Al-Hassakeh is a major town in northeast Syria that has existed for almost 1,000 years as part of the historic Silk Road. This part of the world has been Christian from around the time Paul encountered Jesus on the road to Damascus. The Rev. Mathilde Sabbagh ministers there with her congregation, the National Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Al-Hassakeh, to support her community without regard to religious affiliation.
To accompany congregations on their missional journey, mission co-workers periodically return to the U.S. to travel around the country for interpretation assignment.
Members of the Syria Lebanon Partnership Network met Tuesday for a one-hour virtual training session for individuals who want to join them in lobbying U.S. representatives for a reduction of economic sanctions in Syria.
The Syria-Lebanon Partnership Network (SLPN) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) recently held a virtual gathering with 119 registrants from three continents, six countries and 10 time zones. The theme for the interactive Zoom meeting was “Aid Not Sanctions: Take the Knee Off the Newck of the Syrian People.”
What is happening in Syria and what can be done to help is the focus of the first virtual gathering of the Syria Lebanon Partnership Network (SLPN), set for noon through 2 p.m. Eastern Time on Tuesday, April 13.
The Syria Lebanon Partnership Network of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has developed a study guide for churches called “The Burden of Memory and the Hope of the Gospel,” a four-week series that includes relevant slides and other resources.
Seven years ago, as pastor of a Presbyterian church in Costa Mesa, California, I found myself praying for peace to overshadow our broken world. About that time, I became friends with a Presbyterian family who had moved into our community from Homs, Syria. As my friendship with the Jarjours grew, I learned about the crisis in their homeland and how it was impacting their church in Homs. I asked if they would put me in touch with their pastor, at which point he and I began exchanging emails, sharing mutual concerns about our congregations and praying for one another.
The Rev. Jan Edmiston, Co-Moderator of the 222nd General Assembly (2016) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), returned early last week from a trip to Syria with a delegation from the church’s Compassion Peace and Justice ministries. Following the chemical weapons attack in Idlib and the retaliatory airstrikes by the United States military, she issued a prayer for the people of Syria and the world.
Syrian fellowship finds a home in Los Ranchos Presbytery
When Saousan Jarjour came to Costa Mesa, California, Tim McCalmont had no idea the impact she would have on him. A young woman from the Syrian city of Homs, Jarjour came to study music at a college across the street from Presbyterian Church of the Covenant, where McCalmont serves as pastor. Raised Presbyterian, Jarjour showed up in church one Sunday in 2004 and soon after started singing in the choir.
