Coptic Church & Ecumenical Movement - Saint Mina Coptic ...

numerically small, a self-confident and committed Christian community knows
how to respect and celebrate diversity. The MECC is therefore well positioned to
be a bridge between people of different faiths.
4. The MECC nurtures within the churches the spirit and resources for service
(diakonia). The Middle East is an arena for economic, political and often violent
conflict. In this environment the legions of the poor, the downtrodden and
exploited, the sick and suffering, the deprived, disenfranchised, and displaced
grow more numerous every day. What guides the council in its ministry of
compassion and service is the realisation that Christ died for all people. To heal,
to transcend barriers, and to touch the spiritual as well as the material, social and
physical needs of people is to imitate Christ.
5. The MECC is a mediator not only between Christians and churches in the Middle
East, but also between them and their brothers and sisters in Christ elsewhere.
Social and cultural gaps often impede or undermine understanding. But with its
historical heritage, the council is uniquely equipped to bridge these gaps, to
nurture trust in partner relationships, and to focus broad Christian concern for
justice, peace and the relief of human suffering in the region.
HOW THE MECC WORKS
The MECC is a meeting place for the indigenous churches of the region, a facilitator
of their common response to common needs. It encourages and supports relationships
between its member churches in an ecclesiastically sensitive manner, adhering to the
historical confessions of the united Church, the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds, to
which all its members subscribe. Its family structure emphasises consensus and
participation in community. Larger and smaller families each have equal opportunity
to have their voices heard in its deliberations, and no one perspective is permitted to
eclipse any other. The decision-making process of the MECC is sensitive to the
various church traditions represented.
As far as possible, the Middle East Council’s program initiatives complement
ministries, which its members already fulfil. And over the years these programs have
sifted out into three program units: Faith and Unity, Education and Renewal, and Life
and Service. The General Secretariat focuses these activities and augments them.
Administration, finance and communications departments in the Council enable,
strengthen, rationalise and publicise the work.
The constitutionally regularised decision-making and program-implementation
processes begin with the Council’s General Assembly. This ninety-six-member body,
an effective instrument of the member churches, meets once every four years, it
reviews and assesses what has been done, and it gives the general mandate for what is
to happen through the next four years. In the interim it gives authority to the
Executive Committee to carry on. The Assembly-appointed General Secretary and
three Associates from an administrative General Secretariat, which regularly reports,
to the Council’s four Presidents and to the Executive Committee.
MECC ASSEMBLIES
221