12/08/2021 Palestine (International Christian Concern) – A new conference took place in Bethlehem, the Conference of the Assembly of Christian Associations in Palestine, held to encourage Palestinians to remain in their homelands and pursue their faith and its workings there. The new assembly and conference united under the slogan “native and rooted in this land” and included social, cultural and economic Palestinian organizations.
Several speakers shared about the need to encourage young Christian Palestinians to stay in Palestine and pursue social and political work to alleviate the pain of the Palestinian people. Keynote speaker, Archbishop Michel Sabbah, Patriarch Emeritus of Jerusalem of the Latins, spoke of Christian love. He said, “living this love among us Christians never leads to closing up in ourselves and going ‘against’ others… Love between Christians always ‘overflows’ and reaches all others: Jews, Muslims, and all our companions on the journey.” Other attendees included the mayor of Bethlehem, the Jerusalem Inter-Church Centre of the Ecumenical Council of Churches, and the Lutheran Church.
The conference concluded with a call to the Palestinian National Authority to safeguard its citizens and laws that encourage the development of school programming inclusive of Christian history and the Palestinian people.
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