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Building, meeting, growing

Carino Casas • July 10, 2024

CMJ USA staff have had a month full of making new friends and advancing on various Bridge Building tools

Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Psalm 127:1

We’re halfway through the year. It’s been busy and exciting as God grows CMJ USA, as we see shoots bursting forth from the ground we’ve been tending for a year or so.

First, THANK YOU, friends, for your generous giving. Not only have you been giving to the Israel War Relief Fund and the Mercy Fund, but you’ve also been giving to the domestic work of CMJ USA. This has enabled us to visit more churches and conferences. We continue to remind followers of Jesus to see how our Jewish neighbors are faring as the Israel-Hamas War has uncovered latent antisemitism among us. We’ve also been encouraging Christians to speak against anti-Jewish sentiment as well as challenge them to contemplate how the Jewishness of Jesus should affect our faith walk today.

The past month of travel has taken us to meet more new friends from around the continent.

At the end of June, Director Emeritus Philip Bottomley and I attended the Anglican Church of North America (ACNA) Assembly. We were joined there by CMJ Israel Director Daryl and Sandy Fenton. We were able to reconnect with many Anglican friends. The LORD afforded us an unexpected opportunity when I was asked to serve as the Gospel-reading deacon at the opening Eucharist. The passage was CMJ-appropriate – the birth of John the Baptist in Luke 1:57-80, which says in part:

⁶⁸“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
for he has visited and redeemed his people
⁶⁹and has raised up a horn of salvation for us
in the house of his servant David,
⁷⁰as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,
⁷¹that we should be saved from our enemies
and from the hand of all who hate us;
⁷²to show the mercy promised to our fathers
and to remember his holy covenant,
⁷³the oath that he swore to our father Abraham…

God still remembers his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Jesus is the horn of Israel's salvation!

I was asked to read the Gospel in English and Spanish, as the ACNA represents Anglican churches in the United States, Canada, and Mexico (which just elected their first woman and Jew as president). Hearing the Gospel in Spanish seemed to have caught many people’s attention, and they would mention it when they met me at the CMJ USA table or in the dining hall or walking to the next session.

Our patron, Archbishop Foley Beach, has finished his two terms as the leader of the ACNA and now takes a well-earned sabbatical. We are excited that the newly elected Archbishop Steve Wood is passionate about proclaiming the good news of Jesus Messiah to the 130 million unchurched Americans. We look forward to seeing how the ACNA will continue to partner with CMJ USA in the coming years.

Directly after the ACNA Assembly, Jeff Roberts (Fundraising and Partnerships) and Ron First (Central Texas Coordinator) joined me for the Messiah Conference, organized by the Messianic Jewish Alliance of America. This annual conference is the largest gathering of Messianic Jews in the United States and possibly the world.

Our aim was to reintroduce CMJ to the Messianic community. We displayed a copy of the History of Messianic Judaism exhibit created by the Christ Church Jerusalem Heritage Centre, and that drew people to our table.

There were 1,300 people in attendance and we’re sure we talked to the majority of them about the history of CMJ, Shoresh Study Tours, Tours with Purpose, and our soon-coming Bridge Builders program. We handed out nearly 500 flyers, and more than 100 people signed up for our newsletter. Some even gave us donations.

That we are older than Chosen People Ministries or Jews for Jesus caught people’s attention, and they were excited for the outreach tools we plan to launch in late Fall:

Bridge Builders Essentials – a video course prepping your congregation to sensitively reach out to your Jewish neighbor.
A soon-to-be-announced dinner-discussion program – a 10-week program that creates a safe place for Jewish seekers and others to ask hard questions.
Ground Breakers Prayer Groups – Monthly prayer guides for interceding congregations. Ground Breakers will have the option to access Bridge Builder course materials as they become available.
Bridge Builders Foundations – a study course that takes congregations deeper into the Jewishness of Jesus and the New Testament, the history of antisemitism, and sensitively connecting with our Jewish neighbors. Tentatively 2026.
The Secrets of the Dead Sea Scrolls – available now by emailing editor@cmj-usa.org.

Please pray for us as we take some time off this month. Pray that the LORD would refresh our bodies, minds, and spirits. Pray also for my trip to Israel in August. I will be leading a Tour with Purpose – a service trip to encourage Israelis and CMJ Israel staff through the ministry of helps and presence.

Is God calling you to help Jews and Arabs in the Holy Land as they navigate the complexities and pains of the Israel-Hamas War? If so, prayerfully consider joining or organizing a Shoresh Tour with Purpose. See this page more info or email shoresh@cmj-israel.org.