Palestinian next LWF president

Palestinian next LWF president

The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) has chosen Palestinian Bishop Munib A. Younan as its next president, the first Arab to lead the Geneva-based umbrella group for 70 million Lutherans.

Younan, 59, was elected July 24 at the LWF’s 11th assembly in Stuttgart. He succeeds Pastor Mark Hanson, the presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, who held the post for seven years.

Younan told delegates he was introduced to the LWF as a refugee when he drank chocolate milk at the Martin Luther School in Jerusalem, an event that inspired him to enter the church ministry.

With just 3,000 members, Younan’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land is one of the smallest of the LWF churches. “Palestinian Christianity has survived 2,000 years,” he said. “We have never ruled the country, nor were we ever in the majority. We do not have much property, power, money or influence. Yet we have
survived.”  (RNS)