Stand for Life, Hope, and Promise through Project AGAPE

The majesty of Mt. Ararat rises just beyond the eastern edge of Armenia. From Scripture, we know it as a place of hope and a sign of God’s providence, this grounding place for the cocoon of life that was Noah’s ark. This is the historical home place of Armenia, the oldest of Christian nations.

Twenty-six years ago, as a war waged in Armenia following an attack by its neighbor Azerbaijan, in the middle of the violence, Reverends Charles Davis, Sam Dixon, and others heard God’s calling to respond to some of the most vulnerable and violated of God’s children. Following a new attack by Azerbaijan, war is now raging again.

For twenty-six years, through Project AGAPE, the North Carolina and Western North Carolina conferences have been partners in ministry in Armenia. In the Bedzor Region of Nagorno-Karabakh, Artsakh, an area devastated by violence during the first war, we have continued to claim God’s promise and to proclaim life.

Through Project AGAPE, together with the Armenian people, we have rebuilt bombed hospitals, built schools, refurbished homes destroyed by war, created agricultural sustainability, developed livable-wage jobs, resettled Christian Syrian refugees fleeing from the Syrian war, and imagined new life and new possibilities.

All such life is now in jeopardy. The war is waging again, and God’s children are dying. So, we ask that you once again stand for life and hope and promise through Project AGAPE.

We ask that you pray for the Armenian people and then place your name with Bishop Hope Morgan Ward calling for our national leaders to exercise all diplomatic actions to end this violence. We ask you to join with us and remember Armenia’s people in this grounding place of life; that is God’s promise to all.

Steve Taylor
Executive Director of Connectional Ministries

Dear Secretary Pompeo,

As Bishop of the North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church, deeply engaged in ministry with the people of Nogoro-Karabach, I urge you to act now to protect the people of the region. Armenia is the oldest Christian nation in the world.

War crimes are being committed by Azerbaijan and its Turkish/ISIS allies against Armenian civilians. As Christian citizens of the United States, we demand that the United States:

1. Formally recognize the independence of the Artsakh Republic – based on history, law, humanitarian principles, and the right to remedial secession.

2. Forcefully and unequivocally condemn Azerbaijan and its Turkish/ISIS allies for their unprovoked attack and ongoing brutal assault on Artsakh and Armenia.

3. Immediately cut off all U.S. military assistance to the government of Azerbaijan, fully enforcing Section 907 of the FREEDOM Support Act.

4. Enforce Global Magnitsky Sanctions against the Erdogan and Aliyev governments for documented war crimes against Armenians in Artsakh.

Thank you for your attention to these urgent concerns and for reporting on the specific steps you are taking to save Armenian lives.

Bishop Hope Morgan Ward

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