wfn.org | ELCJHL, Church of Scotland affirm, formalize partnership

["Allison Schmitt" <aschmitt@elcjhl.org>]

>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ELCJHL, Church of Scotland affirm, formalize partnership

Jerusalem, Israel-Palestine - March 26, 2010 - Churches cooperate in order
to strengthen evangelical Christian witness, not their institutions. Our
interdependence as churches is a source of strength. This was part of the
message of ELCJHL Bishop Munib Younan gave at the March 24, 2010,
partnership service. There, Younan and the Rt. Rev. William Hewitt,
moderator of the Church of Scotland, signed an agreement formalizing the
relationship between the ELCJHL and the Church of Scotland. St. Andrew's
Church in West Jerusalem hosted the afternoon event. 

"We are delighted to be able to see this come to fruition," Hewitt said
after the service. "We believe that it is important for the church to
support local Christians." In addition to material and prayer support, the
agreement makes way for exchange visits and for interfaith encounters at the
Church of Scotland center in Tiberias, he said.

Rev. Colin Renwick, convener of the World Mission Council, said the
partnership affirms his church's duty to educate Scots about the impact of
their theology on Christians in Israel-Palestine.

"It helps us be more fully the body of Christ," he said. "Without
partnership we're incomplete."

Rev. Dr. Stewart Gillan concurred. "We would be in isolation if we weren't
in partnership with churches here," he said. Both Church of Scotland
clergymen said that the partnership was in keeping with Jesus' emphasis on
seeking justice for the needy and vulnerable. 

"I think it is very important that mainline evangelical churches in the
Middle East form such partnerships," Younan said. "Mission societies planted
churches here. It's now our duty as local, indigenized churches that we
unite them with a common strategy for mission, witness and prophetic
diakonia."

The Church of Scotland, with about a half a million members, is
headquartered in Edinburgh, Scotland.

>Contact: 

>Allison K. Schmitt
>aschmitt@elcjhl.org
>PO Box 14076
>Muristan Road
>Jerusalem, Israel-Palestine 91140
>Phone: +972-2-626-6861