Kairos is a Greek term for “favorable time” or “decisive epoch.” Kairos USA is a movement of U.S. Christians representing the body of Christ in all its diversity who believe the time is right for decisive action to end the crisis in Israel and Palestine. We work to unify and mobilize American Christians – lay, academic and clergy – to take a prophetic stance for a just peace. In so doing we heed the call of our Palestinian Christian sisters and brothers, who have called us to stand with them in their struggle for freedom.
Mission
- Kairos USA is dedicated to education, advocacy and theology that takes seriously Jesus’s call for love, forgiveness, justice and peace. The movement provides a home for U.S. Christians seeking to move and act within their institutional contexts as well as beyond institutional limitations to take a bold, prophetic stand against the unjust policies that oppress Palestinians and sicken Israeli society.
- Kairos USA aims to reach across entrenched divides in American Christianity––black/white, mainstream/evangelical, conservative/liberal––to stand in solidarity with Palestine Christians as they resist the Israeli occupation of their native land.
- Kairos USA is inspired by the contemporary prophetic movements of Christians in Palestine, southern Africa, Asia and Europe, as well as the civil rights movement in this country and the struggle to end apartheid in South Africa. It seeks to cooperate and partner with other justice advocacy organizations.
History
A Palestinian man can’t look as his home is demolished by the Israel military.
After decades of living under occupation by Israel, Palestinian Christians in 2009 published a document titled A moment of truth: A word of faith, hope and love from the heart of Palestinian suffering. This document speaks to the world about what is happening to Palestinians in their ancestral land.
Since the document’s release, churches around the world have responded at congregational, denominational and ecumenical levels. In the U.S., a group of clergy, theologians and laypersons founded Kairos USA in 2011 and soon after published Call to Action: U.S. Response to the Kairos Palestine Document. The Call to Action document is a 25-page statement that takes a bold, prophetic stand for justice in the Holy Land and advocates for nonviolent resistance to oppression of Palestinians and Israeli civil society and joining the international grassroots movement to break the current political stalemate.
