Christ Church, located just inside the Jaffa Gate, is the oldest Protestant church in the Middle East, consecrated in 1849 by the joint Anglican-Prussian bishopric that was established to bring Protestantism to the Holy Land. The church represents a fascinating chapter in the 19th-century religious and political history of Jerusalem, when European powers competed for influence in the Ottoman Empire partly through church-building and charitable projects.
History
The London Society for Promoting Christianity Amongst the Jews (today known as the Church’s Ministry Among Jewish People, or CMJ) established the church as part of its mission to the Jewish community in Jerusalem. The first bishop, Michael Solomon Alexander, was himself a converted rabbi. The church was designed in a deliberately understated style, avoiding crosses and images that might alienate Jewish visitors, and incorporating Hebrew inscriptions into the liturgy. The Ten Commandments are displayed in Hebrew on the wall behind the altar, and the communion table faces Jerusalem in the Jewish tradition rather than east in the Christian one.
Heritage Center
The Christ Church Heritage Center, adjacent to the church, houses a museum with an impressive collection of 19th-century scale models of Jerusalem showing the city at different periods of its history. The models are beautifully crafted and give visitors an excellent sense of how the city developed and changed over time. The museum also covers the intersection of British imperial ambitions, religious missions, and Ottoman politics that shaped 19th-century Jerusalem. The compound, with its gardens and stone walls, is a peaceful oasis just steps from the bustle of the Jaffa Gate area.
Visit with Hoshen Tours
Christ Church is a window into the Protestant story in Jerusalem. Hoshen Tours includes it for visitors interested in the 19th-century reshaping of the Holy City and recommends the Heritage Center’s Jerusalem models as an orientation tool at the start of an Old City visit.