Like the 2020 Middle East Conversation, the Consultation will be livestreamed due to continuing COVID-19 restrictions. Unlike the 2020 event, which was spread out over several months, MEC 2021 will take place from September 30 to October 2.

The themes

Brent Hamoud from ABTS says the event will discuss the future of the Middle Eastern Church through the current crises in Lebanon. “The three days will have three different themes that will all bring us back to the question of ecclesiology.

Hamoud outlines these three themes. “Making disciples: what does this mean and how does it look? Developing leaders: how do we bring up people who will bring churches and ministries forward? And engaging society: how do we think about the role of the Church within the social and public arena? How can the Church be a light and witness within the larger dynamics of society?”

Want to join this conversation? You can sign up and learn more here.

Hamoud also asks readers to pray the event will reach many Christians leaders in the Middle East and beyond. “We’re seeing a Church that is in a dynamic moment. So there’s much to celebrate, much to recognize, and much to rejoice in. But there’s also much to learn. There’s much to question and much to consider.”

Header photo courtesy of ABTS.

Today’s stream shares a name with a new book called The Religious Other, edited by ABTS’s own Martin Accad, along with Jonathon Andrews. It explores how Christians know what they know about Islam, and how the Church can engage in love and knowledge. You can get a copy of The Religious Other here.

What do we know about Islam?

Accad says the Church has too often used widely accepted narratives about Islam to inform its thinking about the religion. “We are impacted by the national and global discourse about Islam, the media discourse, and the discourse of our politicians. Since 9/11, the discourse about Islam has definitely been on the negative side. There’s a demonization of Islam. In the past two decades, Islam has practically become the enemy.”

For Christians to engage well with Islam, Accad says, they have to listen to real experts for information, not simply Christian theologians. “Quite often, our missiologists and even most of our theologians in academia have not been experts in Islamic Studies.”

The official poster for the webinar, courtesy of ABTS

That’s why The Religious Other brings together leading academic experts in the study of Islam and Christian theologians.

This work has practical implications, especially for those of Muslim backgrounds who come to Christ. How do they relate to their families, culture, and former religion? Accad says, “The inclination has been that new disciples from Muslim contexts have to cut themselves off because Islam is bad, Islam is evil. Therefore, there’s nothing they should remain connected within that tradition.”

This idea, Accad says, has damaged many relationships and only deepened the rift between the Church and Islam.

The Middle East Consultation

ABTS holds the Middle East Consultations annually, but COVID-19 disrupted the process this year, forcing the move to online formats. The conferences typically focus on issues facing the Middle Eastern Church.

Topics the Middle East Conversation 2020 has discussed this year include missions, the work of the Church during COVID-19, and Lebanon’s crisis. Pray God would bless ABTS as it works during a difficult time in Lebanon. Read more about how the pandemic affected ABTS here.

Pray also that Christians around the world would learn more about Islam, and engage with the religion in love, and without fear.

Header image by Mario Vogelsteller from Pixabay.

Rather than holding its annual Middle East Consultation, ABTS is hosting a series of monthly webinars about matters that relate to Christians in the Middle East. Read more here.

This month, the topic will be theological education during the pandemic. Loulwa El Maalouf says people who sign up can expect to hear Middle Eastern voices on these topics. “We’re talking about how theological education is affected during this crisis. Of course, in the Arab world, there is a need for theological education and leadership formation for the Arab church. So we’re having to ask about how we can respond in a way that [leads] to enduring change.”

The ABTS poster for the July 16 MEC2020 webinar. (Photo courtesy of ABTS on Facebook)

Changes ahead

As reported here, one way ABTS is adjusting to the pandemic is changing its residency program. The seminary will be able to provide education to more students under the new program, but the students will stay on campus only a short time each semester.

El Maalouf says Christians can pray for ABTS as they continue to navigate what theological education will look like in a world after COVID-19. “We need to make sure that we are hearing God’s voice as he guides us. These changes are not easy. They’re not straightforward. This has the potential to affect the theological education in all the regions of the Middle East and North Africa.”

Keep in mind, ABTS will be putting on another webinar in August and will continue monthly with MEC2020 until the end of the year. Next month, ABTS will talk about the changes to local churches during COVID-19 from a Middle Eastern perspective. What does it mean to worship as the body of Christ, but without a building?

You can also still watch the June webinar on YouTube. It addressed the topic of how the pandemic will change us. El Maalouf says Christians can simply wait for the crisis to end, or we can embrace the transformation that this time can bring. “Think of what a caterpillar is [like], how they emerge as a butterfly. We can emerge from this crisis or this pandemic as a butterfly. If we are thinking in a transformative way. We have to be intentional about it.”

The header image shows a view of Lebanon during winter. (Photo courtesy of ABTS on Facebook)

Since 2004, Arab Baptist Theological Seminary in Lebanon has hosted the Middle East Consultation, an event where people from around the world gather to talk and learn about issues facing the Church.

This year, things will look different. Brent Hamoud, the IMES Programs Coordinator at ABTS, says, “It’s been a highlight of the year for ABTS, and a lot of interesting discussion and conversation has come out of it. We were planning to host another one in the third week of June as we do each year, but the coronavirus pandemic has made that not possible.”

What’s changed?

Churches in MENA face many unique challenges, and challenges faced by churches all around the world. Learn more by joining the 2020 Middle East Conversation. (Photo courtesy of ABTS on Facebook)

ABTS has had to restructure the whole event, creating the 2020 Middle East Conversations. Hamoud says, “This will not be a global gathering physically here in Lebanon. Instead of doing monthly webinars, these will be a series of online gatherings.”

ABTS plans to hold six webinars in total, one each month until late 2020. The first webinar will take place on June 18, with registration opening soon at the beginning of June.

What is staying the same?

Hamoud says, “We still want to pursue discussion about relevant issues for the church. And we want to bring the Middle Eastern and North African voices to discuss faith and witness. [We want] the voice of the Church from the region to contribute to the discussions that are going on around the world.”

ABTS hasn’t planned a topic for each webinar yet. Hamoud says they will orient conversations toward changes in the global Church and the Church in the Middle East and North Africa.

Pray from ABTS as they educate many in MENA to the glory of Jesus Christ. (Photo courtesy of ABTS on Facebook)

The world has changed drastically in recent years and months, but Hamoud says many other changes have been long in coming. “So basically, everything is on the table. We want to think critically, we want to bring questions to the table, and carry on a conversation. We don’t have all the answers. But we think if we ask questions together and facilitate a conversation, we can better understand what we are facing now and the opportunities that God is putting before us in the future.”

How Christians can get involved

ABTS would love to have you join the Middle East Conversations! Hamoud says, “It will be a dual language webinar. There will be a translation for you. We will have global perspectives and we will have regional perspectives.”

Continue to pray for ABTS as it continues to educate people in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

A gathering during the 2019 Middle East Consultation at ABTS. (Photo courtesy of ABTS on Facebook)