The purpose of this year’s Middle East Consultation is to explore interpersonal reconciliation as a significant step towards interpersonal peace and its role in creating healthier communities. This will include discussions of the successes and failures, achievements, and shortcomings of initiatives taken by pre-selected practitioners and reflected upon through a biblical-contextual lens to equip the Church to become a community of peace and an agent for reconciliation as it seeks God’s transformation for itself for societies. 

MEC 2025 will seek to deepen participants’ understanding of interpersonal reconciliation theories and practices in Arab societies. It will also provide learning opportunities drawn from the experiences of various faculty members at ABTS and other Arab practitioners in the field as they come together to discuss opportunities to engage in interpersonal reconciliation initiatives across the Arab world.

Accordingly, MEC 2025 will host several participants who are experienced theologians and practitioners in interpersonal reconciliation from different Arab countries. This diverse MENA region focus group of specialists will address localized interpersonal reconciliation in three key areas of practice: confession, forgiveness, and confrontation. This will be followed by workshops on contextual and practical initiatives. Conversations will produce panel discussions on specific topics that help us develop the presented theories in a manner aligned with Scripture and address the culture of honor and shame in our societies.

Interpersonal reconciliation is contingent on the following three steps: Confession, Forgiveness, and Confrontation.

Confession: This will include confession of faith in God and in the context of confrontation, we will address confession of sins to God and to others. We will hear about how leaders addressed and practiced confession in their own lives and ministries amidst a culture of shame and honor.

Forgiveness: The role of forgiveness in the reconciliation process is key, particularly as we highlight the need for accountability and truth-telling as essential components of forgiveness in the process of interpersonal reconciliation. We will also hear how leaders addressed the challenges of forgiveness in their different contexts. Is forgiveness a journey or a decision? And what is the difference between forgiveness and pardoning?

Confrontation: Lovingly naming and identifying points of conflict or offense with others who hurt us is challenging. Here, we are seeking to apply biblical truth to issues of conflict in order to restore the person and hopefully, the relationship. We will hear about how theologians and practitioners from the MENA region have addressed the topic of confrontation biblically and practically in their own contexts and identify what hinders confrontation.

Note: Since this consultation has been postponed from September 2024, we decided to bring updates from the following nations that are or have been at war like Sudan, Lebanon, Syria, and Palestine.