign students interested in interfaith relations and the various traditions of the churches of the Middle East. Most of these students currently come from Germany, but this would also be opportunity for American seminaries. They typically have four to six students enrolled in this program each year.

We had an opportunity to tour the seminary’s impressive building. There are four basements and eleven floors. The classrooms, chapels, library, dining halls, gym, and student and faculty apartments are all located on the various floors of the building. In addition, the building houses various denominational offices.

Following dialogue with the faculty in the Faculty Lounge, we enjoyed a delicious meal in one of the dining halls. We were joined at dinner with Dr. Sharon Watkins, our General Minister and President, and her husband, Dr. Rick Lowery. Sharon and Rick will be spending a couple of weeks in study at the seminary as a part of her three month sabbatical. We ended the day with conversation in Dr. Mikhael’s apartment.