We share this exciting excerpt from a recent newsletter from the seminary:
[Graduation] celebrations began on Wednesday at a dinner hosted by the faculty for the students and their families. This was held on the rooftop of the library/faculty housing building.
A number of you have inquired about sending support to the Church in Iraq as it responds to the displacement of Christians and others from Mosul and neighboring cities and towns. As you are aware, the situation is dire and the needs are great. The Presbyterian Church in Kirkuk, which is about 100 miles from Mosul in a stable Kurdish-controlled area, is already responding to the needs of Christians and Muslims who have fled their homes. An Iraqi Presbyterian pastor friend writes:
Read MoreFor the community that is The Outreach Foundation, the painful developments that are unfolding in Syria, Palestine and Iraq are personal, personal because many of our friends are caught up in the violence. The news accounts are more vivid and heart-breaking because brothers and sisters are suffering.
The Christians have fled Mosul, Iraq. ISIS forces gave the Christians clear choices: convert, pay an outrageous tax, die or leave. Friends of ours have fled Mosul. As they left, they were stripped of anything of value. And it is not only Christians who are being harmed. Please pray for all the people of Iraq, pray that evil hands might be stayed, pray for those forced from their homes, pray for peace with justice.
Read More…teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age…
This familiar closing to the “Great Commission” of Jesus has taken on a deeply personal meeting to the Rev. Mofid Karajili, pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Homs. Arriving as the new pastor for 140 families, following the 37-year tenure of its previous shepherd, the Rev. Samuel Hanna, the war was beginning to make itself felt, intermittently at first, in this large city. Within a few months, the city was besieged, half of the families had fled as their homes and businesses were destroyed, and in May 2012, heavy shelling in the area brought down large sections of the sanctuary roof, knocked out all the utilities and blew apart most of the pews.
Read MoreDear Friends,
Musalaha’s Israeli-Palestinian Children’s Summer Camp is designed to provide a framework for Israeli and Palestinian children to meet together in a fun and friendly atmosphere. Here they have the opportunity to build relationships with children from the other side who they might not have the chance to meet and learn to counter many stereotypes.
Read MoreThe Light at the End of the Tunnel
If you have ever driven through a very long and curvy tunnel, you know that seeing that light in the distance can be a very welcome sight. Our students are counting down the days until their research papers are turned in, their exams are completed and their families have joined them in Cairo for joyful celebrations of their accomplishments.
What are the things that might keep you away from church on any given Sunday? Perhaps, you were worn out by a long week of work, or maybe a cold or allergies have you feeling punk. Depending on where you live, weather can easily be a determinate; yet one more snowstorm or torrential rains that make getting out just too much work. And, if we are willing to admit it, there are those Sundays when our favorite preaching pastor is out of the pulpit. I, like many of you, have given myself a “pass” on a Sabbath morning, using many of these excuses. But their shadowy “validity” left me feeling a bit sheepish, as they made a review through my head on a Sunday this January when I and our team from The Outreach Foundation sat in worship in the Presbyterian Church in Damascus.
Read MoreEgyptian trains to and from Cairo came to a grinding halt in August due to the violent political turmoil that followed the ouster of President Mohamed Morsi in July. The stoppage had greatly disrupted nationwide travel for months. Only 14 out of a total of 68 trains between Cairo and Upper Egypt kept operating. This reality could have caused instruction at the Alexandria and Minya seminary branches to stop if it wasn’t for the distance learning units that the Evangelical Theological Seminary (ETSC) was ready to launch.
Read More“Living in a ring of fire” is the expression used by the Rev. Adeeb Awad, Vice-Moderator of the National Evangelical Synod of Syria and Lebanon, to describe what it is like to be a Presbyterian pastor in Syria today.
Read MoreDear Friends,
We would like to share with you some of the things God has been doing in our ministry:
Read MoreJohn Matar, second-year Biblical Studies student, "My goal is to be a pastor. This year, I feel that God has confirmed this calling...”
Read MoreDear Friends in Christ’s Mission,
On May 21, the nine-member Outreach Foundation mission-vision team (from GA, TX, CA, AL, NY, VA and NE) also found ourselves overlooking a valley…the legendary Bekaa Valley of Lebanon, dotted with fertile fields and small villages, snow still topping the mountains which frame it, and Mt. Hermon looming majestically over it all at 10,000 feet.
Read MoreWomen’s group at Bethlehem Bible College encourages women to pursue their God-given dreams
Madleine Sara is not only Rev. Jack Sara’s wife but a professor at the Bible College with a strong vision for empowering women.
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