The Protestant Churches
The Protestant communities in the Middle East only date from the early 19th century and the Western missionary 're-discovery' of the Holy Land. The intention of these missions was to evangelize the majority Muslim and Jewish communities, but their only success was in attracting Arabic-speaking Orthodox faithful.
The Jerusalem Bishopric of the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East (Anglican) was founded in 1841 and became an Archbishopric in 1957. In January 1976 significant changes were made to mark the end of the Archbishopric and the creation of a new Diocese and Province in Jerusalem and the Middle East, with the election and consecration of the first Arab bishop. There are some 4,500 Anglicans in the Diocese (2,500-3,000 in Israel), making it the largest Protestant community in the Holy Land. The Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem has his seat in the Cathedral Church of St. George the Martyr in Jerusalem.
The roots of the Lutheran Church in the Holy Land date back to 1841, when the Queen of England and the Prussian king decided to establish a joint Protestant Bishopric in Jerusalem. In 1886, the English and the German parts separated. The German congregation attracted increasingly Arabic-speaking people. Since 1979, the Arabic-speaking congregations have their own bishop and both churches exist independently of each other on the premises of the Propstei on Muristan Road in the Old City. The Arabic community numbers about 500, and the German - about 200.
German Lutheran property, which had been confiscated by the British in 1939, was purchased by the government of Israel in 1951 as part of the reparations agreement with the Federal Republic of Germany.
In 1982, the Norwegian Mission to Israel transferred authority and administration of its two mission churches in Haifa and Jaffa to the responsibility of the local congregations.
The Baptist Church in the Holy Land began with the formation of a congregation in Nazareth in 1911. Today the Association of Baptist Churches has a total of ten churches and centers in the following places: Acre, Cana, Haifa, Jaffa, Jerusalem, Kfar-Yassif, Nazareth, Petah-Tikvah, Rama and Tur'an. The community numbers about 900, the majority of whom are Arabic-speaking.
The Church of Scotland (Presbyterian) sent out its first mission to the Galilee in 1840, and for the next 100 years was actively engaged in the fields of education and medicine. Today a small, mostly expatriate community, serving pilgrims and visitors, the Church of Scotland maintains a church and hospice in both Jerusalem and Tiberias. The independent Edinburgh Medical Missionary Society maintains a teaching hospital for nurses in Nazareth.
The Church of God (Pentecostal) has a small community in Jerusalem, Nazareth and the West bank (about 200 in all), with an International Center on the Mount of Olives.
Three Protestant communal agricultural settlements have been established in different parts of Israel in recent years. Kfar Habaptistim, north of Petah Tikvah, was founded in 1955, and besides farming provides conference and summer-camp facilities for the Baptist and other Protestant communities in the country. Nes Amim, near Nahariya, was founded by a group of Dutch and German Protestants in 1963, as an international center for the promotion of Christian understanding of Israel. Just west of Jerusalem, Yad Hashmonah, founded in 1971, operates a guest-house for Christian visitors and pilgrims from Finland.
In addition to those already mentioned, there are any number of other, numerically small, Protestant denominational groups present in Israel.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon) established a small community in Haifa in 1886, and in Jerusalem in 1972. The membership of the church today numbers almost 200, with an additional 170 students of the Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies - a branch of Brigham Young University of Provo, Utah (USA).
The International Christian Embassy Jerusalem was founded in 1980, to demonstrate worldwide Christian support for Israel and for Jerusalem as its eternal capital. It is a center where Christians from all over the world can gain a biblical understanding of the country and of Israel as a modern nation. The ICEJ international network includes offices and representatives in 50 countries worldwide.

