Experiencing LCJE Europe Conference for the First Time
By Mary Chase, Moscow
In the small tourist town of Révfülöp, Hungary, a few hours outside of Budapest, on March 10-13, 2005 I had the opportunity to meet with approximately 50 of my brothers and sisters from around Europe for the LCJE Europe conference. While we came from many different countries, denominations and organizations we all gathered for one purpose-to commit ourselves once again to the task of spreading the Gospel to the Jewish people world wide.
This conference was a first in many ways. It was the first time for me and several others to participate in an LCJE Europe conference. It was also the first time that representatives from Russia, Ukraine and Romania had attended one of these conferences. I was proud to be one of the three representatives from Russia. One Ukrainian, one Romanian and myself (an American living in Moscow) had an opportunity to share about what God is doing among His Chosen People in our respective countries. One of the highlights of the conference, for me, was to hear testimonies of how God is at work all over Europe, and in particular in the East.
Since the conference was held in Hungary we had several opportunities to learn about the rich history of Jewish evangelism in Hungary. We also heard about how the Jews fared there under Communism. The one thing that struck me about the presentation that we heard about the Jews under Communism was the fact that when in society it was unpopular to be a Capitalist the Jews were accused of being Capitalists. And when it was unpopular to be a Communist they were accused of being Communists. Either way they could not win. Sadly enough that seems to be a general trend throughout Jewish history. Gaining a better understanding of Jewish history during the Communist period helped me to better understand how to relate to the Russian Jews that I have relationships with. Clearly there is a marked difference between the Jewish experience in Eastern and Western Europe. Remarkably enough, in the shadow of Communism and the Holocaust, God is working in amazing ways to bring Jewish people to Himself.
We started each day with praise and worship led by David and Lisa Loden who came from Israel to participate with us. Being able to worship God in English and Hebrew was a great blessing for me personally and I would imagine for everyone else as well. After our time of worship we had a Bible study led by Torlief Elgvin, from Norway. The topics that he shared on were very challenging and deep and I was challenged myself to go back again and study those Scriptures for myself. A major part of the conference involved listening to various speakers present papers on a range of topics related to Jewish evangelism. During one session Kai Kjær-Hansen shared about the LCWE conference that he and several other LCJE members participated at in Pattaya, Thailand last Fall. One of the results of the conference was a paper that calls the church not to neglect the task of Jewish evangelism. The paper is going to be published in a booklet form and I think it is something that will be great to put in the hands of pastors, missionaries and lay people in order to challenge them to take on the responsibility of sharing the Gospel with Jewish people. Many of us at the conference ordered several copies of the booklet to be able to distribute. There are also plans to have the booklet translated into other than English.
Besides the academic papers that were shared we also had some time to discuss practical aspects of Jewish ministry. A panel of five brothers led a lively discussion about Jewish evangelism in Eastern Europe. While each country in Eastern Europe is unique there were some common challenges that people working in each of those countries face. The majority of countries in Eastern Europe are struggling financially and thus many of the ministries to the Jews in these countries are funded by Western countries. One of the challenges that we ministering in the East face is how to break that dependency on Western funds and make these ministries truly indigenous. Another common area of concern that we discussed was using humanitarian aid to needy Jews as a way of building bridges into the Jewish community. Avi Snyder, who has ministered to Jews in the former Soviet Union for more than ten years challenged us not to separate humanitarian aid and Gospel proclamation. He shared that in his experience many Jews who are physically hungry and in need are also searching for spiritual answers to life's problems and thus open to hearing the Gospel.
For me the real highlight of the conference was the meal times. No, the meals were not gourmet feasts but they were certainly adequate. What I enjoyed more than the food was the opportunities to sit around and talk to people who share the same passion for Jewish evangelism that God has given me. During our times of fellowship we shared about our places of ministry, our callings to Jewish evangelism and best of all were able to think about ways that we could work together.
LCJE is a loose network of organizations committed to bringing the Gospel to the Jewish people. Attending a conference like this gives LCJE members the opportunity to develop that network through personal relationships. And in my opinion that is a truly valuable thing. I hope that when we have our next LCJE Europe conference there will be even more representation than we had this year. I know that I will certainly make every effort to be there.
Mary Chase
mechase@pobox.com