The Way Congregation - Kehilat HaDerech
(Spring 2007)

The city of Karmiel:

The name Karmiel means God’s Olive Groves (or vineyards).  50,000 people inhabit the city. More than half are immigrants from all over the world, mostly from the former Soviet Union.
The city is at the heart of the Galilee, half way between the Mediterranean sea and the Jordan river, surrounded by many Arab settlements and a few small Jewish settlements.
Karmiel is the industrial, commercial and cultural center for the inhabitants of the Galilee, yet it is a peripheral town with all its advantages and disadvantages.

The history of HaDerech (The-Way) Congregation in Karmiel:

On Passover 1989 we had the Lords supper at Yossi Ovadia’s lounge for the first time; it was then that the congregation was established. In the beginning our group was only about ten people, and we gathered in Yossi’s rented apartment. Yossi and Ronit got married in 1990 and the group continued to gather at their apartment for the next ten years until the place became too small to contain all of us. We then rented a house just for the congregation, where we continued to meet until 2005. By then the congregation grew so that people were sitting on the stairs and standing in the kitchen during the meetings.
We felt that God is directing us to look for a larger facility in an industrial area where we can continue to grow. After much searching we found our present place which we lease long term. We renovated the place to fit our needs with much of the work being done by volunteers. We built a meeting hall that can sit 165 people comfortably, classes for the children, babies’ room, youth area, kitchen and offices.
After the summer of 2006, the second Lebanon war (were Karmiel was the target of many rockets), and the changes in leadership our congregation grew quite a bit and at the moment (beginning of summer 2007), we are around 130 people who include about 50 households and new people come almost every week.
In 2004 Yossi has established a Steering Committee to help him with the leading of the congregation. In 2006 Yossi asked Israel Harel to join him in leading the congregation as co-pastors. At that time we also appointed Shachar Katz and Maya Rechnitzer as deacons. All our leaders are all Israeli born and raised.

Who we are:

People come to our services not just from Karmiel, but also from the whole Galilee and even further, from Katzerin on the Golan Heights to Migdal by Tiberias east of us, Maalot half way to the Lebanese border to the north, and Kiryat Tivon by Haifa to the south. Our main service is on Saturday, and we have other meetings during the week, including: Russian prayer meeting, Prayer meeting in other languages, Foundations study group, home groups, and ‘pro-life’ meetings. We are also much involved in social help both for believers and for non believers in the Galilee area, as we think that a part of being a light is helping the poor and the needy.
The congregation is composed of native Israelis, old immigrants and new immigrants. All together, we have members from over ten different countries, which make “a fine Israeli salad”, though sometimes a little hard to digest. Our weekly service is in Hebrew, with English and Russian translations with earphones. During the service we have a children’s class for the around 40 children.
HaDerech congregation is an Israeli Messianic congregation with our main aim being the Hebrew speakers in Galilee and all others who are willing to learn the language. The character of our congregation is Hebrew speaking Israeli, and one of our roles is to help immigrants integrate into the culture and the land.
Theologically we are an Israeli Jewish Evangelical congregation where the written word of God is central to all of what we do.

Our involvement

• Foundation Series – Teaching for young Believers and for people that are not yet Believers
• Prayer meetings –
  • Russian meeting
  • Hebrew meeting
• Be’ad Chaim – Pro life work
• Youth and Children
  • Establishing a over 18 young people group
  • A growing 13-18 youth group
  • Children classes for around 40 children
• Humanitarian help for both Believers and non-Believers in the Galilee
• Beside their involvement in the congregation our pastors are involved in:
• Yossi
• - Chairman of the Fellowship of Students in Israel
• - Advisory committee of Lech-Lecha project, a discipleship course for young believers who have finished their army service.
• - Teaching in different places around the country 
• Israel 
• - Vice Chairman of Messianic Action Committee that monitors and react to legislation in Israel that would influence the Believers.
• - Member of the National Evangelism Committee.
• - Coordinator of the Gideons International in Israel
• - Teaching in different places around the country and abroad

Our vision: