New Freedoms Evident in Middle Eastern Countries
by Les Stobbe
March 28, 2007
TRYON, NC (ANS) -- If in July, 2000, the month Chawki Boulos and a team of Americans and Lebanese Christians held their first open air "Celebration" in Beirut, you had asked him if he would be able to arrange open air Celebrations in the near future in Syria, Jordan, Egypt and Bahrain, he might have laughed and said, "With God all things are possible." Now that Living Faith Ministry International is preparing for its eighth open air Celebration, this time in the heart of Beirut, those "possible things" have become reality. "My journeys throughout the Middle East over the last seven years have convinced me that a great change in attitude has taken place in respect to Christians," says Boulos, the leader of Living Faith Ministry International. After spending ten years reaching out to Arabs in North and South Carolina, he returned to Lebanon to begin evangelistic Celebrations. "We are experiencing acceptance almost everywhere we go in the Middle East. I've never seen a country closed to us. We are also seeing Christians in denominations that did not talk to each other joining hands to sponsor the Celebrations. Local governments in countries we visit are welcoming us and our Celebrations. When we arrived in Zarqa, Jordan, the hometown of Zarqawi, the terrorist leader in Iraq, the local churches could not agree where to hold the Celebration. The local government leader said, 'Our arena is open and you can use it for free.' In Syria the government sent its security police to protect us during our Celebration."
Boulos says that these changes have come through open-minded governments and changes in attitudes. He is particularly impressed by what he sees happening in Lebanon, where constant warring between religions devastated the country. In a Hezbollah village bombed by the Israelis a sign went up and stayed up last year saying, "Jesus loves Daheya" (name of the village).
"I see, for example, a maturing in attitudes that bodes well for the future of Lebanon," he says. "We are seeing people look at each other as Lebanese, rather than as members of religious groups. Druze, Catholics, evangelicals and Muslim religious leaders came together in December 2005, at the invitation of Living Faith Ministries International to pray about issues relating to the wellbeing of our country."
In January, 2007, Lebanese friends arranged for Boulos to have a five-minute audience with Lebanon's Mufti, who represents the country's Muslims to the government. He received a warm reception and the ten minutes became a one hour and fifty-minute- conversation and prayer regarding the situation in Lebanon.
"The Mufti said that their enemies were not the Christians but radical Islam. He told me that Lebanon has a unique place because we have a Christian president," says Boulos. "We don't want to go backwards but forward, he told me. Then the Mufti released a press release to Lebanese newspapers emphasizing the same things."
According to Boulos, this freedom is not restricted to Lebanon. People in Kuwait are attending their own church. In Dubai, there are Egyptian and Lebanese churches. In Bahrain, locals can now attend church. In Egypt, where three Celebrations have been held and where you could not get a permit to repair a church-now new church construction is being permitted.
"We should look to the Middle East in a new way. We are seeing truly positive change. Conditions are dramatically different from what Americans hear and see on their news media," says Boulos. "We will continue to explore new opportunities for Celebrations in light of the new openness."
Living Faith Ministry International was organized to fund the Celebrations. Its ministry of relief and compassion shipped supplies and funds to feed refugees of all faiths during and after last year's Israeli attacks on Hezbollah strongholds. It has also acquired property for a retreat center in the mountains of Lebanon and is planning to begin construction of two buildings this year. It will have the largest retreat facilities available to churches in Lebanon. Living Faith Ministry International is headquartered in Landrum, South Carolina.
© 2007 ASSIST News Service, used with permission.
