ICEJ HOLDS REGIONAL CONFERENCE IN GEORGIA

BY DR. MOJMIR KALLUS, ICEJ VICE PRESIDENT FOR INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

In June, I travelled to Georgia for a regional conference of our branch offices in the former Soviet republics. It was a follow-up to a similar conference in Istanbul in March 2018, and was organized in tandem with our regional coordinator Serguei Popov.

National representatives arrived from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Latvia, and Uzbekistan. ICEJ-Georgia national director Bishop Oleg Khubashvili hosted the meetings and also opened doors for me to speak in several local churches.

Dr. Mojmir Kallus, the ICEJ’s Vice President for International Affairs, recently visited Kosovo to inaugurate our new office in this fledgling country! The only European nation to place its embassy in Jerusalem, Kosovo has a small but active Evangelical community which has welcomed the efforts of the Christian Embassy to connect them with Israel over recent years. This has facilitated not only dialogue and partnership with the local Christian minority, but also with high-level officials. Kosovo and our new ICEJ office there indeed hold much promise to be a blessing to Israel.

Attendees also visited the local JAFI office for a briefing on their efforts to help Jews from Russian-speaking nations to reach Israel. We also visited a museum to learn about the history of Jews in Georgia.

In Georgia, office manager George Jijiashvili is very active for Israel and ICEJ on social media and is an excellent teacher on Hebraic roots. The ICEJ team there has good relations with the Jewish community, organises public events, raises awareness of Israel in churches, and helps Jewish immigrants coming through Georgia on their way to Israel.

Our offices in Latvia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are all showing initiative in various areas as well. In each case, our national representatives are senior church leaders with broad spheres of influence, and are actively engaged in practical Aliyah work.