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Letter from Our Executive Director
Shalom dear friends,
Over a month ago, Louise and I found ourselves in the middle of wartime. What started as our annual trip to Israel for ministry opportunities turned into sitting in bomb shelters and trying to find a way home to Australia. Yet, God was moving and we have some incredible testimonies from those weeks of the Iran-Israel Conflict.
Our original purpose was to to help lead a retreat for young Israeli believers and to help lead a special. group from Australia and America—over 60 people gathered to dedicate the new Messianic Centre in Ramat Gan. Though we couldn’t meet at the centre itself due to the situation, we held the dedication quietly in our hotel.
As the war escalated, we—along with leaders of Chosen People Global Ministries from around the world—found ourselves experiencing a small taste of what Israeli citizens have been enduring for over 620 days since the war began on October 7.
During our time there, we reconnected with many dear Israeli friends who have stayed with us or at the ZulaRoo Surf House These reunions have been deeply moving. As we waited in the bomb shelter, worship broke out among us. Nearby Israeli families, displaced from the Golan Heights and now living in coastal hotels, drew near and watched. Their eyes filled with tears as our songs filled the shelter. One woman, Maya, was so touched by our presence and worship that she joined us at a service. Standing before our group, she shared how profoundly moved she was that Messianic Jews and Christians would travel across the world to stand with Israel at this time. She said it gave her hope—hope that not all the world stands against the Jewish people.
One of the most beautiful and unexpected encounters occurred in a hotel car park. We noticed a bride weeping. She and her new husband had been forced to cancel their wedding reception due to the ongoing attacks. Her heart was broken. We went to her and said, “Mazel tov—you’re married!” She sobbed, “But I can’t celebrate with my family.” Without hesitation, we gathered our team, formed a circle, and began dancing and singing traditional Jewish wedding songs. We prayed for them and blessed them with all our hearts. Her husband’s eyes welled with tears, and they both said, “Now it feels like we’ve had a wedding. Now we feel like we have family.”
Another young Israeli woman, who had been a backpacker that had stayed with us previously in Melbourne, joined us in the bomb shelter. She later attended a worship service and stood up to share, with heartfelt gratitude, how she appreciated the support and love shown by our team.
We urge you to pray. Since October 7, more and more Jewish people around the world are seeking and responding to the gospel. Many now openly say, “We believe Yeshua is the Messiah.” We believe these are prophetic days, and we feel a great urgency to share the Good News while there is still time.
Please pray for:
- Jewish people in Israel and around the world
- Palestinians living under oppression
- An end to antisemitism globally
- God’s Spirit to move powerfully through this pain and awaken many hearts to salvation
- Our ministry: Celebrate Messiah in Australia and New Zealand, our partners in Russia, Israel, and the many other nations where we serve
We are deeply grateful to all of you who have supported Celebrate Messiah through the years. Your prayers and partnership are needed now more than ever.
Thank you for being watchmen on the walls of Jerusalem. Keep standing. Keep praying. Keep lifting high the name of Yeshua.
With love and hope,
Lawrence Hirsch
Executive Director of Celebrate Messiah
SOLU Down Under Tour 2025
Inspired by the biblical significance of seeing Jewish people in Israel come to faith in Yeshua, and the spiritual revival starting to take place in Israel, Celebrate Messiah is thrilled to announce that in November this year, we will be bringing SOLU, a vibrant and dynamic young worship band from Israel, on their first tour of Australia to bless the body of Messiah on our shores.
SOLU means “build up” in Hebrew and comes from Isaiah 62:10; “Go through, go through the gates. Clear the way for the people! Build up, build up the highway! Remove the stones. Lift up a banner over the peoples.” (Isaiah 62:10, TLV) Indeed, the word “Solu” is used twice in this verse and is an imperative verb, meaning it is a command. SOLU, the Israeli worship band, believe their mandate from the Lord is to do their part in “preparing the way for revival and Yeshua’s return”. We believe that SOLU will bless believers in Australia with the richness and vibrance of the fresh anointing they bring from Israel.
SOLU’s journey began in Jerusalem at Succat Hallel, a 24/7 house of prayer. There, spiritually hungry teenagers gathered weekly to worship and cry out to God. From these humble beginnings, their ministry expanded from prayer rooms to the streets of Jerusalem, and now is spreading to nations worldwide. Solu are band who bring a spiritual depth to their worship that speaks of the prayer that undergirds their ministry. Their music and ministry are lively and engaging, full of life and joy, paving a highway to prepare the way of the Lord.
For too long, media narratives have portrayed Israelis in a negative light. Through SOLU, we want to share the true heart of Israeli believers in Yeshua with the church in Australia, to give a glimpse of what the future of Israel can look like as the number of Israelis believing in Yeshua continues to increase. Bands like Solu are a sign that God is fulfilling His word to the Jewish people by restoring them to the land and giving them a new heart and spirit (Ez 36 and 37). He is uniting Jew and Gentile, Israeli and Arab, in worship of the God of Israel and the Messiah, Yeshua HaMashiach (Jesus the Messiah).
This November, SOLU will be performing in and around Brisbane, Sydney, and Melbourne. They’ll be traveling between these cities during the weeks in between—don’t miss your chance to experience their music! For updates regarding SOLU’s performances, go to celebratemessiah.com.au/events or sign up for our newsletter at: celebratemessiah.com.au/sign-up-for-our-newsletter
Faith, Facts, & the Future of Christian Zionism:
What the Latest Data Is Telling Us
By Angela Graham
In February 2025, researchers Dr. Kirill M. Bumin and Dr. Motti Inbari unveiled groundbreaking data from the UK at the Fresh Perspectives on Israel and the Church conference, sponsored by Chosen People Ministries. The data compared Christian attitudes across Britain and the United States. It was clear: younger Christians in the UK are becoming more religious but also more unsympathetic toward Israel and increasingly susceptible to antisemitic tropes.
Compared to American Christians, British believers were significantly:
- Less likely to see the Jewish people as having a covenantal right to the land of Israel.
- Less likely to believe Jesus was Jewish.
- More likely to support anti-Zionist ideas, such as boycotts and comparisons between Israel and apartheid South Africa.
- And more likely to affirm classic antisemitic stereotypes (e.g., “Jews have too much power in finance or media”).¹
But is this trend isolated to the UK? Sadly, it’s not.
So, what about Australia?
Australians show low levels of biblical and geopolitical understanding, especially concerning Israel, and increasing distrust toward religious communities, including Jews. This “social suspicion” is reflected in rising numbers of Australians who say they hold negative views of people from faiths different to their own. ⁴ Here’s what the local data reveals:
- Only 15% of Australians say they know “something” or “a great deal” about the Israeli Palestinian conflict. The rest are disengaged or uninformed. ²
- Among 18–24-year-olds, only 6% support Israel, while 25% support the Palestinians. The rest claim neutrality or disinterest.³
- While overt antisemitism remains relatively low (13% of Australians held negative views of Jews in 2024),⁴ social suspicion towards all religious groups is rising; 48% of Australians now hold negative views of people from other religions, up from 38% just a year earlier.⁴
- A vast majority (84%) of Australians report knowing “little” or “virtually nothing” about their country’s foreign policy toward Israel.⁵
In short, many Australians are forming opinions about Israel and the Jewish people without biblical or historical foundations, and this vacuum is being filled by biased media narratives or ideological distortions.
Why This Matters for the Church
Both the UK and Australian data highlight the same underlying issue: when theological foundations are weak, confusion, distortion, and ultimately rejection of God’s covenant with Israel often follow.
The UK survey found that belief in the Abrahamic Covenant, prophetic fulfilment, and Scripture as the highest authority were the strongest predictors of support for Israel. Where those beliefs were missing, so too was support for God’s chosen people.¹
This has urgent implications for our local context.
According to the 2021 Australian Census, 43.9% of the population identified as Christian. This includes 20% Catholic, 9.8% Anglican, and a smaller percentage spread across evangelical and Pentecostal denominations, such as Baptist, Presbyterian, Pentecostal, and other Protestant groups. While evangelicals are often the strongest advocates for Israel, they represent a minority voice within the broader Christian demographic.
The implications are stark: teaching sound theology about Israel cannot be assumed by default; it must be intentional.
If churches in Australia do not teach what the Bible says about God’s covenant with Israel, we should not be surprised when the next generation drifts away from the truth or worse, embraces hostility cloaked in social justice language. When theology is neglected, ideology fills the gap.
A Call to Action
At Celebrate Messiah, we believe God’s promises to Israel are irrevocable and that understanding His heart for the Jewish people is essential for every believer.
The recent data remind us that we cannot assume the next generation will inherit this conviction without intentional discipleship. As misunderstanding grows and misinformation spreads, the Church has a vital role in telling the whole story of God’s covenant faithfulness.
We encourage churches, leaders, and everyday believers to gently but courageously:
- Teach the covenants of Scripture with clarity and conviction.
- Challenge the theological roots of supersessionism, wherever they appear.
- Highlight the connection between replacement theology and antisemitism, past and present.
- Invest in the next generation, equipping them with a strong biblical foundation and a heart for God’s chosen people.
Together, may we continue to bring the message of Yeshua to the original messengers and stand firm in the hope that one day, “all Israel will be saved” (Rom 11:29).
Footnotes:
- 2025 UK Conference: Fresh Perspectives on Israel and the Church, research presented by Covenant & Kingdom Network (April 2025).
- CROSSROADS21: Australians hold balanced sympathies over Israeli-Palestinian conflict, The Jewish Independent, 2025.
- Australian and Antisemitism Study 2021, Plus61J, p. 18.
- Mapping Social Cohesion 2024, Scanlon Foundation, cited in More Australians Have Negative Views of Jews, The Jewish Independent, 2024.
- Australian and Antisemitism Study 2021, Plus61J, p. 6.
- Religious Affiliation in Australia, Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2021 Census. https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/people-and-communities/religious-affiliation australia/latest-release
From Shadows to Eternal Light: How I Found Peace in Yeshua
By Adi Kawilanant
My Saba (grandfather) was a big influence in my life. When I was around 8 years old, he shared with me his experience in the Holocaust and at Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria. He told me that God didn’t exist, that God was a figment of our imagination, something made up by people who needed ‘something’ to believe in.
I always considered my grandfather an intellectual man, speaking over 10 languages, an author of several books including writing his own autobiography. He left home at the age of 8 and walked alone across the border from Czechoslovakia to Hungary because his parents couldn’t feed him. Saba’s family were extremely poor being one of 14 children in an ultra-Orthodox home, his father was dedicated to studying Torah day and night.
My Saba was eventually caught by the Gestapo and even showed me the scar when he was shot in the leg on one of his attempts to escape. Saba was significantly traumatised by his childhood and the Shoah (Holocaust). As a practising Social Worker, I think I can safely assess the situation as a severe case of PTSD which he never quite recovered from.
My Saba passed away in 2007 but I always think about him. One day I was looking through some of his writings and I came across a dissertation paper titled “Why God doesn’t exist?”. To me, the mere reference to God sparked a curiosity about who God is. I remember one of the explanations he gave was that God would never have let the Shoah happen, but in hindsight I think it was the pain and trauma that blocked him from knowing that God still loved us. I went through life thinking that I was always going to be hated because I was Jewish, having experienced my own anti-Semitism throughout high school and my Saba’s stories really impacted my childhood.
Growing up, my experiences with God were confusing. We never spoke of God in our home, but at every Shabbat dinner we lit the candles and said the prayers, “Baruch Ata Adonai Elohaynu, Melech Ha Olam…’ (Blessed are You o Lord our God, King of the universe) ….yet we were never taught to believe in God. I think similarly this is how Jewish people across the diaspora are raised, praying in traditional ritual without spiritual faith.
What I knew for certain is that I wanted a relationship with God. When I was in Israel at the age of 18 back in 1995, I experienced the spirit of God for the first time (HaRuach HaKodesh). I stood at the Kotel (Wailing Wall) and I felt God’s presence. It was so beautiful, it made me cry. I think back to my childhood when I felt lonely and scared, I would talk into space hoping that someone was listening but as I matured through life, I understood that He was always with me. I lived in Israel for 6 years and completed my army service with the IDF, but finding Yeshua was still in the distant future.
As an adult, I looked and searched everywhere for meaning and purpose. I met many different cultures along the way, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Scientology, Modernism and New Age. I delved into the teachings of all these religions, and, in some cases, I even worshiped their idols. I called myself a ‘BuddhaJew’. However, no matter how much I tried to overcome my long battle with OCD, anxiety, depression, loneliness, fears of death, fear of relationships – I just couldn’t find peace.
With God’s help, I finally met my wonderful Thai husband, Kay, and got married in 2018. We had our beautiful son Reuben in 2019, followed by our adorable little girl Nina, in 2021. I knew that God had blessed me, but I couldn’t understand why I still felt unsettled or disconnected from my spirit!
Then everything changed on October 7th 2023. The news unfolded over those coming days, the hate, the violence and continuous anti-Semitism that erupted like a volcano on the whole world stage, stirred so many emotions in me, the main ones being anger and hate. I couldn’t cope and ended up sinking into a further depression. The pain and shock were indescribable, the deep loss and grief set in while I mourned for my people, the way my grandparents mourned daily in the concentration camps! I felt so helpless, broken, damaged, horrified, abandoned, enraged, crucified! I vowed to never speak to a non-Jewish person again, to have nothing to do with anyone outside of my Jewish / Israeli community! I even struggled in my marriage, because how could Kay ever understand my people, our loss — what it means to be persecuted for just being Jewish?
With hate in my heart, I wished I could go back to Israel and fight alongside my people against the enemy. The only thing stopping me were my babies. I couldn’t leave them! But I couldn’t function. The walls were closing in on me and there seemed like no way out of this nightmare!
I know that life for me could have gone in any two directions. One, locked into a dark and depressive place or two, a miracle would have to happen to help me live again. I cried out for help, “Please God, if only for the sake of my children.” I didn’t want them to grow up hopeless and that’s all that I had to give: hopelessness!
One day, I was sitting on the couch, feeling depressed and crying. In what felt like a blink of an eye, the veil was lifted and I heard Him call me. I didn’t know why He was calling me but it was loud and clear. The voice said “come and I’ll give you peace.” I knew it was Jesus!
I got on my phone and googled Jews for Jesus because I had heard of this being a ‘thing’. I emailed asking if they can help me know who Jesus is or if they could help me find Him. A couple of weeks later I received a call from Rebekah at Jews for Jesus in Sydney and she referred me to Celebrate Messiah. Louise Hirsch called me and invited me to a Beit HaMashiach morning service.
I’ll never forgot the first time I came to Beit HaMashiach, on Saturday 3rd of February. I attended clutching Reuben and Nina to my side. I didn’t know exactly what I was entering but the light drew me in. I felt the need to worship and lighten my hardened heart. I fell in love with the congregation and I have been attending Shabbat services ever since that day. My journey to really knowing Yeshua started here and the more I showed up, the more I knew that Yeshua is the Jewish Messiah, my Lord and Saviour!
It didn’t take long for me to shlep Kay to Beit Hamashiach and with God’s grace and miracles that only Yeshua can perform, my Buddhist, Thai Gentile husband found the God of Israel. Praise the Lord!! Kay and I devoured the Gospels, reading the Holy Bible —a little chaotically — but we were hungry for His word. We flipped from the Tanach (Old Testament) to the Brit-HaChadasha (New Testament) and then back again, reading story after story. We watched The Chosen and with each lesson it brought us closer to the truth, closer to our Creator and it opened or hearts. It didn’t take too long for us to want to be born again and on the 7th of September we were immersed in water and the Holy Spirit.
Today, I consider myself Messianic Jewish, ‘born again’ as a Jew, more Jewish than I could ever be —more faithful, more loyal, more abiding. Accepting Yeshua as my Mashiach has changed my life. My mental health state is stronger and healthier than I think it’s ever been in my life! My relationship with my family and my friends has flourished, every day I feel closer to understanding what God has planned for my life and I work hard each day to humble myself before Him.
Yeshua died on the cross for my sins and paid the debt so I could have salvation and peace! I think about my faith as two-fold, there are the Scriptures, His word and then there is the first-hand experience of Yeshua working in my heart. Every day, I am being cleansed from the inside. Although, I still face challenges in my life, the difference now is that the Holy Spirit is guiding me, and the more I follow Him, the easier it is to hear His voice and walk in peace through any storm. I use God’s word and the teachings to awakening me to my true nature of pure love and kindness. Walking with Yeshua is my life’s purpose. As His servant, I have found a new way to heal people in my daily work as a Social Worker. Every aspect of my life is better because I found Him.
There is no one who was able to tame me but Him, I hear His voice and He accepts me as I am, imperfect, sinful, broken and struggling and I know that everything is going to be ok! For me and for my children! Every day, I teach my children to walk with Him, to pray and embrace Him in every part of their lives, growing in the Spirit of Yeshua. Something I wish I had growing up. Their eyes light up when they talk about Him and praise Him and I continue to pray that they will continue to walk in His light throughout their whole lives. •
Thank you for your ongoing support of Celebrate Messiah and its ministries. We are passionately committed to sharing the hope of Yeshua with the Jewish people, both in Australia and worldwide.
Your donation empowers evangelism, discipleship, and hospitality outreach across the country. Partner with us today—every gift helps bring the good news of Messiah!
To donate, go to: celebratemessiah.com.au/donate
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