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Baruch Maoz Retires
After more than thirty years
of service with CWI, on 31st December 2005 Baruch Maoz retired as Field
Leader of our work in Israel. During his time with CWI Baruch made an
outstanding contribution to the cause of the gospel in Israel.
Baruch was converted in
1964 and after studying in the UK he returned to Israel where in the
early seventies he founded HaGefen Publishing, which has published over
150 books, tracts, sermons and leaflets. He also founded and is the
pastor of the Grace and Truth Christian Congregation, which now
consists of some 450 adults and their children.
Baruch founded and has been involved in a
number of important organisations and groups in Israel. For ten years
he was a leader of the National Intercongregational Fellowship and was
a founding member of the National Evangelistic Committee. He shared in
the establishment of a Theological Education by Extension programme and
was the initiator and one of the founders of the acclaimed theological
journal Mishkan.
In the 1990s, when members of the
Knesset attempted to introduce legislation that would make Christian
evangelism a criminal offence, Baruch set up – and for eighteen
months led – the Messianic Action Committee to defend freedom of
religion in Israel. He also conceived and now chairs Keren Tkuma,
the National Social Aid Fund, which helps to establish Jewish and Arab
Christians financially.
A prolific writer, Baruch is the author of a series
of Jewish Christian Occasional Papers, which deal with a diverse range
of subjects from principles of biblical interpretation to the role of
law in the life of the believer to the politics of the state of Israel.
He has written a number of books in Hebrew, published through HaGefen,
and produced a major work in English Judaism is not Jewish: a
Friendly Critique of the Messianic Movement, which was published in
2003. Baruch continues to exercise a regular preaching ministry at the
Grace and Truth Congregation and at other congregations in Israel, both
Jewish and Arab.
For some time Baruch has wanted to devote his
remaining years of service to the Grace and Truth Congregation and he
says that he is looking forward to strengthening and broadening the
ministry of the Grace and Truth congregation and the wider body of
Messiah in Israel, largely through preaching and writing. He hopes to
contribute towards the defence of Jewish evangelism while continuing
his efforts on behalf of the unity of the body of Christ.
The Grace and Truth Christian Congregation has taken
on the responsibility for the completion of the Children’s Illustrated
Bible project, the third volume of which will be available later this
year.
Although Baruch no longer leads our work in Israel,
we remain committed to maintaining and developing our ministry in the
land, and are working in consultation with the Amuta (CWI’s Council in
Israel) towards the appointment of a successor to Baruch.
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