Syria Appeal
Julie Burgess has made 17 journeys with The Outreach Foundation to the Middle East. She agreed to tell the stories of several graduates of the Near East School of Theology (NEST). This is the first installment of these compelling stories. The next installment will be emailed and posted on our website.
As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” At once they left their nets and followed him. Matthew 4:18-20
As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man called Matthew, sitting in the tax collector’s booth; and he said to him, “Follow me!” And he got up and followed him. Matthew 9:9
Have you ever had the thought after reading these verses that you would like to sit down with the disciples and have a heart-to-heart with them? Imagine the conversation: “You had a great career! Fishing, scribing, tax collecting... Why would you give that up? What was it about that Jesus that grabbed your heart and led you into ministry?” I think those would be interesting conversations.
In my journeys with The Outreach Foundation, I have been privileged to have those post-first-career-now-ministry-mode-life conversations with some amazing young Syrians. Over the past few weeks, I have spoken through email with five recent graduates of the Near East School of Theology, which is the seminary in Beirut that has trained and graduated most of the pastors serving currently in Lebanon and Syria. I would love for you to know them through the life stories they shared. I posed a series of questions to each of them and received answers that could almost be titled The Gospel according to... Listen to them tell their stories in the answers to just the first few: Tell me about yourself and your family, did you have another profession before hearing the call to ministry, and how did you experience that call?
My name is Yousef Khasho, and I am thirty years old. I am from the coastal city called Latakia on the Mediterranean Sea. My family is an Evangelical Presbyterian one since the 1860s, which is the time of the arrival of the American evangelical missionary to my city. In addition, my family’s original root is Armenian. (Please note: when someone says their roots are Armenian, you need to understand that they are but a few generations removed from the genocide of World War I. They understand oppression and loss in ways most of us will never know.) My parents are living in Latakia, and both of them are retired. My father was an officer, and my mother was an English teacher. I have one sister who is a pharmacist, and she is married to a nice man from our congregation in Latakia. Moreover, I have one brother, and he is in the last year of studying civil engineering. I am engaged to a very nice lady, and her name is Sandra Marticho. She is 25 years old, and she is continuing her education by studying for a Master of Civil Engineering degree. I studied computer and automatic control engineering at Tishreen University in Latakia between the years (2009-2015) before studying for my Master of Divinity degree at the Near East School of Theology.
I did not work as an engineer because I went to study theology directly after graduating from my first academic study. This direct shift happened because of a long process of decision. Firstly, I grew up in my church, and I became a servant at the age of eighteen. At that time before I started studying engineering, I felt that I wanted to be a pastor, but at the same time, I felt that I was too young for this responsibility. Then I decided to study engineering and to think later about being a pastor. Through the early years of studying engineering, I thought that it would be good to serve as an elder in the church, and I kept serving in my church. In the middle of my studying, at the beginning of 2011 (the war in Syria began in March 2011), I had a very special and personal experience with God, and I made a very serious covenant with God that after finishing my engineering studies I would sanctify my whole life to the ministry of the Lord and the Lord’s people.
My name is Hassan Diratany. I’m 28 years old. I was born in Syria in a small town on the coast called Baniyas. I have a Bachelor of Economics, Banking, and Finance degree. I finished studying Theology at NEST (the Master of Divinity program- Fall 2019-2020), and my official graduation is in June. However, my interest in theology started much earlier. I was obsessed with theological questions about God and life from an early age. It was normal for someone like me who lost his mom at the age of 4, then his dad at the age of 12, and then his older brother on Christmas Eve at the age of 17, to think and to ask about the meaning of life. Honestly, it was much easier to give up faith. I studied finance in Syria. By that time, the situation was getting worse in Syria. The earliest bloody events started in my area, and it seemed the situation was getting more complicated in the country. After my graduation, I was employed in a bank and I started building my career.
While the war was intensifying, my theological questions were increasing as I was witnessing death and destruction in the country. At that time, I discovered that I was attached to people’s suffering around me. It turned out that the same person who lost his family members before the war is now sharing with and caring about others who are in pain after losing a beloved. The same one who was looking for meaning is now trying to share the message of hope and love with hopeless people. In sum, my individual story of meaningless became meaningful for many.
I am Kherallah Atallah. I was born in Homs, Syria, in 1991. It is where I was brought up in a Protestant family committed to the church. During my childhood, my parents served by leading the family meeting in the church for a while but when this meeting paused my mother became a Sunday School teacher. Later, I became a full member of the Presbyterian Church of Homs, Syria. Since my childhood, I have taken part in most of the activities of the educational ministry of that church. I was part of the Sunday School, junior high meetings, and later on youth meetings. I participated in many retreats and summer camps held by the Synod Christian education department. This serious involvement in the church’s life played an important role in shaping my spiritual growth and brought my faith journey into maturity. Moreover, it played a role in building up my character, both socially and intellectually.
In 2015, I finished my university degree as an M.D. from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Homs. After that, I started my specialization in gastroenterology in Latakia, Syria. After one year of specialization, I felt strongly God’s call to full-time ministry to serve Christ and his people through NESSL (National Evangelical Synod of Syria and Lebanon, The Outreach Foundation’s partner denomination in those countries). I realized the need of our society and churches for committed workers to spread the light of Christ to shine in a country troubled with war and division. I still believe that this need is met through faithful servants who put their energies in the hand of God to use them as witnesses for God’s grace and love. At that time, I decided to be one of those servants.
I am Sleiman Yazgy and I recently turned 34. I came from Mahardah which is a town in the province of Hama. My brother is a civil engineer living in Germany. My parents live in Mahardah. I attended dental school and then I received a Master of Orthodontics degree from Tishreen University. I worked in a dental clinic as an orthodontist in Latakia. I liked my career and I considered myself a successful orthodontist.
When the war started in Syria it did not hit my town until 2013. At that time I was working in my clinic in Latakia. The situation in my town was bad; we were surrounded by terrorists who were about to take the town many times. We experienced missiles that could hit our house at any time. Many of my friends were killed or injured. I called my parents almost every day from my clinic. I felt desperate. But something told me,” Sleiman I know that you like your career but I feel your sorrow for your family and country and this war. I feel your desperation of not being able to do anything for them. Search for hope, follow your heart.” I felt it was the voice of God awakening my past dream to study theology and work in the church. Therefore, I followed my heart and I went to seminary. Being called to the ministry in such a hard time like this is a big responsibility and a huge blessing for me.
My name is Adon Naaman, and I was born in 1988. I come from a humble Presbyterian family in Latakia by the Mediterranean Sea. My grandfather has been a Presbyterian elder since 1966, and his father before him served with the first Christian missionaries that spread throughout the Near East, where he became a missionary in Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, and Antakya (present-day Turkey). He later established a Presbyterian chapel in a Latakian village called Jendairia, where he worked with its people. My father’s death had an enormous impact on my whole family in general and on me in particular. However, our hope and belief in Resurrection gave us all the consolation and solace we needed to surpass this adversity. My family tried to embrace me and compensate for my irretrievable loss; since then my mother has been very observant of two crucial callings for us: college and church attendance. Throughout my preparatory education period, my relationship with the church intensified greatly, and I started attending Sunday service and Bible study sessions. When I turned fifteen, I became a member of my beloved church.
I majored in electronic engineering and started working in the technology field in 2010. I was determined to dedicate my time to studying, volunteering, and working. This kind of life gave me heavenly delight via serving my church and community despite my challenging circumstances after the war in Syria erupted, which led to my calling to live this love with others, to be a dutiful servant of it, to try to enlighten people about its greatness and to serve people and tell them about the ideal and beautiful relationship with God, with all its characteristics, ideas, and events. God has sent his Word so that, “they may have life, and have it to the full.” After living this life with all my heart and soul, I would like today to live God with all my mind, as said in Matthew 22:37 “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” Therefore, I believe that academically tackling the issue of theology is partly fulfilling the Will of Jesus Christ to love him with all my mind, after spending all these years loving him with all my heart through service and with all my through my personal relationship with him.
I am called on many times to write stories of those I have been privileged to sit and share with in their churches in Syria. This is the first of two installments where my words are unnecessary. These five young men called from dentistry and medicine and electronics and finance into the service of the Lord, dropped their nets and pens, and tax ledgers to follow his call in their land and serve their people in a time of war. I am humbled to know them, and I know you will be as well. May God bless them as they follow his call.
The Outreach Foundation gives thanks to God that you continue on this journey with us alongside the faithful, witnessing Church in Syria, especially now that peace is being restored, even as the needs of families and the Church’s ministries continue. You may make a gift HERE or by sending a check to our office.