Discipling young Israelis is not a task for the faint of heart. The challenges these young people face in a country like Israel are as unique as the land itself.
Discipleship has always been at the core of Yeshua’s ministry. That is why the Great Commission was all about discipleship (“go and make disciples…” Matthew 28:19)
Summer for God Discipleship program for Israeli youth accomplishes one of the most important tasks we’re faced with as leaders: bring young people closer to God, shine a light on their path, challenge their thinking with the Word of God, tell them about the Way, the Truth and the Light — and watch how their lives are transformed before our very eyes.
Some days during Summer for God are colourful, loud, vibrant and enthusiastic that ignite our young people. While others are filled with life-changing and thought-provoking experiences that allow our youth to encounter Jesus in the most real way. It often occurs during hikes, tours and trips we take our young people on around the land of Israel, to the very places where Yeshua Himself once walked, taught, fed and discipled the people of Israel.
Aside from the fun activities, adventures, hikes and camping, we also run an amazing program with powerful bible studies, anointed worship sessions and deep fellowship that can only be accomplished once young people are disconnected from city noise and are immersed in the richness of the biblical land of Israel.
The encounters our young people experience with God mark them forever.
An example is an experience that happened last year: During the last evening’s quiet and acoustic worship session, the Lord showed up in a powerful way.
Rachel, one of the young girls, came from a non-believing family. The amazing fellowship and wonderful support she felt during Summer for God and all throughout our youth services have driven her to continue her journey with Yeshua as part of Beit Hallel Youth.
Rachel said she believed in God but never gave her faith much thought.
That quiet instrumental worship at the camp broke something in her, she knew her life was changed forever. Yeshua came and touched her so powerfully, that it actually frightened her. She was visibly shaken. Sobbing, she testified that she never planned on changing her life all that much, just to add “a bit of God into the mix”. However, He had other plans!
She knew she believed in God before, but truly meeting Yeshua that night split her life into a before and after. She felt her whole life before that moment was no longer how she wanted to live going forward. Rachel just could not imagine going back to the life she had before this moment when Yeshua became a reality for her.
Through her tears, she said: “I had my plans for my life. And now what do I do? I can’t continue my life as though nothing happened. He’s alive and real, and He changed everything, and I can’t go back!”
Summer for God is a powerful tool that the Lord has given us, entrusting us with our youth and providing every possible opportunity to minister to them, so today’s investment in our young people will pay off in the near future as we raise a generation of carriers of revival!
Beit Hallel is a Messianic Jewish congregation in Ashdod, led by pastor Israel Pochtar, serving holocaust survivors and the poor and needy locally and throughout the nation of Israel, while building up the body of Messiah in the promised land of Israel.