GOOD NEWS FROM ISRAEL: GOD'S BLESSINGS CONTINUED

Building Permit Granted

God has been extremely gracious to the congregation pastored by Baruch Maoz over the years. In 1989 we were a merely 40 congregants, still reeling from the after- effects of the painful schism that rocked us in the early 1980s. Now we number some 350 of whom about 100 are children and about half of the adults were converted through the ministry of the church. Our 1,800 sq. ft hall is overflowing, with people sitting on benches outside in the parking lot and the hall itself crowded beyond description.

People Are Coming

There is no explanation for this but the goodness of God: we do nothing better than anyone else, nor is our congregational conduct the kind that appeals to Mr. And Mrs. Modern. Our preaching is expositional and seeks to search the heart, apply doctrine and present a closely argued textual case. Our singing is quite poor, although there has been steady improvement in this area. Women are not allowed to teach or be in any kind of authority over men. A common service extends from 10.30 a.m. to 1.30 or 2.00 p.m., including a lecture and a sermon, which take up the better part of a quarter of an hour each. We are confessionally committed - a rare occurrence in Israel today. What is more, our confession is considered by many to be overly conservative. We refuse to become a Messianic - or even a Jewish Christian - congregation and prefer to be a Christian congregation among the Jews. Our theology was initially not shared by the majority of those who came to worship with us. We are crowded and the services are held in 3-5 different languages all at the same time while our air conditioning system groans under the burden of so much body heat at normal Israeli summer temperatures. And yet they come.

Another Evangelist

God has also shown grace to us in the recent appointment of one of our number to work alongside Alex, who has laboured for many years alone as our church Evangelist. Eddie, an invalid due to an incurable, chronic disease, is now receiving a Social Security pension which enables him to meet some the of the needs of his family while serving the church in the important capacity as an evangelist. Another of our members has gone to the Ukraine in order to help a local church establish work among the deaf while the work among the deaf in our own region is blossoming and four are now candidates for baptism.

The Building Process

Contrary to our expectations, an initial (conditional) building license was granted us by the local authorities without any delay. God then surprised us with an anonymous gift of $800,000 for the building fund just at the time when we were running out of funds and needed to pay some $100,000 in local taxes for the building permit as well as hire engineers and a project manager to complete the design of our 7,500 sq. ft facility (plus basement). Now we have been surprised again by the local authority offering to grant us a 5% discount and an uncontingent building permit for the shell. While we are not yet able to build the shell, preparatory steps such as enclosing the area with a fence and digging the first holes for foundations will free us from the need to pay the monthly $500 property tax for property on which the building process has not yet begun.

In order to protect ourselves from the likely event of religiously-motivated vandalism and theft, we have decided to hire a contractor to complete the shell, including perimeter fencing, roof, doors and windows. We then plan to do as much of the work as possible ourselves and with the help of volunteers in order to reduce costs. We now await the goodness of God for the next stage.

*

We thank the church for their prayers. God has chosen to smile upon those prayers and upon our labours in Israel. His is the glory, the praise and the honour.

BARUCH MAOZ