Emmaus Way was officially birthed in 1990 as we (Arni and Yonit Klein) were preparing to immigrate to Israel.  The seed, however, was implanted in 1986 when the Spirit of the Lord impressed me (arni) with the following: "I have called you to worship and evangelism and not to church administration.  Worship is the response to the Presence of the Lord and evangelism is the natural outgrowth of a life of worship."

When we immigrated to Israel from New York in July 1992 with our teenaged son and daughter, David Wilkerson, our pastor, commissioned us with a prophetic declaration that we were being sent to reach the youth in the streets with music and drama.  In addition to this, we already had a burden that people would catch the vision of ministering to the Lord.  By this we mean that fellowship with God would not be solely based upon needs, regardless of whether the requests were personal or for the salvation of the world.

In faith we left the U.S. with a vision.  We had no idea how we would express the burdens the Lord had laid on our hearts or where our support would come from, but we were certain of our calling and sending.

In the fall of 1993, during an evangelistic outreach at the Tel Aviv beachfront, it became evident to us that the peoples’ hearts were open but their minds were locked.  I heard the Spirit say that the prince of this world had blinded their minds with a demonic smoke-like covering; and that in order for the seekers to be able to perceive and receive the message of the Gospel, the spiritual atmosphere of the city needed to be changed.

A few months later, in partnership with another ministry, we developed and produced a mime drama called "The Seeker" which was designed to reach peoples’ hearts.  It portrayed the kind of journey Yonit and I went on through the late 60’s and 70’s in search of the truth.  The point was to help people see their need first and then to bring them the answer.

There were about five months of preparation, which included getting the backing of the main congregational leaders in the area and holding regular prayer/training meetings.  The presentation included twenty minutes of original songs followed by a choreographed mime drama performed by local believers.  We presented the program outdoors for three nights in the center of Tel Aviv.  About three hundred people stopped each night for the forty-five minute program, and close to one hundred people each night responded to an invitation to a nearby Messianic coffeehouse.

The event birthed an album of songs in Hebrew designed to help seekers see their need, which I (Arni) wrote in collaboration with a believing Israeli friend.  When it was completed in 1995, instead of directing us to the streets, the Lord made it clear that there was yet more preparatory work needing to be done in the spirit realm before the recording could be successfully used.  He said, "Put it on the side and minister to Me.  When My Presence comes, the darkness will depart and the blind and deaf will be able to see and hear."

In the winter of 1997, God drew our attention to Scriptures relating to the area of Jaffa/Tel Aviv:  Joshua 19:40; Judges 1:34; Judges 18; and Judges 12:30.  This area is the most densely populated region in Israel.  Sitting between the past and the future, it is the heart and soul of the modern secular state and has a crucial role in preparing the way for the Lord's return.  It is a city that never sleeps, whose streets are filled day and night with a multitude of young Israelis in search of life and purpose.  Their hunger and desperation are reminiscent of the counterculture revolution of the 60's and 70's in the West that swept many into the Kingdom of God.

Jaffa/Tel Aviv is the only part of the inheritance God gave to the twelve tribes that was neither conquered nor occupied by ancient Israel.  The Amorites overpowered the tribe of Dan (to whom the land was given) and prevented them from taking their place among their brethren.  Consequently, their redemptive gift of righteous judgment (Genesis 49:16) was not released into the nation.  Instead, the Amorite, the Hebrew root of whose name means "speaker," remained in control -- we believe -- even until today.  (We discuss this in more detail in our pamphlet entitled "Worship, Warfare, Israel & Spiritual Authority."

As Israel's communication center, Tel Aviv's anointing for proclamation, meant by God to speak life, has instead been a tool in the enemy's hand to sow division and strife and to keep the seekers blinded and confused.  The Lord told us that Dan’s inheritance needed to be taken so that the seekers would be released from the influence of the Amorite.  The strategy the Lord revealed to us concerning "claiming Dan's inheritance" was to prepare a place for Him by establishing 24-hour worship, engaging Him rather than the spirits of darkness.  When His Presence would abide in the city, the darkness would retreat and the people would be able to see in truth.

Initially, we looked for a quiet place in the country. Our vision was for a tabernacle of worship, rooms for twenty-four guests, and quarters for our family and the staff necessary to oversee the facility.  After six months of searching on about thirty "moshavim" (communities built on semi-cooperatively leased government-owned land), we learned that there was a law that would likely cause us to lose any property on which we would have a public ministry oriented to New Testament beliefs.  Within a week, a 50,000 square-foot facility, the Tel Aviv home of the Israeli labor union (Histadrut), came to the attention of our ministry partners as being for sale.  The Lord spoke to the couple that made the initial donation, saying, "If you don’t do it, somebody else will; and whatever you do, do for eternity."  So they bought the building, along with a smaller two-story structure and a parking lot.

The Worship Center was located on the fourth floor of Esther House in the heart of Tel Aviv. It was comprised of a Tabernacle for worship; a room for intercession; a small room for quiet meditation; single and dormitory rooms able to comfortably accommodate about thirty-five guests; and bathroom, kitchen, dining, lounge, and laundry facilities.

The invitation was particularly to those who are ready and willing to give of themselves, seeking nothing in return.  Various venues for involvement were available to individuals and groups, ranging from single worship sessions to programs of ten days or more.

On April 19th 2005, after three months of prayer and seeking the Lord, the Spirit spoke individually to every member of our team saying, in essence, that after seven years of pouring our heart out for the inheritance of Dan our time in Tel Aviv had come to a close.  He instructed us to pack up the Tabernacle.  

We had been prepared for this dramatic change through dreams, prophetic words and the unfolding of natural circumstances.  By God's grace and a lot of help from our friends, all the furnishings of the Tabernacle and ministry offices found their way into storage.  The next chapter, how and where God has planted us, may be even more amazing than the one that came before.

As sovereignly as God planted us in the first place, as sovereignly as God uprooted us, so He has planted us again in the place of His choosing.  The community of Emmaus Way is now located on Moshav Nes Harim, high in the Judean mountains, near Beit Shemesh (between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv).  Among other things inherent in this move, God has shifted our ministry focus from regional to national.  Though we understand that the Lord desires for us to establish another worship center similar to what existed in Tel Aviv, we also know He desires for us to take what He has imparted to us in the last five years out to the body in the rest of the Land.

Stay tuned for the rest of the story.

Worship is the highest level of spiritual warfare.  When God inhabits the praises of His people, the light of His Presence scatters the darkness and the spiritually blind are able to see.  True worship comes forth to God from those who know who they are, are at rest with their identities, and are offering up from pure hearts the sounds and rhythms God has placed within them.  The various forms of redeemed indigenous worship are distinct and unique weapons against the kingdom of darkness.  For the worldwide army of God to be fully armed, indigenous worship must be restored.

In light of this conviction, to encourage and release the Native peoples, we have participated in gatherings focusing on Israel and the First Nations peoples in Minto, Alaska; Mistissini, Quebec; and Ottawa, Canada; and have spoken at the World Christian Gatherings on Indigenous People in Sydney, Australia in 2000 and Hawaii in 2002.

The youth in Israel today have a culture all their own.  A significant door has been opened into the Israeli seeker/counter-culture community.  After years of preparing the ground through worship and prayer, we have found pockets of fertile soil in which to plant and invest ourselves.  In order for God’s plan for the salvation of the world to be fulfilled, a generation must be raised up in Israel that knows the Lord. Such a harvest generation exists today in Israel. Tel Aviv, more than any other place, is their hub.  The harvest is very, very white. And the way the fabric of Israeli society is knit, many will be swept in together when the wave hits.  The spiritual atmosphere is strikingly similar to what existed in the West in the 60’s and 70’s. Israeli young people are desperate to find answers to life’s dilemmas.  They are not openly opposed or put off by the Name of Yeshua as were their parents and grandparents; but there still remain spiritual hurdles to overcome.  After all, as we noted earlier, this may be the generation in all of history most feared by the prince of darkness.

In June 2003, at the time of Shavuot (Pentecost), we had the privilege of organizing and underwriting a historic event in Israel. In cooperation with Grand Chief Lynda Prince, we brought thirty-nine Native believers from Hawaii, New Zealand, Ireland, and North America to present their culture, their traditions, and their faith at a yearly three-day outdoor festival (Shantipi) in Israel.  14,000 attended and many considered the Natives to have been the main attraction.  We see God building a long-term relationship that at every touch opens wider the hearts of lost Israelis to the love of God.  It is also the first time any believing group has been openly welcomed as such into the inner circle of any major event of this nature.

We extended an invitation to friends in the neighborhood and to those that came to our camp at the festival to a gathering a few days after Shantipi in the parking lot behind our staff residence.  We put a shade covering overhead and reed mats on the ground, set up a six-meter-diameter tipi, and the Natives cooked traditional dishes.  Two hundred and fifty Israelis came. The Natives danced, sang, and shared testimonies of the Lord’s grace.  The people were very open and many were overwhelmed by the love they felt.  A good number signed up to be able to stay in touch.

If you are stirred by what you have read and would like to be personally

in touch, please do not hesitate to contact us directly.