Hope Church (Ramallah)
The hope Church ( Church of Hope ) in Ramallah is part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land . Imad Haddad has been the pastor of the church since 2012.
History of the parish
When the church was planted in 1954, 38 families registered as members, some of them came to Ramallah as refugees from the Palestine War of 1948/49. Daoud Haddad , pastor at the Church of the Redeemer in Jerusalem, visited the congregation regularly on Sundays. Services were held first in the Quaker meeting house in Ramallah and later in St. Andrew Episcopal Church.
Bassem Nijim († 1983) was the first pastor of the Lutheran congregation in Ramallah. When he took up his post in 1956, they rented a parish hall, but they were already collecting money for a new church. The community bought land and built the rectory in 1961. In 1961 the foundation stone was laid for the church building.
Munib Younan became the second pastor in the ward in 1984. After becoming a bishop in 1998, Ramez Ansara was ordained as a pastor in Ramallah. He was born and raised in Ramallah and studied theology in Tanzania (Makumira University College). The following owners of the parish office have been Saliba Rishmawi since 2010 and Imad Haddad since 2012.
The congregation today consists of 92 families or around 430 baptized members. Almost all of them came as refugees. Most of them come from Jaffa , Ramle and Lod , cities that are now part of Israel. It is estimated that 1,500 Lutherans emigrated from Ramallah, mostly to the United States or Canada.
Church building
The Church of Hope was built between 1961 and 1963 according to plans by the architect Gerhard Langmaack .
The church building has three levels. The church service room, the narthex and the parish office are on the top floor, the middle level has a parish hall, classrooms and a kitchen, and on the ground floor there are three additional classrooms. Since the church is on a slope, you enter the church service room from the street and access the lower levels via external stairs.
School of Hope
In 1965 a small kindergarten opened on the neighboring property, and in 1975 it had become a two-story school building where children up to ninth grade received lessons. The construction of the third floor, completed in 1982, enabled lessons up to grade 12. The school has recently been expanded again, creating rooms for school computers, theater performances and musical and artistic offers.
Operation shield
In the spring of 2002, during the Second Intifada , the Israeli army occupied a number of cities in the West Bank, including Ramallah ( Operation Shield ). Pastor Ansara was forced by soldiers at gunpoint on April 7th to go into the individual rooms of the church, which were then searched by the soldiers. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land protested that civilians were used in this way as human shields. In addition, according to the community, a group of Israeli soldiers damaged the classrooms, but after the curfew was lifted , community members began repairs and classes were resumed a week later. The School of Hope currently has around 400 students.
Community social work
In addition to church services and various community groups, there are also social offers such as meals on wheels , combined with payment and delivery of necessary medication for seniors. There is also a dispensing point for basic food. This work is supported by partners: the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America , the Presbyterian Church in America, the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission and a local NGO (Ata).
Ecumenical and international partnerships
The ecumenical cooperation of the Christian denominations is well advanced in Ramallah. It began with joint Lutheran-Anglican church services on major public holidays. Today five churches cooperate with each other: the Greek Orthodox Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord , the Roman Catholic Church of the Holy Family , the Anglican Church of St. Andrew’s , the Melkite Church of Annunciation and the Lutheran Church of Hope.
The community maintains international partnerships with:
- Grefsen kirke, Oslo
- Johanneskirche (Berlin-Lichterfelde)
- Ev. Karlshorst parish , Berlin.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Church of Hope Welcomes Rev. Imad Haddad. In: ELCJHL. September 30, 2012, accessed November 28, 2018 .
- ^ ELCJHL celebrates a new pastor for Ramallah. In: ELCJHL. March 14, 2010, accessed November 28, 2018 .
- ^ Israeli Soldiers Search Lutheran Church of Hope, Ramallah. In: Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. September 4, 2002, accessed November 28, 2018 .
- ^ Church of Hope, vår vennskapsmenighet i Ramallah. In: Grefsen menighet. Den Norske kirke, accessed on November 28, 2018 .
- ^ Partnership with the Church of Hope, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Ramallah. In: Ev. Johanneskirchengemeinde Berlin-Lichterfelde. Retrieved November 28, 2018 .
Coordinates: 31 ° 53 ′ 54 ″ N , 35 ° 12 ′ 7 ″ E