The Living Stones of the Holy Land Trust

Background

Every year many British Christians visit the Holy Land to see the places associated with the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Regrettably very few make contact with the indigenous Christians, members of some of the oldest Christian communities in the world.

A century ago Christians in the Holy Land, many of whom are descendants of the first Christians, represented 20% of the population of Palestine. Today, at the turn of the new millennium, they comprise less than 2% of the population. In Jerusalem itself, the Christian population was 51% in 1922. By 1990 it had dropped to 4%; today it is less than 2%. Demographers contend that within two generations native Christians, or the so-called forgotten faithful, may virtually disappear from the Holy Land.

Living Stones was founded in 1986 to bring pilgrims and Middle Eastern Christians together in worship and understanding. Living Stones invites visitors to the Holy Land not merely to gaze upon the stones of the churches and ruins, but to meet the "Living Stones", the living members of the churches. Christians in the Holy Land are offended when their fellow Christians visit their churches and lands but ignore the living community whose ancestors are the very first disciples of Jesus.

The Christians of the Holy Land (as in the Middle East as a whole) comprise Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant communities. Most of these are Arabs, although there are also expatriate Christians living in the Middle East. In Israel and Jerusalem there are also Hebrew-Christian communities. The Arab-Palestinian Christian communities, taken together, experience continual struggle for religious identity and survival and continue to bear their share of the suffering of the Palestinian people.

In June 2000 Living Stones became a U.K. registered charity whose twin objectives are

• the advancement of education about Christianity in the Holy Land, and
• the relief of persons who are in conditions of need in the Holy Land

We would like all pilgrims to meet the "Living Stones", the members of the Churches. We owe it to the Christians of the Holy Land to meet their living communities rather than merely visit their shrines.

Aims and Activities

The trust's aims and activities include the following:

• supporting the Christians of the Middle East by disseminating information in the UK;
• organising 'Living Stones' pilgrimages to the Holy Land and neighbouring countries;
• advising others in arranging such pilgrimages;
• arranging Church Services in the UK with visiting Christians from the Middle East;
• organising conferences;
• collaborating with the Middle East Council of Churches and with the relevant Christian Communities;
• encouraging links between Christian communities in the Middle East and those in Britain;
• promoting the interests of Middle Eastern Christians;
• acting on behalf of Middle Eastern Christian Communities when their interests are threatened;
• encouraging dialogue and encounter with the Jewish, Muslim, Druze and Samaritan communities;
• publishing a twice-yearly magazine