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Coming to Jesus through Bible Study
(May 1999)
Shalom! Greetings from House of the Risen Son! We
are a Russian-Jewish Messianic Fellowship ministering to former
Soviet immigrants in the Philadelphia area. This month I want to
tell you about the second of the three Russian/English language
groups that make up our fellowship.
We call it our Bible Study group, and we meet twice-a-month
at Third Reformed Presbyterian Church (PCA) in upper Northeast Philadelphia.
This is a group for people who have advanced in their understanding
of the gospel, and are making their first steps in confessing Jesus
as Lord. We study the New Testament in more depth, and we help new
believers become disciples of the Lord.
One way we do this is by worshipping together. At
the opening of our study, we all stand to listen to a reading from
God's word, and then together we say the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4-5)
in three languages: Russian, English, and Hebrew! We also pray together,
and sing some songs from our Russian-English Messianic songbook.
If you want to see a few selections from this songbook, get on the
web and surf to http://www.RockOfIsrael.com/MessianicSongbookE.htm.
The Bible Study is our longest running group. It
started back in April of 1996. I co-lead with the help of guitar-player
and comrade Fred Klett, director of the CHAIM ministry to the Jewish
people (CHristians Announcing Israel's Messiah, http://www.chaim.org).
We have 6-12 people who come out. Many are part
Jewish, or have married into Jewish families. For example, Y. is
a Russian lady from Moscow who is married to a Jewish man. He is
now a taxi-driver. She is now a believer in Jesus! She regularly
witnesses to her husband, her 3 school-age children, and Russian-Jewish
people that she meets in her job as a manicurist, masseuse and health
food specialist. This year, 8 new people have visited our different
groups through her invitation. I think God is making her the Andrew
of our fellowship! Please pray that God would provide for her family,
and that she would grow in her love for Jesus.
Will you pray for God to grow our little Messianic
Fellowship into a full-fledged Russian Jewish Christian congregation?
In months to come, I hope to share with you what God is doing in
our midst, and how you can help in this unique ministry
With Glory to Our Risen Messiah!
Marko Malyj
Congregational Planter, New Life Northeast Presbyterian Church
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