The Seventh-Day Adventist Church In Lebanon, 1897-1997

96 Pages·2014·9.67 MB·English

THE
SEV H-DAY
ADVEN CHURCH
ON
97
MANOUG H. NAZIRIAN
THE
SEVENTH-DAY
ADVENTIST CHURCH
IN LEBANON
1897 - 1997
By
MANOUG H. NAZIRIAN
Published
by
The East Mediterranean Field
of
Seventh-day Adventists
1999
Beirut, Lebanon
DEDICATION
This book is dedicated to all the national
and expatriate employees and laity, who
compelled by the love of Christ, devoted
themselves to the proclamation of the
Advent Message in the ancient Biblical
rand of Lebanon in order ' to make
ready a people for the Lord'.
T rTI T" (cid:9) T
Page
Foreword (cid:9) 6
Preface (cid:9) 7
Lebanon in the Bible (cid:9) 9
Early Developments (cid:9) 11
Abraham La Rue's Initial Contact with Lebanon (cid:9) 11
H. P. Holser's Visit (cid:9) 11
L. R. Conradi's Survey of the Middle East Including Lebanon (cid:9) 11
Elias Zarub: Pioneer Preacher and Colporteur Won by a Lay Member 12
Early Sabbath Keepers (cid:9) 12
1908 - A Memorable Date (cid:9) 12
George Keough - Pioneer Missionary to Egypt (cid:9) 12
Walter Ising - Pioneer Missionary to Lebanon (cid:9) 13
Baptism of Ibrahim El Khalil, Shukry Nowfel and Bashir Hasso (cid:9) 13
The First Seventh-day Adventist Church in Lebanon (cid:9) 13
Henry Erzberger's Arrival (cid:9) 14
Far-reaching Effects of World War I (cid:9) 14
Resumption of Work in Mission Fields (cid:9) 14
Walter Ising Revisits Lebanon (cid:9) 14
Later Developments (cid:9) 15
Nils Zerne Reorganizes the Church (cid:9) 15
Persecution - A Blessing in Disguise (cid:9) 15
The Seventh-day Adventist Church in Lebanon After World War I (cid:9) 16
Change of Leadership (cid:9) 16
Seventh-day Adventist Pioneers (cid:9) 16
Pastor Shukry Nowfel: The First Lebanese Ordained Minister (cid:9) 16
Pastor Ibrahim El-Khalil (cid:9) 18
Hamad Elias Obeid (cid:9) 18
Lebanon's Place in the Organizational Structures of the Seventh-day
Adventist Church (cid:9) 19
Seventh-day Adventist Churches and Institutions in Lebanon (cid:9) 20
Aramoun Adventist School (cid:9) 21
Aramoun Seventh-day Adventist Church (cid:9) 22
Armenian Adventist School (cid:9) 25
Armenian Seventh-day Adventist Church (cid:9) 26
Ashrafieh Seventh-day Adventist Church (cid:9) 30
Beirut Adventist Church School (cid:9) 33
Bishmezzine Adventist School (cid:9) 35
Bishmezzine Seventh-day Adventist Church (cid:9) 36
Boucherieh Adventist Secondary School (cid:9) 39
Boucherieh Seventh-day Adventist Church (cid:9) 40
College Park Church (cid:9) 42
Middle East College (cid:9) 45
Mouseitbeh Adventist Secondary School (cid:9) 47
Mouseitbeh Seventh-day Adventist Church (cid:9) 48
Middle East Press (cid:9) 51
Voice of Prophecy (Bible Coresspondance School) (cid:9) 53
Physiotherapy Clinic (cid:9) 54
Additional Developments Aimed At Expanding the Mission
Outreach of the Church (cid:9) 55
Seventh-day Adventist Youth in Lebanon (cid:9) 57
The Sixteen Year Long Lebanese War (1975 - 1991) (cid:9) 58
Centennial Celebration of the SDA Church in Lebanon (cid:9) 59
Our Divine Mission and Commission (cid:9) 68
Presidents of the East Mediterranean Field in Chronological
Order (1909-1997) (cid:9) 69
Secretary - Treasurers of the East Mediterranean Field
in Chronological order (1909-1997) (cid:9) 73
Memories (cid:9) 74
Key to Abbreviations (cid:9) 79
Directory of Employees (cid:9) 80
References (cid:9) 96
F OREWORD
Elder Manoug Nazirian, an active Seventh-day Adventist retiree, and former church
administrator and college president, in the Middle East, has rendered a commendable
service to the SDA Church in Lebanon in the preparation of a valuable resource material
that deals with the historical development of the SDA Church over the past century
(1897-1997) in the Republic of Lebanon. Much of this data was unknown and
unpublished, to this day.
It is fitting that the only Lebanese with such a wide and vast experience should have
undertaken this valuable task. The love of people and the positive contribution they
made to the building up of the SDA Church and its institutions is clearly evidenced in
this book.
Elder Nazirian's work will hopefully inspire other nationals to take over where he
left off and build on the foundation that has been diligently laid. Many more questions
will have to be addressed in order to further enrich our understanding of the history of
the SDA Church in Lebanon.
A vital point needs here to occupy our attention, which is the drastic depletion of
church membership in Lebanon. This disturbing phenomenon is attributed to a
number of factors, one of which is the protracted Lebanese war (1975-1991) that has
caused mass emigration, mostly to the USA. As a result, the overall outreach program
of the church has been hampered and it has contributed to a lack of sustained growth.
In the light of this fact, it is incumbent upon us to face this very real problem with the
determination to find a solution to it.
We can take courage from the phenomenal growth of the SDA church in other
countries where God's people have been faced with insuperable difficulties, but the
Holy Spirit through the ministry of dedicated workers and laity has accomplished
amazing things by bringing thousands of lost sheep into the safe fold of Christ. Surely
what the Spirit of God has done elsewhere, He can also do for His church in Lebanon,
provided we surrender all to Him, fully cooperate with Him, and equipped with His
transforming power we rise to the challenge of fulfilling our divine mission and
commission.
It is the solemn responsibility of other national historians to dig deeper and to help
the SDA Church in Lebanon to fully understand its past so that its future can be what
God intends it to be.
Claude Lombart, D.Min.
East Mediterranean Field President
Beirut, November 10, 1998
The story of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Lebanon (1897-1997) cannot be
fully related in this concise book. Hence, I opted to present in the ensuing pages a
concise summary of the origin and growth of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in this
ancient Biblical land. I would also like to point out that in this book I have tried to
record the essential facts of the history of the SDA church in Lebanon without duly
dwelling upon the philosophy of mission adopted and followed by our church leaders
and administrators who with God's help established the church and operated it.
Besides, I have not identified the various factors that have impeded the progress of the
work. I intend to objectively deal with this timely issue in a separate article.
In the research process I am indebted to the following sources for substantial help:
Dr. Baldur Ed. Pfeiffer's valuable book entitled The European Seventh-day Adventist
Mission in the Middle East 1879-1939, Seventh-day Adventist Encyclopedia, Seventh-day
Adventist Yearbooks, East Mediterranean Field Service Records, Middle East Union and East
Mediterranean Field Committee Minutes, Middle East College Pine Echoes, Mildred Olson's
Middle East Program presented at Middle East Fellowship in the USA (April 4-7, 1997),
The Middle East Messenger (official organ of the Middle East Union Mission of Seventh-day
Adventists, 1945-1970 issues), Impact (official organ of the Afro-Mideast Division of
Seventh-day Adventists, 1971-1977 issues), and personal interviews with SDA
employees and sustentees residing in Lebanon, as well as my own service in the church
for over forty three years, that have provided information that is not available
elsewhere.
I am also thankful to Claude Lombart, President of the East Mediterranean Field,
Raja Farah, Head of the Religion Department at Middle East College, Nabil Mansour,
Editor of the Middle East Press, for reading the manuscript and offering constructive
comments, and Jimmy Choufani, Director of Youth Ministries Department of the
Middle East Union and the East Mediterranean Field, for the clerical work.
It is hoped that these pages will achieve a twofold objective:
To refresh our minds on God's marvelous leadership in the history of the
Seventh-day Adventist Church in Lebanon encouraging us to face the future
with absolute confidence in the ultimate triumph of His truth.
To lead us into an experience of wholehearted dedication and commitment
to God that will compel us to do our honest part in fulfilling Christ's commission
(Mathew 28:18-20) in this generation.
Manoug H. Nazirian
Cedar of Lebanon: symbol of spiritual growth,
strength, and fortitude (Psalm 92:12)
LEBANON Lebanon, a republic in the Middle East, is situated on
the Eastern Shore of the Mediterranean Sea. Its area is
10,452 sq. km. It is bounded by Syria on the north and east
and by Israel on the south. Its population, composed of
IN Christians and Muslims, is estimated at 4.5 million
including the non-Lebanese residents. It is a member of the
United Nations and the Arab League.
THE BIBLE
Lebanon is mentioned sixty-eight times in the Old
Testament, and the name Phoenicia (ancient name of
Lebanon) occurs three times only in the New Testament.
The inspired writers of the Old Testament books refer to
Lebanon for its natural beauty (Isaiah 35:1,2), for its snow
and streams (Jeremiah 18:14), for its wild beasts, such as
lions and leopards (2 Kings 14:9; Songs of Solomon 4:8),
and for its majestic cedars and other trees - the fir, the pine,
and the box (Songs of Solomon 5:15; Amos 2:9; Psalms
104:16; 2 Kings 19:23; Isaiah 60:13). We learn from 1 Kings
5:5-10 that King Solomon used timber of cedar from
Lebanon to beautify the Lord's Temple in Jerusalem.
Lebanon is noted for its important historic sites, such as
the rock inscriptions at the Dog River (Naher El-Kalb),
Byblos (Biblical Gebel), Baalbeck, Tyre, Sidon, and
Zarephath, etc.
Two inspired gospel writers, St. Matthew and St. Mark
mention that during His Galilean ministry (A.D. 29-30),
Christ visited the region of Tyre and Sidon, where He
rewarded the faith of a Syro-phoenician woman by healing
her devil-possessed daughter (Matthew 15:21-28; Mark
7:24-30).
Furthermore, St. Luke tells us in Acts 21:3-6 that there
was a Christian church in Tyre in the apostolic period. On
his way to Jerusalem, the apostle Paul visited this church
during his third missionary journey (A.D. 53-58).
There is ample evidence in the New Testament that the
Christian churches that were established by Christ's
apostles believed in and preached the truth of the second
coming of Jesus and kept the seventh-day Sabbath as God's.
holy day of rest (John 14:1-3; Acts 1:11; Hebrews 9:28;
Revelation 22:20; Luke 23:54-56; Acts 13:42-44, 16:13, 17:2,
18:1-4). We do not know exactly how long the Seventh-day
Adventist Church in Tyre continued to shed its God-given
light in Lebanon. But one who is acquainted with the
colorful history of Lebanon knows that there has always
been a strong Christian presence in this fair land from the
apostolic period to the present time.
Today, we believe that in divine providence when the
right time arrived God motivated His dedicated servants to
bring the Advent Message to the Middle East. Thus, it was
a century ago that the light of present truths specifically for
these last days began shining brightly in Lebanon.
11
The seventh-Day Adventist Church In Lebanon
EARLY DEVELOPMENTS
Abraham La Rue's Initial Contact Advent Message. In harmony with this plan,
L. R. Conradi, a German-American, then
with Lebanon
president of the European Seventh-day
R
esponding to Christ's global commission Adventist Mission, made a tour of the Middle
to carry the Good News of salvation "to East in 1901 to see how the mission outreach of
every nation, and kindred, and tongue the church can be best served in this important
and people" (Revelation 14:6), Abraham La Rue, geographical area. During his tour he passed
an American self-supporting pioneer lay- through Beirut where he met with Dr. Daniel
missionary to China, paid a short visit to Beirut Bliss, President of the Protestant College of Syria,
in 1897 and left some truth-filled literature here precursor of the American University of Beirut
with the purpose of acquainting the Lebanese (AUB). Elder Conradi was shown the institution
with the "present truth" (2 Peter 1:12) 1. Only in where he had the opportunity to obtain firsthand
eternity will we know the ultimate result of this information on the American Mission from the
act of sowing seeds of truth through the American Missionaries who were serving at the
powerful agency of the printed page. faculty. He also visited the press of the American
Tract Association where literature and Bibles
were being printed in Arabic. His survey of the
Middle Eastern countries in general and of
Lebanon in particular led him to the conclusion
that Seventh-day Adventists should also
establish their headquarters for the Middle East
in Beirut3. His farsightedness was vindicated
after 1939 when American expatriate workers
took over the leadership of the Seventh-day
Adventist Church in the Middle East. For some
thirty years the headquarters for the Middle East
Division and the Afro-Mideast Division and the
Middle East Union were located in Beirut, capital
Abraham La Rue, self-supporting lay missionary to China city of the Republic of Lebanon.
H. P. Holser's Visit
Following this germinal development, H. P.
Holser of the Central European Conference
visited Lebanon in 1898 with a view to making
plans for publishing books and tracts in the
Arabic language.2
L. R. Conradi's Survey of the Middle
East Including Lebanon
L.R. Conradi,
Then the European Seventh-day Adventist Director of the
Mission with its headquarters in Darmstadt, European Seventh-
Germany, felt the sacred urge to enter the day Adventist
Mission
Middle East including Lebanon with the