1st Female Palestinian Pastor in Israel, West Bank Ordained in Jerusalem

A Lutheran church in the old city of Jerusalem ordained the first female Palestinian pastor in Israel and the West Bank. Sally Azar was ordained in a ceremony at the Church of the Redeemer, an Evangelical Lutheran Church with an English-speaking congregation. The Evangelical Lutheran Church has some 3,000 followers in Jerusalem, the West Bank and Jordan, The Associated Press reported. She will be one of one of five ordained women in the Middle East; the others are located in Syria and Lebanon, according to the report. Azar is following in the footsteps of her father, who is a bishop. “It’s a big, big day for the life of our Church, it’s an important step forward and it’s overdue,” Reverend Dr. Munther Isaac, Lutheran Pastor of Bethlehem and Beit Sahour, said in a recent interview.