It all happenned at October 12. Kids came from Nazareth, Qiryat Yam, Tiberius, Afula, Cana, and Shefa-Amr. After get-to-know-you games and splitting into 10 different teams (each team containing both Jewish and Arab kids) they hit the playing field where the teamwork oriented games provided excellent opportunities to work together and laugh together.

One of the youth leaders was asking the boys if they had made any new friends. ?All the people on my team!? was the response of Anaan (13) from Shefa-Amr. Although the kids tended to stick to their own groups and friends, there were several very promising examples of reconciliation across cultural barriers being made. One example was Yousef (from Shefa-Amr) and Eli (from Afula), who were working together to drench people with water from the leftover water balloons.

At the end of the games, the kids gathered for some sandwiches and free time. After a few worship songs, (some Arabic, some Hebrew) the afternoon was capped off by the awards ceremony with the first, second, and third place teams receiving chocolate bars for their performance in the games.

This initiative was brought about by a group of Messianic Jews and Arab Christians who have formed the non-profit group ?One Flock? which seeks to bring Arabs and Jews together in the love of Christ.

The youth leaders of the involved congregations planned and gave leadership to the event.

The leadership recognized that the day was a valuable start, in order to introduce the kids to each other, and they are planning to hopefully follow up the project by holding more meetings designed to encourage fellowship.

To learn more about this initiative, send an email to bader@baptist.org.il