Jerusalem
and the Middle East
Church Association

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Treasurer's notes

News

Advent 2008 Editorial Mr John Clark, chair of JEMT writes...

This issue of Bible Lands marks the passing of two notable servants of the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East. Bishop Hassan Dehqani-Tafti of Iran was the first President-Bishop of the Province when it was formed in 1976. He was a man of many gifts and it is to his untiring work during those first ten years of the Province, when he himself faced exile and the death of his son during the Iranian Revolution, that the foundations for today’s Province were laid.

Professor Nancy Lambton was one of the most distinguished scholars of the language and history of Iran that this country has produced. Among her many contributions to the Church in the Middle East was her long service and wise advice on the Council of JMECA. Shortly after her death Rear-Admiral Michael Kyrle-Pope, a distinguished naval man and former Director of this Association, also passed away at the age of 91.

It is due to the commitment of Christians such as these that the work and witness of the Province continues today and as usual there is news from each of the four dioceses in this issue. Christians of the Anglican Church often serve in the midst of very fraught situations and the articles on the work of the Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza and of Sabeel are reminders of ministry at the front line of Christian witness. Bishop Suheil also gives his views on this summer’s Lambeth Conference of Anglican Bishops.

JMECA was founded in the nineteenth century by Bishop Blyth of Jerusalem to support the presence and witness of the Anglican Church. That ministry has developed remarkably as the Church has taken root in the countries of the region. JMECA itself has changed but its core task remains to support the Churches and Christians of the Province with the sharing of information, prayer and financial grants.

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