The harvest is white in Israel. People are looking to God for answers, and the body of Messiah is expanding all the time. This applies to both Jews and Arabs—everyone has been affected by the war. With all this harvest to bring in, where are the workers?
ONE FOR ISRAEL is bringing the gospel back to Israel in both Hebrew and Arabic, and we’re seeing a huge rise in response. But did you know we also have a Bible College on site? Israel College of the Bible is based at our campus here in central Israel, and has been training Jewish and Arab Israeli believers in ministry and theology for well over 30 years.
According to our survey in 2017, we found there were about 30,000 believers in Israel at the time of the research, and there are likely many more today. Still, that number is less than 1% of Israel’s 9.5 million population, and of course not every believer wants to train for ministry. The number of Israelis that apply to study with us is usually modest, but we are committed to sending out well-trained workers to serve in God’s kingdom. However, this year we have had more sign up to study with us on two of our courses than ever before!
At the moment we’re having to make space for classes in the library and the conference room while we are renovating the campus after the fire last year.
We also have the additional challenge of air raid sirens and limited room in the bomb shelters. We have been able to find solutions to these logistical problems and we’re so glad to be able to continue teaching and training all these students to impart the Word of God with excellence wherever they go on to serve.
At Israel College of the Bible we have a program designed especially for newer believers, and those wishing to get a good grounding in the faith, called “Bikurim”, which means “firstfruits”. Students learn about their Jewish Messianic and Arab Christian identities, some basic theology and Biblical interpretation, church history, Spiritual disciplines, apologetics, and how to find the Messiah in Hebrew Scriptures.
For those taking their studies further, we offer courses in Greek, surveys of the Old and New Testament, expository preaching, an introduction to rabbinic literature, biblical geography and archaeology, as well as history of Messianic Judaism and Jewish / Christian Relations. We’re also providing intensive courses on the subject of love and marriage, and on the ministry skills for Youth and children’s work.
In both of these programs we have had more students enrolling than ever. Glory to God: His kingdom is advancing.
