This paper seeks to interrogate the notion that the declining numbers of Arab Christians correlates with the political irrelevance of Christian groups in Arab states. A number of recent reports in popular sources have signaled the coming death of Christianity in the Middle East (Bronner 2009, Belt 2009). Prominent scholar and commentator Philip Jenkins writes the "lost history" of the Church of the East and states that "Middle Eastern Christianity has...all but disappeared as a living force" (Jenkins 2008, 172). A growing academic and intellectual interest in the Christian communities of the Middle East in the past decade might well be portrayed as a sort of fetishism that arises in the wake of the decline of these churches. While the challenges to Middle Eastern Christians are real, this assessment ignores the vitality of organized Christian endeavors in the region and worldwide. A growing number of works have come to profile the revival of Christian civil society groups in Middle Eastern states, such as Hasan (2003), Makari (2007), or O'Mahony (2007). Using both primary and secondary sources, as well as interview research conducted particularly in Egypt and Palestine over the past three years, this paper will explore political activation among Christian civil society networks. These indicate movement away from millet and neo-millet forms of organization toward newer ones based upon more individualistic, voluntaristic, and global forms of civil society. New interest in monasticism, partnerships with coreligionists abroad, and new organizational strength, coupled with renewed interest in the Eastern traditions, have all demonstrated the vitality of Middle Eastern Christian activism in spite of the challenges. All of this must be understood in the context of continued resilience of civil society in the Middle East in spite of the setbacks of persistent state authoritarianism, armed conflict, and the flawed introduction of democratic forms. Sources: Bronner, Ethan (2009). "Mideast's Christians Losing Numbers and Sway", The New York Times, 13 May. Belt, Don (2009). "The Forgotten Faithful", National Geographic June, 78-97. Hasan, S.S. (2003). Christians versus Muslims in Modern Egypt: the century-long struggle for Coptic Equality, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Jenkins, Philip (2008). The Lost History of Christianity, New York: Harper Collins. Makari, Peter (2007). Conflict and Cooperation: Christian-Muslim relations in contemporary Egypt, Syracuse: Syracuse University Press. O'Mahony, Anthony (2007). "Tradition at the heart of renewal", International Journal for the Study of the Christian Church 7(3), 164-178.