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![\"Esther](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/3788698_web1_bethlehem.jpg\")
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tEsther Epp-Tiessen (left) and Jan McIntyre in Bethlehem last month. (Supplied)<\/p>\n
Jan McIntyre, 68, a lifelong United Church member from Clearwater, in southwest Manitoba, and Esther Epp-Tiessen a member of Home St. Mennonite Church in Winnipeg, were among 300 people from 23 countries who attended the conference. The two returned home from the region last week after also participating in tours and visits in the area.<\/p>\n
\u201cI went because I wanted to see for myself the situation on the ground,\u201d said McIntyre, who is a member of United Network for Justice and Peace in Palestine\/Israel, a network of mainly members of the United Church of Canada that works for peace in Palestine and Israel.<\/p>\n
It was also important for McIntrye, who has visited the region five times and was last there in 2017, to get updated information on the situation facing Christians in the region.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted to hear about their situation, so my message is current and not dated,\u201d she said, adding \u201cI wanted to understand what my Christian brothers and sisters in Palestine are experiencing, and what they are calling us to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Epp-Tiessen went as a board member of the Canadian Friends of Sabeel, a national ecumenical response to the call of Palestinian Christians for solidarity, and the Mennonite Church Manitoba Palestine-Israel Network.<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt it was important to go to see the situation on the ground,\u201d she said, noting she was last there in 2016.<\/p>\n
While there, Epp-Tiessen learned that the situation facing Palestinians \u201cis increasingly desperate,\u201d with rapid expansion of Israeli settlements, settler violence, homes being demolished and their land confiscated.<\/p>\n
Both women lauded the call from Kairos Palestine, which was updated from a 2009 document by the same organization.<\/p>\n
The new call was issued during what the organization called \u201ca time of genocide, ethnic cleansing and forced displacement unfolding before the eyes of the world. This moment \u2014 a moment of truth \u2014 demands from us a new stand unlike any before it.\u201d<\/p>\n
At this time, the call states, \u201cwe look at our reality and take a renewed stand, responding to the voice of the Holy Spirit deep within us, listening to the call of faith in this time of genocide.\u201d<\/p>\n
The document references the conflict in Gaza, where there is \u201cmass displacement, starvation, the destruction of every sector of life, and the burial of families under rubble.\u201d<\/p>\n
It condemns all forms of antisemitism and concludes with a call for Christians around the world to stand with Palestinian Christians and share with others about their plight, adding the goal is for everyone in the region to be able to live together \u201cin true peace and reconciliation founded on justice and equality for all God\u2019s creation.\u201d<\/p>\n
As she reflects on the conference, McIntyre said she is bringing home the message \u201cthere is a systematic and co-ordinated effort to make Palestine unlivable for Palestinians\u2026 it\u2019s very important to name what is happening for what it is.\u201d<\/p>\n
The expansion of settlements and settler outposts since the last time she was there was \u201cshocking,\u201d McIntrye said, adding \u201cwe need to hold the state of Israel accountable to international law.\u201d<\/p>\n
Epp-Tiessen plans to also spread the word about the perilous state of the church in Palestine, the land that was home to the first Christian church.<\/p>\n
\n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\tSunday Passages<\/p>\n
Sundays<\/p>\n
Kevin Rollason\u2019s Sunday newsletter honouring and remembering lives well-lived in Manitoba.<\/p>\n
\t\t\tSign up for Sunday Passages<\/a><\/p>\n \t\t \u201cMany Christians are leaving, although they don\u2019t consider it emigration but \u2018forced displacement,\u2019\u201d she said, noting reports there may be no Christians left in Gaza by 2030 or in the West Bank by 2050.<\/p>\n \u201cAs Canadian Christians, we need to stand with them, support them, advocate for them,\u201d she said, adding Palestinian Christians feel abandoned by Christians in other parts of the world.<\/p>\n While the document is written out of desperation, it also affirms hope, Epp-Tiessen said. \u201cIt speaks of a God who is with the people in their suffering, who cowers in the rubble with them.\u201d<\/p>\n The Kairos II document can be read at wfp.to\/kairos.<\/p>\n faith@freepress.mb.ca<\/p>\n \n \t\t\t\t\t\tThe Free Press is committed to covering faith in Manitoba. If you appreciate that coverage, help us do more! Your contribution of $10, $25 or more will allow us to deepen our reporting about faith in the province. Thanks!<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t John Longhurst John Longhurst has been writing for Winnipeg’s faith pages since 2003. He also writes for Religion News Service in the U.S., and blogs about the media, marketing and communications at Making the News.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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