Iran Partner Churches and Organizations

The PC(USA)’s partner church in Iran is the Evangelical (Presbyterian) Church of Iran (ECI). A community of about 3,000 members, the ECI may be traced to the earliest days of Presbyterian overseas missionary activity. Today this small but vital church makes its witness through three language-aligned presbyteries: Armenian, Assyrian and Persian. Its current pastors receive their theological education by extension. A few are graduates of (or are studying at) the Near East School of Theology. Women, youth, Sunday school teachers and choirs are prominent among the leadership. A Synod Council coordinates the various ministries of the ECI. In recent years the church, together with other Christian churches, has been engaged in a series of healthy Christian-Muslim dialogues facilitated by the semi-governmental Islamic Organization for Christian-Muslim Relations based in Tehran.

The Fellowship of Middle East Evangelical Churches (FMEEC), and the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) have provided an arena for familial and ecumenical participation for the Evangelical Church of Iran, which might have otherwise been somewhat isolated from its sisters in the region.

The Fellowship of Middle East Evangelical Churches (FMEEC)

The FMEEC is the family of Protestant Churches, which includes primarily the Reformed, Episcopal, Lutheran, Congregational and Methodist churches across North Africa, the Nile Valley (including Egypt and the Sudan), Western Asia (Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel and Palestine), Iran, Iraq and the Gulf States. The contribution of these churches to the larger ecumenical movement is enormously disproportionate to their relatively smaller numbers. In this Fellowship, emphasis is laid on leadership development, Christian unity and service.

The Middle East Council of Churches (MECC)

Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has been a strong partner and supporter of the work of the MECC since its inception in1974. The Council includes all four families of churches in the Middle East, i.e., the Eastern Orthodox Churches, the Oriental (non-Calcedonian) Orthodox Churches, the Catholic Churches (Latin and Oriental Rites), and the Evangelical Churches (Reformed, Episcopal, Lutheran and Congregational). It works on issues of church unity, Christian presence in the Middle East, justice, peacemaking and reconciliation, dialogue with non-Christian neighbors, education, nurture and renewal, participation of youth, women and children, life and service, and Palestinian refugees and other displaced persons.