It’s time to share another video from the Nazareth Village.
We are sharing the first video of the miniseries Past, Present, Future: “The Present: Message of Jesus at the Synagogue of Nazareth”.
In this video, we unpack the words of Jesus from Luke chapter 4 at the synagogue of Nazareth, which relate so well to the unprecedented times we are all going through:
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”
We hope you enjoy it!
The olive harvest season has officially arrived in Nazareth!
Have you ever wondered how first-century villagers would crush olives? Watch the video to find out!
“But I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God; I trust in God’s unfailing love for ever and ever.” (Psalm 52:8)
We hope you enjoyed the video! Keep an eye on our website next Thursday for the next video from the Nazareth Village. To find out more about the Nazareth Village, visit their website.
We’re saddened to share the news of Patricia Baxter passing away. Patricia was passionate about the history of the medical mission and dedicated her life to supporting researchers from all around the world.
We owe so much to Patricia. ‘Vartan of Nazareth’ (2012), the book that narrates the fascinating story of our founder, Dr Pakradooni Kaloost Vartan, wouldn’t have been possible without her. Malcolm Billings, the author, acknowledged Patricia’s help at the beginning of his book: “Many people have helped guide my travels through the nineteenth century in search of the little-known Vartan of Nazareth. Patricia Baxter, Honorary Historian of the Edinburgh Medical Missionary Society, generously shared many years of her research into Vartan’s life”.
Missionary work was deep-rooted in Patricia’s family. It all began with her grandfather, Alexander Baxter, who received funding to study medicine through EMMS. While he was training at the EMMS Cowgate Dispensary in Edinburgh, he met his wife, Emily. After Alexander’s graduation, they travelled to China and worked there together until he passed away in 1918.
Alexander’s son David (Patricia’s father) was eager to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a missionary doctor. After training at EMMS and Edinburgh University, he and his wife Margaret served as missionaries of the Church of Scotland in India. Patricia was born in the Christina Rainy Hospital in Royapurum, Madras, in 1942. After spending her early childhood in India, her family moved back to Scotland in 1953.
Patricia trained as a nurse and married Andrew Baxter, an Ear, Nose and Throat specialist in Dollar (Scotland), in 1966. They both worked on the EMMS archives, collecting and cataloguing treasured historical material. After Andrew’s tragic death in 1996, Patricia continued to share stories of former EMMS students in her “From the Archive” column in the Healing hand and kept in touch with other researchers.
Patricia kept in touch with both charities that emerged from EMMS: EMMS Nazareth (The Nazareth Trust) and EMMS International. Patricia would regularly phone the Nazareth Trust’s UK office in Edinburgh, keen to get an update on our current projects. She was a real encouragement for all of us and always kept us in her prayers. Patricia was friendly with Dr Peter Green, a former doctor at the Nazareth Hospital, and many others connected to the Trust.
We thank God for the time He gave Patricia and for Patricia’s invaluable contribution to the Nazareth Trust. Please keep her son James and his wife Alison in your prayers, as well as Patricia’s grandchildren, Louise and Andrew, as they mourn their loss.
The Nazareth Village is up and running again. We can’t wait to welcome you all back!
Are you wondering what we have been up to? Watch this video to find out:
“For surely there is a future and your hope will not be cut off” (Proverbs 23:18)
More videos coming soon!
Bob Herr died on the 25th of October, aged 73, after a battle with abdominal cancer.
Raised in Southern Lancaster County, Bob earned a MA in Economic and Social Development from the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs of the University of Pittsburgh.
Bob dedicated most of his career to international relief and development work with the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), working alongside his wife, Judy Zimmerman Herr. They worked together in several countries, including Malawi, South Africa, Botswana and Kenya. Later on, they were both involved in peacebuilding as directors of MCC’s International Peace Office from 1991 until 2007.
After retiring from MCC in 2014, Bob worked for the Mennonite World Conference and as an interim Director for the Nazareth Project Inc., our US partner organization, supporting the work of the Nazareth Hospital in Israel. Bob was also an active member of East Chestnut Street Mennonite Church, both as a teacher in the adult Sunday school and as a church board member.
Friends and co-workers remember Bob as a curious and engaging person, eager to learn about new places and people. His eagerness to discover new places and meet people led him to work in Africa and travel throughout Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
We thank God for the time he gave Bob and for Bob’s contribution to the Nazareth Project US, to the Nazareth Hospital, and all his humanitarian work. Please keep his wife Judy in your prayers, as well as their two sons and the rest of the Herr family.
It’s the start of a new month and we have some brilliant news to share with you. The Nazareth Trust has been featured in the November issue of Life and Work, the magazine of the Church of Scotland.
The article, written by Thomas Baldwin, showcases the work of the Trust while drawing special attention to the 160th anniversary and the 160th-anniversary appeal towards the ER Development Project.
Life and Work magazine was founded in 1879 by Archibald Hamilton Charteris, a professor of biblical criticism at Edinburgh University. The magazine has received several awards, including best member Magazine of the Year (2004) at the PPA Scottish magazine awards and the Andrews Cross Award (2005) by the UK wide Churches Media Council.
We couldn’t be more honoured for our work to be highlighted in such a prestigious Scottish Christian publication.
You can read the article here: 160 years of the Nazareth Trust (Life and Work)
Over nearly 100 years, thousands of nurses have come through the School of Nursing and gone on to serve prominently both in Israel and abroad. The story of Gassia Shanlian, who joined the first cohort of students in 1924, is particularly fascinating.
Born in the Armenian town of Zeitoun in the early 1900s, Gassia grew up in Turkey. She enjoyed a happy childhood until she was around eight, when the Turkish government began to force Armenian families out of the country and into Syria. Many did not survive the journey.
Gassia’s family eventually made it to a camp in Marash where they had relatives. Along with the other children, Gassia was placed in an orphanage run by American missionaries. It was the last time she saw both her parents and grandparents. Gassia’s last memory of them all was of her grandfather blessing them while holding onto his Bible and saying that they would soon return. Sadly, they never did.
The children remained in the orphanage, before being moved on to Palestine and then Nazareth, where Gassia found her way to the School of Nursing. Matron Parkinson was in charge at the time and interviewed her about joining the new programme. Students were required to be at least 16 years old, and although this could not be proven in Gassia’s case, Matron Parkinson felt that she had made her case and allowed her to enroll.
Gassia graduated in 1928 and went on to train as a midwife in Jerusalem. Matron Parkinson was a mother figure to her and the other girls throughout their studies, and the two kept in touch after Gassia had moved on from Nazareth. Gassia worked in Nablus and Haifa before moving to the UK in 1938 to get married. There she served at a first aid post during the war and settled in Birmingham.
Matron Parkinson and the School of Nursing gave Gassia and many other orphaned and displaced girls a sense of independence and self-respect through a career in nursing. Today, around 300 students make up anyone cohort at the School of Nursing, which has achieved a pass rate of at least 98% each year for the past decade. With our supporters’ help, the school continues to educate many more aspiring nurses like Gassia each year, changing their lives forever.
