LWF Congratulates Palestinian Lutheran Pastor Raheb for German Media Prize

Promotion of tolerance and mutual respect starts at an early age at the ELCJHL-run Dar al-Kalima Evangelical Lutheran School in Bethlehem where the student body is 40 percent Christian and 60 percent Muslim. © ELCJHL/Elizabeth McHan

Junge Lauds Holy Land Church Support to Peace-building Institutions

GENEVA, 24 February 2012 (Lutheran World Information) – The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) has extended congratulations to Palestinian Lutheran pastor Rev. Dr Mitri Raheb on winning the 2011 “Deutscher Medienpreis” (German Media Prize). The award, which Raheb will receive later today, recognizes his individual and the church’s peace efforts, said LWF General Secretary Rev. Martin Junge.

Raheb is pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem, a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land (ELCJHL). He is among four recipients of the prestigious prize to be awarded in Baden-Baden, Germany.

“The Deutscher Medienpreis is a recognition of not only your hard work and passion for justice, it is an affirmation of your approach, and that of the ELCJHL, to the complicated challenges of building institutions that change lives and of building relationships that strengthen prospects for a lasting peace,” wrote Junge in a congratulatory letter to Raheb.

To mark the 20th anniversary of the prize this year, it honors individuals who, in their work for peace, have quietly carried on without much media attention. The Deutscher Medienpreis jury said Raheb was being honored for building the Bethlehem congregation’s education, health care and dialogue programs.

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Click here to read the full article on the LWF website.

learn

Click on the highlighted links to learn more about the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem, Rev. Dr. Mitri Raheb, and the Diyar Consortium –an outgrowth of the ELCJHL Bethlehem congregation.

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Click here to view more photos from a day spent in the classrooms, hallways, and playgrounds of Dar al-Kalima Evangelical Lutheran School in Bethlehem, one of four k-12 ELCJHL Schools.