November 2018 Editorial

Shalom in the name of our Messiah Yeshua.

Louise and I had the pleasure of taking 80 fellow Aussies to Israel to join our partner Chosen People Ministries to host 600 fellow believers for a tour, a Bible conference, and a glorious celebration of Israel’s 70th anniversary. The fellowship was wonderful and so many of us had good opportunities to share the gospel with both Jewish Israelis and lots of Arab Muslims as well.

We also enjoyed having many of the Chosen People Ministries Israel staff share their testimonies and tell us about the good things God is doing in the Holy Land. Please pray for our ongoing work in Israel among Holocaust survivors, children, soldiers, young people, and families. Please pray for Maxim, one of our most faithful and effective workers who needs a kidney transplant and is on daily dialysis. We are praying for a donor. Meanwhile, he leads our work among the elderly Holocaust survivors. We had the joy of having about 50 survivors join us for dinner one night, and we heard the testimony of one of them who came to faith through this ministry. There was not a dry eye among us.

There is so much more to tell, and I will try to dedicate an upcoming newsletter to our work in Israel, especially as we enter this 71st year of modern Israel’s existence. All I can say is that there are many more Jewish believers in Yeshua in Israel today than probably since the 1st Century. According to a recent survey, there are about 25,000-30,000 Jewish believers in Jesus in Israel. We are using Facebook to reach many Israelis. A week does not go by when we do not send out more than 50 Isaiah 53 Explained books in Hebrew to Israelis who request them.

We even have quite a few who indicate that they are religious Jews. This is amazing and encourages us to pray that the Lord will reach even the most observant Jewish people in Israel and across the globe. I share the same broken heart as the Apostle Paul who wrote, “Brethren, my heart’s desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation. For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge” (Romans 10:1-2).

Ultra-Religious Jewish People:
The Last Frontier?

If I asked you what group of Jewish people would become the largest group of Jewish people in the next 20 years, you would probably answer, “non-religious Jewish people.” This is really common wisdom as our society is becoming more and more secular as the days go by. And this is true of the Jewish people as well. Already, most Jewish people do not regularly attend synagogue any more than non-Jews attend church. I cannot speak about Hindus or Buddhists but can only surmise that the more they live in the West, the more they will also become secularised.

Our world is quickly moving further and further away from the Creator, and this is especially true in North America, Europe and Australia. Yet, this is not the whole story according to those who study the Jewish community. In fact, it is predicted that the most identifiable group of Jewish people in the years ahead might actually be those who are identified as ultra-Orthodox, or what we call Haredim. The Hebrew word Haredim means “to tremble,” since these very religious Jewish people tremble before God and show Him honor and devotion by keeping the Law, known as the Torah, which refers to the five books of Moses as interpreted by the sages of the Jewish people.

My Own Jewish Upbringing

I was raised traditional Orthodox, went to synagogue, learned about the Jewish religion, and studied how to read the Bible in Hebrew. But, I was still very different from the religious Jews you see wearing black clothing, having lots of children, and living the Haredi lifestyle. There are a few hundred thousand of these folks in Brooklyn alone and about a million in Israel, with the majority in Jerusalem. In Australia we estimate around 5000-6000.

I wish I could tell you that there are many Haredim who have come to know the Lord, but really there are just a few. When they come to faith in Yeshua, they often lose their families and jobs, and are rejected by the community. Of course, the community does not really understand the gospel. They do not know that Yeshua and His first disciples were Jewish, and they are only aware of the type of Christianity that persecuted the Jewish people. Most religious Jewish people have never met a born-again Christian.

On the Derekh

This burden for the Haredim led Chosen People Ministries to spearhead a conference with other Jewish ministry leaders this past January. “On the Derekh” means “On the Path.” The conference was named as such since Haredi Jewish people place a high value on walking by the ways of God, and staying true to the Torah. When they are not, they often say they are “off the derekh.” So, we want to get them back ​on​ the derekh by coming to faith in Yeshua! The conference focused on learning, brainstorming, and praying for the salvation of ultra-Orthodox Jewish people. It was the first conference of its kind since the Holocaust, and all who attended recognised how much our movement needs God’s wisdom and power to know how to present Yeshua to the Haredi Jewish community. As believers in Jesus, we know that He is the one true path!  In John 14: 6, Yeshua says​,​ “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

This week-long conference on reaching ultra-Orthodox Jewish people was held at the Charles Feinberg Brooklyn Messianic Center, which is in the heart of one of the key Orthodox Jewish areas of Brooklyn. CPM US President Dr Mitch Glaser gave a lecture on evangelistic work in the past, and his wife Zhava taught on the history of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish movement. She lectured about how this community began and how so many of these precious people ended up in Brooklyn. There were also sessions on what is currently being done to reach these folks with the gospel, and many discussions on the development of strategies and new tools for evangelism.

About 50 people attended the training conference, and most were missionaries to the Jewish people from more than a dozen different ministries. They studied together, prayed, and discussed various strategies and ways to work together to reach this group with the Gospel. One of the high points of the conference was having an Orthodox rabbi speak to the group about the lifestyle of this unique community of Jewish people.

A prayer walk through the Orthodox areas of Brooklyn prompted short conversations with many, even about the Lord. It was a great time, and in the future a lot more will be done to reach this group for the Lord.

What’s Next?

We are asking you and others to pray for God to raise up leaders with a heart for outreach among the Haredim. We are working toward creating resources to support those who leave the community. Last year, during the summer outreach, Shalom Brooklyn, more than 100 surveys were completed of Haredim on the streets of Brooklyn, and it was discovered that 12 percent said they had read at least parts of the New Testament. This is probably a higher percentage than we had previously thought!

This was encouraging, and we believe this indicates an openness to reading the New Testament. We are also developing ads on Facebook and using other forms of social media. We are committed to finding new and creative ways to share the gospel with these beloved Haredim.

We are also experimenting with service projects in the Haredi community. We clean up parks in the religious areas, visit the sick and elderly, and find other ways to show God’s love through the Messiah Yeshua to Haredi families. These things are always a good testimony. We also have a special burden for ultra-Orthodox Jewish women. The Shalom Brooklyn teams, especially women, are meeting Haredi women and their children in local parks and trying to befriend some of them. As you will read further, the Haredi mums have many children, and as believers we have a lot to learn from them about raising children.

Your prayers and support are so important to us, especially as we begin to focus more of our efforts on reaching the Haredim. One of my favorite passages of Scripture is Zechariah 12:10 where the prophet tells us what is going to happen at the second coming of Yeshua.  Zechariah writes,

I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.

When I think about those Jewish people turning to Jesus at this future moment, I envision the majority of the men dressed in black with long beards and side curls and the women wearing long dresses and scarves on their heads. Can you see it? Who else would be so eagerly expecting the Messiah at that time?

So, please pray with me for the salvation of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, and for our staff and volunteers in Israel, and for those on the streets of Brooklyn who are sharing the gospel with the Haredim and many others. And here in Australia we are also thinking, praying, and planning about ways that we can connect with the Haredim.

We could not do this without your loving generosity and prayers.

Shalom in Yeshua’s name,

Lawrence