The Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) executive committee issued the following statement dated August 3, 2021 commemorating  the August 4, 2020 explosion that ripped through Beirut Port, remembering the victims and the people affected as well as calling to pray for them and for Lebanon.

Following is the text of the statement:

The Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) executive committee held its online periodic meeting on Tuesday, August 3, 2021. The members of the committee, namely the council teams in Beirut, Damascus, Amman, Jerusalem, and Cairo attended the meeting along with guests concerned with the council’s work.

After the opening prayer, attendees addressed the tragedy of the Beirut Port explosion, as it has been a year since the unfortunate accident without reaching any outcome, to determine responsibilities and achieve justice.

The attendees remembered the victims of the blast and the people affected. They prayed for Lebanon to go back to its days of stability and prosperity, and for citizens to go back to their normal dignifying lives.

Prayers and thoughts went to the bleeding Middle East from Palestine, to Syria and Iraq.

During the meeting, attendees discussed the MECC programs as well as administrative matters, and took the necessary decisions. The executive committee decided to postpone the Council’s General Assembly meeting due in September 2021 to May 2022. Attendees also talked about the agenda basics and principles that will be discussed in the closed meeting of the Church leaderships to be held in the near future. They finally addressed the MECC's projects regarding the preservation of the environment and environmental justice.

The meeting was concluded with a closing prayer at 4:30pm.

Middle East Council of Churches

Secretariat General