Ministry Update!


It occurs to us that some people don't have the opportunity to read all of our updates and since it's been a while, we felt like it was time to provide a brief update about the kinds of ministry that we do on an ongoing basis, the challenges we face (see below) and fruit of these efforts.  


To start with, one of the blessings about being a ministry family is that our children have the opportunity to be a part of this ministry. They do not participate in everything, but they are present at a lot of our events. They hear how we minister and we are often able to explain why we share the gospel with people and what we share with people.  Shimon (prominently pictured here), asked Jason at breakfast if one of Jason's friends believes in God. Jason respond, well yes, this friend believes in God but he doesn't believe that Jesus is his Messiah yet. Shimon respond, "well he believes in God. That's step ONE." This was simply a breakfast table conversation. 

Ministry Activities

Our ministry activities are mostly based on the same strategy: Breaking down barriers to the Gospel through personal relationships. In Israel there are several very clear barriers to the Gospel, like the fact that most secular Israelis think that the Old Testament (Jewish Scriptures) is just a fictional book that Jews are proud of because we wrote it. Or that Jews don't believe in Yeshua (Jesus) because... well because Jews don't believe in Jesus. Many of these barriers can be easily overcome, when people meet Jewish believers in Yeshua. So we hold events and activities that bring believers and not-yet-believers together.

The Fruit of our Ministry

When it comes to measuring the success of our ministry efforts, there is typically a delay between what we see now and what we discover later. For example, in 2005 Jason shared the Gospel with a young man at our Gosepl Cafe outreach and in 2011, he met him again and discovered that Jason's words were the last drop in his bucket and he had come to faith the following weekend. So how do we evaluate our success today? One way to evaluate is by the opposition. The more opposition we have, the more successful we are being. By that evaluation, we are being very successful, since we have opposition from the anti-missionary groups at nearly every event. 

Another way to evaluate success is by growth in numbers. When we started the Greater Tel Aviv Messianic Center in 2017, our concert attendance ranged from 10-40 people and we had a few events with over 90 people. Now attendance ranges from 40-100 people. 

Another way to gauge success is by what people are saying about us. In 2017, most believers in Israel had not heard about what we were doing in Tel Aviv. Recently, at a funeral, a local Messianic leader told Jason that he is really encouraged and blessed by our ministry in Tel Aviv. We have received a number of reports from people all over Israel who have heard good things about our ministry activities at the Greater Tel Aviv Messianic Center.  Even the anti-missionary told Jason that he is now famous... We don't want to be famous, we only want to be faithful. 

Lastly, we can measure success by the number of people affected by our ministry, either coming to faith, growing in their faith and being discipled. Most of our ministry is actually one on one and we don't want to share personal details. But we will share a general example. Janice has a good relationship with several ladies and there are many special moments that really make her ministry to them so important.  It is common for people to call us up and want to talk, spend the night, share a meal or pray with us. We have been encouraged by many people who have told us that they feel encouraged and refreshed. One small group approached one of our staff and asked him to lead a prayer meeting at our center. Praise God that Chosen People Ministries has created this ministry center that can help and support so many people. We are very grateful to the Lord for being able to be a part of this amazing ministry!

List of Weekly and Monthly Ministry Activities and Events

Concerts 


We hold a concert about once a month. We invite at least two bands to perform. Each of the bands brings their own mixed crowd so that the room is filled about 50/50. Many of the believers invite their unsaved friends. The music and lyrics played by believers always brings up the conversation about who Yeshua is and why Messianic Jews like us believe that he is the Messiah.

Praise and Worship Nights

This was intended as a community building project, by meeting a local need. There is no preaching or teaching, just worship. We bring in a talented worship team once a month. Of course, one of our goals was to bring more believers to our ministry center, share the vision with them and our prayer is that they would begin to regularly participate in our outreach events. In this regard, we can say that we have successfully started building a warm and friendly community. Interestingly, non-yet-believers also come to these Worship Nights!

Bible Study

The city of Tel Aviv is very dynamic and the population is often rolling over because it is a hub for young people. The local congregations are very successful at holding weekend meetings but weekday meetings have been hard to maintain, especially Bible Studies. We discovered that there was a need for a Bible Study in our area. We sat and planned how to create a Bible Study that would appeal to the Tel Aviv believers and would also meet their spiritual needs. Three of our staff (including one pastor) lead this very conversational Bible Study and it has been a huge blessing.

English Classes

We hold an English Story Hour for kids every week. A small group of kids come and they are really improving in their English. Our prayer is that more kids will come with their parents and learn English as a foreign language.  Jason and Janice are both language teachers, so this program is important to them.

Janice also teaches an adults English for Beginners class. This small group has been great, and the believers in the class are great at inviting their unsaved friends to join the class.  In the Fall, Jason is praying about opening an Advanced English class.

Shabbat Meals

Once a month, we invite a group of believers, typically between 40-70 people to celebrate the shabbat (sabbath) with us on Friday nights. Tel Aviv is filled with young adults and many don't have the ability to go home to their parents on Friday night, which is typical in Israel. So we offer our 'home' to them. We have a short message, praise and worship and fellowship... Oh and FOOD! We alternate between holding events for young adults and families with kids, so that we reach the majority of believers. 


Challenges

Our activities have not gone unnoticed. Every public event is normally attended by a small group of protestors who stand next to our door and try to convince people not to enter. Recently, they also brought a couple of signs. For the sake of our own sanity, we won't translate the terrible things written on the signs. The gentleman in the picture is one of the leaders of these anti-missionaries. Recently, we held the event pictured above and he stood outside facing our entrance and praying against us. In his prayer, he referred to Jason multiple times as satan... Wouldn't it be amazing if God brought this man to faith in Yeshua! Would you pray with us for his salvation?  Our family prays words of blessing and salvation for him often.


Prayer Requests

As always, we covert your prayers for our family and our ministry. We are so grateful for all of those who support us prayerfully and financially. Thank you for enabling us to serve the Lord in Israel.

Specific Prayer requests:

  1. Fall Speaking Tour in the USA
  2. Schedule for the Fall Ministry 
  3. For all those touched by our ministry
  4. For the salvation of the anti-missionaries
  5. For the finances for our New Outreach programs
  6. For all those who pray for us, prayers for blessing and health and encouragement in their faith.
  7. For those who have heard the Gospel at our Center and have not yet made a decision to follow Yeshua
  8. Those we minister to who are struggling with their faith or with a specific issue.

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