The First in a Long Time

When my family was here, I wanted to stop by the new church building so that they could see what it looked like and the opportunities it would provide for Grace and Truth. Darren must have read my mind because he stopped by on the way to the Maozes. The only problem was getting in. Because of the threats and vandalism, it is necessary to post a guard at the building site. The only problem was that the guard spoke Russian and said he didn't speak Hebrew. None of us spoke Russian so we called one of the elders to see if he could talk to the guard and assure him that it was safe to let us enter. No luck. All assurances were useless because the same language barrier stood in David's way. What to do now? I know! I teach English to four Russian women from church, maybe they could talk to the guard and get him to let us in. I called Natasha, but my explanation was above her English understanding. So I handed the phone to Darren, and he explained to her in Hebrew so that she could explain to the guard in Russian. What a language belagon! It worked, though, and the guard let us in.

They had just finished laying the tile floor, and it looked so much more completed than before. There is still a lot to be done before it is ready for use, but it will give the church so much that they do not have now - namely, room! This will be the new sanctuary which will fit the entire congregation comfortably requiring no one to sit outside or down the hallways or adjoining rooms. The facilities downstairs can be used for Sunday School, VBS, or even a future Christian school. The building and grounds would be used as a community center for believers: a place to meet and fellowship outside of just the scheduled church services. There are other church buildings in Israel and even a few Israeli church congregations, but this would be the first Jewish-owned, Jewish-filled church building since the first century. While Christianity in the West along with our churches have a history of hundreds of years, churches in Israel are very much first generation churches. It's exciting to see that work grow.