Recently, Pastor Aleksey had the opportunity to travel to Sweden for a conference about Israel. He was grateful to spend time with brothers and sisters who have carried a deep love for Israel and the Jewish people for many years, and to share with them about God's purposes for this land and its people.

“As I looked around the room, I found myself wondering about the next generation. Most of the people present were older believers.

This was both encouraging and challenging.

Encouraging, because it was beautiful to see believers who have faithfully carried a love for Israel and the Jewish people for many years. You could sense that for many of them, this was not simply a subject they had studied, but something they had carried in their hearts for much of their lives. They had prayed, learned, watched and remained faithful through many changes in the world.

But as I looked around the room, another thought came to me: what will happen when this generation is no longer in the room?

Who will carry this biblical understanding into the next generation?

We often assume that the things we have come to understand from Scripture will naturally be passed on, but they do not always pass from one generation to another. There are young believers who have never been taught why Israel and the Jewish people have such an important place in the biblical story. Some have never had the opportunity to open the Scriptures and wrestle with these questions for themselves.

And I think this is where the Church has a responsibility.

We need to create opportunities for a younger generation to discover these things, not simply by telling them what to think, but by bringing them back to the Scriptures and helping them see the story of God unfolding through His Word. We need young believers who know the Scriptures, love the Jewish people and understand the faithfulness of God, not through the lens of political headlines, but through the lens of His Word.”

Paul reminds us that the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable. God's faithfulness does not change with circumstances, cultures or generations.

That is why our prayer is not simply that people would become more interested in Israel. Our prayer is that they would encounter the God of Israel in the Scriptures, understand His purposes more deeply and grow in their love for what He loves.

Please pray with us for churches, pastors, Bible colleges, Christian families and especially young believers around the world. Pray that the Lord would raise up a new generation who will search the Scriptures, ask difficult questions, love what God loves and faithfully follow where He leads.

And please pray for us as we continue building bridges between believers in Israel and believers around the world. Perhaps some of the relationships we are building today will help give the next generation an opportunity to see, ask, learn and discover for themselves what God has placed in His Word.