World Student Christian Federation
Middle East Region
Amman
leadership
Seminar
The World
Student Christian Federation – Middle East
Region –held a leadership Seminar and
Grassroots Ecumenism Training for the
Palestinian youth in Amman at the Firas
Palace hotel between the 29th of
July till the 2nd of August 2007.
The
training targeted the Palestinians youth of
ages between 18 to 28. Twenty-two
participants attended the training from
different regions in Palestine. There were
people from Bethlehem area, Ramallah, Akka,
and Haifa, they were from different cults,
included Greek Orthodox, Syrian, Catholic,
Latin, Maronitte, Evangelical Lutheran, and
Armenians. Members of the YMCA. The four AEI
(Arab Educational Institute) youth
participants were Tamara Musa, Milad
Vosgueritchian, Imad Sleibi, and Shukri
Sleibi. Wi’am (The Palestinian Conflict
Resolution Center), the Environmental Center
for Development, and Annadwa – international
center of Bethlehem participated. They all
were part of the National Coalition of
Christian Organizations in Palestine -NCCOP.
Many
important and different topics & issues were
discussed in this training. The trainer
Marco Narouz gave a Bible Study session from
Egypt in three meetings. In the first one, a
discussion about how to study the Bible and
understanding it through the
Inductive method was held. The discussion is
divided into three points: first, through
the text, and what it says and the
development of the message in it. Second;
understanding the text. Third, how to
practice it, that is how to live what we
have learnt from the text. As the reading of
the Bible should be spiritual and with a
great attention, he discussed the way one
should notice the text through its reading
and comprehension of the writer’s style and
knowing the style of the text, as well, if
it is poetic or novelistic or educational or
prophetic. In the second meeting, the topic
was about the development of the message in
the text and the writer’s style in writing,
and the steps of understanding the Bible and
the levels of understanding it. And the
third meeting was about practicing what was
read in the Bible and noticing it according
to the context. Practicing what was read is
the most important step in this method as it
is what one should be doing in his daily
life. And the practicing happens on three
levels; the level of thoughts, feelings, and
actions.
The trainer
Hanan Makram did the critical thinking
session from Egypt. She talked about the
importance of the differentiation between
what is real, illusion, and a point of view
(other’s opinion). In addition, she
mentioned the method of the critical
thinking and how one should do critical
reading for texts. And the other two
sessions were about the difficult
personalities, and how to understand them,
and deal with them, as they represent any
community, in general. Individuals are
divided into a number of personalities, and
there are appropriate strategies for
treating each one of them and affecting
them. Here are some examples of these
personalities: the perfection seeker, the
negative person, the selfish, the
pessimistic, etc…
The trainer
Ayman Karam from Egypt gave three workshops
on the topic “the solution of people’s
mystery”. It started by knowing one’s self
and the others so as to find a way for
treating one’s self and the others. He spoke
in the first meeting about the division of
the personalities into four; the dominant,
the influent, the steady, and the
CONSCIENTIOUS. Not to mention the unique and
special characteristics for each one, the
points of strength and weakness, and the
perfect position that he finds himself and
his personality in, and the personal growth
sides. The second meeting was about the
difference between these four personalities’
patterns, and the way each one makes
relations with the others and the
relationships importance for them, with
giving an example about each personality
from the Bible, and analyzing it. Then, the
third meeting was about the steps that
should be taken in order to develop the
individual’s ability to diverse his style
and understand others’ personalities and
dealing with them.
The
Archimandrite Dr. Kais Sadeq, originally
from Palestine, gave a session about
Ecumenism. He began with defining what
ecumenism is, and its etymology, and the
purpose of ecumenism, which is bringing
Christians back together as one, even if
it’s not the churches’ unity. Also, he
mentioned the difficulties they face while
spreading their message, and through
missionary work. Then he talked a little
about the World Council of Churches, its
history, and its effective role in spreading
ecumenism.
There was
also a session about inter-religious
dialogue; the Muslim-Christian dialogue. Mr.
Elias Halabi from Lebanon was the trainer of
this session. He started by defining the
meaning of dialogue, its purpose and its
foundation. Then he talked about the
Muslim-Christian dialogue and the importance
of this dialogue and its dimensions.
The
training concentrated during the three days
on the importance of reading the Bible as a
course and a way of living, which would,
strengths our faith in Jesus Christ. The
course has focused on the importance of the
participation of our churches and
organizations with the materials and ideas
that we shared and discussed in the
training. The course helped to teach the new
generation how to read the Holy Bible and
its importance in our lives. The training
contributed in raising the idea of ecumenism
and its needs to strengthen Christianity all
over the world.
I enjoyed
and acquired a lot of knowledge, experiences
and skills in the fields of faith,
interfaith, ecumenism and leadership. I hope
more sessions of this kind to be held by our
Churches network. Thanks to all organizers,
participants and funders.
