My son, the Christian?!

CHAPTER 5: A New Thing ...

PHYLLIS

My life was quite full. Here I was balancing my life with Gentile Church life, a Bible group in the evening with some Fridays going to the Messianic group and the occasional Bible study with Paul Morris. But again I felt a tug in my spirit, to do something Jewish that had the balance that I'd always craved for. As a result of going to L.M.C. I had met up with many leaders, good strong believers with a heart for the promises in the Bible for the Jewish people. Tony Pearce was one such person. He had regular meetings at the Messianic Testimony, in Barking, where he worked, which I used to attend. During a conversation with him I asked him if we could start a centre for new believers, particularly those from a Jewish background, as I knew the help these people need at the very start of their walk with God. I felt that a place where they could meet and help each other could be beneficial to all. He liked this idea and told me to go away and pray on it, also saying that he would be happy for us to use his work place for this work, if the need be. Frances, who had become very close to me and who was a person I could trust and confide in, joined me in prayer that week. She felt as I did, an excitement in her spirit. Although a Gentile, her love for the Jewish people was beyond anything I could imagine.

During that week we also met up with Joseph Steinberg, whose opinion we valued. He too is Jewish and had already led a Passover service in my home. In fact it was at his home that I had the first taste of Jewish fellowship in Jesus. Hymie and I had met many Jewish believers there, including Joseph's wife, Jane. We arranged a meeting for about a dozen Jews and Gentiles to discuss this idea for a centre, a Drop-In centre, to advise, teach and learn about the Gospel, but all with a Jewish flavour. As with all meetings, ideas were tossed around and chewed over for some time until the conclusion was reached that a home would be so much better, so much more informal, especially for those who were just seeking. And as it was my vision it was my home that was decided upon! I needed Hymie's approval and, surprisingly, he gave it. As a confirmation I received a present that week from my Mum. She felt that, for some reason, she had to buy me something and, of all things, she presented me with the most beautiful cake stand I had ever seen. I knew this was a good sign.

STEVE

Now some of us would have seen a prayer book, or a set of ornamental candles, or something of that ilk, as a good sign. But a cake stand? It goes to show that although the way to a man's heart may through his stomach, for a Jew, food opens up all sorts of possibilities for mind, body and spirit! Food was always going to be a central ingredient for religious meetings at my parent's house, for, in my dad's words, 'if the catering's no good, they'll go somewhere else!'. Just his opinion, of course though most people left the house a good few ounces heavier than when they arrived. An aspect of creative tension surrounded the choice of my mum's house for these meetings in that they lived next door to 'frummers' (religious Jews). Hermie and Shirley are the real McCoy, no hiding the car round the corner from the synagogue and walking the last 100 yards for them! They went the full distance. Hermie even worked for a prominent Jewish charity and was a pillar of the Jewish community. My mum has never plucked up the courage to spill the beans, to tell them about what actually goes on in her house. But they're not stupid, how can they fail to read the tell-tale signs (especially in the summer when the patio doors are open), the choruses, the mobs of visitors brandishing Bibles at festival times, the baptisms in the fish pond. Well, perhaps not that last one!

PHYLLIS

The Monday group (as we called it) became a secure group, between six and twenty people each week. Many different faces, some just visiting, others becoming regulars. Jew and Gentile met together to study the Bible and to discuss it. Sometimes when a visitor came they would share about their work, giving prayer requests. Sometimes there was a problem to be prayed over. The meetings were good and we really felt that the Lord was blessing them. After the first year problems set in. Power and leadership became an issue. There were many disturbances and it was a very unsettling time. We sought the Lord on these things and very soon the unsettled people left to form their own group. And we went on our merry way, with no leaders, just relying on the Lord and trusting that he would bring the right people along every week.

After the second year came and went there were more problems. This time fresh people came in an tried to enrol our folks into their own work and vision. Manipulation was how we saw it. This time Tony Pearce, the closest we had to a mature leader, was of great help and was always available to advise and help deal with problems. We felt that the function of the Monday group was as a watering-hole for those who were thirsty. Many different leaders would come and sit together and discuss their points of view about some issue. Because this was neutral ground even people with totally opposed views would actually listen to each other and the debates were always interesting. We had missionaries from different parts of the world dropping in to tell us of their work, the meetings were never boring.

STEVE

These meetings by now were getting larger and larger, not just confided to Mondays but also including Jewish Festivals and the occasional one-off outreach evenings. My mum, bless her (?!), soon found a role for me. I became the compere, something I was stuck with for many years afterwards. I used to run the quizzes, dividing the guests into two teams (Israelites and Canaanites, or sometimes even 'men' and 'women') and reading the questions from the same list three years in a row. The same people came along each year and answered the same questions in the same wrong way each time! On one occasion I had to give a talk about the 'Succot' festival (the feast of Tabernacles) and then introduce Helen Shapiro as special guest (we couldn't get Solly Goldstein the itinerant evangelist / kosher butcher that time, so Helen was dragged in at the last minute).

By now my Mum had become quite an experienced Christian, with a full vocabulary of the right jargon and a sensitivity to the Holy Spirit that bordered on the 'Charismaniacal'. On one occasion she told me that she had a 'Word from the Lord' for me. 'The Lord told me to tell you that you're too untidy and you should stop being so messy'. Only a Jewish Christian mother could come up with that one! The last thing I needed was a special 'word' on that subject, both the Lord and my Mum had nagged me for long enough in their separate ways on that issue. Now, it seemed, only a joint effort could finally make me see reason and change my ways and turn from my sin and use my bin! On the other hand, my dad claimed no special spiritual gifts (or even a faith), though we are convinced that he's been blessed with a 'gift of catering' (which could help to explain why I nickname him 'Molly'), mentioned only in the (non-canonical) Paul's letter to the Barkingsideians.

PHYLLIS

After three years of the 'Monday group' I had a dream one night concerning the original idea of a 'Drop-in' centre. The dream was so vivid that the next morning I drew a plan of the inside of this place. I felt that it would not be completed in my life-time but that I would see the beginnings of it. This place would reach out to Churches all over the area. It would be a place of teaching, a Bible school, a library, a drama workshop, all showing the Jewish roots of the Christian faith. It would train, teach and entertain people from all over. Big project, eh!

It was about this time that I left my Church and joined the Leyton Elim Pentecostal church, led by Mervyn Tilley. Mervyn has a great heart for the Jewish people and even edited a magazine 'Focus on Israel' for national distribution. I knew that I was in the right place, especially when he informed me that the church had purchased an old Brethren hall and hoped to start Messianic work there. I knew the Lord was moving me in the right direction.

When I saw this broken down hall I knew that it wasn't 'the vision', but saw it as a stepping stone. We cleaned, painted, installed heating, all pulling together as a body. Many craftsmen worked with labourers to make the place shine. And they did! Mervyn too has sleeves rolled up, washing down paintwork, encouraging us to turn this place into a viable place of worship.

The first week we opened was for the 'Feast of Tabernacles'. No carpets on the floor and no heating. The kitchen was barely ready. But we put leaves all over the floor, totally covering the bare boards. The heating was in the clothes we wore. But we were excited. It was a great evening and we were full of expectations.

STEVE

Yes, Wadham Hall, Walthamstow was an interesting place. It had a strange pink roof, which at least made it easy to find and identify. Its other feature was a huge tournament sized snooker table in the kitchen area, which was a little unfortunate but which made a useful serving table for the (many) food functions. I remember one of the first festivals there because, on the morning, I was informed by my mum's prayer group that, after much anguish in prayer they (and God, too) had decided that I was going to front the whole thing. I was going to have to stand in front of about 120 people, welcome them and jolly the thing along. I was thrilled (not) ! As it turned out the whole thing was so 'ad hoc' and unstructured that hardly anyone noticed my fumblings, slip-ups and general ineptness among the chattering teeth, poor P.A. and the sound of 120 pairs of gnashers wrapped around their chicken legs and salmon cutlets.

PHYLLIS

We planned to meet on Friday nights and, at first, had absolutely no idea what we were going to do at the meetings. Ya'acov Prasch was to be our first leader. He was a Jewish evangelist attached, at that time, to the Elim Pentecostals. I had met this dynamic and controversial American before at a conference and was sure that he was the right one for us. He first came to our Monday group and asked us what we wanted or expected. We weren't sure and so left it to him at the start. Eventually we moved the meetings to Saturday mornings, which made it easier for the children of the congregation to attend and to be taught Hebrew by Ya'acov's wife, Pavia. It was great fun being pioneers, but not always. The attendance was erratic, we never had more than 20 people and sometimes as little as 4.

STEVE

I remember the first few meetings. Not too well attended and totally run by Mervyn Tilley, who kicked started the whole thing by doing a sort of 'Moody and Sankey' - combined thing, first leading the worship on piano and then delivering the sermon, finishing it up with prayers. Then Ya'acov or Jacob or just plain James Prasch arrived on the scene. A product of a Jewish/Catholic marriage he is equally scathing of both. His sermons bristle with controversy as he delivers, at break-neck speed in his classic New York voice, savage indictments of the Catholics, Muslims, Orthodox Jews, Anglicans, the secular society etc etc. Few escape his rapier tongue as he lays into them with both humour and justification. But few can match his knowledge of Scripture and Jewish roots and sitting through a Ya'acov sermon is like an Indonesian banquet - so much packed into so little time. A cassette recording or a photographic mind is essential if you want to digest the full value of the feast of knowledge. Since he left London for Manchester, his delivery has slowed down considerably, probably as a result of the blank faces of his northern audience, more used, no doubt, to the leisurely diction of an episode of Coronation Street.

PHYLLIS

One Saturday morning it was bitterly cold and, when I arrived with Hymie to open up, there was no heating and no water to make tea with. I was miserable. Just four of us there on that day. I wanted to turn round and go home. Ya'acov was not there, he had another speaking arrangement. We struggled through that day, wondering if it was all worth it. But it was Mervyn who said, 'Phyllis, we are pioneers. One day you will look back and see what we can't see now.' He was right. As time went by Ya'acov left for Manchester and we acquired a new leader in Stuart.

STEVE

By that time my family and I were fairly regular attendees at Wadham Hall. The two eldest kids, Philip and Simon, would go to the back room with the few other kids, to be taught about Hebrew, Israel and Judaism. My dad would proudly help out with the Hebrew, reading the letters and words with his customary enthusiasm - one day he might actually discover what they actually meant! One February the kids had to perform a Purim play (the story of Esther), but had to do all the parts in Hebrew, which they learnt. Unfortunately, at that time, there were no eligible young ladies to play the part of the beautiful Esther and so that part went to guess who .... my Mum! Dressed up like a queen and with a scowl to match Anne Boleyn's just before her beheading, she stole the show ... and hid it where nobody could ever see it again. Well, that was her dream - in reality it went ahead and she performed .... adequately. The following year I wrote a 'Purim comedy' with a cast of about twenty. My mum stayed well in the background and my dad performed as the evil Haman, a part that could have been written especially for him (in fact it was!) Monica, my wife, took the part of the ugly old hag and I will refrain from further comment on that score.

PHYLLIS

With Stuart as our leader we had a focus. We also had a name, 'The Tree of Life'. We met regularly for prayer for direction and celebrated all festivals, using them as a Jewish outreach. Passover, Purim, Chanukah and Succot - we enjoyed each one, inviting many Jewish friends. They felt at home here, with traditions that were familiar, although we always introduced Yeshua at some point! Our congregation also started to grow, averaging out at 30-40 per meeting. Last year we were coming up to the 'Feast of Tabernacles' again and realised that we needed a larger venue, as our festivals were attracting so many people that Wadham Hall could not hold them without contravening fire regulations. We prayed for the Lord to open doors and He did. A school in the heart of a very Jewish area, Gants Hill, became available. So many things pointed for us to use this school hall, even the headmaster was a Christian. But most of all we felt that it was time to be in a Jewish area, as our mission was to show Yeshua the Jew to Jewish people. The celebration was held there and over 400 people turned up, far more than our wildest expectations. We liked this school and it felt right for us to be there. Perhaps we could meet here on a more regular basis.

STEVE

There was much confusion in our fledgling Wadham Hall congregation when Ya'acov announced that he was leaving. We needed a new leader, and fast. So in that direct way of his he herded all males over the age of 18 and of sound mind , into a side room and said, 'right! One of you is gonna be the leader, who's it to be?' We all examined our laps and stayed silent. Is this how Christians chose their leaders? Perhaps we could do, 'one - potatoes, two - potatoes ...'. Mercifully he got bored with this tactic and left us alone, leaving it to God, who chose Stuart, a nice Jewish boy from St Albans, with a nice Jewish wife and four nice Jewish children. Stuart quickly imposed himself on the group and, along with Tony Pearce, who also had a leadership role, whipped us into shape.

PHYLLIS

In January of this year (1995) we left Wadham Hall behind and moved to Valentine's school, Gants Hill. Immediately, we caused an uproar in the local community. We were accused of so many things by a local Rabbi, such as encouraging young Jewish folk from the school in the Gospel. This was silly. We only met on Friday evenings and had no contact at all with children. They also accused us of disturbing services in the local synagogue and evangelising on the streets. We were innocent of all these things. So the local newspaper had a brilliant time, we even managed front page. The Jewish Chronicle even did a small feature on us. This all served to establish the name of 'Tree of Life'. Although we were only small, through the publicity we were receiving we must have seemed enormous. Eventually the governors of the school had a meeting (some were obviously Jewish) and decided that we had become a threat to the local community and told us to leave. We were at peace with this, we felt that the Lord had achieved what He wanted. And the next door opened.

STEVE

We were only there for four months before the Jewish community decided to purge us from their midst. Mind you we couldn't have been more provocatively placed. Gants Hill held arguable the biggest concentration of Jews in the country. It was so Jewish that, on Jewish holidays, the synagogue is not big enough to hold all the people and the Odeon cinema is annexed to take the overspill. On Chanukah (just before Christmas) a huge chanukiah (ceremonial candelabra) is placed on Gants Hill roundabout. I never see it replaced by a Christmas tree. Not only that but the school is next door to the Lubavitch centre, a sect of the ultra-orthodox wing of Judaism and perhaps the most bitter opponents to Messianic Jews. Four months? We're lucky we stayed there four days!

PHYLLIS

Joseph Steinberg came to the rescue. He was rector of St Winifred's Church, Chigwell, and not too far away from the school. He opened his hall to us. Joseph, who you met earlier, is a Jewish believer who was of such great help to me at the beginning of my story. It just seemed so exciting that this man, who had left this Jewish area two years ago to study for ordination with the Anglican Church, was given this Church, in a Jewish area, just in time to be of help to us. We are still there now as I speak. Our numbers are still growing and this hall is warm and inviting. Joseph has even led a service or two, with he and his family often joining the congregation.

STEVE

So the 'Wandering Jews' wander no longer, well not for a while anyway - there's still this 'Drop-in' centre 'vision thingie' of my Mum's to consider. So things keep moving, events and experiences piling up to build up an outside wall, that will ... perhaps ... one day ... become an outhouse in the structure that we know as the body of Christ. We all have our part to play, we each have our own visions, planted by God and nurtured by the Holy Spirit, to reach their fulfilment one day, when they combine to form the 'One Vision', with Jesus Christ, Yeshua Ha Mashiach at both the cornerstone and the head.

Now stop that! People will start thinking that this is a serious book or something! Get real, Steve, and return to talking about what you know best ... family traumas and upsets. Quite a good link to the next chapter really, as you'll soon find out.