Ministry partners with Derech Avraham have been working among Arabic speakers in East Jerusalem and the Palestinian Territories for over a decade, meeting needs, bringing comfort, and sharing the Gospel.
ARABIC OUTREACH IN ISRAEL
Seeing the opportunity to bless and encourage people from Gaza coming to Israel for cancer treatment during their stay, Daoud used his tour guiding expertise to start taking Palestinians on trips around Israel while they were in the land. Of course, touring Israel lends itself to visiting sites of biblical significance, where he could share about Jesus. He was able to organize trips to Qumran and talk about how the Bible had been carefully preserved over the millennia, and hadn’t been changed, as Islam teaches. The Palestinian participants were able to take a dip in the Jordan river at the site of Yeshua’s baptism, and see many other places of import. Many times the tour would conclude back at Christ church in Jerusalem, the first protestant church in the Middle East.
Over the years, the ministry grew, reaching beyond Gazan cancer patients to Arabs in East Jerusalem. During the Pandemic, the economic crisis hit many Palestinians very hard, so the program of giving food packages to those in need stepped up considerably. The households receiving the packages would typically give a very warm welcome to those bringing the delivery, and good relationships developed with many families. They too would come on some of the tours of biblical sites and hear more about Jesus.
Many would invite Daoud, Davut, and other workers back into their homes for hospitality, and friendships grew. In return, the team would host their new friends, organizing group meals at Christchurch, and Christmas events in which the meaning of the incarnation was explained in Arabic.
The Gospel presentation that they were able to give this Christmas has opened up doors of opportunities with those who came and left hungry for more.
The work has evolved and developed over the years, and now also includes ministry to a people group that are neither Jewish nor Arab, yet live in Jerusalem and speak Arabic. The Domari people are Gypsies, originally from India, who came to the Middle East over 500 years ago. The Domari live throughout the Middle East, and about 15,000 live in Israel, mostly in Jerusalem, with roughly 4,000 in the Palestinian Territories .There are also other Arabic speaking people groups such as Bedouins, Arameans, and Armenians to name a few, all here in Jerusalem. One blessing of the Muslim conquests is a singular language that makes reaching everyone together much easier!
THE NEXT STEP: A WEEKEND AWAY FOR ARAB SEEKERS
Having sowed many seeds of the gospel over the years, it was felt that the time was ripe for a weekend away to explore the Bible together. In order to protect the anonymity of the seekers, we held the retreat in Jaffa, a predominantly Arab area next to Tel Aviv, but far away from Jerusalem… and any prying eyes.
Jaffa is the oldest port in the world, and today Jews and Arabs coexist there peacefully, for the most part. It is like a port to the nations, an idea exemplified both by Jonah being sent to the Gentile city of Nineveh from Jaffa, and also being the place where Peter received his vision of “forbidden foods”, and God encouraged him to understand the Gospel was for Gentiles too. Peter then went on to lead a Gentile household, a Roman centurion and his family, to faith. This was the event which catapulted the Gospel out from being solely Jewish to including all the nations of the world. In short, Jaffa is a very special and symbolic place to share the Gospel with Gentiles in Israel!
So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.” (Acts 10:34-35).
The team taught on the creation story in Genesis, the story of Jonah, and the Sermon on the Mount. But it was when the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector was presented that the crowd of over 40 predominantly Muslim seekers became much more animated. They were eager to talk and share their point of view, jumping up to the microphone to say what they thought.
Here is the parable that Jesus taught His disciples in Luke 18:1-14:
“To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.””
You can just imagine how this might sound to Muslim ears! The idea of the tax collector being justified more than the religious zealot is as shocking today as it was when Jesus first delivered it. What amazing grace.
There were some eyebrow-raising moments, such as when participants popped out to pray at the mosque between sessions, and most notably the discovery that one of the key “men of peace” had received a dream of Jesus just two days before the event.
Next, another meal is being planned to follow up with those who are eagerly seeking Jesus.
Please pray with us for all these men and women to see and receive the wonderful truth about Jesus, and for the inevitable challenges that will come when that happens. Whatever may come, we know that for each one who finds that pearl of great price, it’s worth giving up everything.