Julia Fisher talks to David Pileggi, the rector of Christ Church in Jerusalem, the oldest Protestant Church in the Middle East. Completed in 1849, it was built for numerous reasons, but the foremost was that the founders of CMJ (Christian Mission to Jews) had a great love and concern for the Jewish people and wanted to share with them the Good News of Messiah Jesus. They also anticipated the Jewish return to the Land of Israel in fulfillment of what was understood to be Bible prophecy (long before the advent of Zionism) and wanted to be in a position to help that process. Today Christ Church is an evangelical Anglican congregation comprised of expatriates who have come to serve in Israel or the West Bank along with local believers (both Jews and Arabs). David begins by describing where the majority of visitors to Christ Church come from.
Our aim is to build bridges… To build bridges of understanding and support, in a spirit of reconciliation, between believers (both Jewish and Arab) in the Holy Land (Israel and the Palestinian Areas) and Christians worldwide.
