Mission and Jewish Evangelism Always and Everywhere LCJE conference at High Leigh Cecilia Burger

Transcription

1 Nuusbrief van die familie van NG Kerke se Simcha Bediening aan Jode Newsletter from the Dutch Reformed Churches Simcha Mnistry to the Jewish people Francois Wessels (021) Cecilia Burger (021) Kloofnekweg 43, Tamboerskloof, Kaapstad Cape Town Posbus 21523, PK Kloofstraat Kaapstad Cape Town 8008 tel (021) VOL 42 SEPTEMBER 2011 No 3 Mission and Jewish Evangelism Always and Everywhere LCJE conference at High Leigh Cecilia Burger Mission and Jewish evangelism always and everywhere was the theme of the Ninth International Conference of the Lausanne Consultation on Jewish Evangelism (LCJE) held at the High Leigh Conference Centre in Hoddesdon, England, from 7 12 August It was my privilege to attend this event together with about 170 other delegates from Norway, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, France, Australia, USA, Canada, Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, England, Hong Kong, Japan, Israel and South Africa. All of them were in one way or other involved in bringing the good news about Jesus to Jewish people. The High Leigh Conference Centre is a stately old building with beautiful gardens. All of which enhanced the family spirit amongst the delegates. It was encouraging to see many young people at the conference. They did not only attend the conference, but made their presence felt as they asked questions during question time, were part of the worship team and also presented some of the conference papers. Jamie Hilsden, one of these young people from the King of Kings congregation in Israel spoke on Reconciliation. Musalaha reconciles people Musalaha is a movement focussing on reconciling Messianic Jews and Arab believers in Jesus in Israel through dialogue and relationship building. According to Jamie Hilsden, both these groups are being ostracised in their communities.

2 Earlier this year Jamie was involved in a trip for young adults to Wadi Rum in Jordan. This was part two of a project that started in 2010 in Washington State when nine young people from the Messianic community in Israel, nine people from the Christian Arab community and nine American Christians spent three weeks together. They worshipped together, prayed together, did activities together all the time building relationships and trust. And let me tell you, said Jamie, once friendship and trust were built, it brought us to a place where civil, godly and respectful dialogue could take place, and we could actually talk about all the problematic issues in a constructive way. Musalaha arranges for a few younger leaders both from the Hebrew and Arabic sides, along with some of the older leaders to meet together every couple of months. Jamie also participates in these meetings. They study and discuss theology together. He said, Sometimes it's like walking through a theological and political mine-field. I am often confronted with ideas that I find offensive, but I believe that this is a process that can't be avoided if we are going to be an effective Body of Messiah in the Land. Proclamation Evangelism in Israel Dan Sered, Director of Chief, Jesus for Jesus Israel mentioned that Jews for Jesus hired a secular survey company in 2008 to investigate the average Israeli s knowledge about the Messiah. Some of the results: Only 8% of Israelis know Jesus Hebrew name is Yeshua Only 5% know that Jesus rose from the dead Only 1% know that Jesus central message was salvation. Jews for Jesus sought to correct the typical Jewish misconception that the Hebrew name of Jesus is Yeshu. This is an acronymn formed from the Hebrew phrase yimmach shemo vezikhro, meaning may his name and memory be blotted out. This misconception was publicised and thus Jews for Jesus sought to convince the Israeli public that Yeshua is the proper pronunciation and spelling of Jesus Hebrew name. This campaign provided a good opportunity to make Messiah known. IRRTV A Finnish Ministry Dan Sered told the conference that this Finnish ministry gave significant amounts of funds to conduct media campaigns in Israel. The last two took place in 2009 and were called, changed life". At first the focus was on the Russian and Arab speaking populations in Israel and took place in the areas where they live whereas the last one was in Hebrew and national. To me the beauty of these campaigns is the way it illustrates and encourages networking between the various ministries. Call centres were established and believers were recruited to answer the phones and to take the names and addresses of people interested in receiving a free booklet. HaGefen Publishing Ministry produced these booklets in all three languages. The phone centres in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem were in the offices of Jews for Jesus and the phone centre in Haifa at the Carmel Assembly Congregation. Over one thousand book orders were received as a result of the Hebrew campaign. The follow up of contacts was done by the Jerusalem Assembly, Carmel Assembly, HaGefen and Jews for Jesus. Each ministry involved was given a specific geographical area to follow up.

3 The story of David and Ammi Ortiz Apart from the reports of projects run by diffirent ministries, we also heard stories of miracles happening in the lives of individuals. One of these was the story told by David Ortiz. In 2010 his son, Ammi, was almost killed in a bomb attack on their home in Israel. During the festival of Purim a parcel was delivered at the door of their house. It contained a bomb which exploded as Ammi opened the parcel. He was so seriously injured that doctors feared for his life. Today, after many operations, he can walk again and even plays his favourite sport, basket ball. Behold Your God Campaign According to Dan Jews for Jesus has reached its mid-point in their Behold Your God Israel outreach. Their commitment is to conduct evangelistic campaigns in each region in Israel. They completed six such campaigns and the results are encouraging. One hundred and forty Israelis have prayed to receive the Lord of whom, to their knowledge, fourteen are grounded in local congregations. This year, 2011, they decided to concentrate on follow up, calling the 7,000 Israelis on their data base who expressed interest in finding out more about Jesus. Messianic Congregations in Israel Back in the 70's and 80's there were only a handful Messianic congregations in Israel. Today there are more than 100. There is not a city in Israel without a local congregation and most cities have more than one. Proclaming the Good News in Israel There are also the many different evangelistic print ministries, like The Bible Society, Keren Achva and HaGefen Ministry who today continue to produce and supply the body of Messiah in Israel with new evangelistic literature. Israel and the Bible Victor Kalisher, general director of The Bible Society in Israel spoke about their work. He told the conference that the first Hebrew Cross Reference Bible that was printed recently.this Bible contains: a list Jewish traditional weekly Torah (parashot) and Haftorah parashot, readings Messianic prophecies in the Old Testament with their fulfilment in the New Testament, as well as rabbinic references to these prophecies, showing that some Jewish rabbis understood these prophecies as references to the Messiah a thorough study on main issues relating to Jewish readers like the suffering and death of the Messiah, Jesus being the fulfilment of the blood sacrifices and the complex unity of God. The Bible Society in Israel together with Faith Comes By Hearing, produced a fully dramatised audio recording of the New Testament in It is available both on CD and the internet. The Old Testament audio production will most likely be ready in Messianic Psalms and a booklet, The Divinity of the Messiah, are amongst the free literature that can be read under Free Scripture Resources on the website of The Bible Society in Israel. Another project, I am my Brothers keeper, is being carried out in partnership between the Israeli, Arab Israeli and Palestinian Bible Societies. This is a non-political devotional written by many Arab and Jewish believers. The names of the authors are not published so that the focus is on the power that unite them Yeshua, the Living Word. Victor stressed the value of the internet in providing a way to reach unreached people in Israel. He mentioned that data shows hundreds of thousands if not millions of visits and searches of messianic related topics. Eitan Bar of Campus Crusade for Christ mentioned in his paper, Internet Evangelism in Israel, that, On average, every nine hours, an Israeli downloaded the New Testament in MP3 format in On average, every 20 hours, an Israeli ordered a free copy of the New Testament. He

4 said that the internet gives you the freedom to investigate about Yeshua for yourself without anyone putting you down for it. Dank die Here saam met ons vir die geseёnde LCJE konferensie wat Cecilia in Engeland kon bywoon. Bid asseblief vir: Next issue In the next issue of L Chaim I hope to focus on some more reports and papers given at the LCJE conference. Read more about the conference papers on the LCJE website Ons is baie dankbaar dat Cecilia die LCJE-konferensie kon bywoon. Die onkoste vir reis en verblyf het sy self gedra, dit kom nie uit Simcha Bediening se begroting nie. Die Joodse Feesseisoen Francois Wessels Die Joodse feesseisoen is op hande en Beit Ariel Messiaanse gemeente Voorbidding beplan om, soos gewoonlik, al dié feeste te vier vanuit die perspektief dat die Messias Jesus reeds gekom het, maar weer kom. Rosj Hasjana, Nuwejaar, 28 September, 18:15 Die tien dae tussen Rosj Hasjana en Joom Kippoer, die Groot Versoendag op 2 Oktober, word die Jamin Noarim genoem - die dae van verootmoediging. Hierdie tyd is n tyd van selfondersoek en verootmoediging. Dit is n tyd waarin n mens moet gebruik om vrede te maak met diegene met wie jy in onvrede leef. Dit alles is deel van die voorbereiding vir Joom Kippoer. Joom Kippoer, Groot Versoendag Beit Ariel diens: Vrydag, 7 Oktober 18:15 en biddag Saterdag 8 Oktober om 10:00. Sukkot, Loofhuttefees Beit Ariel-viering: Woensdag 12 Oktober, 18:15. Biddag vir Bediening aan Jode Me DS Sy het onlangs by n Bybelstudie-groep ingeskakel en geniet dit baie. Ons is baie bly hieroor en bid vir geestelike groei. Sy ondervind op die oomblik probleme met haar oё en het reeds die eerste van twee operasie ondergaan. Bid vir volkome genesing. Mev MF Ons het reeds vir haar voorbidding gevra in haar benarde finansiёle posisie. Vir n paar maande het dit beter gegaan, maar op die oomblik gaan dit, wat finansies betref, weer baie sleg met haar. Sy is baie gespanne en angstig hieroor. Bid asseblief vir uitkoms en dat sy haar Messias openlik sal bely. Mev FF Ons het ook reeds vantevore vir haar voorbidding gevra. Sy luister na die getuienisse van Messiaanse Jode, besoek Beit Ariel Messiaanse gemeente en vra vir voorbidding, maar het Jesus nog nie as Messias aanvaar nie. Mev RB - Sy geniet die vriendskap van Christene, luister na die Evangelie en waardeer voorbidding, maar dink nie dit is vir haar as Jodin nodig om Jesus as Messias te aanvaar nie. Mev S Mev RB het onlangs haar vriendin, Mev S, aan Cecilia voorgestel. Sy stel belang om Beit Ariel te besoek. Bid asseblief vir voortgaande gesprekke met haar en vir n ontmoeting met haar Messias Jesus. Mev G Sy is deur n familielid aan Cecilia voorgestel. Bid dat sy ontvanklik sal wees vir voortgaande kontak asook vir die Evangelie. Mev EN Sy het onlangs n byeenkoms van Beit Ariel bygewoon. Bid vir voortgaande besoeke aan haar en dat sy soos haar neef Jesus as Messias sal leer ken. Gesin S Mnr en Mev S is lidmate van Beit Ariel terwyl hul dogter n Ortodokse Jodin is. Bid dat hulle as gesin Messias Jesus saam sal dien. Sondag 2 Oktober Vir besonderhede skakel Cecilia of

5 Wat glo Jode? Hulle glo dit wat in die Ou Testament staan. Hulle aanvaar nie die Nuwe Testament nie, en daarom ook nie dat Jesus van Nasaret die beloofde Messias was nie. Hulle aanvaar wel dat Jesus n rabbi (leermeester) en dalk n profeet was, maar beslis nie dat hy God is wat mens geword het nie. Die kern van die Joodse geloof word goed saamgevat met die woorde van die Sj ma (Hebreeus vir hoor ) wat ons in Deut 6:4 kry: Luister, Israel, die Here is ons God, Hy is die enigste Here. Daarom moet jy die Here jou God liefhê met hart en siel, met al jou krag... Godsdienstige Jode sê die Sj ma n hele paar keer per dag op in die oggend by hulle oggendgebed (soos stiltetyd, maar met voorgeskrewe gebede) en in aand, net voor hulle gaan slaap. Die Joodse geloof plaas dus groot klem op die geloofsartikel dat God die enigste Here is daarom is hulle oortuig dat Christene dwaal as hulle n drie-enige God (Vader, Seun en Gees) aanbid. Maar omdat Christene gojim (Hebr die nasies, die heidene ) is, probeer hulle nie Christene tot die Judaïsme bekeer nie. Jode redeneer hieroor min of meer so: Christene dwaal in hulle geloof, maar die feit dat hulle in die God van Abraham en die Ou Testament glo, is darem n verbetering op dit wat hulle eens was, naamlik rou heidene wat boomstompe of beelde aanbid het. Wat die Joodse tradisie egter nie kan aanvaar nie, is as n Joodse persoon een van Israel begin glo dat God in Jesus mens geword het. Dit is n onmoontlikheid, word gesê: Miskien kan n mens nog sê so n persoon kan glo wat hy of sy wil, maar die persoon kan nie meer n Jood genoem word nie. Sy het nou haar identiteit verander sy is nie meer n Jodin nie, sy is nou n Christen. Miskien sal haar familie haar nie, soos in die ou dae, heeltemal verwerp nie (sy is darem vlees en bloed deel van hulle) maar sy kan nie meer as deel van die Joodse gemeenskap beskou word nie.