Remapping the Holy Land from the margins: how a Jordanian Evangelical church juggles the ‘local’ and the ‘global’ in the Syrian refugee response

Abstract

Mafraq, a Jordanian border town, has been profoundly reshaped by the influx of Syrian refugees since 2011. As aid agencies were initially absent from the humanitarian response, the gap was filled by faithbased organisations. In an academic and policy environment narrowly focused on security issues, Islamic charities have received considerable attention. However, little is known about the activities of Evangelical groups, let alone Arab Evangelicals, and how giving aid becomes embedded in wider religiopolitical projects.This article explores how the Mafraq Unity Church, an indigenous Evangelical congregation, balances its religious identity with an increasingly professionalized NGO "business". Drawing on fourteen months of ethnographic fieldwork in 2016/17, I argue that through tapping into resources from secular and non-secular transnational networks, the church appeals to two "international communities": the aid industries and Evangelical communities worldwide. The church's rootedness in northern Jordan speaks to the humanitarian sector's recent "localization of aid" agenda, while its benevolent activities are also framed as part of worldwide Evangelism. This allows Jordanian church officials to rhetorically shift Evangelism's centre of gravity to the Global South and move Mafraq closer to the demographic and historical centre of Christianity.

Expat, Local, and Refugee

“…In her ethnographic research on faith-based humanitarianism in Mafraq, Ann-Christin Wagner shows that Western volunteers oft en pair missionary objectives with aid delivery, attempting to "bridge the gap" between material aid and eternal salvation (2018: 105). While Fiddian-Qasmiyeh (2011) and Wagner (2018) show that localized faith-based humanitarianism is connected to a transnational network with a global mission, this article shows how humanitarian work itself is a transnational network that attempts to translate work in local chapters into a portfolio for a global career.…”

Giving Aid Inside the Home

“…Th e Mafraq Unity Church, an associate of a global Evangelical movement, was established in 1948. Today, it has turned into one of the main aid providers for Syrians (Wagner 2018). As for my own engagement with VIVA, it comes out of the specifi c challenges that I faced when preparing to undertake anthropological research in my fi eld site.…”