The Rev. Munib A. Younan, bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan (and Palestine) (ELCJ), was born in Jerusalem in 1950, the child of refugees from Beersheba.

Younan attended Luther Opisto College in Järvenpää, Finland, from 1969 to 1972. He earned a master's degree at the University of Helsinki, Finland, and was ordained as a Lutheran pastor in 1976 in Jerusalem.

Since his ordination, Younan has held several positions within the ELCJ including pastor, synod president and youth pastor. He has also taught Christian education in Lutheran schools.

Younan is an active member of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), having participated as a member of the youth committee and advisor to the LWF Council and currently as a voting member of the Council; vice president of the board of trustees of the Ecumenical Institute, Strasbourg, France; vice chair of the LWF Department for Mission and Development; and chair of the Asian Regional Church Leaders Conference.

He also works with the Middle East Council of Churches, the World Council of Churches and the International Christian Committee, among others. He is a recipient of the 2001 Finnish Peace Prize from the Finnish Christian Peace Movement, and of the Human Rights Award from the United Nations Association, Washington, D.C.

Younan holds an honorary doctor of divinity from Wartburg College, Waverly, Iowa, an ELCA higher education institution. He is author of numerous articles on the church in the Middle East and has been a presenter at several conferences.

Younan and his wife, Suad, have three children, Annaliza, Andria and Martha. They reside in Jerusalem.  

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