“Gracious and Loving God, we come before You with heavy hearts, lifting up the nation of Lebanon and all those affected by the turmoil in the Middle East. (…) Lord, we seek Your divine intervention to bring about de-escalation in the region. Bestow wisdom and discernment upon the political and military leaders, guiding them towards paths of peace and reconciliation. May their hearts be moved towards diplomacy and dialogue, striving for a ceasefire and lasting peace. We pray that governments worldwide may take bold and compassionate steps towards supporting peaceful resolutions.”
- These are the words of a prayer from the Evangelical Christian Church in Halmahera (GMIH), Indonesia, recently published and prayed by countless congregations. Never in the last 57 years has the danger of all-out war throughout the Middle East been as great as it is today. A deeply divided Israel is already engaged in an escalating multi-front war in Gaza and the West Bank, against Hezbollah in Lebanon/Syria and against the Houthi militias in Yemen. While a deal for the release of Israeli hostages has become a distant prospect and the Palestinian people in Gaza are now mourning the deaths of some 40,000 people, the assassination of three political and military leaders of the terrorist groups Hamas and Hezbollah could lead to a direct confrontation between Israel and Iran.
The consequences would be particularly devastating for Lebanon, a very fragile country that has been shaken by multiple crises for years. A war would probably destroy Lebanon completely. The National Evangelical Church of Beirut (NECB), the Near East School of Theology (NEST) and the Johann Ludwig Schneller School (JLSS) would also be affected.
In this situation, the international EMS community has once again shown itself to be a community of praying people. “Pray for us,” said Rev. Dr Habib Badr, head of the NECB and member of the EMS Presidium, to the chairman of the EMS Mission Council, Rev. Dr h.c. Detlev Knoche. On behalf of the Presidium, Knoche sent out a prayer appeal to all EMS member churches: “We ask the member churches of the EMS Fellowship to join us in this prayer in the hope that further escalation can still be prevented through courageous diplomacy.”
The first to respond were the brothers and sisters in Indonesia with their moving prayer. Shortly afterwards, the Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea responded: “Of course we will publish the call to prayer in our magazine and on our website,” wrote Rev. Dr Sungkook PARK, the church's ecumenical officer. But the German EMS member churches are also an integral part of this prayer community: “Of course we also prayed for the people in Lebanon in this morning's service,” announced church council member Anne Heitmann of the Protestant Church in Baden.
One thing stands out in all the speeches: They are not just general, unspecific prayers. There are repeated calls for an immediate ceasefire and for diplomacy to be used to the full. For the Lebanese brothers and sisters, this is both a comfort and an invaluable sign of solidarity. “We cannot express enough how meaningful your prayers are to us.
We stand together in prayer to confront the voices and threats of war,” says Dr Martin Accad, newly elected president of NEST. And Rev. George Haddad, outgoing director of JLSS, adds: “Thank you. May peace, reconciliation and wisdom prevail.”