Holy Land (MNN) — Christians have left the Holy Land in droves for decades. In 1948, believers made up around 10 percent of the population, compared to less than two percent today.

Now, war threatens to silence the voice of those who remain. Yet Bethlehem Bible College is giving Palestinian Christians a platform.

President Jack Sara says, “To hear a voice like ours – instead of calling for hatred, instead of calling for revenge – calling for loving our enemies, I think our voice is credible. That’s why it’s very important to hear our perspective.”

A voice for peace

Many voices compete for attention in the Holy Land. Radicals call for violence. Others seek to rid the region of a Palestinian presence.

Palestinian Christians promote peace in the name of Jesus. “Our voice is very important because it speaks out of the pain and the hurt, yet it doesn’t speak in a hurtful way,” Sara says.

“[On] the contrary, most Palestinian Christians [are] talking about peace, about hope; they’re talking about trusting God.”

Believers know firsthand the price of peace. Yet they value harmony over revenge, trusting the Lord to be their Advocate.

(Photo courtesy of Bethlehem Bible College)

“The Palestinian Christian perspective is very important because we’re speaking out of experience: 80 years of being under occupation, losing our houses, becoming refugees,” Sara says.

“Being hurt, being treated unjustly by Israel, and sometimes even by the nations that misunderstand the whole context.”

Find your place in the story

Bethlehem Bible College equips Christian students with theological and practical training to proclaim peace in diverse settings. Learn more here.

“God has put us in a place to speak, not just against war and violence, but to be pro-peace and pro-ceasefires, and that the nations will talk,” Sara says.

Connect with the college here to learn how you can help.

“More than anything, we need prayers. Prayers for the peace of the Holy Land; pray for the peace of Jerusalem,” Sara says.

“It’s not just political peace, but it’s the peace of Jesus that transcends all understanding.”

 

Header photo is a representative stock photo courtesy of GHDYAN HOURANI/Pexels.