Beit Tikvah

In our last newsletter (Fall 2009), I mentioned that Rita and I had attended the 20th Anniversary of Promise Keepers in Boulder, CO. I was deeply moved by two messages by Tommy Barnett and Tony Evans on ministry to the poor. In my own life, and in my preaching, I was convicted because I had neglected the poor. So over the next six months I preached five messages on the poor and one on the evil of human trafficking. These messages have been sobering and challenging, and for the most part, well received. However, I have been approached by a few people who are concerned that this may be our new focus, wondering if we have changed our established vision and mission. We have not diverted from our mission or vision. We have simply clarified part of our vision by better engaging with our community. Though five sermons in six months should not be cause for alarm, I can see why they may have had some concerns.

A few months ago I mentioned to our congregation that we have experienced a paradigm shift related to our mission. For some, this was worrisome, thinking “the poor” had become our main focus. Paradigm can be defined as, “acceptance by a majority of a changed attitude or way of doing things.” We have simply refocused part two of our vision statement: “Engage our community and our culture… by demonstrating God’s love to our generation.” I must admit that we have not done a very good job at this. Our involvement has been mostly individuals volunteering here and there, not directly connected to Beit Tikvah. Some have passed out clothing to the homeless on their own. Others work at the rescue missions and local crisis pregnancy centers. Some minister to those living in Tent City. We have had an annual food drive during Sukkot to support a local food bank in Bellevue. But generally speaking, we, as a body of believers, have not engaged our community and our culture by demonstrating God’s love to our generation. Now that has changed.

I am very excited to say that we have recently connected with Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission. We have teams preparing, delivering and serving meals at their men’s and women’s shelters. We have people joining their Rescue Van, and others donating use of their own vehicles, to distribute food and warm clothing to the homeless on the streets of Seattle. Some of the guys from the Men’s Shelter are participating in the UGM two-year discipleship program. They are attending Beit Tikvah and becoming active in our community. This brings joy to my heart.

We have connected with Vision House, a ministry in Renton whose slogan is, “No homeless kids.” Since 1990, Vision House has provided transitional housing with support services to homeless single mothers and their children, and separately to homeless single men recovering from drug and alcohol addiction. Their success is achieved by addressing the root social and economic problems that many homeless people have to overcome in order to break free from the cycle of homelessness. A Beit Tikvah team has formed to volunteer as needed in a variety of areas at Vision House.

We now have three food drives each year: during Sukkot for Jewish Family Services in Seattle; during Chanukah for World Impact Network in Bellevue; and during Purim for Love INC serving the entire Eastside. I love it when our collection box in the foyer is overflowing with food for the needy. Josiah pled the cause of the afflicted and needy and the LORD said, "Is that not what it means to know Me?" (Jeremiah 22:16). We spend a lot of time seeking God in His presence through worship and intercession. But without mission, doing something with our relationship with God, our walk becomes self-centered and shallow. To know God is to plead the cause of the afflicted and the needy. David says, “Consider the poor and you will be blessed” (Psalm 41:1) “He who is generous will be blessed, for he gives some of his food to the poor” (Proverbs 22:9). “He who is gracious to a poor man lends to the LORD, and He will repay him for his good deed” (Proverbs 19:17). “He who oppresses the poor reproaches his Maker, but he who is gracious to the needy honors Him” (Proverbs 14:31).

Though we have readjusted and refocused our local mission so as not to forget the poor, our mission has not changed. From our website:

Mission of Beit Tikvah

Our mission originates in Genesis chapter 12 and is completed in Matthew 28, commonly called the Great Commission.

I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

Matthew 28:19-20
Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

Therefore, our co-mission is to be a blessing to all the earth by making disciples, baptizing or immersing them in the waters of the mikveh, and teaching them that which we have received from Messiah Yeshua.

Two Sub-Missions

Hylan Slobodkin
Messianic Rabbi

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