THE CHLF STORY
Forty years ago, the Christian HolyLand Foundation did not begin with a strategy, a budget, or an institution. It began with a relationship.
​In 1974, a young Arab man in Jerusalem’s Old City named George Awwad expressed interest in the gospel to Dr. Harold Noe, a Christian Church minister from North Carolina. That conversation led to years of discipleship and theological training. Ultimately, George was ordained and planted small house churches across Jerusalem, Ramallah, and surrounding communities. CHLF was formally established in 1985 as a commitment to walk alongside local believers and trust that God was already at work in their midst.
Following the sudden death of brother Awwad in 2003, the work that had once centered in Jerusalem and central Israel shifted north. A small team of young couples entered full-time pastoral ministry and planted churches in the towns and villages of Galilee. This group, The Galilee Team, grew with us and today remains our strongest and most deeply impactful partnership.
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From the beginning, CHLF has held a simple conviction: the future of the church in the Holy Land belongs to the local church. Our calling has never been to replace it, speak over it, or control it, but to support it with humility, resources, and long-term presence.
We have lived through wars, separation walls, closed checkpoints, financial collapses, and a global pandemic. We have buried leaders we loved. We have watched churches struggle under the immense pressure of being an extreme minority. We have also witnessed extraordinary resilience, courage, and creativity from ministers and small churches who refused to abandon their calling, even at great cost.
Baptisms in the Jordan River, 40 years apart
​​Today, forty years after those first living room gatherings, CHLF is a very different organization. We are a mature ministry with hard-earned wisdom about what truly serves the long-term flourishing of local Christian communities, and what unintentionally undermines it. We have built a network of trusted, wise, and local leaders. They speak truth to us about the state of the ministry and are perceptive to the leading of the Holy Spirit for future direction.
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That maturity matters now more than ever.
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Christians have declined as a percentage of the population from over 10% one hundred years ago to less than 2% today. Many leaders are wondering if the indigenous Christian community will survive another generation. At the same time, Western Christians are increasingly disconnected from the lived experience of the Holy Land. We often encounter it through sensational headlines, ideology, or abstraction rather than through real people and real churches.
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CHLF exists in that gap.
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We build durable partnerships that honor local leadership.rWe creat opportunities for encounters that form American Christians in truth and humility. We also invest in the next generation of leaders who are choosing to remain rooted in this land and faithful to Christ under immense pressure.
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The next chapter of CHLF will require new models, leaders, and forms of engagement. We are strengthening our governance, building financial resilience, and investing in clear communication. Our pilgrimage and training programs are expanding to move beyond visiting sites towards encountering the living church. We are committed to forming partners, not spectators, and telling the truth about both the beauty and cost of faithfulness here.
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As we mark forty years, we continue to return to the question that has shaped us from the beginning:
How can we serve the church God is building and working through in the Holy Land?
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This anniversary is not a finish line. It is a responsibility.
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I am deeply grateful for the generations of supporters, board members, ministers, and partners who have carried this work to this moment. Your faithfulness has made it possible for CHLF not only to endure, but to grow into the kind of organization this moment requires.
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We invite you to step into the next season with us. We are committed to the long, patient work of hope rooted in real faith. This is lived out among real people, real churches, and a real land God has never abandoned.
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With gratitude and resolve,
Matt Nance, PhD
Executive Director
Christian HolyLand Foundation