The Shop Closed, the Work Grew: A Letter from Tel Aviv

Dear Partners,

As most of you have heard, we have closed the Bible Shop in Tel Aviv and are now operating from Immanuel Church.

The shop closed and the work grew

The shop is closed, but our work has expanded. God opened a big door, and now we are reaching more Israelis through the church.

The area around Immanuel Church is a historic area, known as the American Colony and the German Colony, so it attracts many Israeli tourists. The Bible Society has a team of three (Andy, Chaim, and Keren) who meet Israelis and share the Gospel at the open church, with shelves of Bibles and Bible portions, and who get into conversations with Israeli tourists. On many occasions we have the opportunity to share the Gospel and are often challenged with many questions.

We have rented an office in the congregation house and are serving the local congregations in Tel Aviv and the area around Tel Aviv.

Chaim and Keren (the Bible Society staff who also help in the church) are continuing the outreach all over Israel, and especially in Tel Aviv, and have more opportunities to reach Israelis than ever before, with a van full of Bibles. Chaim and Keren reach the congregations around Israel and supply Bibles and literature.

Almost 1,000 Bibles last year

Last year we gave out almost 1,000 Bibles in the church, and many more portions of the Bible.

The church baptized more than 12 people who got their first Bible from us.

Last year almost 5,000 people walked through the church, and this is during the war.

We want to praise God for opening new doors. We are operating in new ways now and reaching more Israelis than ever before.

During the Jewish holidays we had more than 300 Israelis, and even a few German and Norwegian tourists. We were able to distribute many Bibles and Bible portions to the Israelis who visited us during the holidays, and to share the Gospel with them.

Two visits

One lady came to the church trembling with fear. After she relaxed, she asked if we had an Arabic Bible. After receiving the Bible, she sat in the corner and read some passages from it. I noticed that she was sad and decided to approach her and talk with her. She did not talk much, so I asked her whether she was willing to let us pray for her. She agreed, and after the prayer she thanked us and kept reading for more than an hour. She came trembling with fear and left smiling. She got hope again, reading the Bible.

Two elderly men came to the church to visit. They had heard a lot about the area and its history. We started to explain the history of the church and found out that they were more interested to hear about the Gospel, and how a Jew can believe in Jesus and how it is possible that a Jew believes in Jesus. We went through the Old Testament showing scriptures that refer to Jesus, and then through the New Testament. God opened their hearts and we were able to plant the seeds. One of the men turned to me and asked me to pray and bless him. He told us that he is 85 and not in good health. After we prayed for him we gave the men two nice Bibles. The two men were in tears and thanked us and said, “We will be back. It was so nice to meet you all. We felt the presence of God in this church.”

Please keep praying

Please continue praying for us, that God will give us wisdom to share the Gospel with all the visitors who come to the church, and for peace in our area.

Again, we want to thank you all for your prayers and support. May God bless you all.

Shalom,

Andy

Andrew Ball serves with the Bible Society in Israel. Our Savior’s supports his work through its Missionary Fund.