Since 2000, Beit Eliyahu, a local Messianic Jewish Congregation in Haifa, has served as the focus of our personal ministry and as a strategic partner with Or B’Aretz. Our focus has been on building new believers, encouraging them to share their faith and developing them into leaders. Both Heidi and I serve as congregational leaders under Shmuel Aweida, who has served as pastor of Beit Eliyahu since 1997.

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Beit Eliyahu began in 1949 as Jewish Romanian survivors of the holocaust began to arrive in the new State of Israel. Before the war, Magne and Cilgia Solheim, who served with the Norwegian Church Ministry to Israel (NCMI), had established a a large fellowship of Jewish believers in Yeshua in Romania. The Solheims, who had been expelled from Romania during the war, arrived in Haifa in 1949 praying for the Lord to lead them as they sought the next steps in His plan for their part in reaching the Jewish people with gospel. In the port of Haifa they met among the returning survivors some of the former members of their congregation.

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From this handful of Romanian holocaust surviors, Beit Eliyahu was established. Today more than 250 Hebrew speaking Israeli believers in Yeshua call Beit Eliyahu their spiritual home, with as many as 300 attending our regular services on Shabbat. In this growing congregation there’s a need for leadership focused on building sense of community and which knows how to lovingly encourage individuals to deepen their personal walks with God. The is also a need to train and equip this community to stand firm and boldly share the message of Yeshua in a society that strongly discourages and rejects those who declare their faith in Yeshua and seek to sharing that faith with others.

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This is the ministry for which Heidi and I feel God has prepared us during our years on staff with CRU. My gifts in teaching and pastoring find expression through leading small groups, one-on-one mentoring and discipleship as well as helping with the regular worship and prayer activities of Beit Eliyahu, Heidi has described her role as “mom” to the congregation as she seeks to connect people in fellowship through organizing events, designing and sketching spaces (building  plans) as well as engaging in one-on-one mentoring and discipleship.Together with Shmuel and other developing leaders we look forward to seeing God build the “living stones” of Beit Eliyahu into a building for His glory and honor.