National Evangelical Synod in Syria and Lebanon

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New National Evangelical Church in Aleppo (Sulaimaniyah district) on the day of their consecration on December 25, 2015
National Evangelical Church of Tire , 2018
National Evangelical Church in Latakia , May 25, 2012

The National Evangelical Synod in Syria and Lebanon ( NESSL , Arabic السينودس الإنجيلي الوطني في سورية ولبنان) or National Evangelical Church (الكنيسة الإنجيلية الوطنية) is a Reformed Evangelical Church in Syria and Lebanon that unites Arabic-speaking parishes.

Number of believers

By 1987 the National Evangelical Church had around 13,000 members in Lebanon and around 10,000 in Syria. The World Council of Churches currently states the number of members of the National Evangelical Synod as 20,000, who are looked after by 22 pastors in Lebanon and Syria. While the Protestant Church has always been very popular, it has not been able to compensate for the losses caused by emigration, especially as a result of the civil wars in Lebanon (1975 to 1990) and Syria (since 2011). In 2006 the number of members was given as 6000, who belonged to 36 parishes and 37 house groups and were looked after by 22 pastors.

Seat of the Synod, its facilities and ordination practice

The National Evangelical Synod in Syria and Lebanon has had its seat in Antelias in Lebanon since it was founded .

The National Evangelical Church operates eight secondary schools and several primary schools with a total of around 12,500 students who do not only belong to Protestant churches. She runs a hospital in Lebanon.

The National Evangelical Synod of Syria and Lebanon is one of the following church frets to: Community of Protestant Churches in the Middle East ( Fellowship of Middle East Evangelical Churches , FMEEC), Council of Churches of the Middle East ( Middle East Council of Churches , MECC), Supreme Council of Protestant Churches in Syria and Lebanon ( Supreme Council of Protestant Churches in Syria and Lebanon ) and the World Fellowship of Reformed Churches (WCRC). She has been a member of the World Council of Churches (WCC) since 1948.

Women's ordination was introduced in January 2017, and in February 2017 Rola Sleiman was ordained as the first pastor, and in March 2017 Najla Kassab was also ordained .

history

Old National Evangelical Church in Aleppo in April 2010
Destroyed National Evangelical Church in Aleppo on June 12, 2013

The National Evangelical Church of Syria and Lebanon had its beginnings at the beginning of the 19th century, when Presbyterian missionaries from Great Britain and the USA were active in the then Ottoman Empire and the first Protestant congregations with Arab believers emerged in Beirut and Hasbaya . The first missionaries included Isaac Bird and William Kodel, who arrived in Beirut in 1823. The Ottoman authorities recognized the Evangelical faith in 1848. The Presbyterian Congregation was founded in Damascus in 1860, and in 1866 the church on Dawamneh Street in the old city of Damascus was opened as the first Evangelical church in present-day Syria . After the end of Ottoman rule, the National Evangelical Synod of Syria and Lebanon was constituted in 1920. In 1959 the local Arab church took over the entire responsibility for the work of the former mission organizations from the USA, France, Denmark, the Netherlands and Switzerland. The civil war in Lebanon from 1975 to 1990 destroyed and damaged numerous churches and many Christians emigrated from Lebanon, particularly to the USA and Australia. In 2006 the number of members was only given as 6000. The civil war in Syria since 2011 has had an equally devastating effect , in which many churches were willfully destroyed, including the Protestant church in the al-Judaide district of Aleppo , which was blown up on November 6, 2012 with underground explosives by Islamist rebels. On December 25, 2015, a new National Evangelical Church in Aleppo was initially provisionally opened for services and officially inaugurated on January 9, 2019 with a festive service. Many evangelical refugees from Syria with their children were still housed in Lebanon in 2019, where many of them were cared for by evangelical institutions in various parts of the country.

Church leadership

Long-term church president from 1984 was Salim Sahiouny . The current General Secretary of the National Evangelical Synod in Syria and Lebanon is Pastor Joseph Kassab , who was elected President of the Supreme Council of the Evangelical Congregation in Syria and Lebanon on February 1, 2019 to succeed Salim Sahyouni. Samuel Hanna was confirmed in office as Vice President.

In July 2017, the Lebanese pastor Najla Kassab from the National Evangelical Synod in Syria and Lebanon (and wife of Joseph Kassab) was elected President of the World Fellowship of Reformed Churches (WCRC).

Other Evangelical Congregations in Syria and Lebanon

The approximately 7,000 Anglicans in Syria and 2,500 in Lebanon (1987) belong to the Anglican Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East with a total of 23,000 believers, also known as the “Arab Episcopal Church”. Organizationally independent is the Union of the Armenian Evangelical Church in the Middle East with around 10,000 members, mostly in Lebanon and Syria, but also with member congregations in Egypt, Turkey, Cyprus and Iran, whose leader in 1979 was Hovhannes Karjian in cooperation with Honorary President Hovhannes Aharonian has been. The Evangelical National Church of Beirut is also independent .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Udo Steinbach: The Near and Middle East Politics - Society, Economy, History, Culture: Basics, Structures and Problem Areas. Country analyzes. Springer Fachmedien, Wiesbaden 1987. National Evangelical Synod of Syria and Lebanon, pp. 74f.
  2. ↑ a b c d e National Evangelical Synod of Syria and Lebanon. World Council of Churches , accessed May 27, 2020.
  3. ^ A b c National Evangelical Synod in Syria and Lebanon. Reformed Federation in Germany, Hanover, March 1, 2006.
  4. ^ Nada Homsi: How Rola Sleiman became the first Arab female pastor. Al Jazeera, April 16, 2017.
  5. ^ A b Anna Siggelkow: Najla Kassab new President of the Reformed World Community. Ref.ch (The Reformed Portal), July 7, 2017.
  6. ↑ متري هاجي اثناسيو ، قتيبة شهابي ، 2005 ، اديرة وكنائس دمشق وريفها: (بحث ميداني توثيقي تاريخي اثري)[ Mitri Haji Athanasio , Qutaiba Shihabi : Monasteries and churches in Damascus and their landscape (historical archaeological documentary research). Damascus 2005], 6.الكنيسه الإنجيليه المشيخيه الوطنيه[ The National Presbyterian Evangelical Church ].
  7. ↑ Alaa al-Halabi: Christmas brings little hope for Syria's Christians. Al-Monitor, December 23, 2013.
  8. ^ VBS and Aleppo Presbyterian Church, Syria. Third Church, April 23, 2015.
  9. ^ The Arab Evangelical Church in Aleppo Inaugurates Its New Building. National Evangelical Synod of Syria and Lebanon, January 9, 2019.
  10. ↑ Carole Maroune: Christmas Celebrations at our Syrian Refugee Child Care Centers. National Evangelical Synod of Syria and Lebanon, February 1, 2019.
  11. ^ Rev. Kassab, unanimously elected as Head of the Supreme Council. National Evangelical Synod of Syria and Lebanon, February 1, 2019.