BEIRUT, Lebanon (ABP) — The president of the Baptist World Alliance is touring Lebanon and the Middle East in the wake of an assassination of a Lebanese Parliament member and continued unrest in the tumultuous region.
David Coffey arrived in Lebanon Sept. 19, the same evening a member of Parliament, Antoine Ghanem, was assassinated.
Ghanem, 64, was a pro-government lawmaker killed by a car bomb in a suburb of Beirut. He had recently been abroad seeking refuge from the political violence, which has continued after decades of civil war and subsequent unrest. Lebanon has been host to several political assassinations in recent years, most notably the 2005 murder of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
During his trip, Coffey met with Lebanese President Emile Lahoud; Nabil Costa, an executive member of the European Baptist Federation; and Samuel Kharrat, the president of the Lebanese Baptist Convention.
According to a spokesperson for the Lebanese Society for Educational and Social Development, the meeting with Lahoud was an opportunity to showcase the academic, cultural, development and spiritual services Baptist churches have provided in the region for more than 150 years. The Convention of the Evangelical Baptist Churches in Lebanon organized the event.
“It grieves us to see this beloved country struggle, and Lebanon is in our prayers today more than ever before,” Coffey told the leaders, according to an e-mail from spokesperson Alia Abboud. “I pray that the presidential elections will be an opportunity for a new hope and a new beginning.”
Elections to instate a new president for Lebanon were postponed Sept. 25 because of elevated tensions in Beirut, specifically the blocking by the Lebanese Army of several routes to the Parliament building. The shut-down prevented members of Parliament from voting, so Nabih Berri, the speaker of the Lebanese Parliament, announced the vote will be held next month, according to news reports.
After leaving Lebanon, Coffey and Costa met with King Abdallah II of Jordan. The Sept. 23 visit, which included Nabeeh Abbassi, the president of the Jordanian Baptist Convention, served to affirm the importance of the BWA's role in “spreading the values of peace and love in the Middle East,” according to Jordan News Agency.
Abdallah called on the Baptist group to encourage dialogue within the region and exert “all efforts to achieve the just and comprehensive peace which leads to establishing the independent Palestinian state,” the news agency reported.
Also known as the Lebanese Baptist Society, the Lebanese Society for Educational and Social Development is the legal umbrella for the Arab Baptist Theological Seminary, a publishing house called Baptist Publications, and the Beirut Baptist School.
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