What We Believe

"Hope unbelieved is always considered nonsense. But hope believed is history in the process of being changed."~Jim Wallis, Editor of Sojourners

Middle East Fellowship believes that we have to be more intentional about building relationships between North Americans and the Arab world.

We believe that we have been called to help begin a humane, compassionate and honest dialogue between the peoples of North America and the peoples of the Middle East.

We believe that Christians of conscience have an obligation to speak out on peace and social justice issues. From the abolition movement to the underground railroad and the Civil Rights movement, the church has played an important role in local campaigns for social justice throughout America's history.

We believe that Middle Eastern and North American Christians need to renew their bonds of trust, mutual need and fellowship. We believe that a deeper relationship between the churches of North America and the churches of the Middle East will result in benefits for both societies.

What We Do

Vision Trips, Journeys and Pilgrimages

Middle East Fellowship sponsors a number of travel opportunities to the Middle East. Through these journeys and person-to-person encounters, we hope to build lifelong relationships, break down false stereotypes and help work toward justice, peace reconciliation and mutual respect between all peoples.

Our travel programs range from ten days to three months. Participants, particularly on our longer journeys, are frequently asked to serve as volunteers for local non-profits, churches and community organizations.

Visit our Travel page for further information

Partnerships with Middle Eastern charities and churches

In order to create and sustain relief and development projects in the Middle East, Middle East Fellowship serves in partnership with churches and highly-qualified indigenous Middle Eastern non-governmental organizations.

Since 1997, we have served as the U.S. support office for Holy Land Trust, an organization in Bethlehem founded by Palestinian Christians. In all that we do, we seek to work in partnership with others in order both to increase cooperation between groups and to enhance the effectiveness of our programs.

Educational Initiatives

Middle East Fellowship seeks to counteract stereotypes and false perceptions about the Middle East through a series of strategic educational initiatives. Some of these initiatives include:

Middle East Window: an online magazine devoted to exploring all aspects of life, culture, art, religions and politics in the Middle Eastern region.

Speaking Tours and Discussion groups: Middle East Fellowship organizes discussion groups and speaking engagements at school campuses, churches and community centers.

Our Core Values

Building Communities for the Future
We are committed to helping the families and communities of the Middle East create a better future for themselves and others.

Relevance to the Needs of Real People
The projects we create or support will evolve and expand in response to the needs of the communities that we serve.

Accountability and Transparency
We are committed to both organizational and fiscal accountability and transparency.

Social Justice and Reconciliation
We seek to uphold the value and dignity of all human life, to challenge injustice in all its forms and to work toward reconciliation and mutual respect between all peoples.

Faithful Expression of Christ-like Values
We seek to act in accordance with the teachings of Jesus Christ. Based on this principle, we seek to adopt an attitude of servanthood, compassion, integrity and humility in all our efforts.

Meet Our Board of Directors

Gary Burge, Ph.D, Professor of New Testament

Department of Biblical and Theological Studies, Wheaton College & Graduate School

Dr. Gary Burge works from varied experience: raised Lutheran, enlivened in the Jesus movement, ordained in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), worshiping at an Evangelical Covenant church, and now teaching New Testament at the interdenominational Wheaton. Having earned his Ph.D. in New Testament at King’s College, Aberdeen University, Burge has written especially on two career themes, the Johannine tradition and issues related to the Middle East. He has led many student tour groups to Israel/Palestine, befriended numerous Arab pastors, and written Whose Land? Whose Promise? What Christians are Not Being Told About the Palestinian Crisis. Burge has been active both as a conference speaker and board member with Evangelicals for Middle East Understanding, as well as several other similar organizations.

Dale Ryan, Christian Recovery International

Dale Ryan is the Chief Executive Officer of Christian Recovery International (www.christianrecovery.com). He is also an Assistant Professor of Recovery Ministry at Fuller Theological Seminary where he serves as the director of the Fuller Institute for Recovery Ministry (www.fullerinstitute.org). He has consulted with ministries in several countries (including some in the Arab world) who are seeking to develop support group programs for alcoholics, addicts and their family members. He is the co-author of The Twelve Steps: A Spiritual Kindergarten, an introduction to the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous; Rooted in God’s Love, a book of meditations on biblical texts for people in recovery and numerous Bible study guides published by InterVarsity Press.

Yves Accad

Mr. Accad has served as a network consultant, a software developer and has a decade's worth of experience in the field of video production. He is currently the Vice President of Dvarchive, one of the first websites to offer royalty-free downloadable digital video clips. Born in Lebanon, Yves carries with him a deep sensitivity to the needs and the struggles of the peoples of the Middle East.

Mubarak Awad

Dr. Mubarak Awad is the founder of Nonviolence International and currently serves as its Director. He is a member of the American University faculty and teaches a graduate course called "Theories and Methods of Nonviolence." Dr. Awad is the founder and Executive Director of the National Youth Advocate program, a nonprofit organization designed to support, guide and facilitate the development and operation of community-based residential and nonresidential services for troubled and needy youth. He also founded the Palestinian Counseling Center and the Palestinian Center for the Study of Nonviolence (PCSN) in Jerusalem.

Fred Bush

Dr. Fred Bush has been a professor of Ancient Near Eastern studies at Fuller Theological Seminary since 1993. He has also served as an instructor of Hebrew and Arabic. He holds an M.A. and a Ph.D. from Brandeis University and a B.D. and Th.M. from Fuller. He has published several books, including: Old Testament Survey: the Message, Form and Background of the Old Testament. Fred Bush is married with three children and eight grandchildren.

Farouk Eldeiry

Farouk Eldeiry is the head of M.A.P. (Ministry for Arabic-speaking Peoples) under the oversight of Lake Avenue Church in Pasadena. He holds an M.A.R. and a Th.M. in Systematic Theology. He has served with the Theological Seminary in Cairo, the Coptic Evangelical Organization for Social Services and was the first pastor at the Ibrahimiah Evangelical Church in Alexandria, Egypt (established in 1966). Currently, he is the Vice-President for the Middle East Fellowship of Evangelical Churches. In his free time, Farouk enjoys traveling, walking, ping-pong and volleyball.

Brice Harris

Dr. Brice Harris, Jr. is a professor of history, diplomacy and world affairs at Occidental College. Brice received an M.A. and a PhD from Harvard University and has served as a Fulbright scholar in Liberia, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Oman. He also had the opportunity to serve as a visiting professor at the American University in Cairo. He has had several articles related to the Middle East published, including: "Tears in the Holy Land" and "The South Africanization of Israel." In his spare time, Brice enjoys hiking, camping and photography.

Carolyn Harris

Carolyn Harris has been the director of the Westminster Child Center since 1985. She has served on the steering committee of the Middle East Fellowship of Southern California since 1969 and has served as its treasurer since 1997. In 1975, she taught Educational Sociology at the American University in Cairo.

Darrel Meyers

Darrel Meyers is a Pastor at St. Mark's Presbyterian Church in Van Nuys, Southern California. He was a co-founder of the Middle East Fellowship of Southern California and has served as one of its chairpersons since 1969. Darrel is also a board member of the Friends of Sabeel-North America and makes frequent visits to the Middle East. He holds a Masters degree from Princeton Theological Seminary. Darrel has three grown children and three granddaughters. Along with spending time with his family, he enjoys reading, sports, cinema, music and the companionship of friends.

Nuhad Tomeh

The Reverend Nuhad Daoud Tomeh is currently working with the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) as a consultant. From 1986 through 1995, Nuhad was a professor, dean, and acting president of the Near East School of Theology in Beirut, Lebanon. Since 1992, Nuhad has been coordinator of the Urban Rural Mission Program for MECC in Beirut and, from 1981 to 1990, Nuhad was a part-time assistant and associate pastor for the National Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Beirut. Nuhad holds a bachelor of arts degree in philosophy and psychology from the Arab University in Beirut and a master of divinity from the Near East School of Theology. He received his doctorate of ministry, with a major in pastoral care and counseling, from Christ Seminary Seminex (ELCA) in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1985.

Don Wagner

Mr. Wagner is the current Director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies and Associate Professor of Biblical Theology and Religion. He is also Co-Chair for Consultation on Palestinian Theology and Interreligious Dialogue in the Middle East for the American Academy of Religion. He is on the Board of Directors of Sabeel Theology Center in Jerusalem; the Board of Advisors for Americans for Middle East Understanding in New York and Youth Advocates in Washington, D.C. and Chicago, Illinois. He has served as the National Director of Palestine Human Rights Campaign and has received several awards from various Arab and human rights organizations.

Nancy Ware Wainwright

Mrs. Wainwright serves on the board of American Water Works Company, Inc. For many years she served as one of the directors of a family philanthropic organization, the Ware Foundation. She is also the founder of the Catlin Foundation, an organization that has been proactive in funding innovative and compassionate programs. Through her many humanitarian efforts, Nancy has been personally involved in sponsoring relief and development initiatives in the Middle East.

Robin Wainwright

Mr. Wainwright is director of the Catlin Foundation in Florida. He has been active for more than 20 years in developing and implementing programs for a variety of humanitarian organizations involved in outreach work overseas. He is the former Executive Director of the Jubilee Foundation, where he developed strategies for furthering micro-enterprise development overseas. He has served on the board of directors for International Urban Associates, New College Berkeley, and Westwood Foundation.

Micah Declaration

Middle East Fellowship fully endorses the Micah Declaration on Integral Mission. Below you can find the complete text of this document:

Introduction

The Micah Declaration on Integral Mission was developed by participants in the Micah Network's consultation on Integral Mission held at Oxford in September 2001. The participants in the consultation - 140 theologians, church leaders and relief and development workers from around the world - also contributed to an excellent book that captures more of the thought and experience underlying the Declaration, Justice, Mercy and Humility: Integral Mission and the Poor, edited by Tim Chester.

Micah Declaration on Integral Mission (2001)

Integral Mission

Integral mission or holistic transformation is the proclamation and demonstration of the gospel. It is not simply that evangelism and social involvement are to be done alongside each other. Rather, in integral mission our proclamation has social consequences as we call people to love and repentance in all areas of life. And our social involvement has evangelistic consequences as we bear witness to the transforming grace of Jesus Christ. If we ignore the world we betray the word of God which sends us out to serve the world. If we ignore the word of God we have nothing to bring to the world. Justice and justification by faith, worship and political action, the spiritual and the material, personal change and structural change belong together. As in the life of Jesus, being, doing and saying are at the heart of our integral task.

We call one another back to the centrality of Jesus Christ. His life of sacrificial service is the pattern for Christian discipleship. In his life and through his death Jesus modelled identification with the poor and inclusion of the other. On the cross God shows us how seriously he takes justice, reconciling both rich and poor to himself as he meets the demands of his justice. We serve by the power of the risen Lord through the Spirit as we journey with the poor, finding our hope in the subjection of all things under Christ and the final defeat of evil. We confess that all too often we have failed to live a life worthy of this gospel.

The grace of God is the heartbeat of integral mission. As recipients of undeserved love we are to show grace, generosity and inclusiveness. Grace redefines justice as not merely honouring a contract, but helping the disadvantaged.

Integral Mission with the Poor and Marginalized

The poor like everyone else bear the image of the Creator. They have knowledge, abilities and resources. Treating the poor with respect means enabling the poor to be the architects of change in their communities rather than imposing solutions upon them. Working with the poor involves building relationships that lead to mutual change.

We welcome welfare activities as important in serving with the poor. Welfare activities, however, must be extended to include movement towards values transformation, the empowerment of communities and co-operation in wider issues of justice. Because of its presence among the poor, the church is in a unique position to restore their God-given dignity by enabling them to produce their own resources and to create solidarity networks.

We object to any use of the word "development" that implies some countries are civilised and developed while others are uncivilised and underdeveloped. This imposes a narrow and linear economic model of development and fails to recognise the need for transformation in so-called "developed" countries. While we recognise the value of planning, organization, evaluation and other such tools, we believe they must be subservient to the process of building relationships, changing values and empowering the poor.

Work with the poor involves setbacks, opposition and suffering. But we have also been inspired and encouraged by stories of change. In the midst of hopelessness we have hope.

Integral Mission and the Church

God by his grace has given local churches the task of integral mission. The future of integral mission is in planting and enabling local churches to transform the communities of which they are part. Churches as caring and inclusive communities are at the heart of what it means to do integral mission. People are often attracted to the Christian community before they are attracted to the Christian message.

Our experience of walking with poor communities challenges our concept of what it means to be church. The church is not merely an institution or organisation, but communities of Jesus that embody the values of the kingdom. The involvement of the poor in the life of the church is forcing us to find new ways of being church within the context of our cultures instead of being mere reflections of the values of one dominant culture or sub-culture. Our message has credibility to the extent that we adopt an incarnational approach. We confess that too often the church has pursued wealth, success, status and influence. But the kingdom of God has been given to the community that Jesus Christ called his little flock.

We do not want our church traditions to hinder working together for the sake of the kingdom. We need one another. The church can best address poverty by working with the poor and other stakeholders like civil society, government and the private sector with mutual respect and a recognition of the distinctive role of each partner. We offer the Micah Network as one opportunity for collaboration for the sake of the poor and the gospel.

Integral Mission and Advocacy

We confess that in a world of conflict and ethnic tension we have often failed to build bridges. We are called to work for reconciliation between ethnically divided communities, between rich and poor, between the oppressors and the oppressed.

We acknowledge the command to speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute in a world that has given "money rights" greater priority than human rights. We recognise the need for advocacy both to address structural injustice and to rescue needy neighbours.

Globalisation is often in reality the dominance of cultures that have the power to project their goods, technologies and images far beyond their borders. In the face of this, the church in its rich diversity has a unique role as a truly global community. We exhort Christians to network and co-operate to face together the challenges of globalisation. The church needs a unified global voice to respond to the damage caused by it to both human beings and the environment. Our hope for the Micah Network is that it will foster a movement of resistance to a global system of exploitation.

We affirm that the struggle against injustice is spiritual. We commit ourselves to prayer, advocating on behalf of the poor not only before the rulers of this world, but also before the Judge of all nations.

Integral Mission and Lifestyle

Integral mission is the concern of every Christian. We want to see the poor through the eyes of Jesus who, as he looked on the crowds, had compassion on them because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd.

There is a need for integral discipleship involving the responsible and sustainable use of the resources of God's creation and the transformation of the moral, intellectual, economic, cultural and political dimensions of our lives. For many of us this includes recovering a biblical sense of stewardship. The concept of Sabbath reminds us that there should be limits to our consumption. Wealthy Christian –both in the West and in the Two-Thirds World – must use their wealth in the service of others. We are committed to the liberation of the rich from slavery to money and power. The hope of treasure in heaven releases us from the tyranny of mammon.

Our prayer is that in our day and in our different contexts we may be able to do what the Lord requires of us: to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with our God.

27 September 2001