Egypt #4: On the Road to Alexandria
by Kathy Arveson
After breakfast on Wednesday, we left Cairo, heading for Alexandria. We took the desert highway and were amazed by the beautiful new suspension bridge that has significantly reduced travel time. Around 11 a.m. we visited the Macarios Coptic monastery and had a private tour with “Abuna” (Father) Mercurios. The Macarios monastery was founded in the 4th century and has been in continuous operation. It now has 160 monks and 300 acres of land. The monks raise date palms, vegetables, rice, mangoes, fish, and cattle to sustain the monastery. We toured the original chapels, cells, and rectory, viewing relics, art, and icons from various periods. The monastery is very strong in scripture knowledge and prayer, and we found Abuna Mercurios to be welcoming and informative.
For lunch, we stopped at Beit el Wadi, a Christian conference and recreation center. This is a large facility in the desert that is particularly active in the summer with sports and other camps for youth and children. Mourad, our guide, told us about all the development taking place along the desert road. The government has set aside many acres of land for agricultural development as well as housing for the poor of Cairo. We saw dozens of new apartment complexes being built for poor families as well as more expensive gated communities.
On the outskirts of Alexandria, we visited a “fellowship” in a neighborhood called “400 Village.” (In the Synod of the Nile, a congregation is called a fellowship until it has enough members, elders, a pastor, and building and can be constituted as an official “church.”) Pastor Ibrahim Zakarya is assigned by the Presbytery as “interim” pastor for this congregation in addition to the five or six fellowships he is planting in neighboring communities. The pastor of 400 Village Church died three years ago and they haven’t been able to call a new one. The members of the church have carried on with worship and other ministries - mainly children’s and youth ministry as they hope and pray for a new pastor. After we shared refreshments, the Sunday School servants described with passion their children’s ministry. Five volunteer leaders serve 35 children from ages 2 through 11. The leaders shared their dream of being able to take the children on excursions outside of the village and of being able to teach them music - if they had musical instruments. (An Egyptian heard this need and generously contributed for the instruments). Most of the church members who met with us that evening had their young children with them, so we could easily envision the vitality of their ministry.
This is the only Protestant church in the village, and they reach out with assistance and service for the needy and those in crisis in their community, though they do not have much to give. Even though the congregation is poor (most members work in farming or as laborers), they give generously to the church which is teaching members to make a monthly commitment. 400 Village Fellowship has many challenges, but are taking one at a time. They have fixed the roof so it does not leak, but their sound system and the keyboard for leading singing only function intermittently.
They rely on visiting teachers and invited our team to share a message. Ken Tolley shared from Genesis 32:24-28 about Jacob wrestling with the angel. Ken used this passage to talk about how God has used tragedy in his own life - specifically a serious health crisis when his daughter was born three years ago - to humble Ken and draw him closer to Himself. The group, many with their own young children in their laps, listened with great empathy. Finally, they took us up to the roof where their top priority is to add a third-floor apartment so they can offer a future pastor a decent place to live. There we all circled up for prayer and committed their ministry and hopes to the Lord.