Phone: 972-2-626-6800 FAX: 972-2-628.5764 ADDRESS: Muristan Rd. P.O. Box 14076 Jerusalem 91140 via Israel
Our Pastor | Congregational Life | Programs | Abraham’s Herberge | Boys' Home | Future | Contact Info
Reformation Church is a congregation which especially has developed its ministry to and with young families and children. As part of its vision, it has 45 boys boarding in its Evangelical Lutheran Home, who come from needy and broken families. The congregation employs a full-time social worker to be involved in interdenominational efforts to improve the lives of local families.
In addition, Reformation Church operates Abraham's House, a facility to enable encounters among groups of Christian, Jewish and Muslim youth from Palestine, Israel, the Middle East and the rest of the world. The hope is that through these meetings, youth will begin to understand that the well-being of each is dependent upon the well-being of others. Because Abraham is a common ancestor in the faith for the three religions of the Holy Land, this program bears his name.
The lovely Palestinian village of Beit Jala is built on the hills just west of Bethlehem. In fact, the towns of Beit Jala, Bethlehem and Beit Sahour all blend together about five miles south of Jerusalem. Beit Jala, like the other sister towns, was a wholly Christian village before the influx of Palestinian refugees during the 1948 and 1967 wars. Now Christians and Muslims live as neighbors and friends. Church bells ring from many steeples; many calls to prayer are heard from the minarets of the mosques.
The church compound of the Lutheran Church of the Reformation is located on a main street in Beit Jala that winds up a steep hill. The church steeple can be seen from the street but many surprises await the first-time visitor upon entering the main gate. A central courtyard on two levels with a raised garden in the middle is very welcoming, and the eye is caught by a bronze sculpture in the garden. Created by the well-known Palestinian artist Suleiman Mansour, the modernistic sculpture is of a family of four standing together in a row with arms stretched out horizontally behind each other. The impression given is that of family members loving each other and facing the world together, ready to reach out and embrace that world.
The sculpture is a visual image of the theology and the mission of this Lutheran congregation of the ELCJ. Ministry to young and old, to families and people living alone, to Christians, Jews and Muslims, to the congregation and to the community at large, to people around the world – all of this and more is caught in the family sculpture showing love, unity, strength, steadfastness and openness.
Surrounding the courtyard are the church sanctuary and several other buildings which house the ministries of the congregation. “This is a growing congregation,” Rev. Jadallah Shihadeh states. “When I first came in 1986 our baptized membership was 398. Today we number 520 people in 72 families, plus many people who attend and are active in our ministries but do not actually hold membership.”
Pastor Jadallah was born in Kuwait of Palestinian parents, as his father had
work in Kuwait. The family was from Beit Jala and Jadallah grew up in the very
town where he now serves as pastor. He went to Germany for his education and
seminary training. Ordained in 1986, he soon became the pastor of his home
congregation. “I really like serving this congregation,” Pastor Jadallah says
with a smile. “I know and understand the people; they know and understand me.”
The pastor and his wife, Hannelore, and their children live in Beit Jala.
Worship services are held at 10:00 am each Sunday in the church sanctuary, which opens directly on to the church courtyard. Sunday school also meets each week, with about 120 children participating in class and worship. “This church is a praying congregation,” Pastor Jadallah states. “We meet during the week just to pray, and we pray for everyone, Palestinians, Israelis, Jews, Muslims, Christians, it doesn’t matter. We pray for everyone in need.” One night each week is “Family Night” at the Lutheran Church of the Reformation. Families are invited to socialize, eat, study, and pray. The children come along and there are activities for everyone.
Over the years, social workers have worked with the spiritual and diaconal
needs of the congregation, the boys' home and even the larger community.
Abraham’s Herberge (House; Place to Rest) is a newly-built guest house on the church compound of the Lutheran Church of the Reformation in Beit Jala. In fact, part of the guest house is complete and is being used, while part is still under construction. It is supported largely by churches in Germany.
Abraham’s Herberge is intended to be a place of hope and reconciliation for all the children of Abraham – Jews, Muslims and Christians. The vision is to give a place where people can meet and speak about common hatred, pain and suffering. As Rev. Jadallah says, “The blessing of one person depends on blessing the other. It is our destiny to live in this land together and we want to do so with peace and dignity.”
The Hope and Reconciliation Center is intended for youth and any other groups wishing to meet and dialogue together. Israeli and Palestinian women have met together at Abraham’s Herberge, and wish to do so again in the future.
The home for boys was established on the Lutheran church property, built in 1945 as a part of the
Schneller School operation. The Schneller School was well-known in Palestine for
excellent education based in the Christian faith. There was a need for a place
where orphaned and unwanted boys could live rather than living on the street.
Today the Lutheran Boys’ Home continues and flourishes in a three-story building in the Lutheran church compound. Pastor Jadallah is the housefather for the home as well as pastor of the church. The home is like an orphanage, although not all the boys have lost their parents. Some boys have one or two parents but the social situation at home is not good. “We are their family,” Pastor Jadallah says.
During the school year, when the boarding home is fully occupied, there are forty-seven boys ranging in age from four to five years up to seventeen years. At least one or more boys past the age of seventeen are continuing to live and work at the boarding home. Pastor Jadallah explains, “There are Muslim and Christian boys living together. They grow up in the spirit of Abraham, living in a big brotherhood. We teach them to live in a way of life to create peace.” The boys go to a number of schools in the area, such as Talitha Kumi (an ELCJ school), a Mennonite school, a Catholic school, public schools and vocational schools. The Lutheran Boys’ Home is the only one of its kind in Palestine and is supported largely by the ELCJ and by other donors.
The Lutheran Church of the Reformation is busy meeting the needs of people in the current situation, in worshipping and praying together, and in looking to the future for ways in which the church can be doing Christ’s saving and reconciling mission in Beit Jala. In fact, the mission of this congregation, which is part and parcel of the ELCJ, is already reaching out to the world with hope and reconciliation to many people in Europe, the United States and other lands.
The Lutheran church in Beit Jala has a long history, dating back to 1845. A missionary, Mr. Mueller, from southern Germany gathered people together for Bible studies and devotions. This missionary effort was separate from the Anglican-Lutheran joint project that began in Palestine in the 1840s-50s. When Missionary Mueller left, another German missionary, Mr. Schneller, succeeded him. Missionary Schneller was able to establish an actual Lutheran congregation in Beit Jala. Mr. Giries Abu Dayyeh, the head of a clan (mukhtar) in the town at that time, was the first to join this Lutheran congregation.
The congregational members, led by Mukhtar Abu Dayyeh, wanted to build a church sanctuary. Missionary Schneller and the congregation, with help from the Jerusalem Foundation in Berlin, Germany, built the church that was dedicated in 1886. In 1887 Evangelist Bishara Can’an was appointed to serve the church on behalf of the Jerusalem Foundation.
In 1959 the Lutheran Church of the Reformation became a congregation of the newly formed Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan, ELCJ (the West Bank and East Jerusalem being under Jordan’s administration at that time). The congregation had been served faithfully since 1887 by Evangelist Can’an, and Pastors I. Haddad, S, Haddad, and N. Smir Bishop Dr. Munib Younan served as the pastor of the Beit Jala congregation from 1979-85.
From this long and rich history has emerged a congregation that is very cognizant of the needs of people in the immediate community and even in other countries, and finds many ways to address those needs.
Mailing Address:
The Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Reformation
P.O.Box 11
Beit Jala, PA
via Israel
Phone:
Office: 972-2-274-3946
Fax: 972-2-274-4250
Email: