Friction Among Egypt's Christians

CAIRO: Tensions between the Coptic Orthodox Church and Coptic evangelicals resurfaced this week, excited by accusations presented at a recent Orthodox doctrinal conference in al-Fayyoum. According to Al-Masry Al-Youm, Bishop Bishoy, the secretary general of the Holy Synod, warned fellow clergy about “attempts at denomination invasion” on the part of nation's evangelical population during the conference.
He unveiled a purported plan by Egyptian evangelicals to completely convert Orthodox Copts to Protestantism within 20 years and, as evidence, pointed toward an evangelical retreat that is being hosted by the mega-church Qasr Dubara this weekend in Wadi el-Natrun. The church’s rebuttal of these claims in the local press has again turned the public eye upon the small, but increasingly significant, evangelical presence in Egypt.
Following the Fayyoum accusations, the daily newspaper Al-Ahram ran an article claiming that 8000 Muslims and Christians were to attend a “Christianization” conference in Wadi el-Natrun as part of this weekend's “Onething” youth gathering. Qasr Dubara is hosting the gathering in partnership with a charismatic American Christian organization known as IHOP, based out of Kansas City, Missouri.
IHOP is an international network famous for its initiatives throughout the world for 24-hr prayer and “revival.” The video for this year's conference in Egypt advertises in boldface type, “The end of the age is here. A community of radicals is rising up … a movement of young adults abandoned the cause of (God's) kingdom.”
The conference's program, which evangelicals have titled “an extracurricular activity,” has aroused concerns in support of Bishoy's assertion of a Protestant conspiracy against the Coptic Church.
Yussif, a college student who will be attending the conference this weekend, told Bikya Masr that in his view, the conference is a program for people “to put God in the center of their practical lives. I do not think any Muslims will be in attendance. We do host other days that anyone from any religion can attend. At the end of the time, we tell about Jesus, and if people want to listen, okay. If they do not, no problem; they are free.”
Regardless of its validity, the suspicion Bishoy voiced at the Al-Fayyoum conference about evangelical plots to convert Copts reveals a substantial concern brewing beneath the surface of the Orthodox Church regarding this newer and increasingly popular Christian movement.
The friction dates back to the first arrival of American Protestant missionaries in Egypt in the mid-19th century, about which two competing historical narratives are told. Some scholars and evangelical church leaders say that the first American Protestant missionaries came to Egypt in the 19th century to simply assist the already established Coptic Church, and had no desire to start new denominations. When they did so eventually, it was because they were prompted to do so by the Orthodox.
Safwat Al-Bayyadi, the head of the Evangelical Church in Egypt, shared with Al-Ahram in 2006, “The missionary movement was not a separatist movement, but a reformist one… [It was designed] to help the existing church rid itself of narrow minded ideas.”
But others find this view dubious, and claim that when the first American Protestant missionaries found their conversion efforts without success among Muslims, they went on to the next game in town, the Copts.
As evinced by today's religious affairs, both of these two versions most likely represent some of the truth.
When the question is pointed directly to evangelicals as to whether or not they are pursuing conversion of Copts, they say they are merely providing both encouragement and competition. This is something of a religious “free-market” argument, asserting that the evangelical church’s presence and potential to acquire constituents among the Copts should catalyze internal improvement within the Coptic Orthodox Church rather than harm it.
Scholar Heather Sharkey asserts that history supports this argument in her book, “American Evangelicals in Egypt: Missionary Encounters in an Age of Empire.” She told Bikya Masr that the “contest” for Coptic allegiances ultimately resulted in the Orthodox church emerging “in a stronger position than before, because the challenges of the evangelicals prompted the Orthodox Church to become more energetic and to devise social service programs of its own,” proving that the diversity of the “market” has yielded growth.
Of course the other, less-stated option is the potential for the Orthodox to go “out of business”, a perspective articulated by evangelical leader Ekram Lamy in response to this week's accusations. As reported in Al-Masry Al-Youm, Lamy, a priest in the evangelical church, said, “What Bishoy said affirms that there's a problem with the teachings of the Orthodox Church, because the church has isolated itself for around 1000 years. The church hasn't kept up with the new requirements of the era, and as a result its followers are adopting the evangelical creed instead. He had better work at convincing his followers of the Orthodox creed rather than attacking us on every occasion.”
There is no doubt that the vast majority of Protestants come from Orthodox backgrounds. But scholars like David Grafton and those with experience living in Egypt are quick to point out that the lines between Protestants and Orthodox aren't so precisely drawn. In fact, it is common for individuals to participate reciprocally in both communities. This practice however, is increasingly being criticized, and sometimes even punished, by the Coptic Church.
In some Coptic circles the word “Protestant” has acquired an almost anathema-like status.
A Coptic monk told Bikya Masr, “Nobody in the Coptic Church dares to speak about Christ. It is all virtues and good works and so on. But once you touch the blood of Christ or redemption or something, you are (labeled) Protestant. They tell you to get out; they excommunicate you. Any successful preacher is ostracized.” The monk highlights further tensions, telling Bikya, “A priest who is suspicious of someone attending a Protestant church may ask that person about it before he receives communion. If the suspicion is validated, the priest will deny that person communion in the Coptic Church.”
This monk later argued that “now Protestant churches are more Orthodox than the Orthodox churches” because of their ability to preach the essential Christian teachings. For people like this monk, the Protestants provide a foil with which to criticize the Orthodox Church. Obviously, some within the Coptic Orthodox Church find this language, coming from their own constituents, alarming. Concern over this type of sentiment within the Church’s own walls may be behind Bishoy’s accusations of “intellectual invasion.”
Whether or not the evangelical presence is of benefit to the Orthodox, the recent events and press coverage surrounding them unearths the problems endemic in their existence within Egypt. Much like Qasr Dubara’s physical building, located off of the prominent Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo but tucked behind the looming Mogamma, Cairo's massive administrative building, evangelicals are simultaneously a loud and quiet voice within the religious landscape. The Evangelical Church, in nature and language, is ambitious, but works hard to not step on any toes or draw too much attention in its pursuit of a “revitalized” Christianity in Egypt.
BM