Last Friday a fire broke out in the Jerusalem Alliance church property. It has been declared by the police to be arson. This is the press release the organization released:
The Jerusalem Alliance Church Ministry Center
Rev. Jack Sara
Spokes person
Press Release #1, 1st of November 2010
On Friday morning at 1:00 AM we reported a fire to the Jerusalem police and fire department, which erupted in our church property on Prophets Street 55 in the center of Jerusalem. The church property is known as the Jerusalem Alliance Church Ministry Center (JACMC). Ten persons were sleeping in the church overnight facilities in the building at the time. Nine persons visiting the Holy Land together as a group were from one of our churches in the USA. One person was from a church in Denmark. Members of this group alerted me to the emergency, and neighbors living next to our church alerted emergency agencies in Jerusalem to come to the scene of the fire. Within 20 minutes emergency and ambulance personnel arrived to fight the fire and evacuate any persons that may have been remaining in our church building.
The main location of the fire was discovered to be in 2 lower basement rooms, which we had named Room Number Six and Seven. By 1:20 AM the fire crews with hoses had located this fire and I saw 2 sofas outside the building (and positioned 1.5 meters outside these rooms) being heavily consumed in flames. The flames in Room Number 6 were extinguished, smoke was cleared from Room Number 7, and the remainder of the church building was checked and emergency rescue teams and equipment were removed and departed.
All 10 persons had evacuated themselves earlier without serious injury. When the church building had filled with smoke, most of these persons had been awakened from their sleep by the smell of the smoke and quickly went to alert others. After arriving outside, most of them went to the Bikur Cholim Hospital Clinic (located adjacent to our church building on Prophets Street) for medical check-ups and treatment. After receiving timely medical care, especially for smoke inhalation, they were released at 5:00 AM in reasonably good health. Some were still in minor shock and discomfort.
The police gave us no clue of who would be the persons behind the fire! The church is located near a very religious Jewish neighborhood.
But the Police did confirm for us today that it was arson.
This church building was erected by Christian and Missionary Alliance church since the start of the 20th century, was completed in 1914, mainly used for the serviced of believers who come from different backgrounds. Palestine Bible College was established there , an Arab congregation was established there and it continues to exist till our day and time.
After the 1948 was access to Arabs at that section of the city was limited, that why they had to allocate in the Old City of Jerusalem in the Christian Quarter, Al Rusul Street.
Since 1967 the building served for many purposes besides being a sanctuary for worship. Hosted several international and local congregations, was used as a pilgrims house for so many years and since the beginning of the second Intifada was used by both the Israel college of the Bible and the Alliance Leadership Training Institute as a training center for leaders among the congregations in the Holy Land.
Ultimately we always desired our building to be a beacon of light reflecting God's love to all people. Situated in a city that it's enough divided by hate we seek to be an agent of reconciliation and peace to all parties.
We will continue to serve the Holy Land residents from this place, proclaiming peace and justice for all human beings, declaring God's love for all of our neighbors, friends and enemies.
ARTICLE AND COMMENTS
We were in connection with Howard Bass, the Pastor from Yeshua's Inheritance Congregation in Beersheva, who was with Ellen Elbel, wife of Roger Elbel, from the Christian Alliance. They gave us Jack Sara's telephone number who is authorized by the Christian Alliance to give facts and speak to the media. I spoke to Jack and he said that the Israeli media were slow to respond and so far Ma'ariv is the only Israeli newspaper to report it. Because of this, other media outlets with bad intentions have been picking up the story and using it for other purposes against Israel which is not the Alliance's purpose at all. The police have confirmed that the fire was arson, and Jewish extremists are suspected.
If you want to speak to Jack to report on the incident or to encourage him, his number is: 054-474-1290
His email is: jack@netvision.net.il
This is an article which appeared in the Israeli press:
Maariv Newspaper - 29/10/2010
SUSPECTED: ORTHODOX JEWS LIT A FIRE IN A CHURCH IN THE CENTER OF JERUSALEM
Reported by Yosi Eli
Police suspect that the church that caught fire on Friday morning is the result of deliberate arson by the ultra orthodox. Fire fighters that arrived at the location evacuated 12 people that were injured in the fire to get treatment in the hospital. The police are investigating the crime scene.
The fire department received a report that smoke was coming out of the church on Niviím street in central Jerusalem.
12 people were evacuated from the burning buildingand 12 fire teams were dispatched to the scene and by the help of a cranethe fire department evacuated people who were trapped in the building. Additional forces found where the fire originated fromand it was on the floor that was used as a hostel for tourists that come to visit. After a while the fire department managed to take control of the fire and stop it from spreading to different sections of the building. The main sanctuary was not damaged.
According to the initial investigation by the Jerusalem district police the fire was started by people belonging to the Ultra Orthodox community in the City. It is noted that in the past the church had received threats that their property would be damaged.
If you want to view the article in Hebrew - here is the website:
http://www.nrg.co.il/online/1/ART2/172/394.html
חשד: חרדים הציתו כנסייה במרכז
PRAYER MEETING
This Saturday evening there will be a prayer meeting at the site of the fire which will hopefully be attended and supported by believers, Jewish and Arab, from all over Israel. We are planning to attend with our congregation as well. Here is the invitation which Pastor Jack sent out.
The Jerusalem Alliance Church Ministry Center
Rev. Jack Sara
Spokes person
Press Release #1, 1st of November 2010
On Friday morning at 1:00 AM we reported a fire to the Jerusalem police and fire department, which erupted in our church property on Prophets Street 55 in the center of Jerusalem. The church property is known as the Jerusalem Alliance Church Ministry Center (JACMC). Ten persons were sleeping in the church overnight facilities in the building at the time. Nine persons visiting the Holy Land together as a group were from one of our churches in the USA. One person was from a church in Denmark. Members of this group alerted me to the emergency, and neighbors living next to our church alerted emergency agencies in Jerusalem to come to the scene of the fire. Within 20 minutes emergency and ambulance personnel arrived to fight the fire and evacuate any persons that may have been remaining in our church building.
The main location of the fire was discovered to be in 2 lower basement rooms, which we had named Room Number Six and Seven. By 1:20 AM the fire crews with hoses had located this fire and I saw 2 sofas outside the building (and positioned 1.5 meters outside these rooms) being heavily consumed in flames. The flames in Room Number 6 were extinguished, smoke was cleared from Room Number 7, and the remainder of the church building was checked and emergency rescue teams and equipment were removed and departed.
All 10 persons had evacuated themselves earlier without serious injury. When the church building had filled with smoke, most of these persons had been awakened from their sleep by the smell of the smoke and quickly went to alert others. After arriving outside, most of them went to the Bikur Cholim Hospital Clinic (located adjacent to our church building on Prophets Street) for medical check-ups and treatment. After receiving timely medical care, especially for smoke inhalation, they were released at 5:00 AM in reasonably good health. Some were still in minor shock and discomfort.
The police gave us no clue of who would be the persons behind the fire! The church is located near a very religious Jewish neighborhood.
But the Police did confirm for us today that it was arson.
This church building was erected by Christian and Missionary Alliance church since the start of the 20th century, was completed in 1914, mainly used for the serviced of believers who come from different backgrounds. Palestine Bible College was established there , an Arab congregation was established there and it continues to exist till our day and time.
After the 1948 was access to Arabs at that section of the city was limited, that why they had to allocate in the Old City of Jerusalem in the Christian Quarter, Al Rusul Street.
Since 1967 the building served for many purposes besides being a sanctuary for worship. Hosted several international and local congregations, was used as a pilgrims house for so many years and since the beginning of the second Intifada was used by both the Israel college of the Bible and the Alliance Leadership Training Institute as a training center for leaders among the congregations in the Holy Land.
Ultimately we always desired our building to be a beacon of light reflecting God's love to all people. Situated in a city that it's enough divided by hate we seek to be an agent of reconciliation and peace to all parties.
We will continue to serve the Holy Land residents from this place, proclaiming peace and justice for all human beings, declaring God's love for all of our neighbors, friends and enemies.
ARTICLE AND COMMENTS
We were in connection with Howard Bass, the Pastor from Yeshua's Inheritance Congregation in Beersheva, who was with Ellen Elbel, wife of Roger Elbel, from the Christian Alliance. They gave us Jack Sara's telephone number who is authorized by the Christian Alliance to give facts and speak to the media. I spoke to Jack and he said that the Israeli media were slow to respond and so far Ma'ariv is the only Israeli newspaper to report it. Because of this, other media outlets with bad intentions have been picking up the story and using it for other purposes against Israel which is not the Alliance's purpose at all. The police have confirmed that the fire was arson, and Jewish extremists are suspected.
If you want to speak to Jack to report on the incident or to encourage him, his number is: 054-474-1290
His email is: jack@netvision.net.il
This is an article which appeared in the Israeli press:
Maariv Newspaper - 29/10/2010
SUSPECTED: ORTHODOX JEWS LIT A FIRE IN A CHURCH IN THE CENTER OF JERUSALEM
Reported by Yosi Eli
Police suspect that the church that caught fire on Friday morning is the result of deliberate arson by the ultra orthodox. Fire fighters that arrived at the location evacuated 12 people that were injured in the fire to get treatment in the hospital. The police are investigating the crime scene.
The fire department received a report that smoke was coming out of the church on Niviím street in central Jerusalem.
12 people were evacuated from the burning buildingand 12 fire teams were dispatched to the scene and by the help of a cranethe fire department evacuated people who were trapped in the building. Additional forces found where the fire originated fromand it was on the floor that was used as a hostel for tourists that come to visit. After a while the fire department managed to take control of the fire and stop it from spreading to different sections of the building. The main sanctuary was not damaged.
According to the initial investigation by the Jerusalem district police the fire was started by people belonging to the Ultra Orthodox community in the City. It is noted that in the past the church had received threats that their property would be damaged.
If you want to view the article in Hebrew - here is the website:
http://www.nrg.co.il/online/1/ART2/172/394.html
חשד: חרדים הציתו כנסייה במרכז
PRAYER MEETING
This Saturday evening there will be a prayer meeting at the site of the fire which will hopefully be attended and supported by believers, Jewish and Arab, from all over Israel. We are planning to attend with our congregation as well. Here is the invitation which Pastor Jack sent out.
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good
لاَ تَدَعِ الشَّرَّ يَغْلِبُكَ، بَلِ اغْلِبِ الشَّرَّ بِالْخَيْرِ
אַל תַּנִּיחַ לָרַע לְהִתְגַּבֵּר
עָלֶיךָ, אֶלָּא הִתְגַּבֵּר עַל הָרַע
בַּטּוֹב
(Romans 12:21)
Invitation to a special prayer meeting at the Jerusalem Alliance Church Ministry Center
Greetings from Jerusalem,
You all might have heard of the attack on our ministry center in Jerusalem last Friday, apparently this arson was caused by people who don't like us and don't like what we do here in the Holy Land.
The Lord Jesus Christ teaching declared clearly that we ought to love our enemies, PRAY for them, and instead of evil respond with love and kindness.
We also want to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, the very thing that our city needs these days, an event like what happened to us and many other incidents of such kind is a reflection of the absence of peace in Jerusalem.
A city that so much divided by hate and enmity is in great need for the real peace that only the Prince of Peace Jesus could give.
We want to pray for God's marvelous blessing to be poured on this city and all of its residents.
Come with us on Saturday night at 7pm for a very unique prayer service at the Jerusalem Alliance Church Ministry Center at the Prophets Street 55 (Neve'im street). The service will be held in Arabic and English with translation into Hebrew.
Your presence in this prayer meeting will be highly appreciated.
On behalf of the Alliance Church in the Holy Land
Rev. Jack Sara
Senior Pastor
----
Please pray for the believers in Jerusalem who use this property extensively. There are Arab and Messianic congregations who meet in the historic building, and also the Israel School of the Bible is located on the property. Please pray that what the enemy of our souls has meant for evil, will be used for great good and expansion of the ministry in that place.
FILM CLIP
Aviad Cohen is the web designer who not only designed our website but has been masterfully maintaining and updating it. Recently he took the DVD version of "Restoration" and extracted the excerpts that are about our incident, combining them into a clip. Below are the links on Facebook and YouTube. The clip is in two parts, so be sure to continue on to Part two!
"Restoration" is a full Length documentary made by a South Korean Film Company about the plight of Messianic Jews in Israel. It was produced by a very well known believing Producer Joanne Lee (Li I'm-Ju) and directed by Bradley Kim (Kim Jong-cheol). "Restoration" won the grand prize in the Monaco Film Festival 2010 for Best Feature Documentary. Visit www.restorationthemovie.com for more information on this film.
If any of you need your web site designed or even redesigned, we highly recommend Aviad. His business website is: www.acmediaservices.com, and his music web site is www.aviadcohen.com He is a Jewish believer, a former Jewish Rap music artist, turned Messianic musician, creative genius and technologically very savvy. I think our web site is one of the most comprehensive web sites there is. Aviad has worked tirelessly on it, and brings that kind of work energy to everything he does.
The Restoration DVD is still not for sale to the public but as soon as it is we will let you know.
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1555539324453
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1555574365329
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXWZpcdKC04
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXUpwR9q99w
In Yeshua,
Leah