As the Body of Messiah in the modern state of Israel gains momentum, it’s time to lift our eyes beyond our borders! Jewish and Arab mission teams are now being sent out to minister together across the world, and the impact has been profound.
“If it’s as true as you say, just show me one Jew who believes in Jesus!”
One of our intrepid teams had gone to one of the hardest areas of Berlin close to the biggest mosque, to a park area well known for drugs and violence. They saw someone begging, so Carlos shared his testimony in Arabic, about how he was completely set free from drugs in an instant, and how Yeshua changed his life completely.
The man, an African Muslim, was amazed.
He knew the Qu'ran well, but over time had become a hardened atheist. He didn’t believe in God at all, and although they had been talking for about an hour about Yeshua, the prophecies in the Bible and so on, it was hard to reach his heart.
“You want to persuade me that God really sent His Son to die on the cross, when the Qu'ran says the opposite (and in any case, I don’t believe it)? The Jews crucified Jesus, so if it’s as true as you say, just show me one Jew who believes that Jesus is the Messiah!”
Carlos looked around for one of the Jewish members of the team and called Gal to come over. “Gal, come and tell this man who you are.” Gal had been busy elsewhere, but came to meet our new friend.
“Hi I’m Gal, I’m a Jew from Israel…” He started to introduce himself, completely unaware of what had just happened in the conversation! After some ten minutes or so, this dear Muslim man eventually allowed us to pray for him. He even took off his hat and prayed with us.
There is power in the gospel because it is true. God’s truth changes reality.
Many Israelis and Muslims who now live in Berlin are very open to the gospel. One of our teams shared a Shabbat meal with some 30 non-believers and was able to share the gospel with them all. An Israeli girl from Lod received the Lord – she had heard the gospel back in Israel, but made the step to follow Yeshua right there with the team. Together with local believers, our team has been able to share with many Muslims from Syria, Iran, and other places in the Middle East. They have also had the privilege to work with and encourage some new believers from Muslim backgrounds.
Another team was sent to Heidelberg and Kaiserslautern to work alongside local churches in their outreach. They spoke at local universities and met students, sharing the truth about our Messiah who has made us One New Man in Him, and also helped with the work of evangelism and service being carried out among the refugees and those in need.
Those who could speak Arabic were easily able to share the truth about Yeshua with many of those they met. They had the privilege to pray with one man from Tunisia and another lady from Iran. Additionally, they were able to give a presentation to a group of German college students about the difference that Yeshua can make as they stood together, united in the Gospel of peace. They helped with some children’s ministry and led worship, all of which was also a blessing for Israeli students themselves as they are trained in the service of God.
First Paul and Barnabas, now Jew and Arab!
It’s true that here and there, Israeli believers have taken part in overseas missions in the past, but these cases have been few and far between. In order to build a heart for the nations into our DNA here at Israel College of the Bible, we have been learning about heroes of the faith who took the gospel all over the world in our weekly chapel meetings.
Now, we have started sending teams overseas to share the gospel both in word and deed. Delegations have gone to East Asia, to Germany, and to Jordan so far, with our sights on sending a team to Ethiopia in the future.
One of our favorite Bible verses here at ONE FOR ISRAEL is Isaiah 2:3, which says,
“For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”
Once again, the word is going forth from Zion as Israeli mission teams of Jewish and Arab staff and students are taking God’s word to bless other nations.
The fields are white but the workers are few
Dr. Erez Soref impressed upon our students that hundreds of thousands of refugees had poured into Europe and were hungry for the gospel. Many thousands are coming to faith in Jesus and are being baptized! But they are often left in great need of discipleship.
Dr. Soref asked the gathered students in Israel, “What can we do to help? The fields are truly white for the harvest. We need to send laborers”. He added that one of the students, Sharbel, was getting ready to be sent to Germany to work with new believers from Syria on a long-term basis.
Israel is in pole position to help with this crisis as there are native Arabic speakers who can share with Muslim refugees easily. Many refugees are broken and desperate, disillusioned with Islam and ready to hear the good news about Jesus.
