Church Divestment as a Tool for Justice in Palestine - webinar
Palestinian pastor and theologian Munther Isaac became internationally known in 2023 when his sermon Christ under the rubble, together with images of his nativity scene showing the infant Jesus in the ruins, spread around the world. His talk on Palestine at Leppävaara Church last April drew a full audience.
He serves as a pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, Palestine. He has spoken about Palestine and Christianity on CNN, the BBC, Al Jazeera, MSNBC, and elsewhere.
On 26 October, he will speak in a webinar together with Pastor Mark Brown. Mark Brown works with the US Lutheran Palestine Israel Justice Network (US-LPIJN), an organisation that is active among Lutheran churches in the United States. He has been involved in decisions by US Lutheran churches to divest from companies involved in the occupation of Palestine.
In 2009, the Palestinian ecumenical community Kairos Palestine issued the Kairos Document. It was modelled on the Kairos Document issued in South Africa in 1985, which declared apartheid to be the worship of idols. In
the Palestinian Kairos Document, they write:
We also declare that the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land is a sin against God and humanity because it deprives the Palestinians of their basic human rights, bestowed by God. It distorts the image of God in the Israeli who has become an occupier just as it distorts this image in the Palestinian living under occupation. We declare that any theology, seemingly based on the Bible or on faith or on history, that legitimizes the occupation, is far from Christian teachings, because it calls for violence and holy war in the name of God Almighty, subordinating God to temporary human interests, and distorting the divine image in the human beings living under both political and theological injustice.
They called on churches around the world to divest from investments that support the occupation. The call received a strong response in the United States. Churches with nearly 15 million members and more than 33 billion dollars in investments have made decisions to divest.
What is the situation of Palestinian Christians today? What do they hope for from the rest of the Christian world? Why is the United States so much further ahead in this respect than the churches in Finland? What could Finnish Christians and Sumud’s Compassion’s Purse campaign learn from Palestine and the United States?
Munther Isaac and Mark Brown will discuss these and other questions in the webinar on 26 October at 18:00. The discussion will be moderated by Sumud board members Aurora Lemma and Syksy Räsänen. The webinar will be in English.
Join webinar:
Webinar: Church Divestment as a Tool for Justice in Palestine
Host: Compassion's Purse (Sumud)
Time: October 26, 2026, at 18:00 (Helsinki)
- Meeting ID: 959 3367 3855
- Passcode: 364553