Christian Media Summit 2018
By Mandy Worby, Christians for Israel Australia.. In October 2018, the Israeli Government Press Office hosted the second ever Christian Media Summit in Jerusalem. Just like last year’s inaugural Summit, it was a hugely significant and important event for every Christian media person represented.
PM Benjamin Netanyahu officially opened the event and welcomed us very warmly and recognised that he was among friends. He acknowledged that many Christians around the world are some of the best friends the nation of Israel has and he also acknowledged just how important our role is in presenting the truth. In fact, PM Netanyahu gave us one main mission: the mission to tell the truth.
In his opening address to us, PM Netanyahu said, “I think people have to tell the truth. You are ambassadors of truth. You’re not merely the greatest ambassadors that Israel has around the world; you’re champions of truth. If there’s one thing that I can ask you to do, it’s to tell the truth. Tell the truth about our history, tell the truth about our present, tell the truth about who wants peace, and who doesn’t want peace.”
Christian Media Summit 2018 attendees outside the Knesset
We live in a world that has redefined so many things from marriage, social justice, morality, ethics and even whether a baby in the womb is worthy of life! Ultimately, at the heart of all these redefinitions is the redefinition of truth.
Pontius Pilate asked Jesus, “What is truth?”
Little did he know, Jesus actually gave the answer to that very question the previous night, shortly before His arrest. He was praying for His disciples, and asked the Father to: “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth” (John 17:17). Of course, we also know that if you know the truth, it’s going to set you free (John 8:32).
During the Summit we heard from men and women involved in high tech. We heard from media personalities, the IDF, politicians, religious leaders, the entertainment industry and even farmers and educators. We saw demonstrated visually, the widening gap between those on the left and right and the monumental task of bringing understanding and balance between those two extremes.
We see the same thing in our own nations, and the reason the gap is so vast is truth is now relative and preferential.
The overall message from the Summit for every Christian broadcaster present was the necessity to return home and use our media resources, to tell the truth. It’s patently clear that the majority of secular media outlets are agenda driven, more often than not with an agenda that is hostile to Israel. As Christians in the media, we need to tell the truth of the reality of life on the ground in Israel to combat the litany of lies and falsehoods.
Truth is under attack, but truth will set people free, and that’s our commitment.
