they come to faith in Jesus, they often lose their families and jobs,
and are rejected by the community. Of course, the community
does not really understand the gospel. They do not know that Jesus
and His first disciples were Jewish and they are only aware of
the type of Christianity that persecuted the Jewish people. Most
religious Jewish people have never met a born-again Christian!
ON THE DEREKH
This burden for the Haredim led Chosen People Ministries
to spearhead a conference with other Jewish ministry leaders
this past January. “On the Derekh” means “On the Path.” We
named the conference as such since Haredi Jewish people place
a high value of walking by the ways of God and staying true
to the Torah. When they are not, they often say they are “off
the derekh.” So we want to get them back on the derekh by
coming to faith in Yeshua! The conference focused on learning,
brainstorming, and praying for the salvation
of ultra-Orthodox Jewish people. It was the
first conference of its kind since the Holocaust
and all who attended recognized how much
our movement needs God’s wisdom and
power to know how to present Yeshua to the
Haredi Jewish community. As believers in
Jesus, we know that He is the one true path!
In John 14: 6, Yeshua says , “I am the way, and
the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father
except through me.”
JULY 2018 / THE CHOSEN PEOPLE - 3
This week-long conference on reaching
ultra-Orthodox Jewish people was held at our
Charles Feinberg Brooklyn Messianic Center,
which is in the heart of one of the key Orthodox
Jewish areas of Brooklyn. I gave a lecture
on evangelistic work in the past, and Zhava, my wife, taught
on the history of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish movement. She
lectured about how this community began and how so many
of these precious people ended up in Brooklyn! We also had
sessions on what is currently being done to reach these folks
with the gospel and had many discussions on the development
of strategies and new tools for evangelism.
We had about fifty people attend the training conference,
and most were missionaries to the Jewish people from more than
a dozen different ministries. We studied together, prayed, and
discussed various strategies and ways that we can work together
to reach this group with the gospel. One of the high points of the
conference was having an Orthodox rabbi speak to our group
about the lifestyle of this unique community of Jewish people.
We also conducted a prayer walk through the Orthodox
areas of Brooklyn and had short conversations with many, even
about the Lord. It was a great time, and I believe that in the
future we will do a lot more to reach this group for the Lord.
WHAT’S NEXT?
We are asking you and others to pray for God to raise up
leaders with a heart for outreach among the Haredim. We are
working toward creating resources to support those who leave
the community. Last year, during our summer outreach, Shalom
Brooklyn, we completed more than one hundred surveys
of Haredim on the streets of Brooklyn and discovered that
12 percent of Haredim say that they have read at least parts of
the New Testament. This is probably a higher percentage than I
had previously thought!
This was encouraging, and we believe this indicates an
openness to reading the New Testament. We are also developing
ads on Facebook and using other forms of social media.
We are committed to finding new and creative ways to share
the gospel with these beloved Haredim. In fact, Chosen People
Ministries has dozens of staff and volunteers sharing the gospel
this month on the streets of Brooklyn. They are again using
surveys as a way to learn more about the Haredim, and, oftentimes,
the surveys lead to good conversations about the gospel.
We are also experimenting this summer with service
projects in the Haredi community. We clean up parks in the
religious areas, visit the sick and elderly,
and find other ways to show God’s love
through the Messiah Jesus to Haredi
families. These things are always a good
testimony. We also have a special burden
for ultra-Orthodox Jewish women.
Our Shalom Brooklyn teams, especially
women, are meeting Haredi women and
their children in local parks and trying to
befriend some of them. As you will read
further, the Haredi moms have many
children, and as believers we have a lot to
learn from them about raising children.
Your prayers and support are so
important to us, especially as we begin
to focus more of our efforts on reaching
the Haredim. One of my favorite passages of Scripture is
Zechariah 12:10 where the prophet tells us what is going to
happen at the second coming of Jesus. Zechariah writes,
I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants
of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that
they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will
mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they
will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a
firstborn.
When I think about those Jewish people turning to Jesus at
this future moment, I envision the majority of the men dressed
in black with long beards and side curls and the women wearing
long dresses and scarves on their heads. Can you see it? Who else
would be so eagerly expecting the Messiah at that time?
So, please pray with me for the salvation of the ultra-
Orthodox Jewish community and for our staff and volunteers in
Israel and for those on the streets of Brooklyn who are sharing
the gospel with the Haredim and many others. We could not do
this without your loving generosity and prayers.
Shalom from Jerusalem,
Mitch
g p j