The Institute’s participation in the symposium “The Church and Development Issues – Building Bridges” at the Evangelical Theological Seminary in Cairo
A symposium titled “The Church and Development Issues – Building Bridges” was held at the Evangelical Theological Seminary in Cairo on Saturday, June 24, 2023. The symposium was organized by the college’s Center for Church and Society. Dr. Hani Hanna, Dean of the Evangelical Theological Seminary in Cairo, participated in the symposium. The meeting opened with a prayer from Rev. Eid Salah, pastor of the Ain Shams Evangelical Church and researcher in Arab Christian heritage.
The seminar included two sessions. In these sessions, Rev. Dr. Sherif Salah, the Executive Director of the Center, presented the Center’s message and objectives. Additionally, Rev. Dr. Radi Attallah, President of the Nile Synod of the Evangelical Church, shed light on the role of the Evangelical Church in serving the community.
Ms. Evelyn Botros, a Program Development Consultant at the Bishopric of Social and Ecumenical Services – representing His Grace the esteemed Bishop Youlios, Bishop of Social and Public Services and the churches of East El Sekka El Hadeed and Old Cairo – also participated. Her speech reviewed models of developmental programs implemented by the Bishopric in cooperation with international and governmental institutions. She also presented the challenges facing developmental work in Egypt and proposed avenues for ecumenical community work.
Dr. Magdy Latif El-Sandy, Dean of the Coptic Institute for Church Administration and Development, also participated in the seminar. In his presentation titled “How to Write a Unified Ecumenical Social Work Charter?”, he addressed the current gaps in development work, such as those between theory and practice, objectives and capabilities/means, words and actions, limited projects and national programs, and the gap between denominational and ecumenical work. He emphasized that bridging these gaps requires collaborative efforts.
Dr. Magdy then outlined the charter’s operating principles, which include: respecting autonomy and doctrinal differences, acknowledging the uniqueness of diversity, maintaining continuous communication, prioritizing complementarity over competition, ensuring transparency and credibility, committing to openness, defining clear objectives before starting joint field work, formulating a partnership protocol framework, distributing roles and responsibilities to enforce accountability, and managing partnership success.
He also mapped out the steps for establishing the charter, which are: communication, convergence for understanding, cooperation to build progress and coordinate efforts, and integration into organized work defined geographically and by sector, etc. He further indicated that diverse areas of collaboration could include: research and studies, conferences and seminars, joint celebrations, adopting common Christian stances on social/humanitarian issues, jointly designing pioneering development programs, and implementing shared community activities or projects.
To address the challenges of ecumenical work, the Dean concluded his speech by recommending the importance of establishing a platform for initiating institutional ecumenical community work and creating a database of church entities operating in the fields of social and development services.
Additionally, during that session, Ms. Margaret Sarofim, Head of the Development Sector at the Coptic Evangelical Organization for Social Services, delivered a speech in which she clarified that civil society is an active partner in achieving sustainable development. She presented an example of the history of developmental work in Egypt, the role of the Organization, and the support of His Excellency President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi for training and building the capacities of human cadres through the economic and social pillars, the health portfolio, and the awareness-raising aspect via participation in the initiatives launched by His Excellency.
At the conclusion of the seminar, Dr. Hanaa Gad, Senior Researcher and Supervisor of the Research Unit at the Church and Society Center, presented the center’s future plans and extended an invitation for partnership and support. She explained that the center, through its strategy, seeks to establish an entity to initiate joint ecumenical community work, in partnership with supporting bodies, by holding introductory meetings and organizing workshops to work together. This aims to achieve integrated developmental programs, fulfilling the college and center’s mission of serving the church and society by linking theology to life.
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