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Peace Not Walls

Churches for Middle East Peace Welcomes PLO Re-Commitment to Peace Negotiations, Condemns Anti-Semitic Remarks

Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP)’s executive director, Rev. Dr. Mae Elise Cannon, attended the Palestine National Council convention this week, including Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas’ speech. CMEP welcomes the commitment of the PLO to peace negotiations, but...

Right of Refugees, Right to Demonstrate Peacefully, Right to Dignity: A Statement of US Churches and Christian Agencies on Gaza

Right of Refugees, Right to Demonstrate Peacefully, Right to Dignity A Statement of US Churches and Christian Agencies on Gaza April 12, 2018 Friday, March 30, thousands of Palestinians participated in the first of several weeks of planned nonviolent demonstrations in...

ELCA signs letter to President Trump about UNRWA funding

On February 6, 2018 the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) joined thirteen other Christian denominations and organizations concerned about and working in the Middle East in signing a letter to President Trump “to express our dismay at the recent...

Called to be a daily peacemaker

Saleem Moussa Anfous is a member of the Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem, a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land.  In September 2017 he participated in the Lutheran World Federation’s first interfaith “Peace Messengers Training”. ...

The Rev. Ibrahim Azar Consecrated Bishop of the ELCJHL

In Jerusalem on January 12, 2018 the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land consecrated and installed The Rev. Sani Ibrahim Charlie “Barhoum” Azar as its fourth Bishop in the church’s history. Under the guidance of the Scripture,...

Bishop Younan Honored for 42 Years of Service to the ELCJHL

Bethlehem, 10 January 2018 – Glowing tributes of the foundation that Bishop Younan established at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land (ELCJHL) matched the glow of friends, family, Jerusalem and international leaders, and dignitaries from Palestine...

ELCA presiding bishop, Heads of Churches in Holy Land and LWF respond to decision to move U.S. Embassy in Israel

The Rev. Elizabeth A. Eaton, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), has issued this statement in response to the decision to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. In an open letter...

ELCA Presiding Bishop Eaton joins Bishop Younan and others in the Holy Land in efforts toward peace in the Middle East

The Rev. Elizabeth A. Eaton, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), has joined members of the National Interreligious Leadership Initiative for Peace in the Middle East in a letter to President Trump. The letter encourages the...

Heads of Churches in Jerusalem Statement on Al Aqsa Mosque Compound (Haram AlSharif)

The recent escalation in violence in Jerusalem is centered around access to the Al Aqsa Mosque compound (Haram AlSharif). Israel has placed metal detectors at the entrances to the compound following the killing of two Israeli Druze policeman by three...

Ecumenical Letter to the President Marking 50 Year Israeli Occupation

Presiding Bishop Eaton is among 20 ecumenical leaders to sign a letter to President Trump on the 50 year Israeli occupation. The letter was organized by Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP) in connection with the CMEP Advocacy Summit now underway....