A meeting of love, solidarity and partnership
Dr. Michel E. Abs
Secretary General of the Middle East Council of Churches
An online meeting will be held next week, and will include the Associates General Secretaries and the staff team of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC), with the Council's partners in the international ecumenical family.
This meeting, which is held annually, and sometimes at a higher pace, is usually a platform for interaction, exchange of ideas and discussion on forward-looking directions and action plans for the Middle East Council of Churches.
This meeting constitutes an institution by itself in the sociological sense of the word, as it became an essential part of the work of the Council as well as of the work of the ecumenical bodies concerned with service through the Christian presence in the Middle East. Noting that the geographic space has practically expanded beyond what was historically called the Middle East.
In this context, we must dwell on the relationship that links the Council, which is a regional ecumenical body, with the global ecumenical institutions, which are sometimes called the supporting partners.
All of these institutions, including the Council, constitute a faith-intellectual-cultural system, which has its own values, ideals and patterns of behavior, and they are characterized by a high dynamism and the ability to influence in various human and social fields.
Those working in this ecumenical world enjoy advanced militant advantages, deal with various human-social phenomena, and determine the course of several issues in which they intervene. All of this is taking place within the framework of faith and peace and away from politics.
The Middle East Council of Churches, including its employees, volunteer committees’ members and delegates, is an essential part of this vast space called the Ecumenical Movement.
If the meeting of the partners next week indicates something, then it indicates to what extent this ecumenical world is concerned with Middle Eastern Christianity, the starting point for Christianity and the spreading of Christ’s message to the world. If these supporting bodies express something, they express the level of advanced solidarity that carry the founding churches of these bodies, which is expressed by their continuous support in various forms, with no limits, for all our issues.
The advanced and maturing relationship between the Council and the ecumenical institutions in the world constitutes a catalyst for both parties to develop ways of interaction and collaboration in the service of man, every human being, based on the message of Christ.
Our meeting next week is another opportunity to express our concerns and aspirations with loyal brothers and friends with whom we were united by our faith without severing us from society, but on the contrary, by opening up to suffering humanity and its issues. It is a meeting of love, solidarity and partnership in the service of humankind.