Rola Sleiman

Last updated

Rola Adel Sleiman, B.Th.C.E. [1] (born 1975) [2] is a Lebanese-Syrian female pastor, the first woman to be appointed to the Christian ministry in the Arab world. [3] She was ordained on 26 February 2017. [4]

Sleiman was born in Tripoli, Lebanon, to a Syrian father and Lebanese mother. She was brought up in the Evangelist Presbyterian Church of Tripoli, located in Rahibat Street, [2] and studied theology under the sponsorship of the National Evangelical Synod of Syria and Lebanon, a church that has only 3000 members altogether. [5] She began to officiate at services in Tripoli when the regular pastor was away during 2006, and replaced him permanently in 2009. [4] The Synod eventually voted by a majority of 23 to 1 to ordain her as his replacement so that the church could host baptisms and other services that could only be presided over by an ordained minister. [6] She stated that she had needed "a lot of silence, patience and effort" to succeed in her vocation. [7]

In May 2017 a controversy arose when the UK government refused Reverend Sleiman's request for a visa in order to allow her to visit the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, at which she had been invited to speak. [8] The Home Office's decision was overturned a few days later, following representations from the Church of Scotland, but Sleiman was still not allowed to board a flight from Beirut to the UK. [9]

Related Research Articles

Church of England Anglican state church of England

The Church of England is a Christian church which is the established church of England. The archbishop of Canterbury is the most senior cleric, although the monarch is the supreme governor. The Church of England is also the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain by the 3rd-century, and to the 6th-century Gregorian mission to Kent led by Augustine of Canterbury.

Presbyterian Church (USA) Mainline Protestant Christian denomination in the USA

The Presbyterian Church (USA), abbreviated PC(USA), is a mainline Protestant denomination in the United States. A part of the Reformed tradition, it is the largest Presbyterian denomination in the US, and known for its relatively progressive stance on doctrine and ordains women and LGBT community as elders and ministers. The PC(USA) was established by the 1983 merger of the Presbyterian Church in the United States, whose churches were located in the Southern and border states, with the United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, whose congregations could be found in every state. The similarly named Presbyterian Church in America is a separate denomination whose congregations can also trace their history to the various schisms and mergers of Presbyterian churches in the United States.

Presbyterianpolity is a method of church governance typified by the rule of assemblies of presbyters, or elders. Each local church is governed by a body of elected elders usually called the session or consistory, though other terms, such as church board, may apply. Groups of local churches are governed by a higher assembly of elders known as the presbytery or classis; presbyteries can be grouped into a synod, and presbyteries and synods nationwide often join together in a general assembly. Responsibility for conduct of church services is reserved to an ordained minister or pastor known as a teaching elder, or a minister of the word and sacrament.

United Reformed Church Christian church organisation in the United Kingdom

The United Reformed Church (URC) is a Protestant Christian church in the United Kingdom. It has approximately 46,500 members in 1,383 congregations with 608 active ministers, including 13 church related community workers.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is a mainline Protestant Lutheran church headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The ELCA was officially formed on January 1, 1988, by the merging of three Lutheran church bodies. As of 2019, it has approximately 3.3 million baptized members in 8,972 congregations.

Uniting Church in Australia

The Uniting Church in Australia (UCA) was founded on 22 June 1977, when most congregations of the Methodist Church of Australasia, about two-thirds of the Presbyterian Church of Australia and almost all the churches of the Congregational Union of Australia united under the Basis of Union. According to the church, it had 243,000 members in 2018. In the 2016 census, about 870,200 Australians identified with the church; in the 2011 census, the figure was 1,065,796. The UCA is Australia's third-largest Christian denomination, behind the Catholic and the Anglican Churches. There are around 2,000 UCA congregations, and 2001 National Church Life Survey (NCLS) research indicated that average weekly attendance was about 10 per cent of census figures.

Rola may refer to:

Gregory III Laham

Gregory III Laham, B.S., Emeritus Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, of Alexandria and Jerusalem, is the former spiritual leader of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church. He was elected on November 29, 2000, succeeding Patriarch Maximos V Hakim. He retired on May 6, 2017.

Henry Harris Jessup

Henry Harris Jessup (1832–1910) was an American Presbyterian missionary and author who devoted his distinguished career to evangelical missionary work in Syria.

Michel Suleiman

Michel Sleiman is a Lebanese Maronite Christian politician who served as President of Lebanon from 2008 to 2014. Before becoming president, he served as commander of the Lebanese Armed Forces from 1998 to 2008.

LGBT clergy in Christianity Christian clergy who are LGBT

The ordination of lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or transgender (LGBT) clergy who are open about their sexuality, are sexually active if lesbian, gay, or bisexual, or are in committed same-sex relationships is a debated practice within some contemporary Christian Church communities.

Ordination of women in the Anglican Communion Women becoming Anglican clergy

The ordination of women in the Anglican Communion has been increasingly common in certain provinces since the 1970s. Several provinces, however, and certain dioceses within otherwise ordaining provinces, continue to ordain only men. Disputes over the ordination of women have contributed to the establishment and growth of progressive tendencies, such the Anglican realignment and Continuing Anglican movements.

Ordination of women in Protestant denominations

Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart as clergy to perform various religious rites and ceremonies such as celebrating the sacraments. The process and ceremonies of ordination varies by denomination. One who is in preparation for, or who is undergoing the process of ordination is sometimes called an ordinand. The liturgy used at an ordination is sometimes referred to as an ordinal.

Antoun (Khouri) of Miami and the Southeast was a diocesan bishop of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America.

John X of Antioch

Patriarch John X is primate of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All The East.

Joseph Al-Zehlaoui

Archbishop Joseph is the Metropolitan of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America after the Holy Synod of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East elected him as metropolitan at its meeting on July 3, 2014 at the Our Lady of Balamand Patriarchal Monastery in Northern Lebanon following the death of Metropolitan Philip Saliba. From September 12, 2004 to his election as Metropolitan in 2014, Joseph Al Zehlaoui was the first and only bishop of the Holy Diocese of Los Angeles and the West for the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America.

Christianity and transgender people Attitude of Christianity to gender identity and transgender people

Within Christianity there are a variety of views on the issues of gender identity and transgender people. The many Christian denominations vary in their position, ranging from condemning transgender acts as sinful, to remaining divided on the issue, to seeing it as morally acceptable. Even within a denomination, individuals and groups may hold different views. Furthermore, not all members of a denomination necessarily support their church's views on transgender identities.

Theodosius VI (Abourjaily) of Antioch was Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch from 1958 to 1970.

This is a timeline of women in religion. See also: Timeline of women in religion in the United States.

April Ulring Larson is an American pastor and bishop. In 1992, she became the first woman to be elected to serve as a bishop by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).

References

  1. ↑ George Sabra (2009). Truth and Service: A History of the Near East School of Theology. Librairie Antoine. p. 240. ISBN   978-9953-73-352-4.
  2. 1 2 "Tripoli". en.synod-sl.org. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
  3. ↑ "Syrian pastor visa decision reversed, says Church of Scotland". BBC News. 16 May 2017. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
  4. 1 2 Nada Homsi (16 April 2017). "How Rola Sleiman became the first Arab female pastor". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
  5. ↑ "Pastor Rola Sleiman: Breaking Boundaries and Bread". Al-Akhbar. 1 June 2012. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
  6. ↑ Halim Shebaya (3 March 2017). "Arab World's First Ordained Female Pastor is Historic". HuffPost. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
  7. ↑ "Not a Road of Roses" (PDF). World Mission Council. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
  8. ↑ "Trailblazing Syrian minister denied entry to UK". Church of Scotland. 15 May 2017. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
  9. ↑ "Rola Sleiman misses Assembly after visa problem". BBC News. 19 May 2017. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.