After the holidays...

Dear Friend,

Our lives, as well as the congregational Fall events, are planned to begin “after the holidays”, which is a common expression here in Israel. This year Sukkot (the Feast of Booths) ended on October 2nd and children went back to school on Wednesday that week. With the end of the holidays, everyone anticipates getting into a regular schedule. (The holidays here start with Rosh HaShana and go through Sukkot, resulting in a month of intermittent days off mixed with a few work days.)

Well, our regular congregational programs did start up again – but our personal life just seemed to go from crazy busy to even more crazy! I’m responsible for small groups in our congregation and this year we have 10 home groups in 3 languages. I’m personally leading groups on 3 nights of the week, two in Hebrew and one in English, while Heidi is leading a women’s Bible study in Hebrew on a fourth evening.

Over the past year a number of new members have joined Beit Eliyahu who live in the northern suburbs of Haifa, known as the Kriyot. Among them are a number of young believers who were baptized over that time. A solid home group has formed as we’ve met the past several weeks. We’re studying through a basic discipleship course. Because those in the group are from different cultures, there are some cultural expectations that have had to be readjusted. Please pray that this cultural dissonance won’t disturb what the Spirit’s work.

The English study of Romans ended this last month, and we’ve launched into a study of “The Promise”, looking at what the Tanach has to say about the promised Messiah. Starting with how the New Testament views the Tanach in relation to the prophecies Messiah, we began with Genesis and are tracing this theme through the rest of Scripture. The Hebrew group will wrap up our study of Romans soon and will study “The Promise” as well, which will keep me busy translating this material.

In addition to these “fun” parts of my job, I’m responsible for the legal functioning of our congregation’s non-profit structure. So many people in Israel have abused non-profit organizations that increasing governmental oversight and demands to adopt a set of “best practices” have been implemented. Bring ourselves into compliance with these demands necessitates updating employee contracts, job descriptions, the details recorded on pay slips as well as the development of policies that address these demands in a manner consistent with our faith and values.

We’ve succeeded in getting one contract and job description up-to-date and are updating the others. I’ve made some headway on a policy manual. But I must confess that I find myself lacking motivation to address these tasks. I’m thankful for the help of one of the members of our congregation, a lawyer specializing in this area. But I’d really rather focus on other things (like the Bible studies).

The Lord has led me to pray Colossians 3:17 and 23-24 for myself, asking Him for motivation to do this work whole-heartedly, thanking Him as I remember whom I’m serving. And I’d appreciate your prayers for me as well given that there is still a lot of this administrative type of work that needs to be done.

In November Heidi finished up a certificate program in Spiritual Direction. You may ask, “What’s that?” For Heidi, it served as a way to learn to be a better companion to those desiring to grow deeper in their personal relationship with God. She’s learned how to better encourage others on their journey after discipleship. She enjoys being able to focus on the women in the congregation. Please be praying for the women she meets with: Shiran, Vicki, Monica, Hilary, Tidi and Janice, to name a few.

In the Bible study for women which she is leading, they are studying the Gospel of John. Since this gospel is so illustrative, she’s wanting to use a variety of Bible Study approaches, offering creative methods instead of just the usual ones. Pray they will know Yeshua better.

With all of this on our plates in addition to guests for Kabbalat Shabbat dinner each Friday, we are feeling the crunch of having so many full evenings each week. This is particularly hard on Heidi as it takes her a while to unwind from people before she falls asleep. The next morning starts early as we need to Sasha up and off to school and start a new day. Please pray with us that we’ll find the right balance in our schedule.

We are so thankful for your faithful prayer and support for us in this ministry. I’m regularly reminded of the great privilege the Lord has given us to live and serve Him full-time here in ministry to the Jewish people. You are a big part of what makes that possible. We truly appreciate you and the part you play in our lives and this ministry!

Yours in the Messiah,

Phil and Heidi