Israel

The modern State of Israel was established in 1948. The UN General Assembly had proposed to partition the region into an Arab and Jewish state. Arab states rejected the UN plan and were subsequently defeated militarily in the 1948 war that followed British withdrawal from the region. Israel was admitted as a member of the UN in 1949 and saw rapid population growth, primarily due to migration from Europe and the Middle East, over the following years.

Russian-speaking immigrants from Slavic and former Soviet nations played a large role in Israel’s founding, and the Russian-language is the third most spoken language in Israel after Hebrew and Arabic. Thousands of Jewish immigrants from Russian-speaking countries have come to Israel over the course of many years.

SGA helps Russian-speaking congregations in Israel through support of Bible training at Israel College of the Bible in Netanya, Israel, along with students enrolled at four extension centers. These students will become pastors of Russian-speaking congregations and lay ministry leaders for congregations being planted. SGA’s director of Bible training in Israel also travels across the country teaching Bible and theology to Russian-speaking immigrants.

In addition, SGA supports church-planting pastors at three church plants, as well as significant church-based outreach like aid distribution, summer camp ministry, Christmas outreach, plus ministry to the homeless and drug addicts.