Cemetery

Jerusalem has a very large aging population of believers who have faithfully served the various people groups in the Land (believers and nonbelievers). Many of these saints established organizations to express Christian love and support, sacrificing a lifetime of personal security in service to the Lord. Yet as they near the end of their earthly lives, they don’t know where they will be buried – an extra worry that can steal time, energy and resources.

Sudden, untimely death (from violence, accident or disease) can cause even greater turmoil Over the last decade, numerous cases were seen in which the deceased saint’s loved ones and friends were forced to stifle their grieving process while they frantically hunted for a place to bury their dead honorably and legally – racing against time in a culture where it is unacceptable to hold the body for more than a few days. Some families were helped by organizations able to lobby the authorities for special consideration. The less fortunate mourners came out of the experience bitter and exhausted, wishing that the founders and builders of Jerusalem’s churches had thought to also purchase land for cemeteries.

It was perhaps inevitable that the young, vigorous leaders of those days would not think about such (seemingly) far-off needs when other priorities were more pressing. But today, two generations later, these congregations are serving growing numbers of aging members, the founders themselves are in their sixties or seventies, and still no steps have been taken on a community level to meet this need that will face every Israeli believer, sooner or later, until the Lord returns.

Anxiety over a final resting place is unknown to Christians in most countries, but for Israeli believers its a growing dilemma. To make matters more painful, the dilemma is not even supposed to exist.

Under Israeli law, the State is obligated to provide a burial place for everyone
holding Israeli citizenship or permanent residency. However, the rabbinic authorities (particularly in Jerusalem) exercise complete control over the public cemeteries and burial services. Based on their decisions, Jewish believers and Christians can be subjected to the humiliation of burial outside the walls of a cemetery, so as not to « desecrate » the Jewish section.
On the other hand, the burial grounds designated for Israelis who embraced New
Testament faith during their lives are woefully inadequate.

Presently there is only one cemetery in all of Jerusalem for Christians or Jewish-background believers who are not members of Catholic, Lutheran or Anglican churches. This is the CMA Cemetery, run by the Christian Missionary
Alliance Church. Its location in Jerusalem’s German Colony, a densely populated
residential area in central Jerusalem, makes expansion impossible. In past
decades any deceased believer could be buried there, but due to increased demand and vanishing supply the Alliance Church now reserves the remaining
plots for leaders or elders of local churches.

Two other Christian cemeteries are located elsewhere in the country. Haifa’s cemetery permits burials only for residents of Haifa and the surrounding areas. Beer Sheva’s cemetery still has space, but this southern city is not easily accessible for grave visits and maintenance by grieving families living in Jerusalem. In a few desperate cases, Jerusalem believers have been buried in Christian cemeteries in Bethlehem, located a few minutes to the south; but this decision carries risks for the mourners, due to local hostility toward religious self-expression by Christians or Jews.

In short, Messiah’s rank-and-file followers in the Jerusalem area, who number in the thousands, have no viable burial options anywhere nearby.

FOM sees a strategic importance in ensuring that one single church will not be given the sole right to manage and run the future cemetery, so as to avoid any potential for favoritism or accusations of discrimination.

FOM will establish an even-handed and transparent protocol defining who is eligible for burial in the new cemetery. Clear guidelines will ensure its smooth and effective daily management. For these principles, we will draw on the seasoned experience of those like CMA who maintain the structures of other Christian cemeteries, such as plot location, headstone guidelines and care of the grounds.

FOM will also secure a signed agreement from the various beneficiaries that all graves will be uniformly built to ensure a quiet, meditative and non-offensive setting. This is important because Protestant, Evangelical and Messianic groups in Israel follow many different burial practices, which might eventually clash with one another.

An example of one very contentious burial form in Israel is cremation. Israel does allow cremation, but its practice is strongly frowned upon by religious leaders, particularly because of the crematoriums of the Nazi regime. Some religious leaders feel so strongly about this issue they argue cremated bodies are not entitled to burial within Jewish cemeteries. FOM will endeavour to act in a sensitive way in regards to every request given by grieving families but at the same time will not put itself in the line of fire with religious leaders in Israel. Clear guidelines on such issues by FOM will reduce unnecessary confusion both to the grieving families and religious authorities.

Waiting for the Israeli bureaucratic wheels to move toward a long-term solution is not going to solve the immediate shortage of burial space. For this reason, FOM has also explored the option of independently purchasing and/or leasing land for a community cemetery.

Given the legal limitations in buying government-owned land, it is clear that FOM needs to pursue the purchase of private land. Ideally it should be larger than the present Alliance Church cemetery, in order to serve the needs of future generations.

Another option is to lease unused sections of old cemeteries owned by traditional churches, redeeming these neglected areas that are already zoned for burial, and beautifying them.

An asset fund has been established to accumulate monies for the implementation of this project. The most crucial need at the moment is for prayer that we will be divinely directed to the right piece of land that can be re-zoned as a cemetery, or is already registered as a cemetery.

FOM will soon begin to share this part of the vision with Israel’s church leaders in the hopes that they will help us, through their official and unofficial connections in Israel and abroad, to financially support the Cemetery Project with the purchase of the land and its long-term maintenance.

1. We obtained legal counsel and assistance from the Jerusalem branch of the law firm Cohen. Decker, Pex & Brosh. They filed FOM’s application to establish an NGO with « Amuta » (non-profit charity) status; this went into effect on 9/04/2017 (reg. no. 580642940).
2. We paid a two-year retainer fee to the law firm to officially represent FOM in all governmental interactions.
3. When establishing the Amuta (non-profit), we appointed seven founding members, opened a bank account and tax file, and hired an accountant. The Amuta (non-profit) board includes an Executive Committee, which is authorised to make key decisions without calling a board meeting. This Committee has been mandated with approving the management structure of the new cemetery in its founding stage.
4. FOM began to raise funds for both the cemetery and our other activities. Our legal counsel saw this as a crucial step in establishing credibility with the government.
5. We have begun to look at abandoned and unused cemeteries owned by established Protestant churches and have begun to dialogue with the leaders of these established churches.
6. We requested our law firm to check their zonings to ensure that they are still registered with Israel’s Burial Association and can be used for burials.
7. FOM has also requested our legal counsel to investigate the following issues:

• Exact space still available at the Alliance Church Cimetery
• Cost of legal registration of the new cemetery with the Burial Association
• Areas already zoned as possible cemetery sites by the Israel Lands Authority
• Formal papers required by the Hevrah Kadishah, the religious organization responsible to register all burials
• Business structures of the other Israeli cemeteries for believers (in Haifa and Beer Sheva)
• Estimated purchase costs of privately-owned land for a cemetery significantly larger than the current Alliance Church Cemetery

Fields of Mercy was infused by the Spirit of God with a passion to create a final resting place for future generations of believers. We are fully aware of our human limitations and the challenges of the project; however, we strongly believe that with God nothing is impossible.