UMJC International Director Walter Lieber attended a conference for Russian-speaking Messianic Jewish leaders in Jerusalem, sponsored by Chosen People Ministries, at the end of October. Here's his report:

About 120 leaders attended from outside Israel, plus a good number from inside the land. I heard reports that there are more Russian speaking congregations in Israel than English and Hebrew speaking ones. Since the most accurate survey is several years old and included few Russian speaking congregations, that means the total number of Messianic groups in Israel is closing in on 200.  They are mostly small, more like home groups, since the total number of Messianic believers in the land is thought to be about 15,000 at the most.  Most of the Russian congregations here are  similar to Israeli congregations, which tend to be less open to Jewish tradition than a typical UMJC congregation in North America.

Attendees were not just from Israel, but from all over the former Soviet Union, including Birobidjan, the former Jewish autonomous region in Siberia. Many German congregations were represented also, as well as several from the US. The number of Russian Messianic congregations worldwide is between two and three hundred. They have grown to that level in half the time that it took us, the English speaking movement in the US, but seem, to my mostly outsider view, to be at the same crossroads we have faced, with a recent loss of momentum, a need to regain and redefine a vision of Jewishness, etc.

In a time like this the UMJC can be of tremendous help, not only educationally but also by sharing our history and vision of the future. If we find a way to do that we can save many in the Russian speaking movement from a lot of wasted time and dead-end pursuits. Pray for that the UMJC will be a resource and encouragement to this exciting movement for Yeshua within the Russian Jewish community around the world.

You can read about our project of translating top-level Messianic Jewish classes into Russian in the Fall UMJC News, available right here at www.umjc.org. Just click on the link at the bottom of the home page.