The Rev. Fahed Abu-Akel, the highest official in the Presbyterian Church (USA) in the United States, challenged church members Tuesday to "bring a friend to church" in hopes of turning around a nationwide loss of membership.
The moderator of the church's 214th General Assembly, Abu-Akel discussed his vision for the denomination during a meeting of the Presbytery of Western New York at Wright Memorial Presbyterian Church on the Seneca Reservation in Irving.
During an earlier talk, Abu-Akel, the first Arab-American to head the denomination, urged Presbyterians to become more knowledgeable about the Middle East, its Arab population and the denomination's long history of involvement in the Arab world.
"The Presbyterian Church has been in the Middle East since 1818, establishing churches, colleges and universities and medical hospitals," he said. "I would like to remind Presbyterians that every "American University' in the Middle East has been established by Presbyterians."
Abu-Akel discussed the church's Arab connection during the keynote address at the annual dinner meeting of the Center for Middle East Studies on Monday evening in Lafayette Presbyterian Church in Buffalo. The center, founded in 1993 by Aida Faris, a native of Lebanon, promotes "peace through mutual understanding."
During his address to the Presbytery, he said his goal as moderator is to strengthen the 2.5 million member church spiritually and numerically.
"I am challenging our churches to exercise the gift of hospitality and asking each member to invite one new person to church between now and next May," said Abu-Akel, whose one-year term ends then.
In addition, he said, he is asking each minister, elder and member to pray for spiritual renewal, is urging the church "to emphasize unity in the midst of diversity" and is challenging each local congregation to adopt one local and one global mission project.
Pointing out that "there are more Presbyterians around the world than in America," Abu-Akel also called on the denomination to put more emphasis on racial and ethnic ministry.
During his Monday evening talk, Abu-Akel, who was born in the Galilean village of Kuffer-Yassif, said the time has come for Americans to begin to understand that all Arabs are not Muslims.
Recalling his own experience, he said he was invited by Coretta Scott King, the widow of Martin Luther King Jr., to give the invocation in January at the King anniversary commemoration.
Even though he was identified on the program as moderator of the Presbyterian Church and used the name of "Jesus" in his prayer, Abu-Akel said, National Public Radio identified him as "a Muslim clergyman."
Because of his name, he added, he is always subjected to extra screening at the nation's airports.
"In the Middle East today, we have 15 million Arab Christians who trace their heritage to the time of Jesus, but to Americans, Arab Christians, do not exist," he said.
"To Americans, Arab means Muslim but not every Arab is a Muslim and not every Muslim is an Arab," he said. "We have more Muslims who are non-Arabs than Arabs who are Muslims."
Abu-Akel, who came to the United States in 1966, is the founder and executive director of the Atlanta Ministry of International Students and is an adjunct professor of World Religions at the International Theological Seminary in Atlanta.