Called to Community
What an amazing summer this has been! During a time when the world is being shaken and the people of God are being forced to reevaluate our priorities and what it means to be the body of Messiah, we are attempting to find God’s heart for our congregation here in Herzliya. What does that mean in plain English? It means we are trying not to be focused on just “doing church” or “going to service”, especially with the current restrictions in Israel. But we know that the body is more than a service. We are a community.
In early August, restrictions were imposed that made it impossible for us to meet in our normal services, so we have decided to get creative with a 4-fold plan:
1.) Park Gathering: We have begun to gather every Saturday at a park near the congregation’s main facility. These are spontaneous times of singing, prayer, encouragement, and fellowship (following hygiene guidelines), while also providing a time for kids to be fed with the Word. We have had kids join us that just came to the park to play (with consent of their parents, of course)!
2.) Community Groups: We are upping our focus on community groups, small groups of people meeting in homes for worship, prayer, food, and studying the word, all with masks and two meters’ distance!
3.) Online: We have continued to provide a weekly online service for those locals that are still uncomfortable joining us and those internationals who cannot join us. You can view these services at http://youtube.com/kkcherzliya or on our Facebook page: http://facebook.com/kkcherzliya.
4.) Special Events: We have scheduled times for members in our community to fellowship outside of our gatherings and groups. We have had a family beach day, a prayer drive where we drove in groups to the 4 corners of the city for prayer and intercession, food giveaways to students and worship nights.
Is this all a lot of work? Is it easier to just have a service once a week, throw it up online, and be done with it? Yes and yes. But this is not what we were called to do. Before Coronavirus, we were not called to just stare at the back of someone’s head, sitting in a pew, listening to a preacher preach. And during this pandemic, we are not called to just stare at a computer/phone screen and listen to a preacher preach. We are called to be a Spirit filled community lifting up the name of Yeshua, making disciples. In our imperfect way, we pray that we and our congregation move more and more towards that goal as the days progress.
Young Adults
Keeping this goal in mind, it was a great honor that Daniela and I were able to open our home to host our own community group! In August, we began to lead young adults in students in our weekly Bible study. We have a time of worship and deep discussion of a book of the Bible, chapter by chapter. We search for how the passage is applicable to our life and we spend time in prayer. This is an awesome journey for us to lead these extraordinary young men and women. Please continue to pray we will be led by the Spirit as we help foster growth in this group.
Personal Testimonies
Thank you all for praying for us for finding a car and an apartment. God has provided both since our last update! We are living in a spacious 2-bedroom apartment right downtown Herzliya, and we were blessed to be able to purchase a 2013 Opel Astra, our miracle car!
I also need to share another testimony that was shared with me. At the end of July, I (Matthew) was acting in a commercial for a tourism company in Jerusalem (a friend of mine was producing the commercial). During the production, we sat down to have lunch, and a lady from the tourist company looked at me and said, “Now I know where I know you from! I knew you looked familiar!” She went on to say that earlier this year, around Passover when Israel was on complete lockdown, she was on Youtube with her kids trying to find something that they could watch for the holiday. One of the kid’s videos I made for the congregation popped up, with my Passover message and an invitation to accept the Lord. She said that without her prompting, both of her kids gave their lives to the Lord! She (and I in the video) talked to them about what it means to be part of the people of God and they understood the decision they made to follow Yeshua!
If you are reading this newsletter, if you have prayed or supported us in any way, those lives are changed forever thanks to you, and may it be attributed to your account!
Please pray with us:
- For more souls to be added to the kingdom. And give us wisdom in discipleship.
- Hebrew – We believe it is necessary that Daniela and I begin the process of learning Hebrew formally. Pray we can find the right class with openings and that we will have the funds to pay for the class.
- Our son – Pray for our son’s transition into his new school.
From where you are, you can empower God’s work in Israel!
