Blog

For the fifth consecutive year, the APECL, General Secretary of Catholic schools, Biblical Federation and Bible Society join forces to celebrate “Week of the Bible” which took this year the theme “Witnessing in the Bible”.

The week was composed of a series of events that addressed adults and youth, reminding them of the importance of reading the Bible.

The week kicked off on 19 November with an opening Mass at Mar Elias church in Antelias. All through the week, members of the Biblical Federation performed a series of Biblical seminars, mainly in the far parts of Lebanon, highlighting the topic of how a Christian can live a life as a witness of faith.

During the week, Bible Society joined the University Pastoral group on their annual day on 22 November. After the Mass and worship, all attendees received copies of “هكذا عمل المسيح” and “هكذا تكلم المسيح”.

One of the fun events of Week of the Bible was the youth “Jeel al Injeel” Bible competition that took place in Zahle on Friday 24 November. His Eminence, Bishop Yustinos Safar graciously hosted this event at the Syriac Orthodox Church with the presence of Jeel al Injeel creator and host, Fr. Joseph Soueid and a team from the Bible Society.

Around 100 youth split into groups and competed against each other in two phases. The first phase was a written competition whereby the groups had to answer a written Bible quiz in a set amount of time; the two teams with the highest number of correct answers were qualified to the final phase, phase two. The best two teams then went on stage to compete in front of a live audience with Fr. Joseph Soueid performing Jeel El Injeel competition. All the attendees received copies of the books “هكذا عمل المسيح” and “هكذا تكلم المسيح”. In addition to these books, the members of the winning teams each received a copy of the GNA Study Bible.

We would say that the competition was a big success by encouraging the youth in becoming knowledgeable in the Bible. It was evident how well the youth have prepared for the competition, by memorizing Bible verses and references, learning about Bible characters, and the culture contest of scriptures.

The launch of another competition took place on 27 November targeting schools, mainly grades 3 to 12. It also aims to encourage young children and teens to read their Bibles. The grades divided into three age group sections that competed in a series of online Bible quizzes to determine who the best teams are among the participating schools in Lebanon.

The last event of Week of the Bible 2017 was the closing ceremony held at USEK on December 2, 2017, under the patronage of His Beatitude Patriarch Mar Bechara Boutros al Rai, represented by His Eminence Bishop Boulos Rouhana. Around 350 adult students from theological seminaries, Bible schools and universities from all over Lebanon attended this event and received copies of the Greek Septuagint Old Testament and the Nestlé-Aland Greek New Testament. The presentations focused on the importance of the Greek translations for thorough and deep Biblical studies.

We pray that this week was a blessing to every individual involved and a reminder of the importance of being faithful witnesses to Christ’s mission.

The Bible Society’s vision is to holistically meet the needs of communities through the transforming Word of God. As a Christian inter-confessional, ecumenical, non-profit organization, it works to spread the Holy Bible’s message and culture to all generations through translating, publishing, and distributing the Scriptures using visual, audio-visual, readable, and digital formats, encouraging people to read and engage with God’s Word, advocating the Bible cause to uphold human dignity, and partnering with all Churches and Christian institutions.