The Anglican Diocese of Jerusalem has sought ABM AID’s help to run strategic planning workshops for its leaders who operate its many social outreach programs.

The diocese, comprising a mere 7,000 people living in 28 parishes across five countries – Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Israel, owns and administers 20 educational and nine health-related institutions across four of those five countries.

There are two hospitals in Palestine (the Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza and St Luke’s in Nablus) and two clinics – St Andrew’s Diabetes Clinic in Ramallah and the Penman Clinic in Zababdeh, both in Palestine.
The diocese serves children and young adults with disabilities and their families at the Holy Land Institute for the Deaf in Salt, Jordan, the Princess Basma Centre in Jerusalam, and the Jofeh and St Luke’s Rehabilitation centres in Jordan and Lebanon respectively.

And it has two homes for the elderly, one in Birzeit, Palestine and the other in Amman, Jordan.

Being able to manage all these institutions effectively is an enormous task. And that is why the Diocese has requested assistance from ABM’s Anglicans in Development to run a major strategic planning workshop. Most of us would agree that prayerful strategic planning is something which is greatly needed so that organisations can make best use of their God-given resources to discern how they may join in God’s mission.

There is a wonderful passage in the Book of Exodus in which Moses’ father-in-law, Jethro, counsels Moses to delegate to others some of the work of hearing and judging the legal disputes brought to him by the people of Israel. Jethro tells Moses, “What you are doing is not good. You will surely wear yourself out, both you and the people with you. For the task is too heavy for you; you cannot do it alone.” (Exodus 18:17-18)

Like Moses and Jethro in ancient Israel, modern Christians have a need to plan prayerfully, listen to those involved, assess their resources, and delegate tasks so they can become effective instruments of God’s mission. The Diocese of Jerusalem recognises this, and needs your help to achieve it.

The Diocese writes, “We believe the more we invest in developing the capacity of [our] institutions, the more our institutions become capable to respond efficently to any emergency situation. Equipping the diocesan institutions with guidelines and roadmaps for developing strategic plans will enable them to develop their own strategic plans.”

AID has pledged to fund these workshops with funds from our 2022 Lent and Good Friday Appeal.

Perhaps the last words should go to the writer of Proverbs (15:22) – “Without counsel, plans go wrong, but with many advisers they succeed.”

To learn more about AID’s Lent and Good Friday Appeal, go to www.abmission.org/Lent2022