The situation in Lebanon is becoming increasingly tense. These days, I am thinking in particular of the people in Beirut and the Bekaa Valley, with whom I have been on friendly and fraternal terms through many visits there.
Since many years I work closely with Dr. Habib Badr, pastor of the National Evangelical Church of Beirut, in the Presidium of the Evangelical Mission in Solidarity. During my stays in Lebanon, I enjoyed being a guest in his home and congregation. We in the EKHN have a special training program for pastors with the Near East School of Theology in Beirut and I was often a guest there. In June 2019 the Mission Council of EMS met in Lebanon in the Johann Ludwig Schneller School in Khirbet Khanafar in the Bekaa Valley. All these friends are in my mind in these days!
As President of the EMS, I wrote a letter to our member churches and their congregations encouraging them to pray for peace in the region:
Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
In these days of increasing violence in the Middle East and an escalation that increasingly threatens Lebanon, our thoughts and prayers are with our Brothers and Sisters in Lebanon and especially with our member church the National Evangelical Church of Beirut, with the Johann Ludwig Schneller School, with our partner the Near East School of Theology in Beirut, and with our member of the Presidium Rev. Dr. Habib Badr, Senior Pastor of the National Evangelical Church of Beirut.
We pray for God’s help in taking steps towards de-escalation and for insight on the part of political and military leaders in the region. We encourage our governments to take more steps towards diplomacy and strategies that lead to a ceasefire in the Middle East. We ask the member churches of the EMS Fellowship to join us in this prayer in the hope that further escalation can still be prevented through courageous diplomacy.
For the Presidium of the EMS
Rev. Dr. h.c. Detlev Knoche
Chairperson EMS Mission Council