Mittwoch, 1. Mai 2019

29./30.04.: Start of study trip with Philippus ministry

Today on Monday the third phase of my time in Israel was supposed to start. The study trip with the Philippus ministry.
The Philippus Dienst from Germany (www.philippus-dienst.de) is an organisation which started as a reconciliation ministry between Germans and Jews and supported Messianic believers in the holy land from 1998 on. Also the reconciliation of Jews and Arab Christians in the Messiah who is the prince of peace was right from the beginning in the focus. A group of 29 people from 11 different nations followed the invitation of the Philippus Dienst to travel the land and get to know different congregations and believers and to learn from them, understanding their problems and concerns and also the topics they are working on. Our group is quite diverse concerning nationality, age and spirituality. Also Nobbi the leader of our congregation in Nuremberg joined this trip. Since I had to return our rental car to the airport I could pick him up from their and we had our first Hummus together.


The first nights we stayed in a hotel in Netanya. After a nice Israeli dinner we had a great come together and got acquainted with each other. Susanne, the leader of the Philippus Dienst gave us a brief input and also challenged us to experience the unity in the Messiah in spite of the diversity of our group.

Tuesday morning we visited our first station, one of the messianic congregations in Netanya, Beit Asaph. Evan and Maala Thomas welcomed us warmly. Evan Thomas is the Partner of the Philippus Dienst in Israel and cooperates already more than 20 years with the German headquarter. Evan pointed out very important topics:
- the number of Messianic Jews grew from appoximately 300 believers 40 years ago to actually 30.000
- additionally there are about 5000 Arab Evangelical Christians in Israel and 1000 in the West Bank
- in the New Testament it is stated (2. Corinthians 5,18) that all comes from God, who through the Messiah has reconciled us to himself and has given us the work of this reconciliation. So believers in Israel and West Bank are longing for this unity in the Messiah in spite of all historical and actual political problems and challenges. 
- one example of the strong message this unity in the Messiah brings, was an outreach Yad b'yad 2.0 last August Evan and a team of young Jews, Arabs and Germans did in Germany and Austria together. They were showing their love and joint faith and were openly talking about it to people on the streets.
- he explained us how difficult the position of Arab believers in Israel and the West bank is. Evan encouraged us that the love of God and the joint focus on his kingdom can enable us to overcome big human conflicts and different theological or political positions believers have.
- this was a great start of our study trip, because it made as aware of the joys and struggles the believers have here



Then we went on to the Ethiopian congregation of Netanya. When we entered the building, we saw that they are renovating a new and bigger meeting place which is supported by the Philippus Dienst. Already in 2006 when the congregation was founded, the support of the Philippus Dienst started for them.
Rivka the founding female pastor was welcoming us and told us here life story and how she found the Messiah in Ethopia. In 1985 she made Alijah to Israel.
How the Ethopian Jews came to Israel you find under:

Rivka gave us some common background information on Ethopian congregations:
- there is a big openness of Ethopian Jews towards the gospel and the number of members is constantly growing
- the young generation is well integrated and speaks fluently Hebrew
- they also have to deal with beliefs in evil spirits which is still an influence from the African past
After a short but intense Ethopian worship time we were invited to finger food lunch african style.
This amazing visit left a great impression on us.










We had some free time at the beach in the afternoon.








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