Questions from the Initial Flame

As I reflect on the beginnings of the Armenian Evangelical Church 180 years ago, I find myself asking: what questions do the lives of the founders—the 37 men and women who first became members of the Armenian Evangelical Church in 1846—ask us today?

To begin answering that question, I need to step into their world—their faith, values, priorities, and lifestyles.

Like the Apostle Paul, the Armenian Evangelical pioneers saw the Gospel as a treasure worth preserving, practicing, and propagating at any cost. What they once valued—social status, wealth, and comfort—became loss compared to the knowledge of Christ. These former priorities became weights that slowed their race.

In this light, their aim was faithful endurance in witness to Christ. The founders of the Armenian Evangelical movement ran with single-minded resolve even through severe opposition, sacrificing comfort, status, employment, businesses, and financial security. Their steadfast witness mirrored those who first carried the Gospel into a hostile world. They were ostracized, denied legal and social rights, dismissed from jobs, and saw their livelihoods destroyed—yet they did not turn aside.

What marked early Christians?

Sacrificial service has marked Christians throughout history. Glen Scrivener reflects on the response of believers to the lethal pandemic known as the Plague of Cyprian (249–262 AD). While the heathen deserted those who began to fall ill, “Most of our brother Christians showed unbounded love and loyalty, never sparing themselves and thinking only of one another. Heedless of danger, they took charge of the sick, attending to their every need and ministering to them in Christ, and with them departed this life serenely happy; for they were infected by others with the disease, drawing on themselves the sickness of their neighbors and cheerfully accepting their pains.”¹

How did this pattern continue among Armenian Evangelicals?

German historian Dr. Hilmar Kaiser writes extensively about the role of Armenian Evangelicals in the rescue efforts of Armenian Genocide survivors. He notes that “a second and much wider Evangelical relief network emerged around Reverend Hovhannes Eskijian of Aleppo’s Evangelical Emmanuel Church.”² Eskijian tirelessly rescued hundreds of children from deportation trains bound for Der Zor, ultimately dying of diphtheria contracted through his work. Kaiser also highlights Rev. Aharon Shirejian of Aleppo, who cared for countless orphaned children—providing food, education, vocational training, and even arranging suitable life partners—embodying Paul’s words, “poor, yet making many rich.”³

Referring to Evangelical young pastors, graduates of the Marash seminary, Kaiser writes that they “formed the backbone of the relief work in many places.”⁴ He further notes that “the relief network at Hama was independently organized by Evangelical preachers Dikran Koundakdjian, Haroutiun Nohoudian, and Kaspar Haidostian,”⁵ who played an important role in organizing the deportee camp; all three were later arrested and imprisoned.

Armenian Evangelicals carried forward the legacy of sacrificial service that has marked Christians throughout history.

How did their sacrificial services influence the dominant Armenian culture?

During its early decades, Christianity had a powerful transformative influence on the prevailing culture—norms, values and practices. In his book Dominion: The Making of the Western Mind, historian Tom Holland writes extensively about the transformation that Christianity ushered into Roman culture. His assertions can be summarized in the following three points:

• Pre-Christian societies admired power, strength, hierarchy, and domination.

• Christianity inverted these values by elevating the weak, the poor, the suffering, and the marginalized.

• The cross—once a symbol of the strong oppressing the weak—was, within three centuries, redefined by Christians as the emblem of the strong sacrificially serving the weak.

In his book The Benefits and Contributions of The Armenian Evangelical Church to the Armenian Nation, Rev. Vahan Tootikian shows how the Armenian Evangelical movement positively influenced the Armenian people through the revival of spiritual values, the popularization of the Bible, advances in education and Christian formation, and the development of modern Armenian language and literature, along with its contributions to mission and philanthropy. He highlights as one of its greatest contributions its distinctive Christian lifestyle—believers distinguishable not only in conduct, but in faith and service—demonstrating to their Armenian Apostolic compatriots that faith is a way of life.

Armenian Evangelicals were not shaped by the prevailing culture; rather, they influenced and enriched it. Over the past 180 years, through their exemplary lifestyles, they have imitated the early Christians by exerting a positive influence on the religious and cultural mindset and practices of the Armenian people.

What questions do the lives of the founders ask us today?”

Today, we run the race of faith in North America, carrying the baton handed down to us by the founders, who now, as part of the great cloud of witnesses, sit in the stands cheering us on.

Their presence speaks louder than their cheers. Their lives and legacy challenge us with questions like:

• How does our North American value system compare with that of the pioneers?

• How have we influenced the North American culture around us?

• How has the North American culture influenced our mind and lifestyle?

• What weights are slowing us down in the race set before us?

• What are we holding on to that our pioneers would have willingly laid aside?

The pioneers exhort us to fix “our eyes on Jesus…For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame…” so that we do not grow weary and lose heart.⁶