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November 2, 2007

A pastoral visit

General secretary of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Egypt meets with Middle Eastern Presbyterians in the United States

by Toya Richards Hill
Presbyterian News Service

The Rev. Emile Zaki

LOUISVILLE – Middle Eastern Presbyterians in the United States got a chance to reconnect with one of their mother churches during a recent visit from the head of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Egypt.

The Rev. Emile Zaki, general secretary of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Egypt, Synod of the Nile, made a “pastoral visit” to Middle Eastern Presbyterians in the U.S. and others over several weeks in October.

Here at the invitation of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s office of Middle Eastern Presbyterians in the U.S.A., Zaki visited fellowships and congregations, students at Princeton Theological Seminary and staff at the PC(USA)’s national offices.

He also took part in a leadership symposium for Middle Eastern Presbyterian pastors and elders held in Chicago and organized by the same PC(USA) office that invited Zaki. Middle Eastern Presbyterians from California to New Jersey attended the Oct. 10-13 event, which provided an opportunity for learning and fellowship.

“I was happy to meet with them and keep them informed” about the church back home, Zaki said of his meetings in an interview with the Presbyterian News Service, “to help them know about their church at present, the challenges and the successes.”

Zaki said a major concern of the Middle East is struggling with is its Christian presence and whether the focus should be survival or mission.

If it’s survival, the temptation is to focus on being separate or to immigrate, he said. If it’s mission, the church could contribute to “conveying God’s love … advocating for freedom and democracy.”

There is an internal struggle to determine the role of the church, Zaki said, also noting that severe economic struggles in the region contribute to the complexity of the situation. Maintaining a balance between the two issues “is a very critical one,” he said.

Zaki said the group also discussed  how Middle Eastern Presbyterians in the U.S. “bear witness to the new community they are sent in,” Zaki said. “It is important to witness to this community from another perspective.”

“I tried to encourage them not to build a new ghetto,” he said. “We should be Americans,” but there are many things Middle Eastern Presbyterians can share about their history and how the church in the Middle East has survived under pressure over the years, Zaki said.

The question of identity for Middle Eastern Presbyterian in the U.S. is a very real one that people are trying to address, he said. “Some of the immigrants are confused.”

“They are eager to maintain their heritage and their Middle Eastern background,” and maybe even practice the same lifestyle and the same theology as before, Zaki said. “Others are struggling to immerse themselves in the American culture,” he said.

Zaki said he assured those with whom he met that it is possible to balance both cultures, and that aligning with the PC(USA) is not abandoning the church back home.

Amgad Beblawi, the PC(USA)’s associate for Middle Eastern Ministries in the U.S.A., said one of the main reasons his office invited Zaki to visit was to help better support the more than 60 Middle Eastern Presbyterian congregations and fellowships in the states.

The link between immigrants and their home churches generally is very strong for the first generation, and “it’s been difficult for some Middle Eastern Presbyterians to become part of the PC(USA),” he said.

“I felt that it would be important to communicate to our churches … that we care about them … we care about where they came from and we care about the relationship with the native churches,” Beblawi said, adding that Zaki had even more of a vision than he of what needed to be communicated.

That relationship “is part of our identities as Middle Eastern Presbyterians,” he said. “Inviting Rev. Zaki … was an attempt, in a pastoral way, to assure them that you can belong to the PC(USA) and still feel like you belong to your native church.”

Beblawi said Zaki’s presence also helped clarify how some Middle Eastern Presbyterian pastors who’ve immigrated could transfer their memberships into the PC(USA).