EAST JERUSALEM, West Bank — Sharing the hope and peace of the Word of God among the Palestinian community is vital, according to Labib Madanat, Executive Secretary of the Palestinian Bible Society. And last year, with support from the UBS Opportunity 21 (O-21) program, the Society was able to start three centres to make Scriptures available to Christians and non-Christians alike, and also to provide focal points for community activities.

The Bible Centre in the heart of the city of Gaza has been able to serve the churches and the community in ways not envisaged when it was first planned. People outside the Middle East sometimes fail to realise that Christians have a strong presence among the Palestinians. The Gaza Bible Centre not only provides Scriptures for them but also responds to the hundreds of requests received from non-Christians looking for information or answers to their spiritual questions in these troubled times.

Links with libraries and Gaza’s university community, with other organisations in Gaza hosting short-term training courses in computer technology and languages, presenting the Scriptures to local government authorities, and organising visits to young people in hospital are just some of the reasons for the centre’s growing popularity.

Place of reference

“While there are three churches in Gaza city, the Bible Centre is becoming the place of reference for people interested in knowing more about Christ and Christianity,” said Mr Madanat.

Meanwhile, in Bir Zeit the Living Stones Student Centre has become a popular venue, with between 70 and 100 students dropping in every evening. They find it a relaxing place to meet friends or to watch Christian videos. The additional provision of Internet access and word processing facilities has added to its popularity. It also has a small Christian reference library.

The PBS has been able to encourage the use of the Bible and Scripture Portions at summer youth and children’s camps organised by local churches. Thousands of Palestinian children have received their first Children’s Bible through these camps.

The third O-21-supported project is the Nablus Bible Centre, also part of the new millennium developments in the West Bank.

Openness

“Through these centres and their related activities, we have discovered people’s openness to knowing more about Christ,” said Mr Madanat, “and in ways that we never expected. So many Palestinian homes are eager to welcome the message of Jesus. It seems that in the past we have been suffering from a closed heart which has stopped us from reaching out to them.”

The Ministry of Culture invited the PBS to take part in a special bookfair displaying children’s books. Children’s Scriptures were also made available to children attending summer schools, some of whom come from Muslim villages south of Nablus. This is the fourth year that the the PBS has helped run these summer camps in conjunction with the village councils.

It has also made presentations of Bibles and Scriptures to a local deaf society, to the library at Salfit and to the University of Najah in Nablus.

Unimagined

“Even though our Nablus Centre experienced problems and the opening had to be postponed until late last year, opportunities to serve the community with Scriptures were given which we could not have imagined,” said Mr Madanat.

The PBS continues to distribute the Bible Portion entitled True Peace which is much in demand in a region where there is much hatred, anger and violence.