Amid the fear and flames of the Middle East at war, hope and peace are nevertheless being shared between supposed enemies.
A homeless Muslim woman has found love and welcome at a women’s shelter in Tel Aviv run by Jews for Jesus. And at an InterVarsity missions conference in the United States, Jews for Jesus CEO Aaron Abramson shared a platform with his friend Fares Abraham, a Palestinian Christian leader.
Declaring that it was one of the most meaningful moments of his tenure so far, Aaron reports: “We have both experienced the pain and fear that our two communities have carried for generations. We do not agree on all the reasons for it or how it can or should be resolved. Yet we love each other as brothers in the Lord, and we care deeply about one another’s communities.”
Writing in the Jews for Jesus March newsletter, he added: “We stood on that platform together because we see what Jesus sees on both sides of this conflict: people who desperately need the hope of the gospel.”
He said it brought an important counterpoint to the contagious outrage that pressures students such as those they were addressing to choose whether people deserve their compassion or contempt.
“Our calling is not to sort everyone into categories of friend or foe. Our calling is to humbly hear and carry out God’s mission… We can break the cycle of bitterness by remembering that in the middle of all this darkness, God is still working.
“Our missionaries in Israel have watched him soften hearts among Jewish people in ways I can only describe as miraculous. And Fares has seen him moving among Arab communities with the same power and tenderness.”
What the world describes only in terms of conflict, God approaches with compassion, he said. An encounter with Jesus for the Muslim woman at the Tel Aviv women’s shelter, for example, has healed years of trauma. After receiving Jesus as her Lord, staff witnessed a genuine transformation.
Missionary Danielle Malki reports: “In moments of deep suffering and division, our calling is not driven by politics but by compassion and the hope of the gospel… Our hearts break for every child, every family, and every person caught in the crossfire of this conflict. We believe the only true and lasting hope for peace in the Middle East (and anywhere in the world) is found in Jesus.”
In Jerusalem, meanwhile, the gospel goes out in Arabic from Christ Church, headquarters of the Church’s Ministry among Jewish people (CMJ), with believers and seekers from all over the region tuning in to a regular live link service.
The ‘quiet revival’ currently taking place in the UK is also happening in the Middle East, and you can be part of it by supporting the work of these and other missions committed to spreading the gospel to both Jews and Arabs.
As the Apostle Paul put it, “For Christ himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility… reconciling both through the cross.” (Ephesians 2:14-16)
Charles Gardner is author of Israel the Chosen, available from Amazon; Peace in Jerusalem, available from olivepresspublisher.com; To the Jew First, A Nation Reborn, and King of the Jews, all available from Christian Publications International.
