ABTS Extended Family Gathering
We serve as one big family at ABTS, bound by the same mission of serving the Church and submitting to God’s will in the region. Each one of our staff and faculty is aware of how they fit into that mission and how their work contributes to God’s call to us. And despite the difficulties we all face in Lebanon, as a family, we remind one another of the hope we have in Christ and the mission we are on. This Christmas season, we wished to meet the families of our ABTS staff, offer encouragement, and introduce them to our work and reason for hope. So, on December 16, we invited them for a time of gathering and fellowship at our Moore Conference Center.
After Dean of Faculty Bassem Melki lifted us with an opening prayer and invited everyone to introduce themselves, the worship team led us in celebrating Christ’s birth. ABTS President Elie Haddad then spoke on the reason Christ came to earth. When Luke documents the beginning of Jesus’s ministry, He tells of how Jesus decides to leave Capernaum and go to other towns, although He had a successful ministry there. The King of Kings and the Lord of Lords yields, in utmost obedience, to the will of the Father. Repeatedly across the gospel, the Lord asserts that He came to do the will of the Father. Just as the Father sent the Son, Elie shared, the Son is commissioning us to do the will of the Father and to plant hope in others.
Following Elie’s message, Loulwa El Maalouf, our Director of Partnerships, introduced the families to our vision and mission, our degree programs, our peacemaking endeavors, our Middle East Consultation and our weekly blog. An onlooker may not fully comprehend the extent of God’s work in the Arab world, because in various parts of the region, the Church is in hiding. Once we take a closer look, however, we can see an amazing network of faithful Arab followers, including our students and graduates, tirelessly reaching out to their communities with the gospel. Loulwa offered the families a glimpse of this reality and expressed how humbled we are to be part of God's work in the region.
We are thankful for each of our staff and faculty members, and we pray that God continues to use them plentifully at ABTS, in their communities and amid their families.
After Dean of Faculty Bassem Melki lifted us with an opening prayer and invited everyone to introduce themselves, the worship team led us in celebrating Christ’s birth. ABTS President Elie Haddad then spoke on the reason Christ came to earth. When Luke documents the beginning of Jesus’s ministry, He tells of how Jesus decides to leave Capernaum and go to other towns, although He had a successful ministry there. The King of Kings and the Lord of Lords yields, in utmost obedience, to the will of the Father. Repeatedly across the gospel, the Lord asserts that He came to do the will of the Father. Just as the Father sent the Son, Elie shared, the Son is commissioning us to do the will of the Father and to plant hope in others.
Following Elie’s message, Loulwa El Maalouf, our Director of Partnerships, introduced the families to our vision and mission, our degree programs, our peacemaking endeavors, our Middle East Consultation and our weekly blog. An onlooker may not fully comprehend the extent of God’s work in the Arab world, because in various parts of the region, the Church is in hiding. Once we take a closer look, however, we can see an amazing network of faithful Arab followers, including our students and graduates, tirelessly reaching out to their communities with the gospel. Loulwa offered the families a glimpse of this reality and expressed how humbled we are to be part of God's work in the region.
We are thankful for each of our staff and faculty members, and we pray that God continues to use them plentifully at ABTS, in their communities and amid their families.
