Reconciliation conference for Jewish and Palestinian believers

From 14th till 21st August a group of NEM workers from the Middle East joined the Musalaha leaders family conference in Germany to lead the children's and teenager's program. Musalaha is Arabic for reconciliation - the aim of this Christian ministry in the land of the Bible. There were ten Jewish leaders and ten Palestinian leaders with their families. All of them believe in Jesus, but a lot needs to happen before the vertical reconciliation results in the horizontal. There is hurt, distrust and misunderstanding. One of the workers wrote in her diary: 'Today we planned an outing to a castle and game reserve. It is a difficult day! The atmosphere is tense and the families keep apart from each other. There is no mixing at all! A few of us even sense a spirit of rejection. It is a beautiful outing, but the atmosphere is terrible. The next day something beautiful happened among the teenagers. There was really a breakthrough! A Jewish and Arab teenager sit down together to write a song about peace. Another one confesses that she should not wait for the other person, but let the change start within herself.

Jew and Arab making friends

The adults need more time. But then during a morning session people start to open up and some even ask forgiveness. After all the reserve and restraint, they now keep on talking!' As the NEM, we are grateful to be able to contribute to this beautiful, but difficult ministry. Surely this is a sign of what is to come: the healing of the nations which is prophesied in Revelation 22:2!