Heading Home—-Finally Aug 23

Tomorrow I leave Lake Balaton to head for home in Dallas.

Tomorrow I leave Lake Balaton to head for home in Dallas. I have 7 plus hours on a train and then fly home from Vienna. Seven weeks full of travel, conferences, conversations, and discussion with people from all around the world. It has been quite a ride.

The final meeting was the Lausanne Conference on Jewish Evangelism. Outreach to Jews continues to do well. The reports from around the world was pretty encouraging. There is much going on and we only heard about the tip of the iceberg. I heard about reconciliation ministry between believing Jews and Arabs, as well as reports of growth. One concern is a seeming rise of anti-Semitism in parts of Europe. Neo-Nazi groups are appearing among a generation for whom Hitler is only a figure on a piece of film. Other issues include how ministry is to be done by believing Jews among the Jewish people, some of whom are secular and others of whom are quite orthodox endeavoring to keep the law. These efforts are a microcosm of other missionary efforts in other parts of the world for other ethnic groups, but with the outreach to Jews issues are more complex because of their roots in a message shared with Christians.

Early in July I started out at an international conference on the Jewish books of Jubilees and Enoch. Now I end the journey looking at the modern Jewish situation in the world with practitioners who serve the call of the church. There will be more reports in days to come. Now I just need to pack up and get ready to finally head home.