Seeking Justice, Listening Deeply: Disciples at the 2026 Joint Christian Advocacy Summit

[The following report was written by the Rev. Paul S. Tché, President of Christian Unity and Interfaith Ministry (CUIM) of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). It was first published on the CUIM webpage (with photos), and is re-posted here with permission.]

2026 Joint Christian Advocacy Summit: Christians Uniting against Oppression in Palestine and Israel

At the 2026 Joint Christian Advocacy Summit in Washington, D.C., one of the most powerful moments came through a story shared by Rev. Khader Naim El-Yateem, Executive Director for Service and Justice for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. He told of an 80-year-old Palestinian mother trying to attend her son’s consecration as bishop. She had the required permits. She walked with a cane. Yet she was stopped at a checkpoint and prevented from entering Jerusalem. Her son, waiting with church leaders and international guests, said he would not be consecrated unless his mother was present. After nearly two hours of phone calls and pleading, she finally arrived at the Jaffa Gate, shaken by the experience but able to stand beside her son.

Rev. El-Yateem asked the audience to consider the contrast: international visitors could move freely, while Palestinians whose families have lived in the land for generations are routinely stopped, searched, delayed, or turned away. For many gathered at the summit, that story gave concrete shape to a reality often described in political terms but lived in deeply personal ways.

Rev. Paul S. Tché, President of Christian Unity and Interfaith Ministry, attended the summit, “Do Right; Seek Justice: Christians Uniting against Oppression in Palestine/Israel,” held May 5–7, 2026. His participation was shaped in part by his service as co-convener of the National Jewish-Christian Dialogue of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA. In that role, he has sought to listen carefully, understand more fully the realities on the ground, and discern how Christians may speak and act faithfully in a time of suffering, fear, conflict, and moral urgency.

The summit gathered Christian leaders, advocates, policy experts, humanitarian workers, interfaith partners, and Palestinian voices. Participants heard not only statistics and policy analysis, but also stories of families, churches, hospitals, neighborhoods, children, and elders whose lives have been shaped by occupation, displacement, war, and the continuing denial of basic human rights.

A good number of Disciples were present at the summit. Dr. Peter Makari, Global Relations Minister for the Middle East and Europe with Global Ministries, served as one of the panelists. Speaking from the experience of churches and mission partners engaged in the region, he named both the urgent need for a ceasefire and the deeper need to address “the core issues of occupation, of apartheid, of the blockade, of total control, and of refugee rights,” so that advocacy does not simply seek a return to the conditions that existed before the latest war. 

The program included plenary sessions, personal testimonies, interfaith conversation, humanitarian briefings, and advocacy training. Speakers described the destruction of Gaza’s infrastructure, the collapse of health systems, the displacement of communities, and the long-term trauma facing children and families. They also urged participants not to forget the West Bank, where land confiscation, settler violence, home demolitions, restrictions on movement, and displacement continue to shape daily life.

The summit’s keynote and testimony sessions were especially powerful because they refused to let Palestine become an abstraction. One Palestinian speaker, born and raised in Gaza, spoke of refugee camps, family histories, and the ache of places close enough to belong to memory yet inaccessible in real life. In one poem, he remembered childhood dreams of “running for miles and miles with no border” and of picking oranges with his grandfather in Yaffa, a place he could imagine but never freely reach.

Another speaker reminded participants that the task of advocacy is not only to repeat slogans, but to amplify voices that are often silenced. “What you can do here in the United States,” he said, is to “amplify Palestinian voices,” call for accountability, and “above all, demand justice for the Palestinians.”

At the same time, the summit did not treat advocacy as simple or easy. The interfaith panel brought Jewish, Christian, and Muslim leaders into conversation about how communities can move beyond dialogue toward practical solidarity. The discussion acknowledged the pain, trauma, and fear carried by Jewish communities, especially after October 7, while also insisting that Palestinian suffering and Palestinian rights must not be pushed to the margins. One Jewish speaker urged Christians not to act from fear or outsource their conscience to others, but to oppose bigotry by standing with those who lack equality and are oppressed today.

This kind of conversation is particularly important for CUIM’s work. Christian unity and interfaith engagement require more than polite conversation. They require the courage to listen to painful stories, to recognize asymmetries of power, to oppose antisemitism, Islamophobia, anti-Arab racism, and all forms of religious hatred, and to speak clearly when state policies and systems deny human dignity.

The summit also emphasized the concrete work of advocacy. Participants were trained for congressional visits and reminded that advocacy is “a long game.” It is not about winning one argument in one meeting. It is about building relationships, telling the truth, becoming a trusted resource, and returning again and again with moral clarity and persistence.

The legislative asks included ending weapons transfers that fuel violence, restoring U.S. funding for UNRWA, and supporting medical access through the East Jerusalem Hospital Network. Speakers framed these requests not only as policy goals but as urgent humanitarian concerns. They noted that U.S. churches have a particular responsibility because of the role of U.S. policy, military assistance, and diplomatic influence in the region.

For Disciples, the summit raised the question of what faithful witness requires now. Disciples can listen to Palestinian Christian voices and to Jewish, Muslim, and Christian partners working for justice and peace. Congregations can create spaces for education, prayer, and honest conversation. They can support humanitarian relief, advocate with elected officials, challenge silence where silence protects oppression, and insist that the dignity of Palestinians and Israelis alike must be upheld.

The summit also revealed both the hope and the limits of advocacy. Advocacy cannot immediately undo decades of occupation, trauma, displacement, fear, and political failure. It cannot restore every life lost or heal every wound. Yet advocacy can open space for truth-telling. It can help shift public policy. It can amplify voices that have been ignored. It can remind elected officials that many Christians in the United States are committed to Palestinian human rights, to the safety and dignity of all people in the land, and to a just peace that does not depend on the domination of one people over another.

For CUIM, the summit was a reminder that Christian unity is never only about relationships among churches. It is also about the common witness Christians are called to bear in the world. In the face of oppression, the church is called to listen, to pray, to speak truthfully, and to act with courage. The work is delicate, especially in Jewish-Christian and interfaith contexts. It requires humility, moral clarity, and a refusal to deepen harm. But the gospel’s call to “do right” and “seek justice” requires nothing less.