Seeking Justice and Peace
By: Dr. Peter Makari, Global Relations Minister, Middle East and Europe – Global Ministries of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and United Church of Christ
Board Member of CMEP
This piece was written in March of 2025.
The United Church of Christ and Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) both have long histories of mission in the Middle East. The first two Congregational (one historical strand of what is today the UCC) missionaries to the Middle East were Rev. Pliny Fisk and Rev. Levi Parsons, who departed Boston in 1819. The UCC’s mission board, then called the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, was established in 1810 and was the first North American mission board. Dr. William Barclay was the first Disciples missionary to the region, leaving with his wife Julia for Jerusalem in 1851, respectively.
Our own history is, of course, short in the history of Christianity, especially in the region. And the first Christian missionaries were not North Americans, but rather Peter and Thomas, Mark, Paul, and Barnabas among others, who went out from first century Palestine to today’s Iraq, Iran, and India, Egypt, Syria and Turkey, and Greece and Rome.
For nearly 30 years, the UCC and Disciples have shared together in mission around the world through Global Ministries, our common mission board, even if our churches’ histories of mission are much longer. We understand our place in God’s mission as one of mutuality and solidarity – strengthened by God and accompanying partners around the world, including in the Middle East – joining with our partners to work for justice, reconciliation, and peace. Global Ministries seeks to accompany UCC and Disciples partners, and they accompany us in times of joy and in times of challenge, such as our accompaniment of Armenians during the Armenian Genocide a little over a century ago. In the Middle East, our partners are present in many countries, including Morocco, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Turkey, as well as Palestine and Israel.
In Palestine and Israel, our partners are primarily Palestinian Christian churches, ecumenical bodies, and agencies, such as the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land, the Middle East Council of Churches’ (MECC) Department of Service to Palestinian Refugees (DSPR), the Palestinian YMCA and YWCA, Kairos Palestine, Dar al-Kalima University, Rawdat el-Zuhur primary school, and the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center. We also participate the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel. In addition, we partner with B’Tselem: The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories.
In our effort to prioritize decolonization, we seek to center the voices of our partners, and believe that our partnerships provide access to perspectives not normally available through mainstream media. Such continued engagement certainly predates the war of the past 17 months, and has also meant support for and solidarity with our partners which have been responding in various heroic ways to Israel’s war on the Palestinian people of Gaza and the West Bank, as well as in Lebanon. It has also informed our public witness and awareness raising in the US. We have actively participated in the numerous statements by Churches for Middle East Peace since Oct. 7, 2023, and highlighted them for our churches, believing that the collective ecumenical voice is essential. Collectively, we have:
- condemned of Hamas’ aggression on Oct. 7;
- consistently called for the immediate release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners and detainees;
- called for a permanent ceasefire, de-escalation and restraint by all parties;
- urged that Palestinians in Gaza have access to safe spaces such as UN schools, hospitals, churches, mosques, and other such places;
- called for sufficient humanitarian aid to be allowed into Gaza and distributed safely;
- urged the US to continue to provide full support for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA);
- called on the United States not to provide additional military aid or assistance to Israel, consistent with US and international laws, including upholding obligations under the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide;
- supported international diplomatic efforts to end the war and seek a resolution that addresses root causes to focus on a long-term, durable, and lasting peace with justice that respects the equality, dignity, and rights of all people.
We have also spoken individually, with the leadership of the United Church of Christ and Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), speaking publicly both separately and together. Our two churches’ leaders have named Israel’s aggression of the past 17 months as genocide, and have called for accountability to international law, the International Court of Justice, and the International Criminal Court. Our leaders have reiterated the need to dismantle Israel’s apartheid system of laws and policies that have sustained systemic violence against Palestinians for decades. Our leaders have acknowledged that the church has been complicit with theologies that justify violence and emphasize privilege; and have confessed that more must be done to end the genocide and to seek peace with justice.
We have recently commemorated the season of Lent and Easter. In those days, our attention turned once again to Jerusalem, where the passion, crucifixion, death, burial, and resurrection of Christ took place, according to our tradition. We are especially cognizant again this year that Jerusalem is a living, breathing city, with a rooted and historic – even if diminishing – Palestinian Christian community, living alongside their Palestinian Muslim neighbors who marked Ramadan last month as well, and Israeli Jews who celebrated Passover.
As we celebrated the hope of Christ’s resurrection, we could not look past the depth of pain of Holy Week, but we are encouraged to continue in our efforts to seek peace and justice. As the Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac preached in his “Easter Amidst a Genocide” reflection last year (reprinted in our book, Rooted in Faith and Justice: Christian Calls to Conscience & Cries for Peace in Palestine):
The cross is God’s solidarity with humanity in its pain and suffering, and God’s solidarity must become our solidarity. The followers of Jesus risk all to speak truth to power…. We must act, mobilize, pressure, lobby, hold powers and leaders accountable. As people of the resurrection, we must unsettle the Empire. Today, the land of the resurrection calls you to act in hope and love. Together we are committed to end this genocide. Together we are committed to work for truth and justice. We know we will prevail because al-maseeh qam. Christ is Risen. Amen.
About the Author: Peter E. Makari, Ph.D., serves as Executive for the Middle East and Europe with Global Ministries of the United Church of Christ and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). He earned his M.A. from the American University in Cairo and Ph.D. from New York University. He is the author of Conflict and Cooperation: Christian-Muslim Relations in Contemporary Egypt. Dr. Peter Makari sits on the board of Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP).
Please note any views or opinions contained in this devotional series are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP).