National Evangelical Church of Beirut

Living God, Renew and Transform Us: WCRC at Leipzig

Rev. Habib Badr participated in the General Council of the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC) at Leipzig, Germany, from 29th of June till 7th of July 2017. Hundreds of people form different Reformed churches around the world came together to meet and reflect on the Word of God. New members of the Council will also be elected during the meeting.

The theme of the conference is: "Living God, renew and transform us". The meetings will be held in Leipzig, Wittenberg and Berlin, as the 500th anniversary of Reformation is being celebrated in Germany.

Later in the meetings, Rev. Najla Kassab was elected as president of the WCRC for seven years, and a new Executive Committee was installed. The World Communion of Reformed Churches represents more than 80 million Reformed Christians worldwide including the Middle East, more than 225 churches in over 110 countries. Its headquarters are in Hannover, Germany.

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From left to right: Anne-Marie Abu al Azm (Moroco), Rev. Najla Kassab (Synod of Syria and Lebanon) Mrs. Leila Salibi (National Ev. Ch. of Beirut), Rev. Habib Badr (NECB), Dr. Johnny Awwad (Ev. Synod)

Pastors from Holland at our Church

A group of pastors from the Netherlands visited our church on Sunday 25th of June, 2017. They prayed with us and participated in the worship service. They sang two hymns in Dutch. They came to Lebanon to learn more about the Eastern Churches, a visit organised by Dr. Rima Nasrallah Van Sanne at the NEST, who is a member of our church. 

Chorale A Cœur Joie de Beyrouth at our Church

On June 5, 2017 a Polyphonic Concert performed by «Chorale A Cœur Joie de Beyrouth», and directed by Paul-René Safa at our church. Baritone : Fady Jeanbart. Piano : Myriam Azar.

To See The Program CLICK HERE 

Awareness Foundation Visiting Our Church

A delegation from Awareness Foundation (AF) from UK and Canada visited our church on Saturday, April 22, 2017. Rev. Habib Badr who is the Regional Chair of the Consultant Body of the AF in the Middle East introduced to them a brief history of our church and the Lebanon's current confessional and political system. Later on they had the chance to visit the Lebanon's highest Sunni authority at Dar el-Fatwa and meet his Eminence Sheikh Abdel Latif Deryan with Dr. Muhammad Al Sammak, Secretary General of the Christian-Muslim Committee for Dialogue. Together, they discussed Al-Azhar's Cairo Declaration 2017 on Christian-Muslim coexistence. 

On Sunday 23rd of April, the delegation attended the worship service and Rev. Peter Walker, priest of the Grace Church of the Hill, from the Anglican Church in Toronto, preached in our church, while Rev. Nadim Nassar, the Director of AF, translated the sermon into Arabic. Along with the group were Mr. Nigel Macdonald (Chairman of the AF in UK), Mr. Christopher Bunting (Chairman of the AF in Canada), Mr. James Appleyard, Mr. Robert Davies, Mrs. Carolyn Hallet, Dr. Ketty Sarophim, Dr. George Sabra, Fr. Fadi Daou, Fr. Gabriel Hashim and Miss Huda Nassar.  

Ordaining the Second Female Pastor in Beirut

Rev. Habib Badr participated in the ordination of the second female pastor in the Middle East, Rev. Najla Abu Souwan-Kassab, at the Rabieh Evangelical Church in Beirut on Friday 24th of March, 2017. This marks the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, in the Feast of the Annunciation. This was the second ordination in almost one month. The first ordination was of Rev. Roula Sleiman in Tripoli’s National Evangelical Church on the 26th of February 2017. 

Many local and international church leaders and Christian organizations joined the event. Bishop Mounib Younan (president of the World Lutheran Federation, WLF), Rev. Chris Ferguson (president of the World Communion of Reformed Churches, WCRC), Rev. Sabine Dreßler (Reformed Alliance in Germany), Rev. Laurie Kraus (manager of the Presbyterian Disaster Association USA), Rev. Sophia Comnerin (vice president of the Uniting Church of Sweden), Rev. Andrea Zaki (president of the Evangelical Church in Egypt), Rev. Paul Haidostian (president of Haigazian University), Bishop George Saliba (Metropolitan of Mount Lebanon for the Syriac Orthodox Church) and other leaders along with many faithful believers.

"It is indeed a historical moment", said Dr. George Sabra, the president of the Near East School of Theology (NEST) who preached on that day. Women’s ordination in the Middle East, however, came after the women's ordination in many different parts of the world (USA, Europe, Latin America, Asia, Africa and finally in the Middle East). Thus, it was the result of decades of discussions in the Fellowship of the Middle East Evangelical Churches (FMEEC) and the theological training of women at NEST along with the decision taken by the National Evangelical Synod of Syria and Lebanon to ordain females. "Certainly, serving Christ needs no gender qualifications", said Dr. Sabra, "rather needs not to be despaired in following Christ, and to love Him from all one’s heart". It is a clear message, rooted in theology and the Bible, that we send to our people here and to the world in this particular time of rising religious fanaticism and extremism, Dr Sabra concluded.

Guests from Württemberg Church in our Church

From Friday March 10 to Monday evening March 13, the NECB hosted a group of 24 church leaders from the diocese of Württemberg in southwest Germany. The group included the regional bishop (Prelat) of the Heilbronn district, Rev. Harald Stumpf, 13 assistant bishops (Dekans) with their spouses, and the officer for ecumenical and foreign relations in the governing Synod of the Württemberg diocese, Rev. Klaus Rieth. They were also accompanied by Rev. Dr. Uwe Gräbe, the ME liaison secretary at EMS. On Friday morning the group visited NEST and met with Dr. George Sabra. Later, accompanied by Rev. Badr, they were received by Maronite Archbishop Paul Sayyah in Bkirki who spoke on the current situation. Afterwards they were briefly greeted by Patriarch Bechara Raii. On Saturday morning Rev. Badr gave them an introduction to our church and its role in society, followed by Dr. Muhammad Sammak, who briefed them on the recent document issued by Al Azhar on “The Muslim-Christian Coexistence”. On Sunday the group joined our worship service at church where Rev. Rieth preached. A reception followed that included church council members and several evangelical church leaders from the larger community.

On Monday the group spent the whole day in Schneller School where they participated in the inauguration of the new computer library and football field. Of course the visit was interspersed by sightseeing trips to Byblos, Baalbek, the Chouf cedars, the National Museum, etc. All in all it was a most successful visit wherein both churches in Beirut and Württemberg benefited and celebrated their longstanding partnership.

World Day of Prayer in Lebanon 2017

The World Day of Prayer (WDP) this year was celebrated at the Near East School of Theology, Beirut on the 3rd of March. The theme was prepared by the women in Philippines and inspired by the Gospel of Matthew 20:1-16, "Am I being Unfair to You?" The message of the day affirmed that in order to build and sustain a community, it is necessary to practice compassion and care for one another. Maybe this is the key to answer the question “Am I Being Unfair to you?” The speaker of the day was Dr. Renée Ghattas, a member of WDP's committee in Lebanon. Another member of WDP's committee from our church who helped in organizing this day is Mrs. Samia Boulad.

Al Azhar Conference and Christian Muslim Relations

Rev. Habib Badr was invited by Al Azhar to participate in two-day international conference on freedom, citizenship, diversity and integration. Scholars, church leaders and thinkers have come from different countries to promote peace and dialogue. The conference was co-organized by UAE’s Muslim Council of Elders and Al Azhar global's seat of Sunni Muslim Learning, and took place in Cairo, from February 28th till 1st of March. Rev. Badr had the opportunity to address the subject of Christian Muslim coexistence and the diversity experience in Lebanon.

Middle East's First Female Pastor

Middle East's first female pastor, Rev. Rola Sleiman, was ordained in the National Evangelical Church of Tripoli, Lebanon, on Sunday 26th of February 2017. Rev. Habib Badr with many Protestant local and international ministers, along with teachers, students from NEST and many faithful believers participated in the ceremony.

Rev. Rola was born in Tripoli and graduated from Near East School of Theology. She is 40 years old, full of love and dedication to the church, and to her own people. She has been serving her community and Tripoli Evangelical church, which is part of the National Evangelical Synod of Syria and Lebanon, since 2005. Adding to this, Tripoli is the second largest city in Lebanon that confronted with enormous security, economic and religious challenges. 

People were very happy and pastors were very proud to see an equal female minister with them. 

Religion: Peace Maker or War Maker?

Rev. Habib Badr presented a lecture on Monday 20th of February 2017 at the Alumni Club of American University of Beirut (AUB) This lecture was organized by AUB Alumni Association (AAA) and Karaz w Laimoon group.

The lecture was on a controversial issue of religion: Peacemaker or War maker? Dr. Badr after defining what religion is and the different types of world religion as missionary (Christianity, Islam and Buddhism) and non-missionary (Druze Faith, Judaism, Sikhism), and how they hold on "The Truth", he said that in principle violence is not compatible with religion unless violence is prescribed within a certain religion (such as physical punishment to transgressors of the precepts of the religion, or execution of apostates). Since religion is practiced by so-called religious people, and these people cannot be always trusted, and they are subjected to psychological, social, economic, political culture, so religion maybe used or abused. 

The issue here is whether religion can become a "violence maker", said Dr. Badr, and violence is not restricted to war. In this sense, unfortunately, religion is indeed a cause of violence and war. So religion can be either a peace maker or a conflict maker. Thus the new title should have been: Religion: Peacemaker and War maker.