Helping the church share God's joy
“Let us go now to Bethlehem and see
this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.”
(Luke 2:15)
A striking
mural marks the entrance way inside the Bethlehem Bible College in Palestine.
It shows the shepherds in the fields with the angel announcing the birth of the
baby Jesus.
“Don’t be
afraid,” the angel says in Luke 2, “For I am bringing you good news of great
joy for all the people.”
Dr. Alex
Awad tells our group of leaders from Mennonite Church USA that the college was
started 35 years ago because the Palestinian churches were sending young
leaders outside the country for training and many of them never came back.
Mennonite organizations, including Mennonite Central Committee, have been
strong supporters of the college.
Dr. Awad is
urging church leaders to come and see what has happened in Palestine since
1948. “What we should have learned from the Holocaust,” he says, “Is not to inflict injustice on another group of people, but to ensure
justice for all people.”
The
impact of Christian Zionism and the unbridled support of the state of Israel in
the Christian evangelical community in North America has had a profoundly
impacted the Christian church in Palestine. “We don’t want the church to die in
the place where the church was born,” Dr. Awad tells us.
Today,
60,000 Arab Christians remain in Palestine and Israel, along with 15,000
messianic Jews and thousands of other immigrant Christians. Every denomination
wants a congregation in the Holy Land, says Dr. Awad, but the Mennonites and
Methodists have chosen instead to support existing churches.
The
war and occupation has resulted in many Christians leaving Palestine. “Under
the current economic and political situation, it is impossible to keep
Christians in Palestine,” Dr. Awad said.
But
there is hope. Dr. Awad believes that Christian Zionism is losing ground among
evangelical Christians around the world. He believes that more Christians are
coming to understand that the New Testament has brought a new covenant where
God’s love through Jesus is not restricted to a particular people in a
particular place but is extended to all people in all places for all time.
This
is an enlargement theology, he says. Everyone has equal access to God’s promises
in the New Testament, including Palestinian Christians.
“To you is
born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord,” the
angel told the shepherds. How can the church in North America be part of this
good news for churches in Palestine as they share God’s joy with others?
Ron Byler is executive director of
Mennonite Central Committee U.S.
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