Personal Info
- Country of residence: Palestine
Information
Basem Khalil Ibrahim Najm (December
27, 1927 - March 18, 1983) was a Palestinian Lutheran theologian and pastor. He
was born and raised in the Palestinian city of Tulkarm. He is considered one of
the leaders of the Lutheran Church. In 1959 he contributed to making the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land an independent
religious denomination. He also contributed In 1979 he Arabized the church, and
before that in 1965 he was president of the synod of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church. He is the founder of the Evangelical Lutheran Hope Church, and the
first president and pastor of the church from 1956 until his death in 1983,
when he was succeeded by Munib Younan.
his biography
He was born in the name of Khalil
Ibrahim Najm in the Palestinian city of Tulkarem on December 27, 1927 to a
Palestinian Christian family. He received his education in the schools of his
city, Tulkarem, and studied Christian theology at the Lutheran College of
Theology in Chicago in the United States of America. He graduated from the
college in 1954, then served for a year in the Lutheran Church in Germany, and
he was ordained a priest in Berlin in 1955, and from there he returned to his
country, Palestine.
Since 1956, he has taken care of the
Evangelical Lutheran community in the Ramallah region, and in 1959 he
contributed to making the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy
Land an independent religious community. Approval of this was issued by
Jordanian King Hussein bin Talal in May 1959, at a time when the West Bank was
Follow the Jordanian administration.
In 1961, he founded the Lutheran
Evangelical Hope Church. The foundation stone was laid on November 12, 1961,
accompanied by the Bishop of Berlin, Kurt Scharf, in an official ceremony
attended by guests from the United States of America, Finland and Norway. The
church was inaugurated on April 28, 1963 in an official ceremony attended by
the heads of Christian denominations in the region. In 1965, he established the
Al-Raja' Evangelical Lutheran School in Ramallah. Bassem Negm was the first
president and pastor of Al-Raja'a Evangelical Lutheran Church, and after his
death in 1983, he was succeeded in the presidency of the church by Munib
Younan.
On February 6, 1965, Basem Najm was
elected President of the Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Holy
Land and Jordan, succeeding Dawad Haddad. In 1979, he contributed to the
Arabization of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land,
thus installing the first Palestinian Arab bishop in the history of the Church
and the Middle East.
Bassem Negm had attended the
Lutheran General Conference in October 1965 in Addis Ababa, and participated in
the discussions of evangelical unity in Jerusalem and Beirut. He also
participated in several ecumenical discussions, and represented the Church on
several occasions in Germany, Sweden, Finland and Tanzania. The United States
of America, Austria and Switzerland. He was also responsible for cultural
exchange programs and labor camps in the Lutheran World Federation, and a
member of the Church Aid Committee in Jerusalem and Cyprus.
his personal life
His brother is the Palestinian
geographer Bashir Najm, born in Tulkarm on September 13, 1936.
His death and eulogy
Bassem Negm died on March 18, 1983
at the age of 55. On April 15, 1983, an official memorial field was held for
him in the Evangelical Lutheran Raja Church, which was attended by a number of
personalities, politicians, and clergy.
They said about him
They said about Bassem Najm:
Palestinian politician Karim Khalaf:
"Your separation is dear to everyone, and your loss is a tragedy and a
great loss, and for us in the glorious deeds that you left behind, what eases
the pain of separation. .. You are one of the flags of our dear homeland,
Palestine.”
Palestinian lawyer and political
activist Fouad Shehadeh: "The life of our great deceased was like a bright
meteor that lit up the sky of the Church and the homeland... I have no doubt at
all that his church has cherished him as a faithful shepherd, courageous
leader, and creative thinker... His loss is a great loss, not even a
calamity."
Archbishop of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church, Naim Nassar: "If we look back at the years that passed
into the life of our dear deceased, we find that despite its shortness, it was
a life full of tests and blessings, a life full of valuable lessons, all
testifying to his sincerity and devotion to his redeemer and savior."
A book about it
On June 9, 2017, Mitri Al Raheb,
pastor of the Nativity Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bethlehem, announced the
publication of a book about Bassem Najm's life.
source
Achievements and Awards
- Years in active
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