This record does not describe the complete situation of Jewish evangelism in Europe. It is based on the information currently available to me. More details will follow in the report for the next international conference of LCJE in August this year.

BULGARIA

Stanislav Alexiev is working with CWI in Rousse, Bulgaria. He has made some good personal contacts with people from the Sofia Jewish community. Every other week he travels to the capital and goes to the synagogue on Shabbat. Stanislav meets three Jewish men regularly. They are old but willing to listen to him.

DENMARK

The Danish Israel Mission (DIM) has a strong youth work, with over 1000 members under the age of 30. That has made it possible in 2002 to send volunteers as far away as Thailand and Los Angeles. For the first time they have sent a team to work among “Western Jews in the East”. The team had a month’s training in Jerusalem at the Caspari Center, and thereafter they worked among Israelis in Thailand and in Goa, India.

FRANCE

In Paris Stephen Pacht is directing the work of Jews for Jesus in France. He lives with his family in Paris and is assisted by Delphine and Joshua Turnil.

Even though she is retired, Francine Roulet (CWI) is still working with Jean Paul Rempp, pastor of the “La Bonne Nouvelle Church" in Lyon, to reach the Jews in this area with the gospel.

GERMANY

The year 2002 has seen different highlights in the work among the Jewish people in Germany. In March about two hundred people took part at the 5th National conference of Messianic Jews in Germany. The leading issue of this conference was “to share the likeness of Jesus" (Rom 8,29). On the second day 9 people were baptized. We can say that the number of messianic believers in Germany is growing slowly but steadily.

In June about twenty believers met for a theolocial study conference with Jeff Spivak, Jerusalem (now Aberdeen, Scotland). They heard about and discussed the issue: Apocalyptics in Jewish history.

The work among young people is playing a more and more important role. In August thirty-five young people from all over Germany attended the Messianic Summer Camp 2002. They not only had a lot of fun together, they also studied the Bible earnestly. In December sixteen youth leaders and coming youth leaders had a training about spirtual leadership. They enjoyed their time very much and there is hope that they will become more involved and more in the practical work in the future.

On December 11 and 12 eleven people from different organizations, all involved in Jewish evangelism, met under the umbrella of LCJE at Neukirchen, in the geographical centre of Germany, to report about their actual ministries, to pray together and to discuss how they can help each other more in the future.

Mischa Braker is still working with the „Arbeitsgemeinschaft für das messianische Zeugnis an Israel" (AMZI) in Hannover. He is still serving a group of Jewish believers there and doing evangelism in this city.

“Beit Sar Shalom Evangeliumsdienst" (BSSE), the German branch of Chosen People Ministries (CPM), is currently working in Aachen, Berlin, Bonn, Chemnitz, Düsseldorf, Heidelberg, Mönchengladbach, München and Potsdam. Since the summer of 2002 Wladimir Pikman, its German director, has been studying at the Theological Seminar in Dallas USA.

“Evangeliumsdienst für Israel" (EDI) has its ministry mainly in Esslingen and Karlsruhe. Anatoli and his wife Irina are also responsible for the youth work mentioned above. They are assisted in their ministry by some volontary workers. Other volontary workers are working with EDI at Chemnitz, Erlangen, Freiburg and Köln.

In Essen Yuliya Sokol is still working with “Jews for Jesus" to reach the Jewish people of this city with the gospel.

Richard Tomlinson moved with his family from Frankfurt/Main back to the UK and is now working with CWI on a regular basis in the area of Bournemouth.

UNITED KINGDOM

After sixteen years of faithful and dedicated service, the last ten of them as General Secretary, John Ross decided to return to the pastoral ministry. He accepted the invitation of the the congregation of the Greyfriars Free Church of Scotland at Inverness to serve as their pastor. John has also been my predecessor as European coordinator of LCJE. The council of CWI appointed Mike Moore as the new General Secretary. Mike has already served the society for nineteen years as its communications officer.

Hartmut Renz
hrenz@evangeliumsdienst.de