150 Anniversary of Translating the Bible
On the occasion of the 150th anniversary of publishing the Arabic (Boustani - Van Dyck) version of the Bible an opening service took place at our church on Sunday, November 1, 2015. This was an introduction for a two-day international Conference on the occasion of this translation (PROGRAM). Different evangelical churches along with Coptic, Maronite, and Orthodox churches participated in the Conference.
During the opening service the congregation joined the organist Martin Hollenriegeland sang an old Arabic hymn written by Ibrahim Sarkis who brought the first copy of the Bible from the American Printing Press (a room near our church which does not exist anymore) into the church in 1865.
Rev. HabibBadr, the pastor of the church, and after 35 years of ministry, summed up his spiritual experience of the Bible by saying: "I love the word of God... It is the lamp of my feet and the light of my path".
