Baptists in Jordan

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Baptists in Jordan have been around since the late 1940s. They belong to two different congregational federations ( Jordan Baptist Convention , Arabic Evangelical Church in Jordan ) with a total of 31 congregations and around 1900 members baptized in faith .

Baptismal complex on the Jordan

history

The first Baptist missionaries came to Jordan in 1948. It was an American couple who lived in Hirbet a-Taibeh and stayed only for a short time in the kingdom, which had been independent since 1946. The actual Baptist missionary work in Jordan began in 1951.

Jordan Baptist Convention

In 1952, the US Baptist Union Southern Baptist Convention acquired an existing hospital in Ajloun and expanded it. This hospital subsequently became the starting point for Baptist missionary work in Jordan. As early as 1953, the first Baptist church with 22 members was founded in the vicinity of the hospital. One of the founders was the pastor couple August and Alta Lee Lovegreen, who worked as hospital chaplain until the hospital was sold to the Jordanian Ministry of Health in 1987. By 1969, four more churches and eleven mission stations had been established. The total membership had risen to 173 at this point. In the same year, these five congregations formed the Jordan Baptist Convention (JBC). In 1957, the union was licensed under the name Jordanian Baptist Denomination by the Jordanian Prime Minister as a religious organization (religious organization). However, full state recognition, which requires an additional royal decree, is still pending.

Arabic Evangelical Church in Jordan

A Baptist missionary work that was independent of the Southern Baptist Convention and the then associated Jordan Baptist Convention developed from 1956. In that year, the Conservative Baptists (USA) sent the missionary couple Kelsey to Jordan to carry out the existing work of the Arabic Free Evangelical Church ( AFECh). This free church was created through the work of the free missionary Roy Whitman . Whitman went to Amman in 1929 , his wife six years later. When the Kelseys arrived in Jordan, there were two other churches in Maan and Aqaba in addition to Amman . In 1994 there were nine congregations with around 600 members baptized as believers. There were eight Baptist missionaries among the clergy at the time.

Baptist institutions

The JBC operates several general education schools in Jordan, including a primary and a secondary school in Ajloun and a primary school in Amman. There is also the Christian bookstore of the Jordanian Baptists, which is also important for the other Christian churches in Jordan. The Jordan Baptist Convention has had a conference center in Ajloun since 1988 . The theological training of the next generation of pastors takes place at the Arab Baptist Theological Seminary in Beirut. This academic training center was founded in 1960 with American help and is aimed at theology students from all over the Arab world . In addition to Lebanese members, the university's administrative body also includes representatives from the Baptist unions of Jordan and Egypt . On March 20, 2009, a Baptist baptism center on the Jordan River near Bethany was inaugurated with a service at which 120 people were baptized . It lies at the point where, according to New Testament tradition, the baptism of Jesus by John is said to have taken place. The baptism center is open to all denominations that practice Christian baptism. The property belonging to it is a gift from the Jordanian King Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein to the JBC.

AFECh has a language school founded by George Kelsey. It offers Protestant missionaries the opportunity to learn the Arabic language. The AFECh also offers the basic theological courses and advanced training seminars initiated by the missionary Richard Hart, which are available to employees throughout the Arab-speaking world.

Memberships

In contrast to the AFECh, the Jordan Baptist Convention belongs to the European Baptist Federation and thus to the World Baptist Federation .

literature

  • Albert W. Wardin (Editor): Baptists around the World. A comprehensive Handbook , Nashville / Tennessee 1995, ISBN 0-8054-1076-7 , pp. 170-171

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The data and facts in this section are, unless otherwise stated, from the handbook Albert F. Wardin (Ed.): Baptists around the World , Nashville / Tennessee 1995, pp. 170f
  2. ^ Baptist Courier: Baptists in Jordan. An incredible success story (October 2006) ; accessed on October 14, 2013
  3. ↑ Freedom of religion. Country reports (Jordan) , p. 9f , missio-hilft.de , accessed on January 28, 2019
  4. ↑ Klaus Rösler: Wayback / Portal des Oncken-Verlag: Jordan: Christian Baptism Center inaugurated on the Jordan ( Memento from June 20, 2015 in the Internet Archive ). March 25, 2009. Retrieved May 18, 2016
  5. ↑ Jordan's king donates land for church at baptismal river site: Anglicans to build at Bethany-beyond-the-Jordan , May 6, 2008, accessed October 6, 2017