Faculty Development Project

School: Arab Baptist Theological Seminary, Beirut, Lebanon

Faculty Member: Elie Haddad

Field of study: Biblical Studies; objective – Ph.D. in Biblical Studies

Program of Study: International Baptist Theological Seminary, Czech Rep

Length of Project: 5 years, beginning 2005

Current position: Provost-Elect, Arab Baptist Theological Seminary

Education completed to date: Masters of Theological Studies, Tyndale Seminary, Toronto, Canada

Church affiliation:

Middle East Baptist Church, Toronto, Canada

I am a Canadian, born and raised in Beirut, Lebanon, and have been living in Toronto, Canada, for the past fifteen years. I have been an Information Systems consultant with more than twenty years of experience in the business world. During my work, I enrolled in a Masters of Theological Studies (MTS) program at Tyndale Seminary in Toronto. I graduated in 2003 and am still
taking additional courses in preparation for further studies.

In addition to my career and education, I have been heavily involved in ministry in my local church, the Middle East Baptist Church, an Arabic language ministry, where I serve as a member of the pastoral team.
Elie and Mirelle Haddad

I have been thinking for quite a while of leaving my career to join a ministry team somewhere in Canada, possibly in a para-church organization. Going back to Lebanon was not a consideration for my wife and me. But, God\'s plan for us was different. I was invited to become the next Provost of the Arab Baptist Theological Seminary (ABTS) in Beirut, Lebanon. We accepted the call, and in July, 2004, I was appointed to become the next provost starting in the summer of 2005.

I have been interested in continuing my education, and now this new appointment requires me to pursue my doctoral studies. I plan to apply to the doctoral program of the International Baptist Theological Seminary in Prague. Their program of studies allows me to pursue my degree on a part-time basis with regular trips to Prague. This is an excellent program that provides a University of Wales degree without having to take a leave of absence from my new job at ABTS.

The focus of my studies will be somewhere between missiology and ecclesiology. I have been studying a lot about missional churches. I wrote my MTS final project on this topic, and our church in Toronto has gone through a major transformation and is on its way to becoming a true missional church. In my dissertation, I would like to exegete and wrestle with a couple of passages from Scripture that deal with the role of the church and servant leadership (possibly Ephesians 4:11-12 and Philippians 2:5-8). Then I would like to research how these passages and concepts were understood and applied in our part of the world during the early centuries. I would also like to discuss the impact of Islam on our understanding of church, of clergy, and of leadership. Finally, I would like my paper to become a manual on how to transform a local Lebanese or Arab church into a missional community. I do not want my doctoral work to be only an exercise in academics. My hope is that my work would end up challenging our churches\' status-quo and inciting them to consider a mission-based model of ministry.