Modern day Nazareth is the largest city in the north of Israel, and serves as the capital for Israel’s Arab citizens, who make up the vast majority of the city’s population.
There are approximately 75,000 residents in the city of Nazareth. 70% are Muslim, 30% are Christian.
To learn more about our city, see a video here.
Nazareth is also part of a metropolitan district that includes Nazareth Elite, an adjacent city with a population of 40,000 Jews.
The city is the site of the Basilica of the Annunciation, the second largest church in the Middle East, so named for it's association with the traditional site of the angel Gabriel's announcement to Mary that she would conceive and give birth to the promised Messiah.
The percentage of indigenous Christians in Israel and the Palestinian Territories is less than 2% with an even smaller minority belonging to the evangelicals.
This small minority plays a crucial role in reaching the nation of Israel (Jews, Muslims and nominal Christians) with the gospel of Jesus Christ. The task of evangelizing the Holy Land lies in large part with this group of believers, caught in the turmoil of a nation disputed among three of the world’s major religions: Judaism, Islam and Christianity.
