Bethlehem Bible College Newsletter

“The Lord will accomplish that which concerns me; Your [unwavering] loving kindness, O Lord, endures forever— Do not abandon the works of Your own hands” (Psalm 138:8 AMP).

Greetings to our friends around the world,

How grateful we are for the faithfulness of the Lord in these times. In the midst of the instability of this world, we know that His word is forever settled in the heavens. He will accomplish that which concerns us—and concerns Him. This concern is primarily that His gospel goes forth into all the earth and His kingdom come!

Concerning the gospel going forth, we are proud to have celebrated our 29th graduating class at BBC this month. In this issue you will hear about one of our graduates who is already in ministry and plans continue in the path, as well as our woman’s ministry--and many other good things that are going forth from BBC. Please don’t miss our summary of the past semester. We give the glory to God for the great things He has done and is doing in the midst of us.

At this writing, I am travelling to Germany with my family for a large outreach/leadership training for Arabic-speaking Christians who live in Europe. Please remember us in your prayers.

God bless you. We hope to see you in Bethlehem sometime soon!

In His love and brotherhood,

Rev. Dr. Jack Sara

Bethlehem Bible College celebrated its 29th commencement ceremony in June and it is always a bittersweet time for us. Students from the Biblical Studies program and the Masters in Christian Leadership program have now finished their journey at BBC and are preparing to begin another one in real life.

We'd like to introduce you to John Matar, a 23 year-old Biblical Studies graduate who we know is going to do great things for the body of Christ in our region.

Following, are John's thoughts in his own words.

On the first floor of Bethlehem Bible College’s new building is a gift shop; a place filled with gorgeous Palestinian handicrafts, jewelry and interesting books relevant to the topic of Palestinian Christians. Among these you will find a unique book titled "Palestinian Memories, the Story of a Palestinian Woman and her People.” The book was written by Rev. Alex Awad, who was the pastor of the Baptist Church in Jerusalem and the Dean of Student Affairs at Bethlehem Bible College.

“Life’s most urgent questions is: What are you doing for others?” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

“And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward.” -Jesus

On the evening of June 10, friends and supporters of the Shepherd Society gathered to celebrate its twenty years of service in Bethlehem. What began as a vision of a small group of men to provide financial help to the economic suffering of local Christians has evolved into a ministry that reaches poor and needy Christians and Muslims not only in the Bethlehem region, but also in Gaza and even more recently, refugees in Jordan.

Watch VIDEO HERE

The women ministry’s team of Bethlehem Bible College has been working very hard for months to produce the 7th issue of our magazine, “A Pot in His Hand.”

The theme of the current issue is about taking control over our lives, despite our pain and the challenges; challenging ourselves and our readers to make a decision to step out and create change. In this issue we have a strong collection of life-transforming articles for women who are learning to choose joy instead of grief and beauty for ashes; an important theme for the difficulties that many Palestinian women face.

While much global discussion has focused on Middle Eastern refugees entering Europe and the West, the majority of MENA refugees are being hosted in MENA countries. In a region that is filled with displaced people, we love to share stories of how Christians in the Middle East are quietly rising up to meet the needs of refugees. Shepherd Society takes several trips to Jordan each year to minister to the refugees, and we also help to sponsor a Palestinian couple who are there ministering full time.

BBC is excited to announce our first-ever summer camp outreach for the Muslim children who live in Aida and Azza refugee camps near our campus. The camp will be held July 25-August 2 and our theme is “Around the World in Seven Days. ” Our vision is to build bridges with this community for the glory of God and serve these children who live in a difficult situation. (The camp is also open to Christian children and we hope to have a nice mix of both). We have two international teams helping us in this special event, as well as locals, both Christian and Muslim. Please keep this matter in your prayers!

ESL Volunteer Application

We are looking for volunteers who can stay with us preferably for a minimum of 2 months, though we will occasionally consider other options. Volunteers will be given a rent-free dorm room at the college and lunch every M-F, but will have to cover all other expenses, including travel.