'Our people here in Bethlehem are hungry for the Word of God,' says local pastor

Bethlehem's pastor Ziyad Bannoura spoke with Christian journalist Paul Calvert to talk about “The Great Joy Ministry,” an initiative they recently established in the birthplace of Jesus to bring hope and restoration.

Thousands of tourists have traipsed around Bethlehem’s churches and the Shepherd’s Field where the Bible says angels sang, announcing the birth of Jesus to the world. However, many are struck with the sadness of the region of Judea and Samaria today, which is troubled by constant tensions and violence. In this context of conflict, The Great Joy Ministry is now working to make a positive impact.

“It aims to restore the joy in the hearts of the people in Bethlehem and the surrounding areas, and the true teachings and preaching and the Word of God for everyone, reaching them with the great joy that was announced 2,000 years ago,” Bannoura told Calvert in an exclusive interview. “I believe this came out of the scream of the people because people are suffering, they are under lots of pressure and they need this joy now.”

The problems in this beleaguered part of the world can, at times, seem insurmountable, but Bannoura has not been intimidated by the challenges.

“They need someone to do something about it. And that's why the Lord led me to do this ministry four months ago.” Bannoura says he began working towards the idea seven months ago, but active ministry began in Bethlehem this past spring.

“We have three meetings a week, every week. We are teaching theology for those doing a bachelor's degree and we have six students studying,” explained Bannoura, who earned his master's degree in Theology and Pastoral Studies at Israel College of the Bible. Part of the mission of The Great Joy Ministry is to provide a space for those pursuing degrees and for those who want to deepen their understanding of the Word of God.

“The main meeting is a Bible study for everyone to come and hear the Word of God,” explains Bannoura. “We are teaching pure biblical studies, pure theology for everyone that needs it, and we are not connected with any church or with any denomination. We are doing this just because we love the Lord and we love to teach pure theology.”

When asked about how, as a Palestinian, he deals with issues surrounding Palestinian nationalism, and whether they taught Replacement theology, Bannoura replied: ”No, of course not. Because I teach the Bible as it is. I imagine if I was Chinese, I would go to see what the Bible wants to teach me as a Chinese [person], or what the Bible wants to teach me as an American or as a Russian or any other country.”

However, he added, approaching scripture from a nationalistic viewpoint could lead to false teaching.

“As a Palestinian, I don't have any Palestinian theology.” Rejecting the idea of formulating theology based on a few passages seen through a nationalistic lens, he said, “This is false teaching. The good teaching is that you understand the Bible as it is, without any point of view that you have before. You need to go there and find what God wants to say. And so I am against any kind of teaching that is called replacement theology or anything else that is not biblical.”

Calvert asked if there was a need for more theological training in Bethlehem given that Bethlehem Bible College already exists. Bannoura explained that the initiative was established in part as a response to the way Bethlehem Bible College has been teaching.

“Many, many people came to me and told me about it, and they are not agreeing with that. And I believe we need some pure teaching. That's why I started what I'm doing now.”

Bannoura said their ministry teaches about 40 diverse courses, including a survey of the entire Bible. There are courses about how to live a Christian life, serving in Christian ministry, and others that earn credit toward a bachelor's degree.

“It's a full program,” says Bannoura, “But it's not connected with any political issue,” adding that the participants in the program include young and old. "We have good people coming and they are open to hear.”

The Great Joy Ministry, established in Bethlehem, is located in what some identify as a hub for Palestinian Christian Replacement Theology. Bethlehem Bible College's entrance featured a poster over the Christmas holiday season, which read: “If Jesus was born today, he would be born in Gaza under the rubble.” The message accompanied a picture that was shared widely of a doll wrapped in a keffiyeh surrounded by rocks and concrete. The image was stark but the message suggesting that Jesus was a Palestinian born in Gaza troubled many as it traveled around the world.

“What do you think of a statement like that?” Calvert asked.

“I believe the Bible said clearly that Jesus will be born in Bethlehem, and this is why we are celebrating Christmas every year in Bethlehem,” he said.

Bannoura emphasized how foundational it is that Jesus was born at the place the Bible specified and nowhere else.

“He would never be born in Jerusalem even. But He is born in Bethlehem, as the prophet said. Years and years before, all of them prophesied that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem. So it's very important that He is born in Bethlehem because Bethlehem was the place where they used to take the lambs to be sacrificed in the temple. And this means that every lamb that we are going to sacrifice in the temple, it has to be from Bethlehem. And Jesus was from Bethlehem, like King David used to get his lambs and send them to the temple. It's very important that we know that.”

Calvert warned against using Jesus' birthplace for political messages.

Bannoura replied: ”Yes, we are against any false teaching, any improper teachings, and if it is from Bethlehem Bible College or anyone else, we are calling for teaching the biblical truth as it is.”

Bannoura said we need to find ways to approach the Bible without twisting the scriptures according to our culture, even though we can’t erase our God-given national identity, suggesting that people are often tempted to connect what they read in the Bible to their political perspective.

“If you are a Palestinian, you teach something. If you are Chinese, you teach something. If you are an American, or if you are a Jew, you teach something. No, that doesn't go like that. The Word of God is the Word of God. Anywhere, anytime, wherever you go. You need to understand it as it is.”

Referring to the anti-Israel conference held in Bethlehem every two years, Bannoura added: ”They have Christ at the Checkpoint as well, and it's good to talk about issues and talk about difficulties. But this has become so political.”

Checkpoints and the high-security wall are matters of severe contention in Bethlehem which is surrounded by the towering structure. The wall was built to defend Israel against terrorism, however, Bannoura points out that our Savior can go right through every wall and barrier.

“Connecting our faith with political issues is not a good profession. I don't like it because Jesus, when He appeared to the apostles in the upper room, He just went through the wall and He appeared to them. No checkpoint, no place, no walls, no boundaries can hold him. Jesus cannot be standing at a checkpoint. Jesus is our Lord and Savior and Jesus is God. And putting Him in this small, narrow area. That's so bad.”

Instead of focusing on the negative aspect of the current conflict, that causes so much pain and heartache in Bethlehem, The Great Joy Ministries wants to offer hope and life through Bible teaching.

“We are in war season at the moment and our people here in Bethlehem are hungry for the Word of God at the moment… Many people are searching for the truth. Many people want to know more.”

Bannoura said he recognizes that the opportunities to meet spiritual needs in Bethlehem, are met with opposition and testing, saying: “The devil is very active and he wants to destroy.”

He added: “There are many people that want to know, that want to be open to the Word of God, and they want to have a change in their life, and they want to have the pure water.”

Bannoura said the population in Bethlehem today is about 50% Muslim and 50% Christian but that the Christian population has diminished in recent years.

“Muslims are more than us everywhere, but our people are leaving the country, the Christians are leaving the country. And under the pressures of the economic situation and the political situation, everything is just pushing, pushing, pushing on the people. So they are trying to leave and find a better place or a better life.”

Regarding the Christian community in Gaza and whether the Christians currently living there would leave, Bannoura said: "If they were able, they would have left by now. They will have left by now because all this destruction that has happened. The bombs don’t know Christian or Muslim, it comes over everyone. So nobody wants to die. Nobody wants to end his life."

He continued: "Even we are saying, we are Palestinian people and we want to have a life. We want to have our freedom. We want to have our dignity. We want to be living in the best way we can. But the situation is not allowing us to do anything. And like many people are leaving because of that. And I tell you what, also from the Israeli side, many people are leaving the country because they don't want to live in war, and war is bad.”

While life in Israel and the Palestinian Territories can be challenging at the best of times, the war between Israel and the Hamas terrorist organization in Gaza has taken its toll on everyone, according to Bannoura.

Despite the challenges, he said there are advantages to living in the land of the Bible, especially when you’re teaching about the life of Jesus.

“What's it like studying the Bible in the area where Jesus was born?” Calvert asked.

“I think it's more connected to the people. When I'm teaching the Bible here in Bethlehem and starting with when Jesus was born, people will start saying, ‘Oh, He was born here. He went there, He went there, He went there.’ They are connecting everything with visual things that they see all day. And it's really a joy when you’re saying to them, from Bethlehem came the joy to the whole world. And we want to spread this joy to the whole world again.”

Bannoura told Calvert he believes it’s time to bring the joy of Messiah, which is seen throughout the world, back to the Middle East.

“We need it in Bethlehem even. We need people to come from all the world to give us, to tell us about this joy, because we lost it here. Now we are working to restore this joy and to spread it again to the whole world.”

Calvert asked Bannoura about the significance of Bayt Sahur, where The Great Joy Ministry is based.

“The Shepherd's Field is just near my house, it's 500 meters from my house. And when I'm there, I just tell people that I am blessed to be living in this area. Our street is the place where they used to collect the sheep at night… That's where I live,” he said.

Bannoura noted that the field is also known as the “Boaz Field” from the Book of Ruth, as well as the place where David used to keep his father’s sheep, defending them from the lion and the bear.

Above all, he said, the birth of Jesus tops all these amazing stories from the location.

“It's the same place where the shepherds were there for the angels to come and tell them about the birth of Christ on that night, and all these years we had lambs coming from here. But now we have the Lamb of God coming to the same place to be sacrificed in Jerusalem for the whole world.”

Bannoura said his prayer is that the ministry will grow and will "bless as many people as we can with the Word of God, with the pure teachings, and to be really a blessing to many people here in the area.”

“We want to be able to do the same like Jesus did. Jesus brought joy to the world, and it was spread to the whole world.”

Click here for The Great Joy Center Facebook page or write to [email protected] for more information about The Great Joy Ministry.

Click below to listen to the full interview with Paul Calvert.