Mutual Recognition of Evangelical Middle East Churches
From the east and from the west around the Holy Land, they gathered in Amman in January of 2006 for an historical occasion. Evangelicals from Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Syria, Kuwait, Iran, Algeria and Tunisia signed together “The Amman Declaration Agreement of Full Mutual Recognition of Lutheran and Reformed Churches in the Middle East and North Africa.” What does it mean to be an Evangelical in the Arab world today?
These churches are working together to explore the unique challenges and opportunities they face as they seek to carry out God’s mission in their regions. The churches have mutually recognized one another’s ministries and agreed upon a declaration of faith including beliefs in the Trinitarian God, justification by faith, the sacraments and the preaching of the gospel. They have agreed to mutual participation in one another’s worship, con-celebration of the Sacraments, common prophetic witness for justice and peace and other joint activities that will promote ecumenical and interfaith witness and service to God’s people in our lands.
Recognizing that “the divisions between us are contrary to God’s will that we be one,” these partners have achieved an extraordinary ecumenical expression of unity through a deliberate process of dialogue and study begun in 1991 through the Fellowship of Middle East Evangelical Churches (FMEEC). FMEEC which was established in 1974 as a result of long history of cooperation between Arab evangelicals working together on the diverse and unique challenges presented to evangelicals in the Arab world.
Please keep these churches in your thoughts and prayers.
- The EvangelicalLutheranChurch in Jordan and the Holy Land
- The National Evangelical Union of Lebanon
- Synod of the Nile, Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Egypt
- The National EvangelicalChurch in Kuwait
- Synod of the EvangelicalChurch in Iran
- Union of the Armenian Evangelical Churches in the Near East