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Yusef Daher, coordinator of the Jerusalem Liaison Office of the World Council of Churches in Jerusalem, earned the Menno Simons Sermon Award for 2025.
He will receive the honor on 29 June from the Center for Peace Church Theology (University of Hamburg) and the Mennonite Church Hamburg-Altona.
A public award ceremony will take place after a service in the Mennonite Church Hamburg-Altona, during which the winning sermon will be heard.
The winning sermon, “The Escape to Egypt and Back,” was delivered in October 2024 and takes its starting point in the story of Joseph's escape to Egypt with his family (Matthew 2:13-16). Daher interprets this biblical story in light of the current situation of refugees in the Middle East, particularly Palestinian Christians.
He reflects on the challenges and hopes associated with flight, displacement and return, and highlights the importance of welcoming refugees and the necessity of their return to their homeland. He emphasizes that the fate of refugees – regardless of their religion or nationality – must not be seen as permanent, but that return and reconciliation are central elements of a just future – for the coexistence of refugees, returnees, and host communities.
Daher was born in Jerusalem in 1966 and has been the coordinator of the World Council of Churches' Jerusalem Liaison Office since 2021. Prior to that, he served as executive secretary of the Jerusalem Inter-Church Center of the Heads of Churches of Jerusalem for many years, as well as secretary of the Justice and Peace Commission of the Catholic Church.
He is co-author of numerous publications on the situation and theology of Palestinian Christians and Jerusalem, including the “Kairos Palestine Document.” In addition to his church and ecumenical work, the preacher, who is trained in hotel management and tourism, is also active in this field and has served as an advisor to the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism, among many other roles. He holds a master's degree in “Pilgrimage and Tourism” from London Metropolitan University, and has taught this subject at Bethlehem University for over a decade.
The Menno Simons International Sermon Award is intended to encourage and recognize sermons that express the biblical witness in light of the Anabaptist-Mennonite tradition. In the spirit of living ecumenism, they should promote the peace church orientation and convince through credibility in order to offer spiritual strength. Furthermore, the sermons should encourage a substantive discussion of current issues in public life – beyond one's own confessional boundaries.
