Birth: NULL/NULL/1950 Death:NULL/NULL/NULL
Born in Jerusalem on 18 Sept. 1950 to refugee parents (father from Beersheba, mother from West Jerusalem); attended Lutheran schools in Jerusalem and Beit Jala and received the High School Certificate from Al-Ahliyya College, Ramallah, in 1968; studied Deaconry at the Luther Opisto College in Järvenpää, Finland, from 1969-72, then Theology at Helsinki University, earning an MA in Theology in 1976; was ordained as a Lutheran pastor in May 1976 in Jerusalem and has served as Assistant Pastor in the Church of Redeemer, Jerusalem (1976-79), then as Pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Reformation in Beit Jala (1979-84), and as Pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hope in Ramallah (1984-98); taught Christian education at Lutheran schools from 1976-97; was youth pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land (ELCJHL) from 1977-88; member of the Youth Committee of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) since 1981; co-founded Al-Liqa Center for Religious and Heritage Studies, Bethlehem, in 1982; member of the Middle East Council of Churches Exec. Committee since 1995; studied at the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago, USA, in 1988; served as Synod Pres. of the ELCJHL from 1990-98; served as Vice-Chair of the LWF’s Dept. of Mission and Development and as Vice-Pres. of the Board of Trustees of its Ecumenical Institute in Strasbourg, France from 1997-2003; was consecrated Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land on 5 Jan. 1998; Pres. of the Board of Managers of the International Christian Committee (ICC) in Jerusalem from 1998-2004; serves as Chairperson of the Board of the Augusta Victoria Hospital in Jerusalem since 1998; was Chair of the Asian Regional Church Leaders Conference from 1998-2003; member of the World Council of Churches – Orthodox Study Group since 1998; served as Vice-Pres. of the Board of Managers of the Near East School of Theology in Beirut from 1999-2003 and remains a member of the Board; President of the Fellowship of Middle East Evangelical Churches (FMEEC) since 2003; received several honors, incl. the 2001 Finnish Peace Prize from the Finnish Christian Peace Movement, an Honorary Doctor of Divinity from Wartburg College, Waverly, Iowa (2001), the Human Rights Award from the UN Association, Washington, DC (2001), the Bethanien (Bethany) Prize of the Methodist Church, Oslo (2004), the Holyland Christian Ecumenical Foundation Prize, Washington (2004) and the Bethlehem 2000 Award (2005); served as Member of the Board of the LWF’s Vocational Training Center in Beit Hanina from 2001-04; since 2003, member of the LWF Council, Exec. Committee and Board of Trustees as well as LWF Vice-Pres.; has played an instrumental role in developing Palestinian Christian Instruction Curriculums; has authored a book entitled Witnessing for Peace (2003), numerous articles and papers on the church in Palestine and the Middle East, Palestinian Christians, Jerusalem, and religion; works for justice, peace, reconciliation and religious dialogue.
