UK News March 2022

Latest updates from Fiona Sorbala, Chosen People Ministries UK:

I met a Jewish lady a few weeks ago and had the joy of being able to share my faith with her and the hope that we have because of Messiah. She like many Jewish people struggled to grasp the love of God. So, we are thankful for all of you who make our work possible. We restarted our monthly Friday evening meetings in the Café in Golders Green celebrating the Jewish Shabbat. We light the sabbath candles, share challah (the sabbath loaf), sing and teach God’s Word. We want to show that faith in Jesus is not incompatible with being Jewish. What we hope is that our presence provides an opportunity to engage with Jewish people, especially as the evenings lengthen and more people are out and about, we want people in the café and passers-by hear our singing as we praise the Lord. I remember last summer the Rabbi who stopped in his tracks as he heard us sing a traditional Jewish melody in Hebrew and the Jewish musician who stopped at the door to listen and then sat down and heard the message. We want to see more of this! The congregation is enjoying its new venue in North Finchley, and we have a renewed sense of unity and purpose. Our hybrid services have become our norm and are working well, enabling the online participants to interact with the people who are physically present in the venue. Despite losing a few members during the pandemic for various reasons, the Lord has blessed us with more Jewish believers who join our services via our online presence, as well as in person. This is very encouraging, especially when we are able to support people as they reconnect with their Jewish background in the Messiah. Recently, I recorded another program for CPM USA’s ‘Our Hope’ podcast. It was on the topic of what the Bible says about prayer and fasting and its understanding in Jewish thought and practice. It will be available on the CPM UK YouTube channel when it’s been broadcast. The weekly Tuesday zoom bible study has begun a new series on the Jewish background to the names and titles of Jesus in Isaiah 9, and how they are fulfilled in the New Testament. The studies are open to everyone, as are the online zoom services for the Messianic Congregation so please do invite your friends and contact us if you want to find out more. We hope you will join us on the 15th March for our Purim Conference via Zoom with Tommy Fretwell and Brian Crawford as our main speakers. Please see the back page advert for more details.

With blessings, Fiona.

Latest updates from Thomas Fretwell, The Ezra Foundation:

It has been a great start to the partnership with CPM. Here are a few projects that the Ezra Foundation has been working on and some ways you can pray for the ministry. We released a podcast interview with Holocaust survivor Dorit Oliver-Wolf on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, available on Spotify. I have been finishing the editing of a seven-part teaching series on the Pilgrim Psalms of Ascent (120-134) which will soon be available to purchase and download on the Ezra Foundation store ezrafoundation.org The plans are in place for our first Purim Conference to take place in March which we are very excited about. I will be delivering an academic paper on Dispensational Missiology for the International Society for Biblical Hermeneutics in May. We are working on growing traffic through the website and social media accounts so please follow us on these and subscribe to the newsletter on the website. Prayer requests: Planning for the Purim conference and for all those involved Teaching opportunities for the Ezra Foundation Financial support for the ministry The final stage of my Ph.D. thesis on Christian Zionism and Supersessionism.

Shalom everyone, Tommy Fretwell