If you go to Nazareth today you cannot fail to notice the enormous Church of the Annunciation...but it's easy to miss what else goes on there...off the tourist trail.

Azar Ajaj

One of the most famous place names in the world...Nazareth...where Mary lived...where the angel Gabriel visited her with the news that she was to have a baby...the town where Jesus grew up...where he learnt the skills of a carpenter.

Azar Ajaz was born in Nazareth. As a young man he left the town to study at the Hebrew university then returned to work with a student organisation run jointly by both Jewish and Arab believers. He married a girl from Bethlehem and today pastors the Baptist church in Nazareth. He faces many challenges being an evangelical Christian leader in a largely Muslim area. He had an early taste of what it means to be in the minority when he became the first Christian in his family aged 14.
'My parents didn't like it very much but they accepted it. My brother became a believer at the same time as me. A few years after that he started a Bible study at home and my parents became believers too.'

Why did you decide to go to the Hebrew university in Jerusalem?

'We are Israeli Arabs; we grew up in Israel and we studied Hebrew at school .. so we were able to go to a Hebrew university. I studied mathematics but I never worked as a mathematician because after I finished my degree, God called me to work in a student ministry called the Fellowship of Christian Students in Israel .. it's great because Arabs and Jews work together reaching out to students on the campuses. I had a great time working with this ministry.'

Interesting that as an Arab you were prepared to work with Jews.

Children with Liza

'One of the challenges that we have as believers, both Jews and Arabs, in Israel is to work together to show unity at a time when our country is facing a very difficult time. Actually, I do not remember a time of peace...and today many people are losing hope. They don't trust the government...they don't trust the army...they don't trust anyone. Every time I open the Bible and see God's message to the world, I see that God is calling us as believers in our unity to reflect his peace and the hope that the world can have through him. And I don't see any other way to bring and proclaim this peace to the people around us except we as the body of Christ (and when I say the body of Christ I mean the believing Arabs and the believing Jews in Israel), through our unity, love and working together to reflect this peace and hope for the people in the country. So it's very challenging. God is moving and there are great things happening. Recently we had a meeting to which many Arab congregations and many Messianic Jewish congregations came together for a picnic in a forest. Around 8,000 people were there. An Arab pastor preached and a Messianic Jewish pastor preached and we expressed our love and unity together. So it's very important for people around the world to understand that it's essential that through the unity of Messianic and Arab believers the peace of God will be proclaimed in Israel.'

Tell me about your work in Nazareth.

Primary students in chapel

'Nazareth is situated in the north of the country. It's an Arab town with a population of 70,000 people...2/3 Muslim and 1/3 Christian, who are not necessarily believers, they are just not Jews or Muslims! Although Nazareth was the home town of Jesus, sadly today there is not a big Christian witness there. People know about Jesus but they don't know him. The relationship between the Muslims and the Christians is calm at the moment, but there are tensions under the surface which often come to the surface. It's a pressure being a Christian there.

As evangelicals we are a small minority of the already small Christian population. We are sometimes seen as second class citizens and some of our people are out of work.
We meet in a school. Part of our ministry involves helping the school children. The school has about 1,000 students and it is the only evangelical school in Israel. It's a private school called the Baptist School. Every student has to attend the chapel each day and has regular Bible teaching. The parents have to sign a paper saying that they agree for their child to attend Bible classes whether they are Muslim, orthodox Christian or evangelical Christian. The school maintains high standards and many people don't mind sacrificing their beliefs in order for their children to receive a good quality education! The school has a great impact on society. Many of the graduates of the school are now in good positions in society and also in the ministry...many of our former students are now leading churches or working in para-church organisations in the Middle East.

View from above the school

But we are struggling to keep going. Because the school is so popular, it has become very crowded! This presents a challenge for the school and for the church to move to another place and provide a better service to the community in Nazareth. We are in the early stages. We've found a piece of land. It's about 4 acres. So we're looking to buy this land and then start building a new school. Of course the old school can be sold - but not yet! We don't have the money we need - yet! We are busy fundraising in different places in the world and our prayer is that people will hear about us and support us in any way they can.'

To receive more information, you can email Azar Ajaz