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Reading Good News for a Change
(May 2001)

How do you bring the good news of the Bible to thousands of Russian speaking Jewish immigrants all at once? In a good newspaper, of course! We are using this centuries-old approach to proclaim God's kingdom here in Philadelphia. We are Rock of Israel, a Messianic ministry reaching out to the Russian Jewish immigrant community of our city with the love of Jesus. Our organizing pastor is Ilya Lizorkin. (Congratulations to Ilya, graduating this month with the class of 2001, Reformed Theological Seminary, Orlando, Florida!)

Immigrants who come to the cities of the west from second and third world countries do not easily forget their home countries. Many of them don't like the notion of the "melting pot," so they build their own community. One way they do this is to start their own newspapers. Here in Russian Philadelphia there are six or more local Russian language papers. And that doesn't count the papers that show up here from New York City. The typical newspaper is a weekly, filled with Russian language ads from local shoe stores, beer distributors, restaurants, cellular providers, building contractors, you name it! Of course there are classifieds, news articles, horoscopes, humor, regular columns, and special columns paid for by their authors ($300 for a full page is the going rate).

One of the latest special columns to appear is a series titled "The Ten Commandments, with Dyadia Fred." Dyadia Fred (Uncle Fred in English) is the Russian pen name for Rock of Israel's own teacher, Reverend Fred Klett. We have published three articles in this series so far, about one every 10 weeks. Fred's aim is to show in plain everyday language the spiritual significance of the commandments. He goes on to explain that God has sent Jesus the Messiah to rescue us from our sins. God is calling everyone, both Jews and non-Jews, to repent of their sins and accept Jesus by faith. (If you would like to read Uncle Fred's articles, they are available on the Internet at http://www.RockOfIsrael.com/RelevanceOfJesusE.htm.)

Through this special series, thousands of people are being introduced to the Bible, and to God's plan of salvation. This gentle approach to sharing the gospel is also helping the ROI team make friendships with many new people.

Please pray that we will be able to expand this good news ministry, and that our network of friendships would lead to many people putting their trust in Messiah Jesus. Also pray for the financial needs of this effort. (If you would like to make a contribution, please check out our giving web site, http://RockOfIsrael.injesus.com.) Thank you for your support!

Standing on the Rock,
Marko Malyj
Pastoral Associate, Rock of Israel
(a congregational plant of the PCA)