Middle East Christians
There is still a role for Middle East Christians as âsalt and lightâ in their communities, the chief executive of UK Christian development charity BibleLands has claimed.
Addressing a seminar on the Arab Spring at the New Wine Christian conference, on 23 July, Jeremy Moodey suggested that Christians in the West were doing their Middle Eastern co-religionists a disservice by seeing them only as âvictimsâ.
He said, in fact, many Arab Christians were active in their communities, expressing their faith through education, health care and other forms of social action.
Mr Moodey said, âThe Arab Spring has led to a resurgence of Islamism, but it is not inevitable this will lead to persecution of religious minorities. Middle-Eastern Christiansâ rootedness in their communities means they have always been outward-facing, expressing their faith and relating to their Muslim neighbours through social action.
âThey are living examples of âsalt and lightâ, in the very land where Jesus used these powerful metaphors, and we Christians in the West should encourage them in this ministryâ.