Our need and desire is to have a church building of our own. Presently we are renting and there are many obstacles to renting a church. Though we are thankful to the Lord that we have a place to worship, there is not enough space for us as we are growing and have needs to use it for events during the week.
The Lord has put two main visions into Pastor Hani’s heart. One is an interior vision, the other is exterior. He feels that is of utmost importance to build the living stones, our congregants. These need strengthening and growth in their faith, in addition to faninning into flame their abilities, skills, being directed towards responsible work of the Lord. He would like them to catch the vision.
Pastor Hani’s heart has been to plant churches. He has started Bible studies in the Arabic villages of Piqea and Maker. Piqea is in now at the point of needing to be transformed from a home group to a church. We have found a place that is available to rent but it needs repairs. This can be exchanged for the monthly rent, for a total of 50,000 NIS.
Externally we would like to be effective in the community by preaching the Gospel and influencing others. This effectively would be done by leading by example, teaching, Christian activities etc. These reflect the love of God and bring salvation to the people through Jesus Christ. We want to win the whole community to Christ, Arabic people, those who are traditional Christians by name, Muslims and Jews. Jesus said he is the light of the world. “Let your light shine unto others that your Father in Heaven may be glorified”. My goal is to see the Arabic and Jewish believers united together.
We are now in the process of reopening the Baptist Book Shop. This will entail remodeling, adding fax, telephones, a computer and screens for showing Holy Land movies and Christian movies.