PJNontheGo: Introducing the Anglican Pacifist Fellowship & Its Palestine Israel Working Group

Thanks to Jan Benvie, APF secretary, for this introduction.

The Anglican Pacifist Fellowship (APF) was established in 1937, and EPF in the USA is our sister organisation. However, like many organisations, we find that only a small number of members are active, and in an attempt to promote involvement, we established a few working groups – one of which is on Palestine/Israel, set up around two and a half years ago.

APF produces a monthly newsletter and also a magazine, The Anglican Peacemaker (TAP), three times a year. We try to ensure there is always news about Palestine. Over the two and a half years that the working group has been active, we have carried articles by Zoughbi Zoughbi of Wi’am in Bethlehem, a report about a Sabeel-Kairos delegation to Palestine in 2025, a report about the 2023 International Gathering of the Community of the Cross of Nails (which APF is a partner of) where Daniel Munayer of Musalaha spoke, as well as several book reviews and news about church-based Palestine solidarity here in the UK.

We share news and information on the main APF Facebook page and also have a small private page. A Scottish Episcopal Church (SEC) Palestine Group (of which I am a member) has a public page.

During Covid APF began a Monthly Worship Meeting on Zoom, and it was so popular that we have continued it ever since. Each month has a different topic, with a mix of prayers, readings, songs, and a presentation. The Palestine Israel group worked with the Worship Working Group in producing the monthly worship in December 2024, then in February 2025 we led the Worship Meeting, which included a presentation from the Episcopal priest in Zababdeh, Palestine. We will again lead it in December 2026, so we are beginning to plan for this.

APF are small, so linking with other groups working for peace in Palestine and Israel is key.

We recently joined the Just Peace Coalition, a relatively new grouping answering the call of Palestinian Christians to stand alongside all those living and working for a just peace in Palestine and Israel. We are encouraging our members to take part in the campaign’s  ‘Walk of Witness’  on 27 September in Liverpool, linking with the Labour Party conference. The Walk will be led by Bishops Ruth Worsley and Tom Neyton.

We work closely with Sabeel-Kairos, the group that was instrumental in getting the recent motion passed at the General Synod of the Church of England. We wrote to all our members requesting they make contact with their Bishop and their General Synod representatives.

We promote international prayer actions, such as the World Week of Prayer for Palestine and Israel, and work closely with other Christian groups through the Network of Christian Peace Organisations

A webinar organised by the SEC Palestine group in January on the subject of the Kairos II document, with Bishop Emeritus Dr. Munib Younan, Fr Fadi Diab, and Rev Iain Lothian (from Edinburgh) was very well attended.

Inspired by the Open Letter & Pledge to Palestinian Christians from EPF, we published our own. It was this that led us to reach out to EPF to strengthen ties.

As we said in our Open Letter, from the Anglican Communion in the UK only four Church of England Bishops, Archbishop Stephen of York, and the Archbishop of Canterbury, have travelled to be with Palestinian Christians.

There is much work to be done to raise the voice of the churches in response to the call of our Palestinian Christian sisters and brothers.