wfn.org | Conference on Middle Eastern Christians and Islam set for S.F. Bay Area

[George Conklin <gconklin@wfn.org>]

October 22, 1999
Evangelicals for Middle East Understanding
North Park University
3225 W. Foster Ave., Box 52
Chicago, IL 60625

Rev. Dr. Donald Wagner
phone (773-244-5785)

The Director of the United States State Department Office on International 
Religious Freedom, Robert Seiple, will open conference on "Middle Eastern 
Christians in the Islamic Context," on Thursday, November 4, 1999, 7:30 
P.M., at the Walnut Creek Presbyterian Church (1801 Lacassie Street in 
Walnut Creek, California). Seiple is the former Director of World Vision 
International and has been in his new post for one year.  The conference 
will continue through Saturday afternoon, November 6, with a series of 
panels, "practicums," and lectures by Middle Eastern and North American 
Christian and Muslim scholars and clergy.

"Christians are leaving the very lands in which the faith was born some 
2000 years ago," stated Rev. Dr. Donald Wagner, Executive Director of 
Evangelicals for Middle East Understanding(EMEU), organizers of the 
conference.  "We are concerned that on the eve of the next millennium, we 
are witnessing the tragic phenomenon of Christianity's disappearance in 
Israel, the Palestinian areas, Jordan, and Turkey, all places where the 
church once thrived," he added.  "We will come together to listen to 
leaders from the Middle Eastern Churches and Muslim scholars to see how we 
in the west can respond to this dilemma."

Among the other speakers at the conference will be the Rev. Dr. Riad 
Jarjour, General Secretary of the Middle East Council of Churches, the most 
inclusive ecumenical body in the world, involving the five historic church 
"families" of Christianity in the Middle East (Oriental Orthodox, Greek 
Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant, and the Assyrian Church of the 
East).  Other leaders from the Middle East will be the Pastor of 
Bethlehem's "Christmas Lutheran Church," Rev. Dr. Mitri Raheb, author of 
Bethlehem 2000 and I Am A Palestinian Christian. Fr. Emil Salayta, born 
into a Jordanian Bedoin Christian tribe and now Director of Education for 
the Latin Catholic Patriarchate in Jerusalem, will address the conference 
on the topic "Islam and the Future of Christianity in the Middle East." Tom 
Getman, Director of World Vision's Jerusalem Office, and Fr. Salayta will 
lead a session of "What Middle Eastern Christians Need from Western 
Evangelicals."

Saturday morning's session will feature Islamic scholar Dr. Mahmoud Ayoub, 
Professor of Islamic Studies at Temple University, who will speak on "How 
Muslims View Jesus and Christian Evangelism."  Dr. Ayoub converted to 
Christianity as a young man in Lebanon, and then returned to Islam.  Fuller 
Seminary's Dean of  the School of World Missions, Dr. Dudley Woodberry and 
David Robinson of World Vision, will respond to Dr. Ayoub.  Saturday 
evening will feature an "Arab Cultural Evening" with music, dance, and 
Middle Eastern food at St. Anne of the Sunset Roman Catholic Church, 850 
Judah Avenue, San Francisco.  It is the largest Arab Catholic parish in the 
Bay area.

For further information, a complete conference schedule, or to schedule an 
interview with one of the speakers, please contact Rev. Cully Anderson, 
EMEU West Coast Coordinator at (925-932-8224) or Dr. Wagner (773-244-5785).