German Pastors Visiting our Church 2018
As of Friday 21 September 2018 a delegation from the Evangelical Church of Württemberg in southwest Germany headed by bishop Frank July, visited our Church and its various ongoing projects in Schneller, Abey and elsewhere. The delegation also met with Eastern Church leaders and visited a project in Baskinta that Württemberg also supports through the good offices of Rev. Badr.
On Sunday September 23 the delegation participated in our worship service. Bishop July preached the sermon. Rev. Marianne Wagner, the president of EMS and a member of the neighboring Church of the Palatinate, also shared with Rev. Badr in the pastoral prayers. Mrs. Inge Schneider, president of the Württemberg Synod, gave a word of greeting.
Additionally, 6 pastors from Germany and one from Scotland (Susanne Gessuer, Elke Jung, Renate Kath, Annette Hermann, Claudia Ginkel, Volker Bleil, all German and Pamela Strachan from the Presbyterian Church of Scotland) who are spending a 3-month sabbatical at NEST, joined the worship service.
Afterwards, a reception in honor of the delegation was held at Charles Saad Hall. Rev. Dr. Salim Sahiouny, the head of our Evangelical community in Syria and Lebanon, as well as other Evangelical leaders were in attendance.