Pioneering “presence” in Israel

Land of Revelation: A Reconciling Presence in Israel Roy H. Kreider. Herald Press, 2004. 375 pages.

This book is a historical and spiritual autobiography of Roy and Florence Kreider’s ministry in Israel from 1953 to 1985. It is also a record of the ministry of the Mennonite Board of Missions (MBM) in the newly formed state of Israel.

When the Kreiders and their infant son David arrived in Israel in 1953, the fledgling Jewish state was only five years old. Prepared with callings to engage in a ministry of “presence,” they had three-month visitors’ visas and no specified task ahead of them. They enrolled in Hebrew lessons in Jerusalem and thus began a ministry that would span the next three decades from project to project, visa to visa, and vision to vision, establishing a reconciling and healing presence among the inhabitants of “the Land.”

As Wilbert R. Shenk points out in the foreword, the Kreiders’ ministry of presence was a departure from missionary wisdom of the time in that they had no mandate to establish a Mennonite church in Israel. (Indeed, this would have been forbidden by the new Israeli law concerning Christian presence in the country, which stipulated that only churches and organizations that had previously been established would be allowed to remain.) Instead, they were to “immerse themselves in the history, language and culture of the Jewish people, especially noting the importance of the recent Holocaust experience and the tensions between Israel and her Arab neighbors.”

And so, the Kreiders found friends and helpers among fellow believers from a number of missionary agencies – people who helped them find accommodations, who shared in their prayers and decision-making, and with whom they entered into projects designed to represent Christ to the people. Moving their presence to Tel Aviv, they formed partnerships and began projects such as a bookstore and art gallery, a farming project, a tour agency for Christian pilgrims and several house fellowship groups. Eventually Roy was also able to participate and take leadership in the United Christian Council of Israel, which included several denominational groups and became influential in the young Israeli government concerning matters having to do with Christians in the land.

Throughout their stay, the Kreiders relied on prayer and the guidance of the Holy Spirit to lead them into every venture. Their story is full of visions, dreams and counsel with faithful partners. Their years in Israel included the six day war in 1967 and the Yom Kippur war in 1973, events that shook both Israel and the surrounding nations and became moments in which people asked questions and were receptive to new understandings. The Kreiders were always open to conversation, choosing to avoid judgment and to offer reconciliation and healing in times of stress.

This book is significant as a document of a pioneering mission of “presence” and of openness to God’s work of reconciliation and healing among a needy people. It will be of interest to those interested in missions, and particularly to those interested in Christian relations with the people of Israel, though it is rather scant in describing the work among Arab Israelis and Palestinians. It is an inspiring spiritual autobiography.

As a reader who has spent time in Israel/Palestine, however, I was disappointed to find little grappling with the “elephant in the room” – that of Israeli/Palestinian relations and the political and human realities that these two groups in conflict must face everyday. It is one thing to say, as Kreider does in several places, that when Christ reconciles, the two groups become “one new man” [sic], and certainly another to gloss over the immense difficulties and injustices being perpetrated in the Land.

Even if the Jews have a legitimate and God-given right to live in the Land, how does their present behaviour affect that right? This is a question I wish Kreider had been able to ask more deeply, and to provide insight into, as a result of his very significant years in Israel.

Lori Matties is a member of River East MB Church, Winnipeg. In 1991–92, she and her husband Gordon spent eight months at the Tantur Ecumenical Center in Jerusalem.