Southern Baptists urged to hold 2027 convention in Bethlehem, West Bank

Southern Baptist messengers adopted a series of resolutions during their 2026 annual meeting in Orlando, including one that condemned antisemitism and expressed solidarity with Jewish communities. This stance is both serious and necessary, as antisemitism remains a real and pressing issue. The church has a responsibility to speak against it.

Yet, when examining the resolutions as a whole, a notable omission becomes apparent. Palestinian people, including Palestinian Christians, are not explicitly mentioned. There is no direct reference to churches in the region most often discussed in these conversations. The Christian communities who have lived in the area for centuries are also absent from the language.

I searched carefully, hoping I might have missed something. I did not. In the publicly available resolutions, there is no direct mention of Palestinians, Palestinian Christians, Gaza, the West Bank, or the humanitarian situation there. The word “Palestinian” does not appear in the resolutions.

While Jerusalem and Israel are referenced in prayerful and thematic language, there is no parallel recognition of the Christians or other communities who live in the same region. This omission is striking, especially given the presence of Palestinian Christians in global evangelical conversations.

I am a Palestinian Christian. I live near Bethlehem, in the same land where the church has existed since the earliest centuries. My church prays in Arabic. The stones of its walls carry centuries of worship. My family has lived here for generations.

And yet, in many global evangelical discussions about this land, our voice is rarely heard directly. Part of me hesitated to write again. I have raised this concern before, and often nothing changes. Not disagreement. Not engagement. Just distance. And over time, distance becomes familiar. Silence hurts even more than you can imagine. As we say in the Arabic proverb: “No right is lost as long as someone is demanding it.”

So, let me ask something direct, the way I think Scripture asks us to speak to one another. Southern Baptists, your next convention is set for Indianapolis, June 2027. I am asking you to change that location, and I have nothing against Indianapolis. I am asking you to hold it in Bethlehem instead.

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