Dear friend,
This past June, my wife Zhava and I had the privilege of gathering with ministry leaders from more than twenty countries for our Chosen People Global Ministries International Leadership Conference. For three days we listened, prayed, wept, and rejoiced together. When it was over, I found myself struggling to find words adequate to describe what I had witnessed.
I want to share some of these updates with you. Thanks to your prayers and generosity, you have not just supported a ministry. You have helped change lives in countries many of us have never visited, among people we may never meet this side of eternity.
Let me take you around the world.
The Southern Hemisphere
Australia: “Lord, Why Didn’t You Find Me Earlier?”
The leaders of our partner ministry, Celebrate Messiah—Australia, described the past year as perhaps the most spiritually significant in their ministry’s history. Yet, it unfolded against a backdrop of spiritual darkness. In December, Australia experienced the worst antisemitic terrorist attack in its national history: the Bondi Beach Massacre, which shook the Jewish community to its core and sent shockwaves throughout the entire nation.
One week later, Celebrate Messiah organized a prayer vigil in the heart of Melbourne’s Jewish community at Caulfield Park. Between 700 and 800 Christians showed up. Jewish neighbors came too. Pastors who had known our ministry for thirty years prayed publicly for the Jewish people for the very first time. “Darkness,” our ministry leader there reminded us, “has a way of opening doors that politeness never could.”
Throughout the year, more than twelve Jewish people came to faith in Melbourne alone. Twenty-five people were baptized, and at least six of them were Jewish. Among those baptized was an 82-year-old Jewish man who stood weeping in the water and quietly said: “Lord, why didn’t you find me earlier?”
I have been in this ministry my entire adult life. And that sentence still stops me.
The Zularoo Surf House on Victoria’s Great Ocean Road has hosted more than 450 Israeli guests since opening in late 2023. Australia’s broader host network now includes over 100 families who hosted 326 stays in the past year. Israeli guests arrive exhausted and guarded, but they leave having experienced something they did not expect: genuine love from people who have no other agenda than to show them the love of Yeshua.
New Zealand: Investing in the People Who Will Reach Their Own
New Zealand: Investing in the People Who Will Reach Their Own
Tucked into the mountains and coastline of New Zealand’s South Island, our team operates two of the most beloved gathering places in the entire Host Israelis Network. The Zula Lodge in Wanaka—nestled between the mountains and a glacial lake— accommodates up to 34 guests and has welcomed thousands of Israeli travelers over the years. A second, more intimate center at Punakaiki sits near the wild Tasman coast. Together, they offer something that is increasingly rare: genuine stillness in a world that has given young Israelis very little of it.
Our team has made a deliberate, long-term investment in Israeli volunteers who come to serve alongside them. Over eight years, approximately 80 percent of the team’s energy has gone into volunteers—including many young Israeli believers who spend a season at the Zula, grow in their faith, learn to share it, and then go home to Israel equipped to reach their own people. Thus, the guest house has also become a discipleship center.
This past year, that investment bore visible fruit once again: a Jewish man came to faith at the Zula Lodge. He arrived as a traveler, but left as something more.
Israel
“Hearing all the countries praying for Israel, supporting Israel financially, and hosting our people as they go out to heal—it’s so clear we really are a global community.”
– Our Israel team
Ministry in the Shadow of the Missiles
No report at the conference carried more weight—or more hope—than the one from our Israel team.
They have learned to live by what they called “a rhythm of open and closed windows”—events when the security situation allows, bomb shelters when it does not. A year ago, a ballistic missile struck our new Tel Aviv Messianic Center, just days after we dedicated it. The building was damaged, but the ministry was not stopped.
Equipping Ministry Leaders
We recently gathered forty young adults and some of our Israeli staff for a weekend of excellent Bible teaching, worship, and fellowship— it is a program called “Living Waters” that takes place every late spring. It is a unique time to get away from the regular schedule and busyness of life to spend quality time in the Word, prayer, and fellowship.
Each person who came is uniquely involved in ministry vocationally or within their congregation, such as serving with youth or young adults’ group, worship teams, evangelism, or discipleship. This group truly is a representation of the growing and maturing body of believers in Israel. Please keep them in your prayers, and for the hundreds like them that are young adults serving the Lord with their whole heart, mind, and soul.
Another landmark moment this year: we had a conference for women in leadership, drawing eighty participants. Five or six years ago, this idea would have been met with blank stares in the Israeli Messianic community. Yet this year, more than 100 women were put forward as candidates before the event. The feedback afterward was simply: “We need more of this.”
Ministry in the Bomb Shelter
Iran regularly fired missiles, which drove us to visit the bomb shelters. For days we heard the blasting sirens at least twice a night and sometimes during the day.
During one wave of overnight rocket attacks, one of our staff took a mat and a sheet, and descended to an underground shelter at midnight. She found 100 people sleeping on the floor and spotted two women she knew. They opened the Scriptures together and began reading Matthew. The woman responsible for managing the shelter—the unofficial mayor of that underground room—walked over and asked what they were doing. She sat down and joined the Bible study.
Asia
For decades, the vision of Chosen People Ministries has extended to every corner of the globe where Jewish people can be found. Today, Israelis are traveling to Asia in remarkable numbers—particularly since October 7, 2023. In city after city across Asia, Israelis are finding something extraordinary: communities of Chinese, Japanese, and Taiwanese believers who love them, Israel, and the Jewish Messiah.
Japan: 3,000 Guests and a Growing Chain
When Chosen People Ministries—Japan opened its first guest house in Tokyo in 2022, no one could have predicted what would follow. More than 3,000 Israeli guests have now been hosted in Japan through our two locations: the main Beit Samurai guest house in Tokyo and a second center in Hokkaido, northern Japan. A third location in the Kansai region of central Japan is now in development.
Japan receives tens of thousands of Israeli visitors every year, and the number has risen sharply since October 7. Israelis arrive because they are drawn by Japan’s natural beauty, its sense of safety, and its quietness that feels almost impossible to find at home. What they do not expect is what they find at Beit Samurai: a community that welcomes them in Hebrew, celebrates the Sabbath with them, and introduces them to the Jewish Messiah.
One story, shared by our Israel team, illustrates what this ministry makes possible. During a wave of rocket attacks at midnight, one of our staff descended to an underground bomb shelter and joined the strangers sleeping on the floor. In the morning, she met a young family with three small children nearby. They had spent the previous year traveling—including a stay at Beit Samurai. The father told her what he had heard there about Yeshua. A friendship formed, Sabbath meal invitations followed, and the conversation that began in Tokyo is still continuing in Tel Aviv.
Hong Kong: A Small Ministry with a Long Reach
The Chosen People Ministries—Hong Kong team has been part of the Chosen People Global Ministries network since 2007. The first missionary was sent to Israel in 2009. Since then, workers have been part of the Chosen People Global Ministries network since 2007. The first missionary was sent to Israel in 2009. Since then, workers from Hong Kong have served in Israel, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and the USA.
Their reach keeps extending. A Hebrew- speaking Chinese family is now relocating to Chiang Mai, Thailand— the second-most-visited destination for Israeli travelers after Bangkok. Thailand receives approximately 400,000 Israeli tourists every year. This family, who has prior experience hosting Israelis in China, will be ready to welcome them.
Taiwan: “Thank You for Your God and Your Messiah”
“Thank you for your God and your Messiah—for saving and changing my life.”
Our Taiwan ministry leader
Every time our ministry leader in Taiwan hosts an Israeli guest, he tells them, “Thank you for your God and your Messiah—for saving and changing my life.”
He knows what it is to be lost, growing up as an orphan from the age of fifteen in a family defined by darkness and idol worship. One day, two American believers shared the gospel with him at a night market in Taiwan. That encounter transformed everything. Now he hosts the people of the God who found him—and he considers it among the greatest privileges of his life.
One story from the past year stands out. A traditionally observant Jewish family who visited Taiwan—initially skeptical and guarded, as many religious families are when they encounter believers—deepened their relationship with our team over time. Then, the missiles started falling again in Israel. Our Taiwan ministry leader was texting them during the attacks. Their message back was simple and remarkable: “You know what’s good? We both have a faith, and we’re praying for each other.” A seed that was planted in Taiwan is growing in Israel.
India: Ten Years of Friendship, and a Woman Who Finally Believes
The Mika Mocha (Hebrew for“Who is like you?”) outreach center in Goa has been hosting Israeli backpackers for nearly a decade. This past year, between 250 and 300 Israeli guests came through the center. But the number that moves me most is not 300. It is one: Rachel.*
Rachel is an atheist. Her disbelief is not casual—it is rooted in the Holocaust, the suffering of her people, and the years of asking questions that went unanswered. She and her husband Isaac* have been coming to Goa every year for ten years, except during the pandemic. Every year, our India ministry leaders have welcomed them, loved them, and talked with them.
This year, Rachel said something she has never said before. She told one of our staff: “I believe there is a supreme being who has created everything and who is in charge.” She pressed our staff immediately—if God is all- powerful, why does he not stop wickedness? The theological engagement was serious and sustained. The journey is not finished. But Rachel has taken a step she could not take a year ago. Ten years of faithful friendship bore that fruit.
Europe
Germany: A Movement Turns Thirty
Our partner ministry in Germany—Beit Sar Shalom—celebrated its thirtieth anniversary this year. With over 100 people serving in some capacity and approximately 70 active projects across Germany and abroad, Beit Sar Shalom is embedded in virtually every major Christian denomination and ministry alliance in the country.
Berlin now has approximately 30,000 Israelis living in it. Every few weeks, another Israeli family contacts Beit Shalom in search of community, connection, and a place to belong. The hosting network that began for travelers has expanded to welcome Jewish and Messianic refugee families from Ukraine, many of whom had nowhere else to turn when the war began.
Antisemitism in Berlin has become serious enough that our ministry leaders there sometimes need police escorts simply to walk in certain neighborhoods. Their response has been to launch the Jesus Against Antisemitism campaign—it has been translated into multiple languages and is functioning simultaneously as advocacy and as an invitation to the gospel. It is exactly the kind of creative, courageous response that this moment demands.
France: The Shalom Café
France is a country where antisemitism has, in the words of our leader there, “settled into daily life,” especially after October 7.
Each month, a gathering called the Shalom Café meets in Paris. It is designed as an embryonic Messianic community: a warm, convivial atmosphere; Sabbath liturgy; study of the weekly Torah portion; shared meals; and the unhurried rhythm of people learning to belong.
An ad for the Shalom Café
At one recent gathering, a middle-aged secular Jewish man heard teaching from Leviticus about atonement, the meaning of forgiveness, the purpose of the sacrificial system, and the weight of what it means to be made clean before a holy God. He sat quietly through the session. Afterward, he told the team that he had never before in his life understood what forgiveness actually meant.
Ukraine: “Please Stay with Us”
I want to close with Ukraine because this report at the conference was unlike anything else I heard over those three days.
Our leader there began serving in Ukraine in 2014. Over twelve years, he has built a network of seventeen Messianic congregations from nothing. The war has now been grinding on for more than four years. Many of his congregation members serve on the eastern front. Some have been away from their families for more than a year. And yet, more than sixty people came to faith in their congregation in the past year alone—in a war zone.
He closed his report by looking around the room at the gathered leaders from many nations. He said: “I see your eyes. I see your heart. I feel your spirit. Please—stay with us.”
I have been thinking about his words ever since. “Please stay with us.” It is what the Jewish world is saying to the body of Messiah right now, whether they know it or not. And it is what we are called to answer.
What You Make Possible
Your partnership in this ministry is woven into the fabric of every one of these testimonies. The Sabbath dinners, the guest-house beds, the gospel literature, the trained workers, the prayer vigils, and the baptisms—none of it happens without the faithfulness of people like you who have said yes to this calling.
God is not finished with the Jewish people. He is not finished with you, either, as you partner with us to reach His chosen people.
Until all Israel is saved,
Mitch Glaser
President, Chosen People Ministries
*Name changed for privacy.
Euro Asia Great Sea Interconnector. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons/Sara Yard)
First day of school. (Photo: Unsplash/Note Thanun)