The Near East school of Theology is an interdenominational protestant Seminary. The majority of the students in Near East School of Theology come from four Protestant denominations: Lutheran, Anglican, Presbyterian Arab and Armenian Evangelica

These denomination can be found all over the Middle East: Lutherans mainly come from Jordan and Palestine, Anglicans from Jordan, Israel, Palestine and Lebanon, Presbyterian Arabs from Lebanon and Syria, Armenians  from Syria and Lebanon (though recently it has been observed  that there were some people of this denomination also from Iran and Armenia.) Sometimes the seminary  also hosts  people from non-protestant churches. For example, last year there was an Armenian orthodox priest in residence. Moreover, also students from East Africa attend the school, since scholarships are offered to them; most of the eastern Africa students come from South Sudan and Kenya. 

At the Near East School of Theology, a large amount of activities are provided: training for people in order to do ministry work in the church,  advanced theological studies, dialogue with Muslims, publishing theological books, and preaching. They have a well-furnished library which is unique in the Middle East. 

It is significant to emphasize that if on one hand the purpose of the school is teaching people about Christianity, on the other hand, a strong respect of other religions is considered fundamental. They don’t impose the Christian religion on people, they don’t promote Christianity in the streets, and they don’t meet Muslims in order to proselytize  them. 

The Near East School of Theology has a Dutch partner called “Reformed Mission League” that supports them financially and materially by sending books and professors to the school, and by exchanging visits. 

At the moment the number of students is  down: there are 40 students in the school. The problem is that the amount of people graduating is higher than the amount of people who enroll at the school. Consequently, there is no place for full time professors, most of them are doing part time teaching  while completing their PhDs. Currently there are 7 professors whose salary is provided by Holland. 

As a result of immigration, many churches have been closed down, and the numbers of youths in the churches have been reduced. For these reasons, less graduated students from seminary are needed.Their wish for the future is to find new ways to serve the churches: not only by instituting new courses, but also by setting up a research center for Christian-Muslim dialogue and, if possible, also a Jewish-Christian dialogue center. This could be helpful considering that frustration among Christians is rising because of their diminishing presence  in the Middle East, which is something they are worried about. 

 Sūq al-Gharb (Western Market) was the major frontline of the entrance of the Eastern Christian area. The biggest attack was in October 1990 (the final  year of Lebanese civil war) when Syrian  usage of planes and tanks  could manage to enter the area of Sūq al-Gharb.

 On that occasion, 30 people were  slaughtered by Syrian attackers. As a result, Lebanese civilians entered into battle with the them. During the battle, 400 Syrian civilians and 100 Lebanese were killed in Kaḥāla  area. Everything was destroyed, and the incident  can be  considered  a Christian massacre in Lebanon. 

 At the moment, Christians are rebuilding the area, since they don’t want to leave the place.  Most of them were also living there during the war. The people who were displaced traveled around the country; some of them died, while others got married abroad. People fled away instead of  supporting the Syrian force. In comparison to the Christian villages, the number of Muslims villages destroyed are few.