Last night, on the anniversary of the assassination of Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, Israelis set fire to a church building in Jerusalem. The original building was burned to the ground by religious Jews in 1982, and a new building was constructed 11 years later. This building was set afire in multiple places last night, but the damage was mostly limited to the interior. Chairs were burned and walls were blackened, but the structure is apparently sound.
Four congregations meet at the “Baptist House” on Narkiss Street, including two English-speaking congregations, a Hebrew-speaking church, and a Russian-speaking church. I have preached for one of the English-speaking congregations a few times over the years.
What makes this place a target? One important factor is its location in the center of Jerusalem. It is a Christian facility with its own property. It’s one thing for such a group to be in the fringe parts of the country (Tiberias, Eilat), but another to be only blocks away from ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods.
You can pray for the believers in Jerusalem. I predict that they’ll try to burn the building down again. As for new ones, they’ll fight against that with all they have.
Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. Matthew 10:16-22 (ESV)
UPDATE: Here’s the JPost story.