The secretary general of the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) has traveled to the southern Jordanian village where gunmen killed nine Christians at a church funeral last month, laying a wreath at the victims' graves and meeting with a grieving family, the alliance said in a statement released Monday (Nov. 2).
The Rev. Botrus Mansour led a delegation of evangelical and Baptist leaders from Jordan and neighboring areas to Hmoud, in Karak Governorate, where attackers opened fire on mourners at a Greek Orthodox church on Oct. 23. The visit came a week after Jordan's air force struck targets in southern Syria that the government linked to the suspects.
Speaking at the cemetery, Mansour said the killings "shook us to our core," according to the WEA statement. He said he had already issued a message of solidarity and prayer on behalf of what the alliance counts as 650 million evangelicals worldwide.
"But in addition, we felt it necessary to be here to offer our condolences in person," he said.
Praise for Jordan's response
Mansour, who is from Nazareth, called Jordan "an oasis of tolerance and full citizenship for all its people, without any discrimination between Muslim and Christian." He commended the response of King Abdullah II and the royal family as decisive and courageous, "not just in words, but also in deeds," the alliance reported.
The attackers, he said, had "struck every Jordanian to the very core of their being," and not Christians alone. In his view, the right response is to strengthen national unity, reject injustice and remove grievances against any group in the country.
He also said the delegation would encourage evangelicals around the world to visit Jordan, particularly ahead of the 2,000th anniversary of Jesus' baptism in the Jordan River in 2030.
Jordan is preparing a global commemoration of that anniversary at Bethany Beyond the Jordan, the UNESCO-listed site on the river's east bank identified as the place of Jesus' baptism, Christian Daily International reported last year. Mansour told CDI at the time that the WEA hoped to work closely with Jordanian authorities on the event.
Joining Mansour at the wreath-laying were the Rev. Nabih Abbasi, president of the Baptist Convention in Jordan and Middle East ambassador for the Baptist World Alliance, and the Rev. Jack Sara, president of Bethlehem Bible College and of the Evangelical Alliance in the Middle East and North Africa.
Jordanian church leaders also took part, among them Rev. David Rihani, head of the Assemblies of God in Jordan, and the Rev. Rami Hussein Halsa, pastor of Resurrection Baptist Church in Sweileh, near Amman.
The group prayed for the families of those killed, for the wounded and for Jordan's security. Its members then visited the family of Alaa Masarwa to offer condolences and pray with them, according to the statement.
'Death is not the final word'
Abbasi told those gathered that standing at the graves brought together grief and hope. The delegation had come to honor the dead, pray for their families and affirm that death does not have the last word because Christ rose from the dead, he said.
He noted that the biblical word translated "martyr" means "witness." All Christians are called to bear witness to Christ, he said, and God calls some to complete that witness by giving their lives.
"From this place, we declare that terrorism will not prevail, that hatred will not defeat love, and that darkness will not extinguish the light of Christ," Abbasi said.
He prayed for comfort for the bereaved and recovery for the injured, and asked for prayer for the king, the government and the security forces.
Mansour closed his remarks with a reference to the resurrection. "The criminals thought they could kill the body and the story would end, but we tell them that the story will not end … since the Lord Jesus Christ has risen — Christ is risen," he said.
Arrests and strikes in Syria
The attack targeted a funeral at St. George's Greek Orthodox Church in Hmoud, Christian Daily International reported at the time. Witnesses told CNN that gunmen fired for an extended period toward the church courtyard, where most mourners were standing, and shouted "Allahu Akbar" ("God is greater").
At least 34 people were wounded, Reuters reported. Earlier reports had put the number at 28.
Jordanian security forces arrested two brothers and their brother-in-law on Oct. 26 after an exchange of fire in the nearby village of al-Judayyda, according to Reuters. The Public Security Directorate said the three men were found hiding in an abandoned house, refused to surrender and fired on officers, who wounded and detained them. No security personnel were hurt.
"God willing, they only represent themselves," Maj. Gen. Obeidallah al-Maaytah, Jordan's director of public security, told reporters. Interior Minister Mazen al-Faraya said the investigation remained open and that, so far, there were "no indications of any links between them and other cells."
Later that day, Jordan's armed forces said the air force had hit militant hideouts in southern Syria after determining that the suspects were tied to "terrorist groups" operating there.
The following day, Government Communication Minister Mohammed al-Momani said the strikes had killed more than 20 Islamic State group militants and destroyed a large weapons depot belonging to the group, Reuters and AFP reported.
Christians make up about 2% to 3% of Jordan's population, though the area around Hmoud has long had a large Christian community. Attacks on Christians in the kingdom are rare. On the day of the shooting, King Abdullah vowed on social media to respond to those responsible with an "iron fist."
