“And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:7)

Shalom to all our dear brothers and sisters who ask about, support and pray for “HaDerech” Congregation. War is still raging in the south of Israel as we write this letter, and we are all praying and following the situation, especially remembering believers on both sides of the conflict. We can identify with residents of the south who live within the range of the rockets, and are watching carefully in case another front develops in the north (Katusha rockets have landed in Nahariya and Kiryat Shmona). From experience, such times can strengthen our faith and remind us of our utter dependence as individuals and as a people upon God our Creator. May He bring a lot of good out of this evil. May many - Arabs and Jews, be drawn by the distresses and the reminders that war and hatred are terrible things, closer to God and to our wonderful Saviour.

Following is a short update on the developments and changes in HaDerech Congregation:

Home groups: Weekly and biweekly home groups meet in Hebrew, English and Russian, and a Portuguese-speaking group is forming. In addition, there are weekly studies for women and biweekly studies for youth. We thank God for these frameworks, which are such essential elements in the life of our congregation and our spiritual development.

The founding of a new congregation, Lord willing: A number of brothers and sisters, who have been praying for years for the establishment of a new congregation in the area of Tiv’on/ The Jezre’el valley are working together towards this end. The “establishing group” (including the Harel family from the leadership of our congregation) has started to hold meetings and will be the core of the new congregation, when it is founded. We hope to establish this congregation as a daughter congregation with our blessing and oversight, to support it in various aspects and in time, with the Lord’s help, to release it to become an independent congregation.

The blessing in this development also places new challenges before us. Changes, as you know, tend to shake our confidence and necessitate reorganization. This is all the more necessary when some of the people leaving are active in the ministry in our congregation. It is an opportunity to encourage and develop more people who are willing to serve and take responsibility, in order to help Yossi with the leadership of the congregation, seeing that Israel, who helps Yossi in the leadership, is due to leave.

Newcomers and the children’s classes: Several families have joined us, thank God. Transition to a new country or town is never easy and we try to help as much as we can, and be a warm and supportive home for them. We thank the Lord for them and for the new children who joined our classes. Please pray for them for easy and quick adaption, and that they may take comfort in knowing that the Lord has sent them here at this stage of their lives, and that He has plans for them, in spite of any difficulty. Likewise, please pray with us for additional teachers for the children. We are short in teachers and face several challenges, such as communication with children who do not speak Hebrew.

Sick and convalescent: Our brother A, who underwent surgery several months ago to remove his kidney, is recovering. The tumor was cancerous, but thank God, with no secondary growth. Our sister I, the mother of Peter, has been diagnosed with widespread cancer and has started a series of examinations and treatment in Haifa. We thank the Lord for her strong faith and her great love for her Saviour. There is no doubt that she is an example to her large family, but of course she needs our prayers. Our sister F, who suffered from cancer several times in the past, apart from other problems, continues with medical consultations about her longstanding back problem. The health problems of R’s husband are deteriorating, and so are those of Maya’s aunt. Some of us are tending to elderly and sick relatives and supporting them, and we pray that this will be a testimony to the people around us of God’s great love to us, which flows through us to others.

Deacons: Shahar (Shooshoo) has decided to retire  from his activities and offices as deacon and youth leader (apart from his resignation from the capacity of congregational secretary). We are sorry about this and are grateful for all that he has done so devotedly so far. We pray that during this period in his life he will clearly hear the direction of the Lord. In addition, we have ordained a new deacon - Sasha Poberejny, who has been serving the congregation for a long while in the worship team and in managing the Russian speaking meetings.

The “Dror” Ministry (spiritual healing and deliverance)

We thank the Lord for the faithful work of the members of the counseling and spiritual healing team. They work hard and try to tend to every request. We see positive results in the lives of people, but the needs are great and we lack enough people for the counseling teams and the prayer team that support them. Please pray that the Lord will send more workers to this important ministry, and help them reorganize more efficiently.

Preparation for ministry: We have started the second stage of the course “Preparation for ministry”, which focuses on the gospel - on our message and the best way to convey it to the people around us. We thank the Lord that more and more people are responding to His call to rise up and serve, including youths and young people who help in various ways such as sound, presentation, teaching the children, prayer groups in the schools and various efforts to evangelize. Please continue to pray for more people to become involved in the work of the Lord here.

With blessings
“HaDerech” Congregation (”The Way”)
Karmie

Last Modified : April 24th, 2010 Filed under : Letters Navigate : Previous post / Next post