Jerusalem
and the Middle East
Church Association

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Treasurer's notes

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GAFCON at St George's Jerusalem

The following address, delivered by Bishop Suheil Dawani of Jerusalem to the Gafcon bishops refers to the history of the diocese. We publish it in full as many readers may not know the background he outlines. He also speaks of the tradition of the Lambeth Conference, which many of the Gafcon bishops refused to attend.

John 17 vv22-23 ‘that they may be one, even as we are one’ A warm welcome to our beautiful Cathedral built in 1898 and dedicated to St. George the Martyr, whom Palestinian Christians consider to be their Patron Saint - his mother was from Lydda and his body was buried in the sacred soil of the Holy Land.

The Anglican Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East sees our Lord’s high priestly prayer for the mission of the Church “that the world may know that thou hast sent me” as the very essence of our life and mission. As a biblically rooted people—a people of the Book—this passage from scripture has been the hallmark of our life and mission as an Anglican family here since 1841 as we have faithfully born witness to the gospel in this Holy Land, having been given the mantle to represent and speak for the Anglican Communion in the Holy City as partners and conciliators with the historic Oriental and Armenian Churches of the East, with our sister Lutheran Church, as the Custodian of the Holy Places in the Franciscan Order since the 1840s, and through our warm and active relationship with the Latin Patriachate that returned to the Holy City in the 1890s.

The greatest gift that Anglicanism has offered to the Middle East in the last one hundred and sixty seven years and indeed today is a ministry of reconciliation, the same mission given to the disciples in the Johannine imperative “that they may he one even as we are one” As a Christian community, we are a voice of moderation in a region of turmoil. We work with humility and in a spirit of servanthood to Him who died on the Cross to build and strengthen relationships among Christians, Moslems, and Jews and to work together with other Christian bodies here. We do so, as our Lord reminds us in St. John’s gospel, that “we may have life and have it abundantly”.

We are a people who know what it is to live faithfully and with humility in a pluralistic society, facing many challenges, without losing our hold on the biblical faith “once delivered to the Saints.” In a region marked by division and conflict we work for peace and unity. We do so not for the sake of appearance but so that the image of the one God, the God of peace, may be revealed to the world.

From the dawn of Christianity with the first Pentecost, our indigenous Arab Christian community has been rooted here in this Holy Land and in this, the “City of Peace.” We remain a living, vibrant and serving Christian community. The witness and mission of the Church here is carried out through the ministry of our thirty-seven institutions in the fields of health, education, and rehabilitation in which we serve the community at large. Our work here is the very presence of Christ among the needy, offered without differentiation based on religion, gender, or nationality.

In this diocese, we regard our relationships across the Anglican Communion as a crucial network of bridges on the international scene that bring together Anglicans of 164 countries and 38 provinces worldwide, all of which support and strengthen our witness and mission. We are grateful for our relationships across the breadth of the Anglican Communion, and we have the utmost respect for the Archbishop of Canterbury in his role as our spiritual leader.

I look forward to the Lambeth Conference which is so important to our ongoing life together and for the mission of the Church. Since its inception in 1867, the Lambeth Conference has been the setting for invaluable dialogue about many aspects of our Church’s life, particularly in relation to the changes in the world around us. Together, we have dialogued at Lambeth about war and peace, about industrialization and ecumenism, about poverty and disease, about the faith and order of the Church, and about how together we can overcome the injustices of our world. Throughout its history, the Lambeth Conference has dealt with many difficult issues. At times these issues looked as if they might divide us, but they did not because we persevered in prayer and fellowship, together, with respect and patience.

It is in that same spirit that I welcome you here to this Cathedral Church.

The very stones of this holy city of Jerusalem teach us patience and humility. This city has seen tragic events throughout the centuries, at times leveled to the ground, at times raised again to new life. We are on holy ground.

So all Christians must come here first and foremost as pilgrims – and I note that you say your coming here to Jerusalem is a “pilgrimage.” Pilgrims here do not bring decisions with them. They come here to seek prayerfully the decisions God wants them to make. And God will always surprise us. God has not finished with us or with our Church yet. God the Holy Spirit will lead us into all truth, and we who come here as pilgrims must be open to the Spirit’s leading, open to God’s surprising revelation to us.

I pray that as you meet in this holy place, you will all be open, in real humility, to the Spirit’s guidance and that you will continue here in a spirit of peace, reconciliation and goodwill. It is crucial to the Anglican witness here in Jerusalem and to the wider world that this is so. It is my fervent prayer that you will actively work for the peace of Jerusalem and for the peace of all the world. We must all seek God’s peace, which is beyond all understanding. I pray God’s blessing on you, on the Archbishop of Canterbury and on our Anglican Communion.”