On 26 July a court hearing regarding the building used by the Union Church of Tripoli was adjourned until 23 August. Christians in Libya request continued prayer as an order of eviction from the current premises seems immanent.
The Landlord has indicated interest in selling the building to the church, but that is far beyond the means of the church.
The Union Church was established by expatriate Christians in 1962. It is one of five denominations recognised by the government. In 1970 the church rented land in Tripoli and erected buildings on it. That land was expropriated by the former Gaddafi regime.
The church then rented a building for worship in Tripoli from the government, on land that had been expropriated from others. For more than 50 years the Church has been using this building, which is also used by three other Protestant multi-national churches.
Since the demise of the former regime in 2011, a governmental committee has returned a great number of expropriated properties to their original owners. Recently, heirs of the original owner of the buildings used by the Union Church had retained ownership. They have filed a court case for a speedy eviction. The Union Church was informed of the case last December. The church expects to be evicted.
Prayer Points
The Union Church has asked for prayer:
- for the people and leadership of the different congregations who use the current church building to know the peace of God and the guidance of the Holy Spirit
- for the Union Church to be given a land and/or a building to replace the current premises; or that the Lord will provide for the church to buy property in the area of Tripoli where most of the congregants live
- that the Landlord would give the church time to find a new building before evicting it
- for an intermediate solution to be found for the congregation to hold worship services in case of eviction.
