The first meeting of the new Primate of the Church of England, Sarah Mullally - the first ever for a female Archbishop of Canterbury - with her General Synod was a historic event in many respects.
The meeting concluded on Tuesday 14 July in York, following five days of proceedings that began on Friday 10 July. The General Assembly of the Church of England brings together 478 voting members divided into the three Houses of Bishops, Clergy and Laity, as well as 19 non-voting representatives.
Among the most sensitive items on the agenda was the motion from the Diocese of Carlisle on Kairos Palestine, the theological and political framework developed by Palestinian Christians since 2009, which calls on the world’s churches to listen to the experiences of Palestinian Christians, to engage with the occupation and to support a peace founded on justice, equality and dignity.
The text adopted by the Anglican Synod, following a debate that lasted from the evening of Sunday 12th to the morning of Monday 13th July, commits the Church of England to ‘stand in solidarity’ with Palestinian Christians and with their Palestinian brothers and sisters in their non-violent resistance to the occupation. The Synod deplores the loss of Israeli and Palestinian lives, violations of human dignity and human rights, and the displacement of populations, calling for a just and lasting peace for all.
The most hotly debated point, however, was the use of a verb. The original wording called for the documents of Kairos Palestine to be ‘received’ (comprising four in total: 2009, A Moment of Truth; 2020, The Cry for Hope; 2023, A Call for Repentance; 2025, Kairos Palestine II, the latter drafted in the context of the devastation of Gaza). An amendment replaced that term with ‘to listen to’. The difference was decisive. The Synod did not adopt or approve the texts in their entirety, but undertook to listen to them as ‘sincere expressions of the lived experience of Palestinian Christians’ and to study them in order to better understand the situation.
The motion also acknowledges, with repentance, the historical contribution of the Church of England to both anti-Semitism and the situation currently afflicting the Palestinian people. It reaffirms its commitment to interfaith dialogue, including Christian-Jewish dialogue, and rejects anti-Semitism, anti-Muslim hostility and all forms of religious or ethnic prejudice.
It also calls for a review of the Church’s investment policies in light of the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice of 19 July 2024 on the illegality of the occupation of the Palestinian Territories, and urges the British government to work urgently towards a peace that guarantees security, rights and dignity for all.
The compromise was championed above all by Sarah Mullally, the first woman to hold the office of Archbishop of Canterbury and who, just a few weeks earlier, had led a pilgrimage to Israel and the Palestinian Territories alongside the Anglican Archbishop of Jerusalem, Hosam Naoum. In her address, Mullally emphasised the need to ‘listen even to what is difficult to hear’ and to accept the risk of dialogue across divides.
‘Listening to the sincere testimonies of Palestinian Christians’ life experiences does not mean agreeing with everything contained in these documents,’ she said. It does, however, mean listening with compassion and showing solidarity in the face of the injustices they have suffered.
The primate recalled the trauma of 7 October and the pain still felt within the Jewish community, reaffirming her rejection of anti-Semitism. But she also spoke of the “cry” of Palestinian Christians rising “from the ruins of Gaza and from the violence and oppression of the West Bank”.
The debate highlighted just how difficult it is to reconcile these different experiences. The Bishop of Lichfield, Michael Ipgrave, defended the replacement of the term ‘receive’ with ‘listen’, clarifying that the Church cannot automatically adopt all the language of Kairos.
The Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, on the other hand, gave voice to the Palestinian presence in the chamber, repeatedly quoting the words of the Reverend Fadi Diab, vicar of St Andrew’s Anglican Church in Ramallah, and Archbishop Hosam Naoum: ‘We hear you. We stand by your side.’
The strongest objections came from the Board of Deputies of British Jews, the main representative organisation of the Jewish community in the United Kingdom, and from other British Jewish organisations. The Board argued that Kairos II in particular contained a “toxic” portrayal of Jews and Zionism, and called on the Church not to listen to, but to reject, the document.
According to its representatives, the motion would have jeopardised Jewish-Christian relations and risked fuelling anti-Semitism at a time when hatred against Jews is on the rise. The Board of Deputies of British Jews nevertheless reiterated its condemnation of all forms of extremism and violence, including that of extremist settlers, and its support for peace and security for both peoples.
It is within this controversy that the viewpoint of the Palestinian Lutheran pastor Munther Isaac takes on a particular significance. A theologian and director of the Institute for Peace and Justice in Bethlehem, Isaac (alongside the Latin Patriarch Emeritus of Jerusalem, Michel Sabbah, and the Orthodox Archbishop Atallah Hanna) is one of the most recognisable and authoritative voices in contemporary Palestinian Christianity.
His assessment of the Anglican Synod’s document is clear-cut, as also reported on Al-Jazeera: the Church of England has taken ‘a long-awaited step’. Not because the Synod endorsed every word of Kairos Palestine, but because it agreed to listen to a Christian community that has for years sought to share its experience with the Western Churches.
For Isaac, the York document must be read in the light of a long and complex history. Palestinian Christians have for years met with the Archbishops of Canterbury and other representatives of Western Churches (including members of the Coordination of Catholic Bishops’ Conferences in Support of the Church in the Holy Land).
They have spoken of the occupation, restrictions on freedom of movement, the expansion of settlements, violence and, since 7 October 2023, the devastation of Gaza. At a certain point, Reverend Isaac points out, ‘it would have become morally and pastorally indefensible to refuse even to listen to our testimony’.
The Lutheran pastor urges, however, that the issue should not be reduced to a dispute over language. ‘We are not simply expressing grief,’ he argues: Palestinian Christians are bearing witness to a reality which, in his view, has been documented by international bodies, legal experts, humanitarian and human rights organisations, doctors and journalists. The experience to which Kairos seeks to give voice, therefore, cannot be treated as a mere political opinion.
The Protestant churches and communities in the Holy Land are today a small group (fewer than 10,000 members, according to estimates), yet they maintain a significant presence within Palestinian society.
The Anglicans belong to the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, which comprises parishes and institutions in Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. The relationship between Lutherans and Anglicans is particularly close today. The two Churches collaborate in education, social welfare and public witness, as well as in defending the local Christian presence.
It is within this ecumenical context that Munther Isaac’s voice carries weight. His is not merely the viewpoint of the leader of the Lutheran community in Bethlehem, but that of a local Church which is paying a heavy price for the war and the occupation. And which finds itself living daily with the consequences of political, military and diplomatic decisions often taken far from the Holy Land.
Reverend Isaac, to be honest, makes no secret of his disappointment at the hesitations often shown by Western Churches, but he sees the glass as half full. And he regards the York vote as a possible turning point. His hope is that ‘listening’ will not remain a symbolic gesture. Kairos Palestine II, in particular, stems from the need for a ‘post-Gaza theology’: a Christian reflection that cannot simply revert to the previous normality. The change must encompass theology, public witness and concrete solidarity.
The Church of Christ, in all its forms, cannot limit itself to praying for peace without confronting the ‘structures of sin’ – those perverse economic, political and social mechanisms that stand in the way of justice, freedom and dignity.
