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Ben David Messianic
Jewish Congregation
A Closer Look
By Fern Batchelor |
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 The Birth of a Son
At age 30, Doug
Friedman became a father. When he held Aaron, his newborn son,
in his arms and looked at him, he thought, “This beautifully
formed little human could not be the result of a series of
accidents— this did not ‘evolve’ out of the slime.” As an
aerodynamics engineer, he knew that creating complex things
takes intelligence, and this baby was much more complex than
any airplane. Wanting to identify Aaron’s designer, he began
to read many different books—including a Bible handed to him
by his believing wife, Bonnie.
As a Jew, it made him
uneasy to see that this Bible contained a New Testament. When
he started reading it, he was amazed to find out how Jewish
this “Gentile” portion of the Bible really was. He wondered
why this had been withheld from him. The words of Yeshua were
like a cool breeze on a hot day. They held so much wisdom, he
could hardly put the Scriptures down. The more he read, the
clearer it was.
He had finally found the answer to his
question about Aaron’s creator. His Name was Yeshua. Doug
embraced his new faith, and he and his family began attending
a local church. Years later, a Messianic congregation moved
into town, and Doug finally found a place where he and his
family could worship Yeshua, in the original Jewish context.
 The Birthing of a Congregation
“But life
does not always bring us good things,” says Doug. After a
painful decision in that congregation, he had the choice to
“cry over the lemons, or make lemonade.” Understanding that
God uses even negative experiences for His glory, he and
Bonnie gathered with a few people around their dining room
table, reading and studying the Scriptures on Shabbat
mornings. God blessed, and they grew.
In seven short
years, without any fulltime staff, the congregation they named
Ben David (“Son of David”—reflecting their focus on the person
and nature of the Jewish Messiah) moved to a fairly large
meeting hall in the nearby city of Orange, and increased to
well over a hundred people in regular attendance. They are
currently seeking an even larger facility. “It is only His
hand,” says Doug, “which can take such pain and brokenness and
turn it into such blessing!”
Integrity and
Love
From the beginning, the Friedmans set out to
build a congregation which is not only theologically sound and
culturally sensitive, but led with integrity and committed to
following Yeshua’s most fundamental teaching, “by this all men
will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one
another” (John 13:35). Once folks have visited, it is these
two qualities—integrity and love—that keep them coming back.
Worship and Teaching
The expression of
Ben David’s worship and teaching takes many forms. Doug thanks
God for blessing the congregation with Chuck Ott, “one of the
most experienced and gifted worship leaders in the Messianic
movement,” who has developed an outstanding worship team. Ben
David has a large and growing Shabbat school staffed by an
unusually high percentage of credentialed, professional
teachers. Beginning Hebrew classes are offered for both
children and adults. Once a month the congregation is blessed
with a d’rash (teaching) by an Israeli Jewish
believer/Talmudic scholar who brings unique insights into the
weekly parshah (Scripture portion). Congregants are encouraged
to serve, using their gifts to bless others and enhance
individual growth. Shabbat is celebrated, not only as a time
of assembling together to worship God, but also a full day to
enjoy an extended time of fellowship through a weekly oneg
(joy around food) that usually extends well into the
afternoon, and often into the evening.
Impact
and Plans
Ben David tries to make good use of God’s
appointed times—the Holy Days that the Lord has provided in
His word—to reach out to family and friends who do not yet
know Him. Events such as Passover Seders are natural and
effective opportunities to invite the Jewish community to come
and hear about Yeshua in a non-threatening environment. Their
vision is “to grow a spiritually healthy family that has a
Messianic Jewish orientation and that is sizeable enough to
make an effective presentation of Yeshua to the population at
large and the Jewish community in particular.” As the
congregation expands, they hope to further increase their
impact on the local Jewish community. They are developing what
they believe is a unique and previously untried method of
outreach to the Jewish people. If it works, they’ll be sharing
it with the rest of the Messianic community.
 Generations and Associations
God
has used Doug as the catalyst in leading many of his own
family members to a saving knowledge of Messiah Yeshua, making
him part of a still relatively small group of Jewish believers
spanning three generations. Raising his children in a
Messianic congregation, he says, has provided them with an
important cultural connection between their heritage and their
faith. One challenge, however, is to find other congregations
as they grow up and move away from home. “We need more high
quality Messianic congregations to enable this next generation
to maintain those connections,” he says. One step Ben David
has taken toward ensuring that such congregations will exist
is to become the first west coast Messianic congregation to
join and support the newly formed Association of Messianic
Congregations (AMC). They continue to pray that others will
see the wisdom of joining and supporting this new organization
as a means of promoting the future growth and success of the
modern Messianic movement.
Truth and Hope
The heart’s desire of the Friedmans and the other leaders
of Ben David is twofold: first and foremost, to follow the
teaching of Yeshua, who said “make disciples of all the
nations…teaching them to observe all that I commanded you”
(Matthew 28:19, 20), and second, to present the wonderful news
that Yeshua of Nazareth is indeed the Messiah promised in the
Hebrew Scriptures to Israel and to the world: “The Lord your
God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from among your
countrymen, you shall listen to Him” (Deuteronomy 18:15). As
they walk daily with Yeshua, they pray that He will continue
to make them bearers of truth and hope to a world that
desperately needs both. MT
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