More than 800 people gathered in Jerusalem on Saturday, June 15, for a spiritual assembly, the largest-ever Seventh-day Adventist event in Israel. The venue, a local YMCA hall, was not big enough for the group, which overflowed outside onto the steps. People stood at the doors of the building during the morning and afternoon programs to hear the music, preaching, and Bible study.

Guest speaker Matthew Bediako, secretary of the Adventist Church worldwide, reflected on the ethnic diversity of the audience, which included Romanian, Spanish, Filipino, Ghanaian, Russian, Ethiopian and, Hebrew groups. “God smiles on us for this gathering of the United Nations [of Seventh-day Adventists],” said Bediako.

The number of Adventists in Israel is growing at a significant rate. In the past five years the number of congregations has grown from five to 25, and the number of church members from 400 to more than 1,200.

Richard Elofer, president of the Adventist Church in Israel, credits this growth to a special emphasis on starting new congregations, and practical steps to make Adventism relevant to people from many different cultural backgrounds. “It’s important that people worship in their own culture, their own context, their own language,” says Elofer. “This fosters evangelism, as ethnic groups can most effectively reach out to their own people.

“For me the most important and rewarding thing is to see the church grow and to see people discover Yeshua,” adds Elofer, who is also director of the World Jewish Friendship Center, run by the Adventist Church’s Global Mission office. “Can you imagine that for so many years we had so few baptisms, but then last year we had 128? Already we have 90 baptisms this year, which means we should reach 200. This is my greatest reward in this country.”

Elofer says his dream is to reach out to Arab people and have a union of Jewish and Palestinian Adventists. “This would be a good testimony to everyone in this country,” he says. “We have a building in east Jerusalem, which is a predominantly Arab neighborhood. We conducted a survey in the area and found the biggest need was for an English school. So we want to establish this type of the work, show friendship, and let them know they can trust us. Then we can go further and teach them the good news about the Messiah.”