Mission Crossroads is a three-time-a-year magazine focused on worldwide work of the PC(USA). It offers news and feature stories about mission personnel, international partners and grassroots Presbyterians involved in God's mission in the world.
Issue link: https://missioncrossroads.epubxp.com/i/491857
Mission Crossroads 3 With assistance from The Outreach Foundation, the Presbyterian Church in Kamishli, Syria, drilled a well to provide water for 1,500 Yazidi families who had been driven from their homes in northern Iraq by ISIL militants in the summer of 2014. In this photo, Rev. Feras Ferah (left) and one of the elders of the church oversee the completion of the project to provide water to refugees. 1926 The American Junior College is opened in order to provide a college education to graduates from the American School for Girls. This junior college later becomes the Lebanese American University. 1948 US government recognizes the establishment of the state of Israel in Palestine. Presbyterian missionaries question the decision as unjust for the indigenous population of Palestine, and protest the US government's action. 1959 The Presbyterian Church – USA transfers full responsibility for the spiritual, educational, medical, social, and administrative ministries of the churches to the National Evangelical Synod of Syria and Lebanon (NESSL). 1967 Israel attacks Egypt, Syria, and Jordan. Missionaries are suspected of siding with Israel, and are evacuated for their safety, but return in fewer numbers a year later. 1974 Inauguration of the Middle East Council of Churches, which represents about 12 million Christians in the Middle East, including Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant churches. 1975-1990 Lebanese Civil War results in the migration of many Christians and the departure of most missionaries. A few of the Presbyterian congregations close. Mission school & printing press , Beirut, 1871 remembering that we are called to live by the principles and values of the Kingdom of God. • Remember that fear is the most dangerous enemy and the opposite of faith ( Josh. 1:9), and to face each crisis with faith and hope. • Condemn all types of violence and face fanaticism and death with love, liberation, justice, peace, and hope. Finally, the church in the Middle East is called to remember that we believe in the God who opens a way in the midst of the "Sea of the End" (Exod. 13:17-14:31), leading his people through the valley of death, on the face of Sheol, to a new life. Tus, the church is called to be true prophets of peace and hope, resisting all kinds of violence and 'buying felds in the time of wars and even while in prison' ( Jer. 21:3-5; 32:1-15). It's only by laying down its life that the church in the Middle East can truly be the church of Jesus Christ. Hadi Ghantous is the pastor of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Minyara, Lebanon.