-Interview-
We talk with pastor of Messianic congregation “Kehilat Mashiah” in
Atlanta (USA) Shomer
Dear Shomer, tell us please about your congregation a
little.
- My work primarily is in the Russian Jewish
community. It is a familiar atmosphere and there are many immigrants in several
large US cities. Of course there are small cities too, but the population from
the former Soviet Union there is considerably less. I live in Atlanta, a
southern city and our Russian community is much smaller than New York, Los
Angeles or Chicago. We have approximately 30-40 thousand immigrants from
different parts of the Former Soviet Union and unfortunately our community is
spread out all over Atlanta Area. There is no centralized hub or a neighborhood
where everyone speaks Russian like in other cities and that makes it a little
harder to do ministry. I hope that our new congregation "Kehilat Mashiah” is a
small beginning of awakening among the Russian Jews living in different US
cities. We are the first Russian-speaking messianic Jewish congregation in
Atlanta and I hope that more will appear.
Have you some contacts with Christian,
Jewish organizations in USA, Israel etc.?
- Of course I try
to have contacts with churches throughout the US to tell them about the work in
Atlanta. There are several Russian and Ukrainian churches in Atlanta. There are
several American Messianic congregations with whom we stay in fellowship.
Because we believe that Messiah already came, most Jewish organizations want
nothing to do with us and frankly would like for us to go
away.
How many
Christians who love Israel, Jewish people are in USA
now?
- It is true there are many evangelical Christians
in US who profess their love to the Jewish people and Israel. I do not have
numbers and am not aware of any statistical data. I am well received when I
speak in American churches. Yet, will all the rhetoric of support I have found
many Christians who are completely indifferent to Jewish people and Israel. Why?
Because it is easy to say I love you and do absolutely nothing about it. The
real question is how many American love Jewish people and do something about
it? Still, I do not know, I do not have data, but no doubt, it’s a much smaller
group then those who just say they do. It is still a blessing that today the
majority of American Christians are not Anti-Semitic even if they are
indifferent to the Jews. In that we are blessed.
I know you
have a wonderful Messianic educational portal "OR HAOLAM" in Russian http://www.orhaolam.org
How did an idea to open
it came up?
- Several years ago I searched the web for
teachings in Biblical and Jewish studies and was instantly overwhelmed, because
there was so much information. When I did similar searches in Russian language
two years ago I did not find much at all. I was disappointed and tried to find
websites that would share the Good News with Jewish people in Russian language
and I found two or three. The few I found did not contain any teaching articles,
which would help Jewish believers to grow and mature spiritually. I was
surprised how underdeveloped that area of the Russian internet was, considering
that there are so many Jewish people in the world today to whom Russian is a
native language.
In my local ministry a considerable amount of
materials in Russian was at my disposal and I was developing new materials
designed for the Jewish audience almost weekly. It occurred to me that it would
not be very hard to share the things I have developed through the internet and
that’s how the idea of my website began. My good friend and supporter offered me
his help with website hosting, donated a domain name and a brand new website for
the Russian Jews was launched. I started the website not because I needed one
more thing to do, one more responsibility, but because I saw a great need for
it. It was called “or haolam”, the words which in Hebrew mean “light of the
world”. This name was inspired by John 8:12, where the Messiah at the
celebration of the feast of Booths in Jerusalem calls Himself the light of the
world, testifying to the crowds of worshipers around Him.
With
time other websites similar to mine started appearing on the internet. We
developed cooperation and are helping each other to improve. Today, there are
about 20 websites that have evangelistic materials and teaching articles
available for their visitors. Still, less than half of them have 20 or more
teaching articles on various topics in their content. Considering how few
resources there are designed specifically for the Russian Jews that are in print
today, these sites provide a very valuable service by making such teachings
available to the public.
01.2004