New Study Guide Brings Bold Palestinian Christian Document to Congregations

Contact info: Rev. Ron Shive, 336-263-1884, ronald.shive@gmail.com

Firas Thabet, Gaznica, 2025, acrylic on canvas, 127 x 152 cm. Courtesy of the artist.

“Every brushstroke in my paintings carries the pain of a nation.” Firas Thabet’s work appeared in the "Gaza Biennale” in an exhibition entitled From Gaza to the World, which opened on September 11, 2025 in Brooklyn, NY. Most of the 25 artists remain in Gaza, and do their work amid the rubble of the ruins which Israel has reduced Gaza to. Thabet’s Gaznica, like Picasso’s Guernica, shows devastation and despair and illustrates that in a time of war and genocide, art is not a luxury but an essential record of life as well as death.

Three Christian organizations will jointly release a new congregational study guide for the confessional document A Moment of Truth: Faith in a Time of Genocide, the Kairos Palestine II statement from Palestinian Christian leaders. (Issued Nov. 2025).

Developed by The Palestine Justice Network (PJN) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), with United Methodists for Kairos Response (UMKR), and Friends of Sabeel North America (FOSNA), the study guide will be a free digital download. It will be available at their websites in February, for use as a 2026 Lenten Study and throughout the year.

This resource invites congregations into a sacred dialogue with the Kairos Palestine II document—a living confession born from the heart of Palestinian Christian suffering. To study it during Lent, that ancient season of preparation and renewal, is to walk the path of baptism once more: to rediscover what it means to pledge our faith in Christ and to boldly renounce the sin and evil alive in our world today.

The study sessions ground the confession in current realities in Gaza, the West Bank, and within the wider Palestinian diaspora, where church leaders describe an ongoing time of genocide, ethnic cleansing, and forced displacement. The guide situates the new Kairos Palestine text within the long arc of ecumenical concern for Palestine/Israel and invites congregations to receive it as a cry to the global church for help and hope.

A Palestinian Christian Lens

The Kairos Palestine II document describes itself as a renewed “word of faith, hope, and love” and a “moment of truth” for the whole church; this study guide is offered as a tool for congregations to listen carefully to that word and to discern how God is calling the church in the United States (and beyond) to respond.

Throughout the guide, questions are framed to engage the wide spectrum of opinions present in church pews and leadership, from deep concern for Jewish–Christian relations to long-standing commitments to Palestinian human rights.  Each session invites participants to ask, “How might this issue look when viewed through the eyes of Palestinian Christians who confess Christ in a time of genocide?” Further, how might we as Christians let that perspective challenge and deepen our own discipleship? 

Contents of the Resource

• An introduction to Palestine/Israel, describing current facts on the ground and key related topics, including Gaza, settlement expansion, and the conditions of struggle in Palestinian daily life.

• Five weekly lesson plans suitable for adult education in congregational and diverse settings, each connecting themes in A Moment of Truth: Faith in a Time of Genocide with Scripture, prayer, and denominational policy.

• A leader’s guide with background notes, facilitation helps for difficult conversations, and suggestions for next steps in advocacy and accompaniment.

• Worship liturgy and children’s sermon

• A glossary of key terms used in the Kairos Palestine II document and in wider church discussion on Palestine/Israel.

• A digest of current denominational policies and actions, including divestment from the Israeli occupation, boycott of settlement products, recognition of Israeli apartheid, divestment from Israel's bonds, and repudiation of Christian Zionism.

• The full text of the Kairos Palestine II document. 

Readers’ Theater and Difficult Conversations

To help communities step into “conversations happening right now” around Palestine/Israel, the resource also includes a three-character Readers’ Theater script as a relatable way to approach difficult topics.  The script portrays realistic scenarios drawn from real life—interactions in session meetings, coffee-hour debates, and intergenerational dialogue—as participants wrestle with news from Gaza, charges of antisemitism, and calls from Palestinian Christians for costly solidarity.

By hearing and enacting these voices in imagined conversations, congregations can practice more honest, empathetic, and theologically grounded conversation in a low-risk but emotionally truthful setting.

The study guide is intended to equip Christians to speak the truth about Palestinian realities while rooting that truth-telling in a theology of social justice and the traditions and positions of their church.

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For more information and to download the guide in February 2026, please visit the Palestine Justice Network at thepjn.org, UMKR at kairosresponse.org, or FOSNA at fosna.org.

*This preview is being provided for those who are planning to study Kairos Palestine II during Lent 2026 and does not represent the final text. It is only a preview; the final text will be released as a free download on February 4th, two weeks before Lent begins.