Jul 17, 2007
New Café, New Critics…
It was another epic in Jerusalem, another milestone, another opening of yet another coffee shop that was long under construction, tantalizing all of its prospective customers who watched the progress day by day with rapt anticipation.
Hailing from Tel Aviv, the upscale and trendy Arcaffe has now made its presence known in the capital city. With staff dressed in vests and bowties, Arcaffe immediately makes one feel they are in a European café once they step over the threshold.
Arcaffe is a destination coffee shop in Tel Aviv known for its decadent baked goods and elegant paninis (sandwiches). The décor is upscale and cosmopolitan. When asked once by a Jerusalemite visiting Tel Aviv when the café would open up a branch in Jerusalem, a waitress sniffed, “Never.”
Ah, but never say never. Jerusalem may not be yuppie, secular Tel Aviv, but it sure does pride itself on cafés.
Jerusalemites, well all Israelis, are obsessive about their cafés and the whole culture surrounding the caffeine imbibing experience. So zealous are they about preserving their style that Israeli cafés put Starbucks out of business here!
When finally the day came that the legendary Arcaffe opened in Jerusalem, an understated opening at that, customers tepidly entered, lingering back by the door while surveying the place. They eyed the counter suspiciously already comparing and critiquing.
Since everyone in Jerusalem is a self-appointed critic, the analysis of new places always kicks into high gear. Atmosphere? Product? Seating? And of course, prices? These days any café must also provide free internet access in order to compete, another item on the evaluation checklist.
Many passersby stopped and gawked from the outside on that first day, peering through the windows. Some ventured in to be the first who could report to their friends about the new venue. But by day two, the café blended into the framework of Jerusalem establishments, packed with people eating lunch and leaving with their coffee to-go.
Whether the café receives high ratings or not from the city’s plethora of experts, the establishment will thrive as nearly all do in the city. It will be full just as all other coffee shops are for lunch, after dinner and of course Friday brunch.
Jul 13, 2007
Under the Gun: Christians in Gaza
Caught amid the infighting between Hamas and Fatah and Israel’s retaliation for rockets launched at its southern towns is an easily overlooked segment of the population: Christians number only 2,000 among 1.3 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip—less than 1 percent of the population.
Evangelical Christians are even fewer.
“We are a minority of minorities,” Hanna Massad, pastor of Gaza Baptist Church, said. “It is really difficult. The Christian community here is 2,000 including Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Evangelical Christians.”
Gaza Baptist Church, the only Evangelical church in the Strip, ministers to 150 to 200 people.
In recent fighting an Israeli missile landed on a Hamas office, shattering all the windows in Massad’s house just 300 feet (100 meters) away. No one was injured, but the consequences of a war they are not involved in are continually getting closer to home.
Frequently one faction or the other commandeers the church’s buildings to use as a lookout point. Once a library worker was caught in the crossfire and shot in the back. He has since recovered.
The church driver wasn’t as fortunate. The 22-year-old newlywed was shot and killed in a Hamas-Fatah shootout, an innocent bystander.
Massad said living in Gaza is like being in a big prison. Many people have died because they haven’t been able get over the border in time for proper medical treatment in Israel or Egypt.
“The people are under siege from the sky, land and sea,” he said, adding that medical supplies and food are often delayed getting to the Strip. “Unemployment is 72 percent. Militant Moslems are against us and some Christians are not with us because we are Evangelical.”
Not long ago militants carried through on a threat to bomb the Gaza Bible Society where Massad’s wife is a director. Now the church itself has been threatened.
“There is a small militant group that hates everything western and Christian and in their minds, they are trying to clean up the city,” Massad said. “They are a narrow-minded group and the government is unable to control it.”
But the Gaza church isn’t playing victim to the circumstances. Instead the Christians are running clinics, libraries, bringing humanitarian aid to the needy and carrying on meeting. They meet openly at the church.
“One thing that strikes me is that you don’t hear negative language from them,” Labib Madanat, director of the Bible Society in Israel and Palestinian territories, told us. “Their language is positive, a language of mission: ‘What is my role as a believer; what can I do in this situation?’”
“I’m not saying it is not hard, that they don’t have fears,” he said. “There are troubles, threats, danger and sometimes they are down. But the overall sum is they are a group of people who are resilient, totally dependent on the Lord and positively thinking of what God wants them to be in the Gaza Strip.”
Madanat said the church worldwide needs to encourage believers in Gaza. Compared to believers in the West Bank, the believers in Gaza are more “focused on what God wants them to do in this situation. Gaza is much more difficult. The sense of need of total dependency on the Lord is much stronger.”
The American Consulate has been warning all Americans to get out of Gaza because of the constant dangers. Massad, who also holds American citizenship, was asked by the consulate if they want to leave.
“Without any hesitation I said no,” he explained. “This is where we feel God wants us to be at this time and it is a privilege to be in the midst of God’s will.”
Evangelical Christians are even fewer.
“We are a minority of minorities,” Hanna Massad, pastor of Gaza Baptist Church, said. “It is really difficult. The Christian community here is 2,000 including Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Evangelical Christians.”
Gaza Baptist Church, the only Evangelical church in the Strip, ministers to 150 to 200 people.
In recent fighting an Israeli missile landed on a Hamas office, shattering all the windows in Massad’s house just 300 feet (100 meters) away. No one was injured, but the consequences of a war they are not involved in are continually getting closer to home.
Frequently one faction or the other commandeers the church’s buildings to use as a lookout point. Once a library worker was caught in the crossfire and shot in the back. He has since recovered.
The church driver wasn’t as fortunate. The 22-year-old newlywed was shot and killed in a Hamas-Fatah shootout, an innocent bystander.
Massad said living in Gaza is like being in a big prison. Many people have died because they haven’t been able get over the border in time for proper medical treatment in Israel or Egypt.
“The people are under siege from the sky, land and sea,” he said, adding that medical supplies and food are often delayed getting to the Strip. “Unemployment is 72 percent. Militant Moslems are against us and some Christians are not with us because we are Evangelical.”
Not long ago militants carried through on a threat to bomb the Gaza Bible Society where Massad’s wife is a director. Now the church itself has been threatened.
“There is a small militant group that hates everything western and Christian and in their minds, they are trying to clean up the city,” Massad said. “They are a narrow-minded group and the government is unable to control it.”
But the Gaza church isn’t playing victim to the circumstances. Instead the Christians are running clinics, libraries, bringing humanitarian aid to the needy and carrying on meeting. They meet openly at the church.
“One thing that strikes me is that you don’t hear negative language from them,” Labib Madanat, director of the Bible Society in Israel and Palestinian territories, told us. “Their language is positive, a language of mission: ‘What is my role as a believer; what can I do in this situation?’”
“I’m not saying it is not hard, that they don’t have fears,” he said. “There are troubles, threats, danger and sometimes they are down. But the overall sum is they are a group of people who are resilient, totally dependent on the Lord and positively thinking of what God wants them to be in the Gaza Strip.”
Madanat said the church worldwide needs to encourage believers in Gaza. Compared to believers in the West Bank, the believers in Gaza are more “focused on what God wants them to do in this situation. Gaza is much more difficult. The sense of need of total dependency on the Lord is much stronger.”
The American Consulate has been warning all Americans to get out of Gaza because of the constant dangers. Massad, who also holds American citizenship, was asked by the consulate if they want to leave.
“Without any hesitation I said no,” he explained. “This is where we feel God wants us to be at this time and it is a privilege to be in the midst of God’s will.”
Jul 12, 2007
Jerusalem: Destination for Worship
The One Thing Jerusalem conference put Israel’s capital city on the map as a destination for worshipers and worship leaders across the nation and around the world.
The first-of-its-kind conference in Israel highlighted a growing trend among Messianic Jews and Christians to make worship pilgrimages to the Holy City.
The three-day event was broadcast live by God TV, which boasts an audience of 1 billion. Several renowned Christian artists and speakers from Europe and America made their first trip to Israel for the conference, showing that for many, Israel is taking on a greater role in their journey of prayer and praise.
“Where Israel had been cut off in many ways or was left behind in the move that God was doing in the earth, now it’s not just catching up, but it’s going to run ahead,” said Emily Schiavi, a worship leader at Succat Hallel, which organized the conference. “When people catch the vision of God’s heart for Israel, nothing is going to stop what will go out from here.”
Despite the civil war in Gaza and rumors of war in the North, One Thing Jerusalem drew more than 1,500 people, including an estimated 600 Jewish and Arab youth from the believing community in Israel and young people from 20 nations.
“The conference was way beyond anything we imagined,” Rick Ridings, founder of Succat Hallel house of prayer on Mount Zion, said. “A group came from Australia that was doing a 40-day fast for youth revival in Israel. A Chinese group came. This is not just something we’re doing. There are people in the nations praying to make Jerusalem a ‘praise in the earth.’”
One Thing Jerusalem featured young Israeli worship bands as well. A decade ago, that might have been impossible.
“When I first moved here [eight years ago] I felt like it was a valley of dry bones,” said Anna Boyd, who works with Israeli youth and made her own album in Israel. Boyd, 25, who lived in the US and Belgium before moving to Israel, said the worship music scene has gradually awakened since she’s been in the country.
“Right now I feel like all the [believing] youth are incredibly hungry for God,” she said. “They are starting to cry out for their friends’ salvation. There’s a sense of being so excited that, ‘God saved us so we want to worship him.’”
The awakening among Israeli youth has paralleled a rise in the number of Christians from overseas who have come to Israel to take part in worship watches or make a recording of their own.
Kish Johnson, 32, originally from Slough, England, arrived in Israel three years ago and finished his first album here. While living in Jerusalem, he started writing worship songs.
“When you understand the importance of Israel, you can’t help but understand the call of the nations,” he said. “We are pioneering to a certain degree.”
Another pioneer from abroad is Jess Cantelon, from Canada. Cantelon made his first recording here in English and is now writing songs in Hebrew.
“Israel is a blank slate in a way,” he said. “If we went to Kansas City or England, these things have been done. Here there’s lots of potential because it’s a new country and we’re talking about the second generation of believers. We’ve not been too affected by the West. Israel is its own culture, its own generation, its own expression.”
Schiavi, 30, said she has seen major changes in worship in Israel since she came from the US four years ago. After the One Thing conference, which was meant to galvanize a generation of Israelis and Arabs in their own Land, she expects an even greater change.
“Local things have connected internationally. The nations come to Jerusalem, they gather here and the word will go forth from Zion,” Schiavi said. “It’s not going to be from people coming here. Now the people who live here are going to take this for themselves and run with it.”
The first-of-its-kind conference in Israel highlighted a growing trend among Messianic Jews and Christians to make worship pilgrimages to the Holy City.
The three-day event was broadcast live by God TV, which boasts an audience of 1 billion. Several renowned Christian artists and speakers from Europe and America made their first trip to Israel for the conference, showing that for many, Israel is taking on a greater role in their journey of prayer and praise.
“Where Israel had been cut off in many ways or was left behind in the move that God was doing in the earth, now it’s not just catching up, but it’s going to run ahead,” said Emily Schiavi, a worship leader at Succat Hallel, which organized the conference. “When people catch the vision of God’s heart for Israel, nothing is going to stop what will go out from here.”
Despite the civil war in Gaza and rumors of war in the North, One Thing Jerusalem drew more than 1,500 people, including an estimated 600 Jewish and Arab youth from the believing community in Israel and young people from 20 nations.
“The conference was way beyond anything we imagined,” Rick Ridings, founder of Succat Hallel house of prayer on Mount Zion, said. “A group came from Australia that was doing a 40-day fast for youth revival in Israel. A Chinese group came. This is not just something we’re doing. There are people in the nations praying to make Jerusalem a ‘praise in the earth.’”
One Thing Jerusalem featured young Israeli worship bands as well. A decade ago, that might have been impossible.
“When I first moved here [eight years ago] I felt like it was a valley of dry bones,” said Anna Boyd, who works with Israeli youth and made her own album in Israel. Boyd, 25, who lived in the US and Belgium before moving to Israel, said the worship music scene has gradually awakened since she’s been in the country.
“Right now I feel like all the [believing] youth are incredibly hungry for God,” she said. “They are starting to cry out for their friends’ salvation. There’s a sense of being so excited that, ‘God saved us so we want to worship him.’”
The awakening among Israeli youth has paralleled a rise in the number of Christians from overseas who have come to Israel to take part in worship watches or make a recording of their own.
Kish Johnson, 32, originally from Slough, England, arrived in Israel three years ago and finished his first album here. While living in Jerusalem, he started writing worship songs.
“When you understand the importance of Israel, you can’t help but understand the call of the nations,” he said. “We are pioneering to a certain degree.”
Another pioneer from abroad is Jess Cantelon, from Canada. Cantelon made his first recording here in English and is now writing songs in Hebrew.
“Israel is a blank slate in a way,” he said. “If we went to Kansas City or England, these things have been done. Here there’s lots of potential because it’s a new country and we’re talking about the second generation of believers. We’ve not been too affected by the West. Israel is its own culture, its own generation, its own expression.”
Schiavi, 30, said she has seen major changes in worship in Israel since she came from the US four years ago. After the One Thing conference, which was meant to galvanize a generation of Israelis and Arabs in their own Land, she expects an even greater change.
“Local things have connected internationally. The nations come to Jerusalem, they gather here and the word will go forth from Zion,” Schiavi said. “It’s not going to be from people coming here. Now the people who live here are going to take this for themselves and run with it.”
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