Egypt #9: Challenging Circumstances
by Peen Hardy
We left our hotel at 7:30 am to travel two hours to the Presbyterian church in Dendera, Egypt. Normally, the church services begin at 8:30 am because Christians are allowed by Egyptian law to come to work two hours late (10:30 am) on Sundays. Sunday is the first day of the workweek in Muslim countries like Egypt.
This was a special weekend throughout Egypt as it celebrated Muhammad’s birthday. There was no work for government workers today. In addition, we saw many people dressed in white gathered in the central part of towns to celebrate the day. We received many smiles and waves from friendly people.
We worshiped at the Dendera Church that was founded in 1920 by American missionaries. We heard from one elder, a civil engineer, whose great grandfather helped build this church. The church has requested permission from the government to make much-needed renovations to the building.
We met with several people during our visit. We heard from a woman named Viola, the widow of a former elder. At one point her mother and grandmother were the only educated people in the village. Viola was a former English teacher named for an American missionary.
We also heard from the pastor, Medhat Zakhary, a graduate of ETSC, that he is teaching young people in the community how to play the instruments that he plays, namely the piano, guitar, and the drums. The pastor told us that the church has Sunday and Thursday evening services. The church also has a children’s ministry on Friday and a prayer meeting on Tuesday. Outside the church, the pastor has helped promote community activities including love meetings in order to improve relations with Muslims and Coptic Christians. In addition, the church has family meetings to strengthen marriages. They continue to work on Muslim relations as Christian and Muslim young people gather to promote love, understanding, and forgiveness.
One elder is very active in politics. He is on the city youth committee and is the only Christian on this committee.
My sense is that Dendera is not an easy place for a young pastor to serve with his wife and baby. The town is isolated and churches are very far from each other.
During worship, the worship leader selected songs that were familiar to us so we could sing with the congregation. We sang “How Great Thou Art” and “When the Roll is Called Up Yonder.” It was a foretaste of heaven as we sang together. The sermon was given by Pastor Tim Norton of the Winston-Salem Church in the United States. His words were translated by Dr. Tharwat Watbaof ETSC. Tim spoke on the way Daniel maintained his faith in a hostile culture in Babylon. Like Daniel, we face challenging circumstances, but we also like Daniel serve a living God who will always be with us.
The group interacted with members of the congregation after the worship service. Together we shared some of the challenges facing the American and Egyptian churches. We were graciously provided with drinks and a snack before our departure.
A stop at the Dendera Temple, which was built by the Greeks in 27 BC during their rule of Egypt, occurred late in the day and we visited the Luxor Temple by night.