GCE45 GS41 Kairos Palestine II “A Moment of Truth: Faith in a Time of Genocide” for February 2026

1. What is the issue?

On November 16, 2025 marks an historic event in Palestine -- the release of Kairos Palestine II: “A Moment of Truth: Faith in a Time of Genocide.” Palestinian Christians initiate a theological and political declaration about their lived reality and addresses the global ecumenical family.

This document represents the call and the cry of Palestinian Christians in which Palestinians are “living in a time of genocide, ethnic cleansing, settler colonialism and forced displacement”. It details the catastrophic assault that the Israel government has inflicted on Gaza, even while in the West Bank, Israel supports the confiscation of land, the expansion of settlements and outposts, the unchecked violence inflicted by settlers, the multiplication of checkpoints and other restrictions. Palestinian existence has become “a living hell.”  

Kairos Palestine challenges the global church, asking, “How can one speak of Christian fellowship or communion while denying, supporting, justifying or remaining silent before genocide.” United Church and other ecumenical partners present bore witness to the lived realities in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, a situation that is worsening every day. Palestinian Christian siblings caution that a global church that remains silent is a church that has lost the understanding of its role in God’s mission. 

2. Why is the issue important?

This Kairos Palestine II statement follows previous declarations, including the initial December 2009 document, “A Moment of Truth: A word of faith, hope and love from the heart of Palestinian suffering,” and the July 2020 letter, “Cry for Hope.” These documents make clear the challenges Palestinians face. The faithful witness of Palestinian Christians in the midst of such hardships appealed for global Christian solidarity. “A Moment of Truth: Faith in a Time of Genocide” is a letter to the church amidst the devastating catastrophe of genocide and carries a particular urgency that must not be ignored. This proposal echoes to the GCE the words of the December 11, 2025 Global Ministries’ Joint Statement on the Kairos Palestine II document:

“We are grateful for the efforts of our members in this shared work. Now we urge you to continue to do what is necessary to effect change.” 
 

3. How might the Executive of the General Council respond to this issue? 

The General Secretary recommends 

That the General Council Executive

1. Receive Kairos Palestine II “A Moment of Truth: Faith in a Time of Genocide” and endorse it for study, reflection and action by United Church of Canada people, Communities of Faith and theological schools;
2. Endorse for engagement by United Church people, theological schools, communities of faith and the Government of Canada (as relevant) the actions in Kairos Palestine II calling on people of conscience to:
   1. name the reality truthfully;
   2. advocate for accountability and international law
   3. reject theologies that justify oppression: reject hateful ideologies such as Christian Zionism, Islamophobia and antisemitism;
   4. encourage courageous and costly solidarity with the people of Palestine and especially the diminishing Christian community; and
   5. support creative, nonviolent resistance, specifically boycott, divestment and sanctions.

4. What will be the impact?

In its Song of Faith, The United Church of Canada declares God’s good news lived out,

a church with purpose: 

faith nurtured and hearts comforted, 
gifts shared for the good of all, 
resistance to the forces that exploit and marginalize, fierce love in the face of violence, 
human dignity defended, 
members of a community held and inspired by God,  corrected and comforted, 
instrument of the loving Spirit of Christ,  
creation’s mending. 

We sing of God’s mission. 

(from “A Song of Faith, 2006)

In undertaking these actions, the church is closer to living out its faith as declared.  The Kairos Palestine II document concludes, “From the heart of pain, genocide and displacement, we raise this cry, a prophetic cry of steadfastness. We declare our commitment to work for the good of this land and of all humanity on the basis of our shared humanity until the day we live free in our land together with all the inhabitants of the land in true peace and reconciliation founded on justice and equality for all God’s creation, where mercy and truth meet, and righteousness and peace kiss each other (Psalm 85:10). 

Staff time and budget are within the Church in Mission Unit 2026 budget and staff work plan. 

Risks include consequences for engaging in costly solidarity, such as suppression of free speech in support of Palestinian human rights. 

5. How does this proposal help us live into the commitments on equity?

This proposal deepens the ways in which the church lives out its Creed, its expressions of faith and its commitments to partnership, anti-racism and anti-oppression. It calls for deepened engagement with oppressed communities facing genocide, apartheid, and ethnic cleansing.

6. For the body transmitting this proposal to the General Council Executive: 

We conclude with the affirmation from Kairos Palestine Document II:

“From the land of the Incarnation, the Cross and the Resurrection, we renew our word of hope in the God of the poor, the oppressed and the downtrodden. The genocidal war has sought to strip us of our hope and faith in God’s goodness and in life upon our land. Yet we declare our adherence to our faith in a holy and just God, and in the right God has given us to live with dignity on our land and the land of our ancestors. This is our hope. This is our steadfastness. This is our resistance.” (Kairos Palestine II)