A Word from a Quiet Place - the Caspari Librarian Speaks Up
After working in the library since September, several things have caught my attention. First of all, people like the library! In speaking about it, they say that it is like "a treasure", "a pearl", and "a gem." We have very good books in the fields in which we specialize, it is a quiet place in the centre of town, the service is friendly, and the people are pleasant.
Many students from the various Christian colleges in town use the library, as do students and researchers from the Hebrew University and other academic institutions. People even come to use it from other places in the country! Quite often people come in saying that they are writing a paper for a university course and are looking for books that they can't find anywhere else.
We have books about the Bible, Judaism, Christianity, Israel, and Qumran - all in all, over 6,000 books. Our special field of interest is Messianic Judaism and the Jewish roots of Christianity. The library has books in several languages. The majority of books are in English, the secondary language is Hebrew, and we also have books in Nordic languages - Norwegian, Danish, and Finnish.
Even without a budget for books right now, the library continues to grow. Some people donate books from their own libraries. Others donate collections which they feel are appropriate for our fields of expertise. We even have first editions contributed by the authors themselves. Our aim is to keep current with new books in the fields of our specialties.
Many libraries in Jerusalem are study libraries only but our library is a research library, and a lending library. Despite its good location and the range of books, the library could be more well known. One of the ways in which we plan to publicize it is to print a brochure advertising its facilities.
One challenge we face is working out how to catalogue the books correctly. Many of the subjects overlap, and it is not always easy to know which is the best way to place them so that readers will most easily find the volumes they are seeking. As one project, I am planning to evaluate the cataloguing of the entire library. When this is finished, our library will be even more user friendly than it is today.
How you can help with the library:
Pray that more people would find and utilize our little gem.
Bless the advertising and cataloguing projects.
If you have relevant books you would be willing to donate, please contact Caspari Center.
Training Tomorrow's Leaders Today
Occasionally in the Caspari newsletter we feel the need to express more of our vision for the work we are involved in. Some time ago we sharpened the focus of our work in Israel to more accurately reflect our calling. In so doing, we changed the title of our "local work" to "The Next Generation."
This title expresses our passionate desire to see the young generation of believers be equipped and strengthened for the ongoing work of the gospel in Israel. To accomplish this goal we are focusing our activities on reaching a new generation of young people and leaders in the Messianic community.
The world as a whole is facing a growing crisis in leadership. The effects of this crisis are felt by current leadership structures in governments, the business world, and ministries worldwide as they struggle to identify, train, encourage, and release their successors into leadership roles. Over the past number of years many models for leadership have been developed and there seems to be no one surefire model that is effective in every context. In the post-modern, multicultural global context, many different models and styles are needed.
When dealing in the framework of ministry, different models abound and each one asserts its superiority over others. As concerned men and women of faith, issues other than choosing the "right model" should concern us. There are principles that underlie the broader concept of leadership. These principles can be taken as guidelines for development of effective leadership while using a variety of leadership models.
Three principle areas in which potential leaders need to grow can be identified as gaining knowledge, building character, and developing practical skills. The traditional seminary or Bible School is the usual framework where the first area, gaining knowledge is developed. The second area, building character, is most often seen as the task of the individual in his personal devotional life and in his relationship to his congregation. The third area, developing practical skills, is the most frequently neglected area of leadership development.
Since its inception, Caspari Center has pioneered in the development of materials to impart knowledge of the Bible and its backgrounds for the Hebrew speaking believer. Today, we have chosen to expand our core to include the third area of leadership training, developing skills. We are committed to seeing the next generation of believers in Israel have practical ministry skills so that their generation will not have to face another leadership crisis.
Hearts to Serve
Our new leadership training program is called "Hearts to Serve." The reason for this title is simply that the first prerequisite for leadership is an attitude of service. We began in September and are currently working with a group of sixteen young and developing leaders from twelve congregations and ministries from within the Messianic community in Israel.
We aim to provide practical tools to enable the young leaders to more effectively do the work of the gospel. The areas we have highlighted for this first year of studies are vision building, time management, financial management, dealing with conflicts in the ministry structure, how to deal with stress, cross-cultural communication, project management and others.
The "Hearts to Serve" program makes use of experienced, qualified teachers who lecture in the field of their expertise. In addition to high quality teaching, another element is important in this leadership training program. This is the component of "mentoring." In between the monthly lectures, each student meets with a personal mentor on a one to one basis. This provides continuity between monthly seminars, helps the student work through the materials and begin to apply what he has learned and lastly, models a caring and supportive relationship.
By providing these kinds of practical ministry skills to a new generation of leaders, we hope to see the work of the community become mere efficient and expand. Our desire is to see this "new generation" fully equipped to serve the "next generation" of believers and thereby to give our ministry a truly generational perspective.
