21.09.2026

‘Our peoples and communities face an existential crisis’ – Diocese of Jerusalem’s Urgent Message to the World

Members of our partner diocese, The Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, gathered in Amman, Jordan, for their Diocesan Majma (Synod) last week. Yesterday (Sunday September 20) the Majma issued a statement saying that their people and communities are facing “an existential crisis that demands the urgent attention of the Church and the international community”. You can read their communique below. The Archbishop of Dublin attended the Majma and will share a reflection on our website.

COMMUNIQUÉ OF THE DIOCESAN MAJMA OF THE EPISCOPAL DIOCESE OF JERUSALEM

Amman, Jordan — September 2026

 

The Diocesan Majma of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, meeting in Amman, Jordan, gathers at a crucial moment in the life of our region. After years marked by devastating war, destruction, displacement, and profound human suffering – including some of the gravest destruction experienced by any part of our Diocese in living memory – our peoples and communities face an existential crisis that demands the urgent attention of the Church and the international community.

The theme of our Majma, “The Cross of Christ: Power and Life”, reminds us that injustice must give way and that a fuller life must be made manifest in the lives of peoples. Suffering is followed by glory, and darkness by the light of truth and life. Among the principal matters considered and discussed was the subject of vocations, ministries, and spiritual gifts within the Church. The Majma discussed the permanent diaconate, the policy for the admission of theological students (postulants), and other matters concerning Christian ministry in the Anglican Church in our beloved Middle East.

 

We reaffirm a fundamental truth: this is the region where Christianity was born, and we belong to some of the oldest continuous Christian communities in the world. For centuries, Christians have been an integral part of the peoples, cultures, societies, and nations of the Middle East. We cherish this heritage and remain firmly committed to our Christian witness and presence in the lands where our faith first took root.

We are deeply concerned by the realities being imposed upon the Palestinian people, including forcible displacement, occupation, settlement expansion and settler violence, as well as by the destruction and continuing insecurity suffered by communities in Syria and Lebanon as a result of Israeli attacks, particularly upon villages in the south.

We renew our steadfast solidarity with the Palestinian people everywhere, especially in the Gaza Strip, and reaffirm our continuing ministry through the Ahli Arab Hospital of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem. We also stand alongside our parishes and communities throughout the West Bank, whose lives have been profoundly affected by the events and policies of recent years.

In this context, we welcome the decision adopted by the General Synod of the Church of England affirming solidarity with Palestinian Christians and a commitment to hear their experiences. We also welcome the growing attention within the churches to the ethical dimensions of their economic and institutional relationships wherever there may be complicity in violations of human rights or international law.

We commend churches throughout the Anglican Communion and the wider ecumenical family that seek to align their witness and institutional practices with the principles of human rights, justice, dignity, and international law. We encourage all churches to accompany their prayers with tangible actions that contribute to the achievement of a just and lasting peace and uphold the dignity and security of all peoples.

We welcome the recognition by the United Kingdom, alongside other members of the international community, of the State of Palestine and the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to self–determination. We also welcome international measures addressing illegal settlement expansion and settler violence, and we reaffirm the importance of international law as the framework through which the rights and dignity of all peoples must be protected.

At a time when the Christian presence in the land of Christ faces grave challenges, our determination to remain, serve and bear witness grows ever stronger. Through our parishes, hospitals, schools, rehabilitation centres and other institutions across all the countries of our Diocese, we will continue to serve all members of our communities without discrimination. Through our pastoral ministry, we will continue to accompany our people in their suffering and sustain them in hope. We will keep hope alive, for hope is at the heart of our Christian calling and is made manifest through the Empty Tomb at the heart of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the city of Jerusalem, our Spiritual Capital. We call for Jerusalem to remain a city accessible to all its peoples and to pilgrims of all faiths. We call for the preservation of the historic Status Quo governing Holy Places and for an end to actions that threaten it. We also call for an end to hate speech, discrimination, incitement, harassment, and attacks directed against Christians and other religious communities.

From Jerusalem, the Holy City sacred to all faiths, we call upon all people to turn away from the paths of hatred, division, dehumanisation, and violence.

We call for a just and lasting peace founded upon justice, equality, freedom, dignity and security for all. We continue to support a two–state solution on the 1967 borders enabling Palestinians and Israelis to live side by side in peace and security, with the Palestinian people exercising their right to self–determination and statehood and with the rights and security of all protected.

We look towards a future in which all the peoples of our region are free from fear and are able to build their lives in freedom, security, and dignity.

This is a calling that people of faith can embrace together. It requires courage, truth, justice, repentance, reconciliation, and a renewed commitment to the sanctity of every human life.

The Majma expresses its profound appreciation for the role of His Majesty King Abdullah II ibn Al Hussein, King of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, in safeguarding the Christian presence in the Kingdom and supporting the Christian presence throughout the Holy Land. We particularly value His Majesty’s Hashemite Custodianship of the Muslim and Christian Holy Sites in Jerusalem and his continued defence of their historic character and Status Quo.

We look forward to working together with the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and with churches throughout the world in preparation for the two thousandth anniversary of the Baptism of Our Lord Jesus Christ in 2030. This historic occasion offers Christians everywhere an opportunity to return, spiritually and physically, to the site of Christ’s Baptism (Al–Maghtas), to renew their baptismal calling, and to pray and work together for reconciliation, unity, justice and peace.

As the Diocesan Majma of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, gathered in Amman, the place of lavish hospitality, in 2026, we renew our commitment to this path: to remain steadfast in our land, to serve our people, to defend human dignity, to pursue justice, to work for reconciliation, and to bear faithful witness to the hope and peace of Christ.

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.” (Matthew 5:9)