First Palestinian woman becomes Lutheran pastor in Holy Land

Sally Azar (26) studied theology in Lebanon and then in Gottingen and Hermannsburg in Germany, and was most recently a pastor in Berlin for two years. Bishop Sani Ibrahim Azar, her father, who has led the 3,000-member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Jordan & the Holy Land (ELCJHL) since 2018, performed the ordination last Sunday in Jerusalem's Church of the Redeemer.

After her inauguration, Azar will initially serve her church's English-speaking congregation in Jerusalem as well as in Beit Sahour near Bethlehem, she told the Catholic News Agency (KNA). The ELCJHL decided to admit women to the parish ministry in 2010. (KNA)