The Protestant communities in the Middle East only date from the early 19th century and the establishment of Western diplomatic representations in Jerusalem.
The intention of these missions was to evangelize the Muslim and Jewish communities, but their only success was in attracting Arabic-speaking Orthodox Christians.
Church of England
In 1841, the Queen of England and the King of Prussia decided to establish a joint Anglican-Lutheran Protestant bishopric in Jerusalem. The scheme came to an end in 1886, but the office was continued by the Church of England, which in 1957 elevated its representative in Jerusalem to the rank of Archbishop. This was ended in 1976, with the creation of the new (Anglican) Protestant Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East and the election and consecration of the first Arab bishop in Jerusalem.
It is the largest Protestant community in the Holy Land. The Anglican bishop in Jerusalem has his seat in the Cathedral Church of St. George the Martyr, which is maintained by the Church of England through an appointed dean.
German Lutheran Church
With the dissolution of the joint Anglo-Prussian venture in 1886, the German Lutheran Church established an independent presence in Jerusalem and the Holy Land. This community attracted an increasing number of Arabic-speaking members, many of them former pupils of schools and other institutions maintained by German Lutheran churches and societies.
Since 1979, the Arabic-speaking congregation has had its own bishop, existing independently of the small German-speaking congregation and the Lutheran Church in Germany, which is represented by a propst (dean). Both clerics share the premises of the Propstei on Muristan Road in the Old City of Jerusalem.
Missions
There are also small Danish, Swedish and English-speaking Lutheran congregations with representative clergy from the parent churches for the benefit of members who are visiting or resident in Israel. In 1982, the Norwegian Mission to Israel transferred authority and administration of its two mission churches in Haifa and Jaffa to the responsibility of the local congregations.
Baptist Church
Baptist Church activities in the Holy Land began with the formation of a congregation in Nazareth in 1911. Today the Association of Baptist Churches has eighteen churches and centers in Akko, Cana, Haifa, Yafo, Jerusalem, Kfar-Yassif, Nazareth, Petah Tikva, Rama, Turan and other places. The majority of the congregants are Arabic-speaking.
Presbyterian Church of Scotland
The (Presbyterian) Church of Scotland sent out its first mission to the Galilee in 1840, and for the next 100 years was actively engaged in the fields of education and medicine. Today a small, mostly expatriate community serving pilgrims and visitors, the Church of Scotland maintains a church and hospice in both Jerusalem and Tiberias. The independent Edinburgh Medical Missionary Society maintains a teaching hospital for nurses in Nazareth.
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon) established a small community in Haifa in 1886 and in Jerusalem in 1972.Membership of the church today includes students of the Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies, a branch of Brigham Young University of Provo, Utah (USA).
Protestant Communal Agricultural Settlements.
Three Protestant communal agricultural settlements were established in different parts of Israel in recent years. Kfar Habaptistim, north of Petah Tikva, was founded in 1955, and provides conference and summer-camp facilities for the Baptist and other Protestant communities in the country. In 1963 a group of Dutch and German Protestants founded Nes Ammim, near Nahariya. The community was founded as an international center for the promotion of Christian understanding of Israel. Yad Hashmonah, founded in 1971 just west of Jerusalem, operates a guesthouse for Christian visitors and pilgrims from Finland.
International Christian Embassy
Like Judaism and Islam, Christianity shares a long history with Jerusalem, a city that is considered the holiest in the world.
Jerusalem is important to Christians because it was where a very young Jesus impressed the sages at the Jewish Temple.
It is also where he spent the last days of his ministry, and where the Last Supper, the Crucifixion, the Resurrection, and the Pentecost took place.
Within Jerusalem’s Old City, the surrounding areas, and throughout Israel, Christian denominations live alongside one another.
The history of these Christian communities goes back to the time of Jesus, his life and ministry in Nazareth, and following his death they gained momentum and grew.
The Christian communities can be divided into four basic denominations: Eastern Orthodox (or Chalcedonian-Orthodox), Non-Chalcedonian Orthodox (sometimes called Monophysite), Roman Catholic (Latin and Uiate), and Protestant.
The Protestant communities in the Middle East only date from the early 19th century and the establishment of Western diplomatic representations in Jerusalem.
The intention of these missions was to evangelize the Muslim and Jewish communities, but their only success was in attracting Arabic-speaking Orthodox Christians.
One of the these communities is the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem, that was founded in 1980 to demonstrate worldwide Christian support for Israel and for Jerusalem as its eternal capital.
It is a center where Christians from all over the world can gain a biblical understanding of the country and of Israel as a modern nation.
The ICEJs international network includes offices and representatives in 50 countries worldwide, such an Angola, Austria, Bolivia, Brazil, Denmark, Iceland and more
*Courtesy of RLH
