Shalom!
I love New York City during the holidays. Fifth Avenue is crowded with New Yorkers and tourists shopping, enjoying the sights and marveling at the magnificent Christmas tree towering over Rockefeller Center and the enormous Hanukkah menorah standing tall at the entrance of Central Park.
Your missionaries to the Jewish people are busy handing out Gospel tracts in public places and sharing the “reason for the season”—which so many miss amidst the glitz and sparkle of the holiday marketplace. It really is a wonderful time to tell non-believers—both Jews and Gentiles—the glorious Good News that our Messiah has come and that He gave His very life as God’s greatest gift for a sinful world. I am grateful that the Lord gives us the JOY of telling others about His love in the midst of what I have always considered to be the heart and soul of the worldwide Jewish community.
Reflections on His Grace
We are now wrapping up an encouraging and fruitful year of ministry. Your Mission to the Jewish People reopened ministries in Boston, established a Center in the heart of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles, expanded ministries in Chicago, Israel and Australia and has begun what might become one of our most significant ministry advancements ever in the New York area! I will write more on this in a moment!
We have raised the banner of Messiah Jesus through our Isaiah 53 Evangelistic Campaign, and we continue to receive phone and email responses every day as the result of a new evangelistic ad in the Wall Street Journal—a Christmas/Hanukkah version of our Isaiah 53 ad—inviting Jews and Gentiles to discover the One who was born to die for their sins. Phase Two of our Isaiah 53 Campaign—a Christmas outreach— is now going full steam ahead! We continue to follow up with the many Jewish people and Gentiles who responded and are reading the book Isaiah 53 Explained. We have distributed more than 5,000 copies to those who requested the book; many of the recipients are Jews and non-Jews who are not yet believers, and quite a few are Christians who requested a book in order to give it to a non-believing Jewish friend! On behalf of our Chosen People Ministries staff family, Board of Directors and the Jewish community we are reaching for Jesus the Messiah—thank you for your generosity and faithfulness in supporting our evangelistic efforts.
We could not do this work without your loving partnership!
Brooklyn Center Update
What could be more important than raising the proclaiming Yeshua (Jesus) in the heart of the largest Jewish community in the world? This is exactly what we are doing in Brooklyn! The purchase of our new Center might be the most important step we have taken in reaching the largest and most concentrated Jewish community in the United States since Rabbi Leopold Cohn, our founder, began Chosen People Ministries in 1894 in Brooklyn!
I am grateful to God that we were able to purchase an 11,000-square-foot former Jewish funeral home in the heart of Orthodox Jewish Brooklyn. We are now in the process of transforming this wonderful facility into an outreach and missionary training Center that will serve as the focal point for new outreach efforts among the more than three-quarters of a million Jewish people in this busy borough of New York City. This is exciting to me because Brooklyn is not only my home and the birthplace of Chosen People Ministries, but it also has the highest concentration of Orthodox and Hasidic Jews anywhere outside of Israel.
Our new Center is at the crossroads of the Brooklyn Jewish community. Many different types of Jewish people—including Russian Jewish immigrants, Israelis and working-class Jewish people—live in this area. It is an amazing area of opportunity for lifting up the name of Jesus to Jewish people.
So please remember to pray for us! We are busy acquiring permits and getting ready to renovate in earnest after January 1.
There are two specific ways you can help make this Center a reality.
- Your generous support – It will take $900,000 more to complete the renovation. This is the time of year when many of us, as the Lord allows, trust the Lord and give more than we usually do for His work—and I am asking you to pray about giving as generous a gift as possible for this Messianic Center in the heart of Orthodox Jewish Brooklyn.
- Your volunteer help – We are also beginning to line up individuals and church groups who would like to come to Brooklyn and help reduce the cost of the renovation through laboring with us in the construction of the facility. We are in need of skilled workers, and if this is a ministry that you would like to consider, please contact us at chosenpeople.com/backtobrooklyn or call our home office at 212-223-2252.
A Final Thought
When Rabbi Leopold Cohn began Chosen People Ministries in 1894, it was his intention to reach his fellow Jewish people—primarily poor Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe— with the Good News of the Messiah. He did this through street preaching, Bible studies and tract distribution, and also by providing for some of the physical needs of the poor Jewish people he was reaching: feeding the hungry, offering clothing and furniture to those who could not afford it, teaching English as a second language and much more!
We want to follow in the Rabbi’s footsteps. We plan to serve the souls of Jewish people and also care for the “whole person” of those who are in need within the Jewish community. One of the greatest areas of success in our ministry in Brooklyn today has been our outreach to those who are drug and alcohol dependent—mostly Russian Jewish immigrants—along with their families. There are also many elderly Russian Jews in the neighborhood of our new Center who simply need a good meal. We made the decision to expand the kitchen area in the new Center (which will cost more than $100,000) so that we could feed the poor and elderly in the name of Messiah Jesus.
I hope you share our vision and heart for this Center of God’s love that we believe He has led us to establish in Brooklyn!
Enjoy the rest of the newsletter, which will tell you a little more about how we are already ministering to our Jewish people in Israel, Brooklyn and around the world. Once again, we could not possibly do this work of worldwide evangelism without your partnership!
I am grateful for what our Heavenly Father has done for us—and I am grateful for all you have done to help Chosen People Ministries continue our outreach among God’s chosen people.
May the Lord fill you with the joy of His presence during this Christmas/Hanukkah season!
Your brother in Messiah,
Mitch
