The Lutheran World Federation

Visit of Dr. Jill Biden, the Second Lady of the United States of America

March 10, 2010

Dr. Jill Biden, the Second Lady of the United States of America and the Vice President’s spouse, accompanied by the spouse of the American Consul General in Jerusalem, the Deputy Mission Director of the U.S. Agency for International Development and members of the delegation accompanying the U.S. Vice President during his visit to the region, visited the Augusta Victoria Hospital. Dr. Tawfiq Nasser, the CEO of the Hospital and Reverend Mark Brown, the Regional Representative of the Lutheran World Federation in Jerusalem and the Middle East, received the guests, then Dr. Biden was introduced to the administrative and medical team managing the hospital.

Dr. Nasser expressed his deep gratitude to the American people and government for their support to the hospital’s ongoing and future projects and focused on the major role that this hospital and other Jerusalem hospitals play in providing support to the Palestinian health system and contribute to the building of civil society institutions.

Dr. Biden and the visiting delegation then visited the hospital facilities and talked to the women who were waiting to receive radiotherapy treatment. This visit comes in the light of the assistance provided to the hospital in the field of cancer screening and treatment as Augusta Victoria Hospital is the only Arab Palestinian hospital that provides comprehensive services to cancer patients starting from radiotherapy to chemotherapy and surgical interventions.

The guest then visited the Radiotherapy Unit where Dr. Nasser provided her with details regarding the hospital’s future plans to expand the cancer treatment services. This was followed by a visit to the site of the future linear accelerator used in radiotherapy.

She also visited the Kidney Dialysis Unit for adults followed by a visit to the Pediatric cancer care and kidney care unit, where she met with some children suffering from cancer who receive treatment at the hospital and one of the children presented a symbolic present to Dr. Biden.

At the end of the visit, Dr. Biden expressed her deep thanks to Dr. Nasser and to Reverend Brown for the warm reception she received at the hospital and acknowledged the huge efforts exerted by the hospital staff and management.

Visit of Quartet Representative Tony Blair

February 5, 2010

Quartet Representative Tony Blair was received by the Lutheran World Federation Representative, Rev. Mark Brown, Augusta Victoria Hospital CEO, Dr. Tawfiq Nasser, and the head of the WHO Office in Jerusalem, Mr. Tony Lawrence, on February 3rd during the official visit by Mr. Blair to Jerusalem institutions. Mr. Blair’s visit focused on the health situation in the area and the work of the East Jerusalem Hospitals. The visit included a tour of specialized hospital departments and a discussion on the importance of health institutions in Jerusalem and their relation to the overall health plan of the Palestinian Ministry of Health. Mr. Blair also listened to the plans of the LWF for developing the Mount of Olives property.

Volunteers Support LWF Jerusalem Program

November 17, 2009

Several long-term volunteers have been serving in Jerusalem this fall in support of the LWF projects.

Gil and Frances Shultz from Canada work at Augusta Victoria Hospital (AVH) as volunteers seconded from Canadian Lutheran World Relief. Gil is a doctor of Molecular and Developmental Biology. He is assisting the CEO of AVH as the “Research and Development Project Officer.” Frances holds a Master’s degree in Molecular Biology and joined the AVH Continuing Health Education Academy as a “Visiting Faculty” to give various courses in technical and proposal writing, technical communication skills, documentation and writing for medical, nursing, clinical, and administrative staff.

Brittany Moyer from Takoma Park, Maryland, is the 2009-2010 LWF Jerusalem Program intern and is working for one year as an administrative assistant in the LWF Jerusalem central office. A recent graduate of Juniata College with a major in Environmental Studies, Brittany is also working on environmental initiatives for the LWF’s Mount of Olives campus.

Stephanie Bliese from St. Paul, Minnesota, has been volunteering for three months this fall and will be returning to the U.S. at the end of November. Stephanie is a second-year Masters student at Luther Seminary studying Church History and Theology. She has been conducting research related to the 60 years of the LWF ministry on the Mount of Olives, as well as assisting in the olive harvest that began October 15.

It’s ‘Back to School’ for LWF’s Vocational Trainees

September 11, 2009

A new school year has begun for the two vocational training centers in LWF’s Vocational Training Program (VTP). Over 300 Palestinian youth are part of the program.

The LWF center in Beit Hanina, a neighborhood local to Jerusalem, has 247 trainees this term, seven of whom are women. The Beit Hanina center will be incorporating an apprenticeship program into its training scheme. This program will increase the cooperation between the students and the local market, thereby increasing a student’s employment opportunities after graduation.

The LWF center in the West Bank city of Ramallah has 64 trainees this term, eight of whom are women. The first three to four months of the term, students will be in the classroom learning theory and methodology. In the winter they will start apprenticeships at local businesses.

Students in the LWF VTP study in the fields of carpentry, aluminum, metalwork, auto-mechanics, auto-electronics, telecommunications, and plumbing and central heating.

The LWF VTP has provided vocational training to Palestinian youth since 1949. The VTP continues to provide quality training and to promote the human right of access to education for hundreds of Palestinian youth every year.

LWF Department for World Service Releases 2008 Annual Report

June 22, 2009

2008 Department for World Service Global Report

The LWF Department for World Service Annual Report covers the main programmatic activities carried out by World Service in 2008. It also includes general information related to the organizational priorities as described in the DWS Global strategy.

View full text of 2008 LWF-DWS Global Report »

ELCA Presiding Bishop Welcomes President’s Remarks on U.S.-Muslim Relations

June 11, 2009

ELCA NEWS SERVICE
June 4, 2009

CHICAGO (ELCA) — U.S. President Barack Obama “extended an invitation to a different way of living together in the world,” said the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), in response to the president’s long-awaited speech June 4 in Cairo, Egypt on U.S.-Muslim relations.

Obama said he came to Cairo to “seek a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world,” based on mutual interest and respect.

In an interview with the ELCA News Service, Hanson said the speech may be “historic, not for its words but for how those words become foundational for us to live together in a world that has too often turned differences into grounds for domination rather than reason for reconciliation.”

Hanson was appointed recently to a White House task force on interreligious dialogue and cooperation, through the Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. He is also president of the Lutheran World Federation, based in Geneva.

He said the content of Obama’s speech affirms the ELCA’s commitment to interfaith dialogue and is consistent with the church’s “Peace Not Walls” campaign for a just peace between Israelis and Palestinians. The president’s remarks also relate to subjects Hanson discussed with Jordan’s King Abdullah II in two meetings earlier this year: preserving Palestinian Christianity, the concept of Jerusalem as a “shared city” and the deepening of Muslim-Christian relations.

In his speech, Obama said he is a Christian but his father came from a Kenyan family that includes generations of Muslims. The president said he is familiar with Islam.

“I consider it part of my responsibility as president of the United States to fight against negative stereotypes of Islam where they appear,” Obama said, adding that the same principle must apply to Muslim perceptions of America. “Just as Muslims do not fit a crude stereotype, America is not the crude stereotype of a self-interested empire,” he said.

Obama addressed specific issues to Muslims in his remarks: violent extremism in all forms, the situation among Israelis, Palestinians and the Arab world, responsibilities of nations on nuclear weapons, democracy, religious freedom, women’s rights, and economic development and opportunity.

“His (Obama’s) tone was calm, and he exemplified what he called for — calm, thoughtful, reasoned response to potentially explosive issues,” Hanson said. The bishop noted the president’s acknowledgement of the difficulty Palestinians — including Palestinian Christians — face because of the Israeli occupation. He said Obama challenged those who deny the Holocaust and called for Hamas to recognize Israel.

In response to Obama’s speech, Hanson suggested Lutherans engage locally in interfaith dialogue and cooperative responses to human needs, learn more about people of other faiths, and hold the government accountable through advocacy for peace with justice in the Holy Land.

Hanson joined a diverse group of 50 religious leaders in a June 4 letter Obama to continue to make Israeli-Palestinian peace a top priority of his administration. The leaders also expressed serious concern over the “deteriorating situation in the Holy Land” and urged the Obama administration to make real and concrete progress in achieving a “just peace” between Israel and the Palestinians.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org
http://www.elca.org/news
ELCA News Blog: http://www.elca.org/news/blog

Original Text

Anniversary Celebrations Mark Lutheran Church Witness in Holy Land

May 27, 2009

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“Living Witness – Creative Diakonia” was the theme of festive gatherings, worship, parades, dances, exhibitions and many other activities, marking three important anniversaries of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land (ELCJHL) from 16-17 May 2009.

ELCJHL Bishop Dr Munib A. Younan described the anniversary celebrations—50 years of the ELCJHL, 30 years of its Arabic bishopric, and 170 years of evangelical mission in the Holy Land—as a morale boost for church members and for Arab Palestinian Christianity.

“We were thankful that local and international society could appreciate the work of this church and tell us, ‘Go forward in what you are doing.’ We are thankful for those who worked before us and handed us what they have received,” said Younan. “But at the same time, we want to ask our people to continue in this line of serving, because being loyal to our Christian witness, our Christian call and apostolic vocation is in continuity with Christ’s call at the ascension, ‘Go to the whole world.’”

In his congratulatory message, Rev. Dr Ishmael Noko, general secretary of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) said the ELCJHL was an “integral part of the mother church in Jerusalem; part of an unbroken history of Christian witness and ministry in the Holy Land since the days of Christ’s life on earth.” He noted the anniversary was also an occasion to celebrate the church’s commitment to interfaith dialogue and cooperation and the search for peace in the region and globally.

Younan, LWF vice president for the Asian region, noted the days around the celebration coincided with the visit of the head of the Roman Catholic Church Pope Benedict XVI to the region. “We are very happy, after the visit of the pope, to show that there is a witnessing evangelical Lutheran community that is an integral part of the Christian community in Palestine-Israel, Jordan and the Middle East,” added the ELCJHL bishop.

The ELCJHL currently has some 3,000 members. It joined the LWF in 1974. (342 words)

LWF Jerusalem Publishes 2008 Annual Report

April 24, 2009

The LWF Jerusalem Annual Report covers the main programmatic activities carried out byLWF Jerusalem Program in 2008.

View full text of 2008 LWF-Jerusalem Annual Report »

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