Dear reader,

Welcome to the UAECNE website.
This website is intended to give you an orientation about the different ministries of the Union of the Armenian Evangelical Churches in the Near East (UAECNE) - churches, schools, organizations; as well as regular updates/news on the different ministries and activities in the mission field.
We would like to express our gratitude to Mr. Claude Faillettaz (a fraternal missionary of the DM-échange et mission), who came all the way from Switzerland to help us construct this website.

What is the UAECNE:

The Union of the Armenian Evangelical Churches in the Near East (UAECNE) is a body of churches comprising 25 congregations throughout Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, Greece, Egypt, Iran and Australia.

Beginning in the second decade of the l9th century as an indigenous reform movement within the Armenian Orthodox Church, it developed into an independent community in 1846 in Istanbul, and in subsequent decades registered a membership of 60,000 throughout the Ottoman Empire. After the Armenian Genocide during the First World War, when the Armenian population was decimated and the remnant deported from its historic homeland in what is now called Turkey, the Union was reorganized in Syria and Lebanon.

The Union is composed of autonomous congregations. Its organizational pattern is a kind of modified congregationalism. The annual convention of the Union is the highest authority. The central committee of 12 members, elected at the convention, acts as an administrative body supervising and coordinating the activities of the member churches and church related institutions.

From its inception, the Armenian Evangelical Church has stressed the importance of education. It now operates 22 schools and owns the only university in the Armenian diaspora: Haigazian University, a member of the Association of American International Colleges and Universities (AAICU), with an enrolment of more than 700 students.

It operates four conference centers in Syria, Lebanon, Iran and Turkey.

Together with the Arabic-speaking Evangelical churches, the Union owns and operates the Near East School of Theology in Beirut (supported by mission partners abroad).

In conjuction with the Armenian Apostolic Catholicossate (Orthodox) it operates the old people's home in Beirut (CAHL), and the Armenian Sanatorium in Azounieh - Lebanon. In Aleppo-Syria, the Union operates the Armenian old people's home and the Arevig Center (for mentally challenged children) in conjuction with the Armenian Apostolic Prelacy and the Armenian Catholic Church.

It has developed ecumenical ties with several church bodies. It has fraternal relations with the Armenian Evangelical Union of North America, the Armenian Evangelical Union of France and the Evangelical Church of Armenia, all members of the Armenian Evangelical World Council.

In spite of deep concerns about emigration and persecution, the Union continues to function with a growing awareness of its mission in its territories.