Chosen People Ministries has a long legacy of reaching the next generation. Our founder, Rabbi Leopold Cohn, was a diligent evangelist and teacher and a caring father to his children. His love of youth prompted Rabbi Cohn to begin summer camps for boys and girls in upstate New York and Connecticut. He also launched a thriving ministry to children and teenagers.
We want to pass these opportunities along to generations to come.
Today, our mission reaches children, teenagers, and young adults worldwide in many ways!
YOUNG ADULT MINISTRY—A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE
Muchan (moo-khan’)
Chosen People Ministries’ most extensive young adult outreach is called Muchan, which in Hebrew means “ready.” Muchan is an international conference for Messianic Jewish and Gentile believers between the ages of eighteen and thirty-five. The biennial conference lasts five days; past locations include Paris, Madrid, Berlin, and Prague, and outside of pandemic years, we hold these conferences every other year. We usually host about 150 young adults at this conference. We also underwrite quite a bit of these expenses as last time we had about 40 young adults from Israel and many others who could not easily afford this opportunity. It is worth it!
Living Waters
The Living Waters program is a retreat for Israeli young adults. Going strong for fifteen years and counting, it includes Bible teaching and plenty of fellowship and worship, with 15–20 congregations represented. We offer Bible teaching and instruction on evangelism and apologetics, biblical financial management, and pastoral counseling. We put a hold on our plan to bring Living Waters USA into fruition in 2020, but we hope to schedule the summer event in 2022. Once again, we provide funding for this disciple-making event, and we are already planning for our next Living Waters.
The Zula Lodge—New Zealand
Located on the South Island of New Zealand, Israelis find out about this program by word of mouth and various websites, especially Facebook. Most of the Israelis we host at this facility come after their army service (22–24 years of age). Last season, Zula Lodge had more than 5,000 bed nights for Israelis, and every one of them heard the gospel.
We also select young Israeli believers to volunteer at the Zula Lodge. We choose a number of volunteers from Israel who have completed their time in the Israel Defense Force and are mature in their faith from the many applications we receive. Our volunteers live in New Zealand for three months to serve at the Zula Lodge. They will have the opportunity to minister to traveling Israelis and learn the basics of backpacker ministry.
We have the joy of also sending short-term mission teams from Israel to spend time at Zula Lodge who spend their days talking to fellow younger Israelis about the Lord!
The Charles L. Feinberg Center of Messianic Jewish Studies
This graduate program offers an accredited Master of Divinity (MDiv) degree in Messianic Jewish Studies. We designed the curriculum to train those called to full-time Jewish ministry as either Messianic congregational leaders, outreach workers, or educators. This dynamic program is a joint venture between Talbot School of Theology at Biola University and Chosen People Ministries.
The degree focuses on the biblical languages (Hebrew and Greek), exegesis of the Scriptures, and courses to help the students better understand the Jewish people. Students address essential matters of theology and Jewish practice through intensive study of the Torah (Jewish law), culture, and the practical “how to’s” in reaching Jewish people with the gospel message. The program is based in Brooklyn and students are able to be directly involved with Jewish evangelism throughout their educational program. We believe in learning by doing!
We now have thirty graduates serving the Lord among the Jewish people. The Feinberg Center is one of our most effective and fruitful investments in the future of Jewish evangelism.
Many of our Feinberg graduates join the Chosen People Ministries staff.
At this time, we have students from at least five countries around the world studying to be missionaries to the Jewish people in their countries. We underwrite quite a bit of this program, housing for young families in Brooklyn and much more! Your help for the Feinberg program is critical.
UNIVERSITY AND STUDENT PROGRAMS
House of Living Waters
The first House of Living Waters began in 2019 in the East Village, near New York University (NYU), which has the largest number of Jewish students in the United States. Four young men moved in together in a rented apartment to build a Messianic presence on the college campus by hosting book tables, weekly Bible studies, and Sabbath dinners.
After a hiatus in 2020 and 2021due to COVID-19, we relaunched this important ministry in August of 2022! Thank God, a Foundation with a great vision for this work has helped considerably with the funding . . . but we still need some additional funding. I cannot even tell you how many Jewish students have heard the gospel through these young people, and we look forward to all our participants will accomplish this year.
Outreach Israel
Outreach Israel is a three-week service-based program in the Land of Israel led by our staff in Israel. There are usually a dozen young college students, primarily from the United States.
Outreach Brazil
Summer internships are usually available in various ministry areas, including evangelism, digital media, videography or photography, and finance. Our interns typically come to us with a specific area of Jewish interest, but we also offer a wide range of field experience for those who are unsure or want it all!
College Internships
Summer internships are usually available in various ministry areas, including evangelism, digital media, videography or photography, and finance. Our interns typically come to us with a specific area of Jewish interest, but we also offer a wide range of field experience for those who are unsure or want it all!
CHILDREN’S CAMPS
Camp Kesher
Kesher is the Hebrew word for “connection,” which is what Camp Kesher is all about. Connecting youth to Jesus, each other, and the larger Messianic community is our utmost priority. We currently host Camp Kesher on the East and West Coasts, as well as a winter camp in Maryland called “Kesher Ice.” Many camp counselors are Jewish Studies students at our Feinberg Center or Moody Bible Institute and are members of Chosen People Ministries congregations.
Kesher NY/Israel
These teen outreach programs grew out of Camp Kesher. Every couple of years, we take a handful of teens and give them a wonderful experience of training and evangelism in New York City and Israel. This is a two-week program designed to really give these teens a chance to share the good news with Jewish people and also experience the sights and sounds of New York City and Israel.
Children’s Camp Israel
We had more than six hundred children at our Israeli summer camps last year. Many of these children come from Russian Jewish Israeli families and are not yet believers. Alexi’s (not his real name) story illustrates the organic flow within our various youth programs. He was ten years old when he began attending Kesher Israel. As a teenager, he became a helper and then a counselor. He went on to help leads our camps, and then in 2019, he came to New York City to be part of the House of Living Waters program. At present, he is attending the Moody Bible Institute for Jewish Studies and is also on part-time staff with Chosen People Ministries. Alexi plans to become a full-time staff member in Israel. Alexi is a beautiful example of how we strengthen the future of Jewish ministry by investing in the future of children and teens for the Lord.
We ask Israeli parents to help pay for their kids’ camping programs, but many are from poor homes, especially some of the Russian immigrants to Israel. Your help for our Israeli Camping Ministries is deeply appreciated!
Shalom New York
If you love to share your faith and you have a heart for Israel and the Jewish people, Shalom New York may be the most significant opportunity you will ever have to realize God’s great evangelistic purpose for your life!
THE NEXT GENERATION AND YOU
As always, your prayers and generous financial support is essential to sustaining and prospering our outreach to the next generation!
We cannot do what we do without your faithful help and support.
Thank you for your faithful concern and care for the children, teenagers, and young adults who are the future men and women at the forefront of Jewish evangelism in the twenty-first century. I hope you will join me in supporting and investing in them today.
