As you probably know, receiving "government" permission to stay has been a difficult issue. I received the following from a co-worker and thought you'd appreciate it the information in order to pray most effectively:

Status of Christian organizations in Israel remains unclear
Evangelical Alliance: “All clear” signal in May was premature

Jerusalem, 10th September, 2004. Leaders of Christian churches and institutions in the Holy Land are still facing the danger of losing their official recognition by the State of Israel. Following a series of meetings with government officials over the past week, Harm Tees, chairman of the United Christian Council in Israel (UCCI) warned that questions about the legal status of Christian workers remain unsettled. Government plans to reduce considerably the number of Christian clergy in the land are still being discussed.

Representatives of Christian churches have expressed their concern about the deterioration of visa procedures over the past year that affects not only the evangelical community but also Catholic and Orthodox churches. Pastors, priests, monks and leaders of Christian organizations have likewise experienced long delays and in many cases refusal of their visa applications. Some Christian workers did not succeed in renewing their visas and have had to leave the country. As an example, the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem has already lost 12 staff due to the current visa crisis.

As international pressure rose and a number of local Israeli newspapers started to report the crisis in the early months of 2004, the Interior Minister, Avraham Poraz, promised a quick solution to the problem in a meeting with UCCI representatives in May. The following day he dismissed the head of population control, Herzl Gedz, and instructed all offices by decree to issue clergy visas for heads of organizations and permanent staff of the evangelical churches and institutions within the UCCI. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon established an inter-ministerial committee to draw up a permanent solution to the problem. At that time, many Christian organizations, as well as press releases, announced this solution to the problem.

However, the execution of the ministerial decree was suspended soon after due to legal objections by the Ministry of Justice. As an alternative solution, the Israeli Parliament signed a bill in June of this year allowing the Minister of Interior to issue a special permit to foreign workers without religious or commercial status. However, the replacement of clergy visas by the new, general ministerial permits meant the permanent loss of any religious status in Israel for the people affected.

UCCI representatives were also informed that a legal proposal from within the ministry of Justice is aiming for a future regulation that will grant clergy visas only to pastors of congregations with more than 250 members. Other leaders and some staff members will receive the new, non-religious permit instead, according to the new bill of June 2004 and will consequently lose their religious status in Israel. If this proposal should be put into practice, it will affect most of the evangelical churches and communities in the land which will lose their clergy visas according to the new regulation. The same would be true for workers of charities, relief agencies, teachers at Christian schools as well as leaders and staff members of mission organizations and church planting ministries.

Meanwhile, the first cases have already been processed according to the new regulations: A leader of a Christian literature distribution ministry as well as the chairman of the Baptist Convention have both been denied religious visas and instead were granted the new, non-religious visa. Other cases are expected to follow soon.

However, the UCCI will not accept the new legal situation readily. Says Harm Tees: “There is a danger that the new regulations will serve to deny religious acknowledgement to Christian workers in the country on a broad scale”. He called upon the international Christian community to react and actively seek the help of Church or government representatives in their countries in order to support the State of Israel in finding a different solution for the visa problems.

“The status of evangelical churches in Israel is at stake. In contrast to many of the historical churches in the land, the evangelical church has, to this day, had no legal recognition in the State of Israel. The visa problems we are facing are just the natural result of that and are threatening our very existence in this country” states Harm Tees.

The UCCI is the Israeli branch of the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA). It was founded in 1956 and embraces approximately 30 Christian churches and institutions in Israel, including the Baptist Convention, Methodist and Pentecostal Churches, Church of God, the Bible Society as well as Christian schools, charities and mission agencies."

Finally, if you've ever wanted to see the local TV news station here, take a look at http://www.iba.org.il/ and then click on the "IBA News" video link. The video should load right away; however, if it doesn't, you can find under the "TV Broadcasts" an "On Demand" link that should open the latest television news broadcast. Enjoy!

Matthew 24:14

* Be sure to sign up for the Wednesday Weekly.

+ You prayed with Shirin about her involvement in the bi-monthly Bible study in the Old City. She has been asked to be more involved in helping facilitate the meetings and go on visitation with the other leaders... God is so good and hears our prayers thank you for praying. The other leaders of the Bible study have been working around Shirin and Jasmine's schedules to insure that Shirin will be more involved with discipling the ladies in the study.

+ You joined us in asking God for news of progress on the Prayer Garden... four visiting intercessors came on Thursday (23-Sept) and offered loads of encouragement, gifts, and pointed intercession. Just yesterday (28-Sept) saw what hopes to be the "next-to-the-last" drafts for the seven large tiles to adorn the uttermost walls!

+ You covered Shirin and Jasmine as they began the Jasmine Elementary Home School program last week... Thank you for your prayers as Jasmine and Shirin are off to a great start learning vowel sounds. Jasmine enjoys sharing with me the songs and paper work that she does at "Jasmine Elementary School".

<T H I S  W E E K><

<>< Please pray for Shirin as she starts back into Arabic study, that her study group will all be working for the same goal of conveying the truth to the Palestinian people in their heart language.

<>< Yesterday was "one of those days" for me, and I need a healthy dose of 'renewed strength.'

<>< Jasmine will celebrate her special day on Thursday and could use some intercession toward handling the life of a five-year-old.

>< Pray for the people of the Ukraine. >

CALENDAR UPDATES

<If you're not receiving our bimonthly snail-mail newsletter, let us know so we can send it to you!><

22, Pray for the safe arrival of mail.

* The end of a government strike "should" bring in back loaded mail (?).

23-24, Pray for Jasmine's neighborhood friends to know Jesus

* When we read our night time Bible stories, she often expresses concern over them.

25, Pray for safety on the road.

* How ironic :*-) Today was the day when driving was forbidden; however, we *do* covet your ongoing intercession in this area!

26-27, Pray for Jasmine's teachers to know Jesus.

* While some profess to know Him, our prayer is that each one would live for Him.

28, Pray for each of Jasmine's cousins to know Jesus.

* Hmm, seems her cousins have things in common with her teachers!

VERY CHEAP - PRACTICALLY FREE! - INTERNATIONAL PHONE CALLS -- VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) technology has grown up. If you have high-speed internet access and would like to make virtually free phone calls to the U.S. or Canada, and cheap ones to anywhere else, then give Vonage a try. With Vonage, you choose a phone number in the U.S. area code of your choice and receive a small VOIP box (about the size of a high-speed modem) that you connect to your high-speed modem. You then connect any phone to the VOIP box. It's that simple. It is already being used in countries like Brazil and Belgium and, in theory, should work anywhere in the world that has high-speed internet access. So, suppose most of your friends and family - the ones most likely to call you - live in the St. Petersburg, FL, area. You sign up for a Vonage plan and request a number in the 727  area code. Then your friends pick up their phones, dial a normal seven-digit number, and the phone rings at your house in Timbuktu (assuming you have high-speed internet access in Timbuktu). Plus you can make unlimited phone calls to them and anywhere else in the USA and Canada for $29.95 per month. Calls to anywhere else in the world are VERY cheap and the quality is outstanding. If you want to learn more, contact Jason at jason(at)ccibrasil(dot)org(dot)br [replace (at) with @ and (dot) with .], or at his Vonage number, which is 1-727-490-3314. With his referral, you will get your first month free. Please be sure to tellhim you heard about it on Brigada.
______________________________________________________________________

"For a free subscription to Brigada's weekly missions
publication, write brigada-today-subscribe@yahoogroups.com & visit
Brigada on the web at www.brigada.org."