Mission History

Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land

Although there have been Christians in Israel and Palestine since the days when Christ walked this region, the Lutheran presence entered the Holy Land long after Martin Luther's time.  The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land traces its origin to the middle of the 19th century when German and English Evangelical Christians came to Palestine to support the Christian minority in the area through diaconal and mision work.

In 1841, a joint Anglican and Lutheran bishopric was established in Jerusalem, initiating the efforts of Lutheran mission in this region.  Theodor Fliedner of Kaiserswerth was invited in 1851 to bring four deaconesses to the Holy Land to begin a hospital.  Four years later, a school for girls, Talitha Kumi, was begun.  This was the first school to offer girls a proper education.

Until 1947, the Lutheran church was a mission church under the spiritual leadership of a Propst appointed by the Evangelical Church in Germany.  Finally, in May 1959, when what is now the West Bank was part of Jordan, the ELCJHL was officially recognized as an autonomous religious community with a royal decree from King Hussein.  The official name given, then, was the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan (ELCJ), and the "Holy Land" was added to the title in 2005, in order to more accurately reflect the full scope of ministry serving Jordan, Palestine, and Israel.