“To look through the eyes of a Middle Eastern peasant community gives insight for centuries. This was his great mission, the burden of his scholarship, the passion of his life.”
In 40 years spent as a professor of New Testament Studies in Egypt, Lebanon, Jerusalem, and Cyprus, and in his formal retirement in the U.S., Kenneth E. Bailey’s primary focus was to lift up the witness of the Church of the Middle East from which Scripture hails and the Word of God was revealed. Sharing this vision with world Christianity and particularly with the Western Church was Bailey’s consuming passion.
Both FoMENTS and the CMEC (Center for Middle Eastern Christianity) at the Evangelical Theological Seminary in Cairo (ETSC) were established to further Middle Eastern Christian scholarship and bring to international attention the largely unknown writings of Middle Eastern Christian scholars of earlier centuries. Since Bailey’s death in 2016, both FoMENTS and the CMEC have devoted themselves to that calling.
Many, if not most of you may be aware that in late March 2025 the PCUSA disbanded much of its international mission efforts and abolished the positions of most of its missionaries on the ground (save for a small number of ecumenical liaison posts worldwide), thus abruptly eradicating 200+ years of national and global mission service in the fields of church relations, education, evangelism, and health care. This has left partner churches and organizations in upheaval and hit the Evangelical Theological Seminary in Cairo (a Presbyterian school) particularly hard, as it was told mid-semester that the three faculty positions the PCUSA had been funding were terminated. This abrupt and difficult situation has left the ETSC with a considerable challenge.
As it had long been the intention of FoMENTS to fund a Chair of New Testament Studies at ETSC to be named the Kenneth E. Bailey Chair, the Board, after much thought, prayer, and discussion, senses that the best way to honor and further the commitment to upholding Middle Eastern Christianity and scholarship, and to assist the seminary in a highly practical manner at this critical juncture, is to begin a fundraising effort to endow the Chair beginning in September 2026. To that end, we are appealing to those in the U.S., Egypt, and elsewhere who are interested, and to invite others who may be interested, in contributing to this effort. It is the profound hope and prayer of the Board that the establishment of this Chair will enable the vision of FoMENTS and the CMEC to continue and flourish, and also to express, as long-time members of the PCUSA, that the denomination’s recent actions are a serious departure from its commitment to the mission of the Church as the central focus of the Gospel.
Kenneth E. and Ethel J. Bailey spent four decades in the Middle East, sent as mission personnel by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), and were profoundly grateful always to the denomination for making their life work possible. They never forgot the fact that people across the denomination and in other mainline denominations in the U.S. and elsewhere made their assignment a reality with their prayers and financial support.
In a time of increasing global unrest and ever greater divisions, the denomination’s recent actions are short-sighted, puzzling, and regrettable. As the Middle East, unfortunately, is all too often presented in various media as a perennial war zone, the ongoing commitment of FoMENTS and the CMEC is to lift up the place God chose as a platform for the salvation of the world and to shed further light on the richness of the Scriptures.
We invite you to contribute generously to the establishment of the Bailey Chair of New Testament Studies at the Evangelical Theological Seminary in Cairo, Egypt. By making a pledge, you will be uniting with FoMENTS and the Presbytery of Shenango to make this permanently endowed Chair a landmark for the Cairo Seminary and a footstep that will inspire further endowed Chairs.
Details for this initiative are as follows:
The cost of an endowed Chair at the ETSC in Cairo is upwards of $400,000. It is anticipated that funds raised for the Chair will be managed over the long term by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Foundation.
FoMENTS and its Board of Directors have pledged $185,000, while the Presbytery of Shenango, which is partnering with FoMENTS, has offered a leadership pledge of $50,000.
FoMENTS is asking friends in the U.S. to help complete the funding of the endowed Chair. Please download this pledge card for sending a donation.
Plans are also being made for a trip to the ETSC in Cairo for the inauguration of the Chair — the first endowed Chair at ETSC. Sightseeing and other interests in greater Cairo will be included. The dates of the trip are planned for late summer 2026. Further information will be provided by FoMENTS in the near future.