"Kingdom imagination, with its beauty, disrupts despair." says Lamma Mansour in her latest "Dispatches from Nazareth."  

"It disrupts narratives of cynicism and spirals of hopelessness. It reminds us that God is still writing this story — and that the final chapter has not yet been read."

Dr. Lamma Mansour is a Christian Palestinian writer and speaker from Nazareth engaging in the intersection of faith and justice. She will visit Aotearoa New Zealand this July 19-26 with fellow Palestinian and biblical theologian Dr. Yousef Khoury for a speaking tour on Palestinian Christian viewpoints from the Holy Land.

Both Christian speakers will offer deep insights into what it means to follow Christ in the Holy Land in communities damaged by structural and physical violence, with particular attention to how hope, beauty, and faith take form amid struggle.

Lamma is also a sociologist whose research explores the political, spatial, emotional, and gendered dimensions of Palestinian life in Israel. Her current project, "Hometowns in the Margins", examines how Palestinian youth relate to their hometowns under conditions of marginalisation and contested identity, looking at their experiences of belonging, fear and possibility.

Dr Mansour, who completed her PhD at the University of Oxford currently studies as a postdoctoral research fellow at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, looking at the impact of community violence and organised crime on young Palestinian women.

Dr. Yousef Khoury (PhD, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) is the second speaker joining the Aotearoa New Zealand tour. He is a Christian Arab Palestinian theologian originally from Gaza, who now teaches as Assistant Professor of Biblical Studies and Academic Dean at Bethlehem Bible College. He is a member of the steering committee of Palestinian Christian organisation Christ at the Checkpoint and a board member of the ecumenical movement for justice in Palestine, Kairos Palestine. Dr Khoury's research and publications in Arabic and English centre on Palestinian theology, contextual biblical interpretation, and Palestinian and Arab Christianity. 

Through their teaching, research and lived experience the two scholars will offer Aotearoa New Zealand audiences a thoughtful and deeply personal insight into the realities in the Holy Land today, and what courageous peace-making can look like from here in the Pacific. 

The two speakers will visit the following cities and venues, including three Anglican churches, between 19 -26 July, 2026.

Christchurch | Sun 19 July | 7pm, Christchurch Transitional Cathedral

Christchurch | Mon 20 July | 7pm, Oxford Terrace Baptist Church

Dunedin | Tue 21 July | 7pm, All Saints Anglican Church (Lamma Mansour)

Nelson | Tue 21 July | 7pm, Victory Community Centre ( Yousef Khoury)

Wellington | Wed 22 July | 7pm, Lifepoint Church

Auckland | Thu 23 July | 7pm, Holy Trinity Cathedral

Hamilton | Sat 25 July | 7pm, Te Rautini Church

Auckland | Sunday 26 July | 7pm, Eden Church (+5.30pm dinner option)

Register for any of the events above here

For more information contact: christians4peacenz@gmail.com