Baptists in GAZA aWedding & a
Funeral Salem Boulos Sweilem, who attended the Gaza Baptist Church
(GBC) in Gaza City, died November 19, 2012, of an apparent heart attack triggered by stress during a nearby bombing that shook his home. Israeli warplanes dropped four one-ton bombs on nearby Palestine
Stadium, and the blast caused Sweilem’s building to shake. When the 45 year old father of four daughters and one son woke in a panic and could not breathe, his family wanted to take him to a hospital but had no transportation. They finally found a neighbor who had a car, but by then it was too late. He died while on the way to the hospital. “Farid” of the GBC wrote on November 22, “We had a very difficult
night yesterday all over Gaza city as well as all the areas.” He reported that many houses in Gaza were badly affected by the bombings. Hanna Massad, former pastor of GBC who has been living in exile
because of continuing tensions in Gaza, told the Baptist World Alliance® that “almost 40 percent of the people who have been killed in Gaza are children.” The GBC building suffered only minor damage as a result of the
bombing of the main police station in Gaza, which is only about 10-15 meters from the church building. “People are very fearful,” Massad wrote on November 20, indicating that Gaza residents were hopeful that rumors of a ceasefire would be true. A ceasefire was announced on November 21, ending the war that began a week earlier on November 14. Baptists in Israel were largely unaffected by the war. Bader Mansour,
executive secretary of the Association of Baptist Churches in Israel, told the BWA that “Baptists in Israel were far from this round of violence, as they are concentrated in the North of Israel and the violence was mostly in the South of Israel and the Gaza Strip.” He stated that Israeli Baptists, who are mostly of Palestinian origin,
were praying for their counterparts in Gaza and for their homeland. “We continue to pray for justice and freedom for the Palestinians and peace and security for Israel,” Mansour said. More than 150 Palestinians and five Israelis died in the one-week
war. The Christian community in Gaza is estimated to be about 2,000
persons comprising members of three churches in the Gaza Strip – a Greek Orthodox Church, a Catholic Church and the GBC.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - From: Hanna Massad Sent: Saturday, September 15, 2012 2:13 PM Subject: NEWS UPDATE
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Dear Friends,
Greetings to you from Amman! I deeply appreciate your prayers and your encourage-
ment during my week-long ministry trip to Gaza. The road between Amman and Gaza was much easier this time than everything I had to go through in the past. Once again, I was blessed to be able to encourage the
believers at Gaza Baptist Church, the staff and students at the Lighthouse School, and families throughout the community. We prayed together, shared devotions, and visited the sick and oppressed, in addition to helping the poor with food and medicine and meeting other needs as we could. One of the high points of this visit was the privilege
of conducting the marriage celebration for pastor Hanna Maher, the new shepherd of Gaza Baptist Church, and his lovely bride, Janet. Ministering with me were Pastors John Carlock and Bill Devlin. The wedding was held in the open air at the Gaza YMCA and was attended by hundreds of people. It was wonderful—a sweet and powerful reminder in the midst of the extreme hardship of life in Gaza that we are the Lord’s precious bride and that one day we will stand by his side at the greatest wedding feast the universe has ever witnessed. This was my fourth trip to Gaza this year, thanks to
Mourners at the funeral service for Salem Boulos Sweilem at the Gaza Baptist Church who died during the war between Israel and Hamas
16 BAPTIST WORLD MAGAZINE
God’s amazing grace and the generous gifts of good friends like you. Thank you again for standing with us. It is an indescribable feeling and a great blessing to work together with you for the Lord’s glory and the advancement of his kingdom.
Gratefully, Hanna, Suhad, Joyce & Jolene
Hanna Massad, left, presiding at the wedding of Hanna and Janet Maher
Photo courtesy of Hanna Massad
I was blessed to encourage the believers at Gaza . . .
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