wfn.org | Adventists Received By Maronites And Council Of Evangelical Churches

["Christian B. Schäffler" <APD_Info_Schweiz@compuserve.com>]

August 13, 1999
Adventist Press Service (APD)
Christian B. Schaeffler, Editor-in-chief
Fax +41-61-261 61 18
APD@stanet.ch
http://www.stanet.ch/APD
CH-4003 Basel, Switzerland

Lebanon:
Adventists Warmly Received By Maronites And Supreme Council Of 
Evangelical Churches

Jdeidet El Matin, Beirut, Lebanon/APD/ANR    Dr Bertil Wiklander, 
president of the Seventh-day Adventist Church's Trans-European 
Division, visited Cardinal Nasrallah Pierre Sfeir, the Patriarch of 
Antioch for Maronites, in Bkerkeh, Lebanon on July 1, 1999.  Dr 
Wiklander was accompanied by Pastors Sven Jensen, president of 
the Middle East Union (MEU), Levon Maksoudian, secretary of the 
East Mediterranean Field (EMF), Basim Aziz, ADRA director for the 
Middle East Union, and Mr Sami AbouJoudi, lawyer for the 
Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Middle East.

"The purpose of this visit was to introduce the Seventh-day 
Adventist Church to the Patriarch and to establish a friendly 
rapport with the Roman Catholic Church of the Maronite Rite," 
reports Raffy Manassian, Communication director of the EMF.

Patriarch Sfeir was very co-operative and friendly and showed 
great interest in the Adventist Church, according to Maksoudian.  
Every member of the delegation felt that the meeting was a 
success, and future visits to the Patriarch are already being 
planned.

Dr Wiklander met also with the youth of the Adventist Church for a 
motivational vespers in the College Park Church, Beirut.  Dr 
Wiklander had specifically asked to meet with the youth for the 
purpose of getting acquainted with them and to know their needs 
and plans for the future of the Church.  Pastor Jimmy Choufani, 
Youth director for the MEU and EMF had organised the meeting.  
"All the Church members in Lebanon had been invited to this 
meeting," says Choufani, "and those who came greatly 
appreciated Dr Wiklander's candid and honest appeal for brotherly 
love and unity among our youth."

On July 2, 1999, Dr Wiklander - accompanied by Maksoudian and 
Jensen - travelled to Rabieh to visit Dr Salim Sahyuni, President of 
the Supreme Council of Evangelical Churches in Lebanon and 
Syria.  Dr Sahyuni has a long history of fellowship and co-
operation with the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Lebanon and 
was delighted to meet the delegation.  Dr Wiklander also 
participated in the elections of the Supreme Council of Evangelical 
Churches held during the following week. 

Dr Wiklander presented the sermon in the College Park Church on 
July 3 where he spoke about the importance of remembering that 
our first duty as Christians is to love and to show God's love to our 
fellowmen.  He used 1 Corinthians 13 as the main emphasis of his 
sermon. [Reporter: Raffy Manassian]