Nazareth Trust: Continuing Jesus' mission in his hometown for over 160 years

“And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, he shall be called a Nazarene.” (Matthew 2:23)

The Nazareth Trust is a Christian charity established in Scotland in 1861 and operating in the biblical hometown of Jesus. Chief Financial Officer and the acting CEO, Waseem Dibbini, told Christian journalist Paul Calvert all about the work.

The trust's original mandate “was to follow the commandments of Jesus Christ to heal the sick, relieve the sufferings and spread the word,” Dibbini explained. “And after 160 and something years, we are still doing our main mission.”

“The Nazareth Hospital is the oldest in Israel, established under the Ottoman Empire,” he continued. “Our Academic School of Nursing is the second oldest, established in 1924, only one year after Hadassah School of Nursing in Jerusalem was opened. So we are celebrating the school’s centenary this year.”

Throughout the decades, including the vastly different political administrations in Israel, and many wars, including two world wars, the trust has expanded to “generate social impact,” Dibbini told Calvert, citing the many prayers and “God’s faithfulness” over the years.

“I can tell you that for a couple of months, the hospital director actually during the British Mandate period was the minister of health for all of [Mandate] Palestine,” Dibbini said proudly.

Today, the operations include the hospital, which is a district general hospital; the Nazareth Academy School of Nursing; the Nazareth Village, a biblical tourism site; and the Serve Nazareth initiative, an international volunteering program. Dibbini noted that the trust employs approximately 800 staff members, making it one of the largest employers in the Nazareth region.

“We aim to empower our local community to provide them with equal opportunities, support them in fulfilling their potential, and assist in closing existing gaps. We do that to the local community, regardless of course, of their variety of backgrounds in the area.”

“What is it like serving in a city where Jesus lived and grew up?” Calvert asked.

“Oh, that’s a big one,” Dibbini, an Israeli-Arab follower of Jesus replied.

“It’s a really great privilege that, for me as a Christian and a believer at least, that can’t be really described in words. We’re trying our best to become better Nazarenes than those who hosted Jesus and rejected Him 2,000 years ago…"

“We’re trying to get really more people to love Him, to accept Him, to get closer to Him, as we believe that this is the only and one certainty that we have in life, against all of the uncertainties that we face on a continuous basis.”

“We want Nazareth to become a city that God is proud of,” Dibbini explained, “and that people visiting it enjoy an exceptional experience and would want to maintain and strengthen their connection and relationship with it. We also want the Nazarenes to enjoy quality of life as the city moves toward relationships based on the Christian values of love, compassion, respect and helping others.”

“So there’s still a way to go. But I think that we’re in a better place than Nazareth used to be when Jesus lived in it. So a lot to go, but a lot have (sic) been already achieved.”

Calvert asked about the various projects.

First, the Nazareth Village will celebrate its Silver Jubilee next year, having been launched in the year 2000.

“The Nazareth Village grants its visitor an outstanding experience,” Dibbini boasted. “Actually, we take them into a journey in history back 2,000 years. We manifest and explain the parables that Jesus used with replicated First Century houses, synagogues, vineyard, [the] olive press and the tools that were used. Then we simplify the understanding of the spiritual meanings of the parables that Jesus used.”

Having visited himself, Calvert mentioned the carpentry workshop and having the unique opportunity to crush olives.

“Absolutely,” said Dibbini. “It’s really a village… You actually go back 2,000 years and see all of the sheep and the donkeys and the carpentry, and the vegetables that we grow there, the food that was served then. It’s really a unique experience.”

The village staff includes Christian Arabs and Messianic Jews, both locals and internationals, “who serve together with faith, harmony and love on special occasions or seasons like Christmas and Easter,” Dibbini said. He explained that the village holds special seasonal programs for the local community that “attracts thousands of visitors.”

Many of the volunteers serving in the village testify that their lives have been "transformed" by the village experience and that their faith has grown significantly as a result of their participation.

To mark the 25th anniversary, his prayer is that the trust can start building a new visitor center in the village.

The second project, Serve Nazareth, is an international volunteering program. Established in 2006, the program “aims to introduce the trust and the local ministries and communicate to the international Christian community and try to establish partnerships and friendships and strengthen the relationships between the Christian communities worldwide,” Dibbini told Calvert.

There are typically thousands of volunteers every year, except this past year. Volunteers take part in the trust’s activities, in the hospital, the village, the spiritual team and the school of nursing, explained Dibbini.

“But also we engage them with other Christian ministries in the town, again hoping that they will have for the future a special place in their heart for Nazareth and that our relationship with them would be maintained –and maybe partnerships are created or generated.”

Calvert asked about the benefits of international volunteers.

"I think it's a mutual benefit," replied Dibbini. "The volunteer, himself, is empowered and grows in faith. It's a benefit for the local community, and of course, for the trust. Through the program, international connections, partnerships and Christian fellowships are generated and initiated. And, of course, assistance to the local ministries is actually provided.”

The School of Nursing boasts more than 3,000 graduates, a number that has increased year after year for decades.

"We started with 12 nurses at the beginning, and today [have] 400 students on campus," Dibbini said. "Our nurses actually fill leading positions in the health care sector all around the country. And I have to give credit here to our dedicated and committed staff, because they wrap the students with love and compassion, with personal care and attention, and they accompany them not only throughout the study challenges but also when they face personal ones."

"I think this is part of the DNA that the trust is really a unique bond. It's important to note also that most of those students come from a low socio-economic status, and each one of them is really a success story whose life had been transformed with our help and with the Nazareth Academic School of Nursing."

To celebrate the centenary of the school of nursing, many events were planned, but "regretfully," Dibbini said, they were canceled because of the IDF's current conflict against Hezbollah forces in Lebanon in northern Israel.

"But we are still developing and flourishing even after 100 years," he said. "Actually, this year we have almost doubled our capacity with adding two new floors, fully equipped with smart rooms and simulation centers, and we have renewed most of our equipment in the existing facility."

The trust also introduced a new BA program in partnership with Ono Academic College, and has launched a special program for applicants who don't meet the minimum bar to join the academy, Dibinni explained.

"For those who have suffered from lack of resources or support from their families or environment, we provide a special program that grants them the opportunity to change their lives, to join (the) Academy, to work, and to earn decent income."

Dibbini said they are "really proud" of this program because it fulfills the three main mottos of the trust: granting everyone equal opportunities; closing gaps; and realizing personal potential. "So I think that it's a real blessing to have such impact on our centenary celebrations," he added.

The Nazareth Hospital provides the main trauma and acute services for the city. Dibbini explained that they are working on a strategic plan, currently focusing on one for 2025 to 2030, having already completed the plan for 2020 to 2025. "And we're very happy and proud of that," he added.

Dibbini outlined the strategic plans to focus on addressing the immediate needs of the local community.

"We started with filling the existing gaps in acute and life-saving services. So we opened a stroke unit, a heart catheterization unit, trauma emergency department, a urology unit, a respiratory intensive care unit and added also fortified facilities, which the area lacks."

The trust has also opened psychiatric and psychological departments, as well as an IVF unit. These advancements have led to a significant expansion of their residency programs, now boasting 13 accredited departments. 'We increased the number of our residents from 25 to more than 90,' Dibbini said.

The trust also has special programs to train doctors from the Palestinian Authority (PA), which lacks clinical fields. Each doctor commits to working in rural areas within the PA upon completing their training.

The hospital is accredited by the WHO as a "health promoting hospital" and due to the current war, Dibbini said they are investing "huge efforts to increase their fortified admission capacity," due to the urgent need. "We are trying to obtain funds from the Ministry of Health and from our local and international friends and donors," he said.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and now the ongoing war, there are currently no medical volunteers. He explained that they are "trying to invest in improving our programs and our facilities and establish additional partnerships, so that we can improve the volunteers' experience with us, once we are back again to normal, hopefully soon."

Calvert asked about Nazareth at Christmas-time.

"We, as a trust, have a lot of decorations, celebration, special services for the staff with prayers of thanksgiving and Christmas carols," Dibbini replied. "We usually host a lot of priests from other Christian traditions. And we do usually a gathering that is multi-traditional. We believe that that is a real blessing as we see a lot of division between the different Christian traditions."

"We try to be some kind of a bridge between all of them so that we are unified in Christ, even if we practice our faith in different levels."

And an added technological twist to the 2,000-year-old commemorations for the eternally-loved Nazareth Child: "Usually we change the screensavers of the computers all around the hospital, putting maternity scenes and scenes that are related to Christmas, with quotes from the Bible that give people calmness and the comfort. And the same we do in all of the entrances of the hospital, with posters."

Dibbini said that the staff annually displays a nativity scene at the entrance to the hospital so patients and employees can see "something that is really very lovely, very welcoming and very Christian."

"So we try to show more the Christian values during these times and to show that if all of us followed the Christian values, we would be in a better, better world. So we spread our values without offending any of the other faiths that we have here," he added.

Since Dibbini received the nomination as the CEO of the trust, he shared with Calvert his motivation.

"The parable that accompanies me all the time is the talents one. I feel that God has given us [this] trust, talents that we need to invest in. So it's a great blessing on one side and on the other. It's really a great responsibility that we need to take care of it and invest it wisely to bear fruits."

Calvert asked Dibbini what his prayer was for the trust.

"My prayer actually is for the trust and it's for activities is to be safeguarded and guided by God to continue its development process and meet the need of our community, of those who are underserved, to be a role model in professionalism, compassion and love. And I would say also to lead, to continue to lead with humility and inspire others."

Click here to learn more about The Nazareth Trust.