Global Ministries

Written by the Italian Protestant News Service NEV/American Waldensian Society

Immigration is a controversial issue in Italy.  This is the story of one immigrant and her family who came to Italy through an Italian ecumenical ministry called Humanitarian Corridors.

She arrived in Italy on February 4, 2016.  Of the flight that brought her and her husband and their two small children from Beirut to Rome, she remembers only the emotions she felt on the plane, and the flowers and hugs they got when they landed.

Report of the Summer 2018 Service programs in Jordan

Jordan, the biblical “land of refugees,” continues to shoulder for the whole world its historical role as the safe haven for refugees. The Kingdom prides itself as a unique state of ethnic, cultural, and religious diversity with minority groups able to sustain unique differences. Hospitality has always been a feature of the Middle Eastern cultures, and we in Jordan have always taken this heritage very seriously. Jordan has not been blessed with rich deposits of oil, gold, water or other natural resources. We are grappling with financial crises, one after the other, and the locals are paying the high price, silently and patiently waiting for the international communities to help out in this crises that Jordan now is facing. We are not afraid to open our borders to receive refugees from the neighboring countries, neither turn our shoulders from the needy and the ones fleeing a life threatening situation.

Paolo Naso (FCEI): “Against False Promises, We Are Called to Freedom”

We publish here below, the speech given by Paolo Naso on July 8 from Radio1 Rai for the column "Essere chiesa insieme" of the broadcast Culto Evangelico. Mr. Naso is the coordinator of the Mediterranean Hope - Programme for refugees and migrants by the FCEI. [Dr. Naso is also a member of the Common Global Ministries Board of Directors, representing the Europe region and partners.]

HRCA Medical Team serves to Rohingyas

The Hungarian Reformed Church Aid (HRCA) aims to help and serve among Rohingya refugees in Kutupalong, Bangladesh. The HRCA has launched a donation campaign in order to support this mission. 

The World Council of Churches Central Committee, during its meeting on 15-21 June, issued a statement reiterating its grave concern regarding the alarming and rapidly deteriorating situation of Christians in the Middle East.

The Central Committee called for the release of two Syrian archbishops who were kidnapped near Aleppo, Syria.

The Italian Protestant churches against bombing in Syria

Rome, April 20, 2018 (NEVCS20) – “Peace, peace, they say, when there is no peace” (Jeremiah, 6:14). As in the time of the prophet Jeremiah, in the face of the new Syrian scenario, governments and international organizations invoke peace, while actually they act with war. 

The Conference of European Churches has expressed solidarity with the Syrian churches affected by the kidnapping of the two bishops of Aleppo – who went missing five years ago.

According to media reports, Metropolitan Yohanna Ibrahim of the Syriac Orthodox Church and Metropolitan Boulos Yazigi of the Greek Orthodox Church were kidnapped on 22 April 2013.

The General Secretary of the National Evangelical [Presbyterian] Synod of Syria and Lebanon (NESSL), the Rev. Joseph Kassab, issued a statement on behalf of the denomination, condemning the air campaign, appealing to church partners in the West to advocate on their behalf, and praying for the future of Syria.  The statement can be read here.

In a 16 April statement, the World Council of Churches (WCC) urged the international community to find a way to break the cycle of violence in Syria. The statement comes two days after the USA, France and the UK carried out missile strikes following a suspected Syrian government chemical weapons attack.

Leadership of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and United Church of Christ stated their opposition to the US-led air campaign against Syria, and instead called for "an end to the violence and suffering, so that the Syrian people can begin to rebuild their lives."  The Rev. Teresa Hord Owens and the Rev. Dr. John Dorhauer, respective General Ministers and Presidents of the two churches, the Rev. Julia Brown Karimu, President of the Disciples' Division of Overseas Ministries and Co-Executive of Global Ministries, and the Rev. Dr. James Moos, Executive Minister of the UCC's Global Engagement and Operations, and Co-Executive of Global Ministries, issued the following statement this weekend following President Trump's announcement of the US-led airstrikes in Syria: