Tomorrow I will be flying to Tel Aviv. For the next three weeks or so I will visiting my friends in the West Bank of the Occupied Territories, conducting more interviews and attending the Christ at the Checkpoint conference at Bethlehem Bible College.
I have wanted to participate in CATC for many years, but this is my first opportunity to be there. The theme this year is “Do Justice, Love Mercy: Christian Witness in Contexts of Oppression.”
The conference organizers describe themselves as:
a community of evangelical Christians who believe that following Jesus with integrity means that our lives are formed by our love for God, the teaching of the Bible and a fearless life of discipleship in the complexities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. We believe that one of the first hallmarks of discipleship is love for both our own community and for our enemies. We wish to find Jesus at the center of everything we do and to make his life our life. Which means finding courageous love for Palestinian Arabs and Israeli Jews alike.
If you think about it, I would appreciate your prayers while I am in Israel-Palestine: prayers for safety in the midst of the ongoing warfare,* and prayers that I will learn all that the Lord wants to teach me.
(*During Israel’s attacks on Gaza, violence has increased dramatically in the West Bank. Nearly 500 Palestinians have been killed by IDF soldiers and Jewish settlers, while almost 5,000 Palestinians have been imprisoned over the past six months– typically held without charges in ‘administrative detention.)
The Christ at the Checkpoint Manifesto
- The Kingdom of God has come. Evangelicals must reclaim the prophetic role in bringing peace, justice and reconciliation in Palestine and Israel.
- Reconciliation recognizes God’s image in one another.
- Racial ethnicity alone does not guarantee the benefits of the Abraham Covenant.
- The church in the land of the Holy One has borne witness to Christ since the days of Pentecost. It must be empowered to continue to be light and salt in the region, if there is to be hope in the midst of conflict.
- Any exclusive claim to land of the Bible in the name of God is not in line with the teaching of scripture.
- All forms of violence must be refuted unequivocally.
- Palestinian Christians must not lose the capacity for self-criticism if they wish to remain prophetic.
- There are real injustices taking place in the Palestinian territories, and the suffering of the Palestinian people can no longer be ignored. Any solution must respect the equity and rights of Israeli and Palestinian communities.
- For Palestinian Christians, the occupation is the core issue of the conflict.
- Any challenge to the injustices taking place in the Holy Land must be done in Christian love. Criticism of Israel and the occupation cannot be confused with anti-Semitism and the delegitimization of the State of Israel.
- Respectful dialogue between Palestinian and Messianic believers must continue. Though we may disagree on secondary matters of theology, the gospel of Jesus and his ethical teaching take precedence.
- Christians must understand the global context for the rise of extremist Islam. We challenge stereotyping of all faith forms that betray God’s commandment to love our neighbors and enemies.
