Global Ministries

Praise be to God, the God of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

Last year, the Forum for Development, Culture, and Dialogue (FDCD) in Lebanon began implementing a winterization project in Syria in partnership with Global Ministries. FDCD received many urgent requests for assistance in the areas of Aleppo, Hama, and rural Damascus as Syrians were preparing for a harsh winter. While food supplies are always an enormous need, families were very concerned about the cold winter ahead and the health of the household, children specifically. This is due to the fact that there are few organizations focused on helping Syrians prepare for winter. We planned to distribute 500 sets of children’s clothes, 400 blankets, and 200 heaters, assisting over 1000 families as colder months approached. FDCD also provided assistance to volunteers helping in distributions, extending the impact of the project.

Sea-Watch - Mediterranean Hope: "They are right: there is no safe port in Libya"

Rome (NEV CS/29), 13 June 2019 – “We agree with Sea Watch’s choice not to bring the migrants rescued and saved back to Libya,” says Paolo Naso, coordinator of Mediterranean Hope – the refugee and migrant program of the Federation of Protestant Churches in Italy, and Global Ministries' Board member. Read more...

Charge to the Graduates
by Dr. George Sabra, President
Near East School of Theology

There is a report, conducted and published annually by the Wharton School of the University of and a well-known global consumer insight firm that ranks countries. Thousands of people over 80 countries are asked to respond to questions on the basis of 65 country attributes, e.g., influence, power, citizenship and quality of life, in order to determine each country’s success as nation. The rankings are part of an analysis project called the “Best Countries Report.” In 2018, and for the second year in a row, Switzerland ranked as the world’s best country, followed Sweden, Germany, United Kingdom, Japan, Sweden, Australia, United States, France, Netherlands.

Migrants Rescued by the Sea Watch: the FCEI Writes to the European, Canadian and US Churches

LEGGI IN ITALIANO “A Coherent and Sustainable Management for The Migration Flow of the Mediterranean Sea is Needed.” Rome (NEV), May 21th, 2019 – The president of the FCEI, pastor Luca Maria Negro, together with Paolo Naso and Fiona Kendall, the coordinator and legal advisor of the Mediterranean Hope project promoted by FCEI,  sent a letter to sister churches.  Read more...

Lectionary Selection:  John 21:1-19

Prayers for Lebanon:  

Dear Lord and Savior, Friend and Brother, standing by the edge of the water with your eye and heart fixed upon us, now hear our prayer as we immerse ourselves in the busy-ness of the day, trying to forget how abandoned we feel in this heartless world.

Though we wish to be with you today in Paradise, instead we find ourselves here on Earth, continuing the struggle to live each day no matter what may befall us, to serve you alongside the least of our sisters and brothers, to preserve hope in you amid every pressure to which we are subjected by powers, seen and unseen.

Remember your church in Lebanon today, as it carries your light to a society staggering under mistrust, corruption, selfishness, nearby wars, lack of reckoning with the past, abuse of nature and misuse of your name.

Open our ears as you lead us in casting our nets to gather an abundant catch of love and truth. Open our eyes to see that you have already prepared a table of fellowship to refresh and renew us. Open our hearts and our lips, to declare, even in our human frailty, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” And empower us to demonstrate that love with our whole lives. In Jesus’ name, we pray.

Refugees: On March 28th a New Arrival from Lebanon Through the Humanitarian Corridors by the Protestant Churches and The Community of Sant’Egidio

LEGGI IN ITALIANO The 54 Syrian refugees will be welcomed by associations, parishes and communities in different Italian regions to immediately facilitate their integration. A welcoming event with press conference at the Fiumicino Airport on Thursday 28th Rome (NEV/CS19), March 25th, 2019 – On Thursday 28th  54 Syrian refugees will arrive in Fiumicino through the Humanitarian Corridors promoted by the FCEI.  Read more…

Lectionary Selection: Luke 4:22-40

Prayers for Lebanon:

God of grace and acceptance, show us how to welcome all we encounter as you have welcomed us into your family. May we receive the newcomers in our communities with open arms as we seek to love the stranger like Jesus. Remind us also of the great needs in our hometowns, as the people closest to us often need care as well. We open our hearts to see each individual as you would see them, looking for ways to show your grace wherever we can.

Master Physician, we look to you as we seek to heal our world from oppression, injustice, and conflict. We see that, even amidst the many challenges facing our world today, there are many hands reaching out and bringing your hope and comfort to those in pain, including those uprooted from their homes or displaced in their own countries as victims of conflict. May we continue to move forward, inspired by the progress we see and determined to bring peace to each of our communities.

We pray for Lebanon and the other countries of the Middle East region, that their leaders would be moved to find peaceful solutions in this evolving context. Would those in power see the inherent value in each human life and work toward societies in which each human life is honored. And would all who seek peace in the region know that your justice will be its foundation.

#CorridoiUmanitari. 2,200 People Entered Europe in a Safe and Legal Way

LEGGI IN ITALIANO (NEV) 70 new arrivals in Italy, including 25 minors, about 1,500 refugees rescued. Their stories: Mouna, Dina and Reem travelling with their old mother and a brother with Down syndrome, and  a Sunni-Shiite family fleeing the war. The FCEI, the Community of Sant'Egidio and the Tavola Valdese together for security and integration. Read more...

Dear friends and Partners in the Lord,

Advent and Christmas greetings! May the one whose Advent we celebrate in this Holy Season come anew to your lives and Churches to bless and to give hope and light!

I would like to express deep gratitude to all of you on behalf of the refugee children who are educated by the National Evangelical Synod of Syria and Lebanon (NESSL). Your support and loving prayers have provided for over seven hundred children a normal childhood education and normal environment to enjoy being loved and cared for.

Many Thanks and Happy Advent!

Happy Christmas!

From the President
By Dr. George Sabra, President, Near East School of Theology

“To Be or …More than To Be”
(an abbreviated version of the President’s Convocation Service address on Oct. 1, 2018

This academic year 2018/19 marks the 150th anniversary of the first founding of our Seminary in Lebanon. In 1869, the same American Protestant mission that founded the Syrian Protestant College (AUB) in 1866, founded the Theological Seminary in the village of Abeih, Mount Lebanon. That Theological Seminary of 1869 has been in existence ever since, though it had to suspend its work in some years, changed locations many times, and altered its name twice. N.E.S.T. is today the institution of theological education that has lived through and survived all the upheavals, crises, wars and developments of the past 150 years.