Steve Conover: Thank you for joining us for The Friends of Israel Today. I'm Steve Conover, executive director of The Friends of Israel. With me is our host and teacher, Chris Katulka.

Chris Katulka: Steve, we got a great show. Every so often we like to feature the ministries that are happening all around the world with The Friends of Israel. It's not just The Friends of Israel Today radio program that's the ministry of The Friends of Israel. We have representatives all around the world serving the Lord as they engage in the Jewish community and represent the ministry in their local churches. And today we have Trevor Stewart-Sweet from the United Kingdom tuning in with us to be able to share about his ministry as he and his wife Maggie, serve with The Friends of Israel in the United Kingdom. They've been doing that since 2016, connecting with their Jewish neighbors, attending special events in the Jewish community, and really importantly, sharing about the importance of what God thinks biblically about Israel and the Jewish people and churches all around the United Kingdom. It's going to be great to hear from Trevor today.

Steve Conover: Yeah, we look forward to hearing from Trevor. But first in the news, Hamas has reported to have expressed its willingness to reach an agreement to end the war in Gaza with a one-time release of all the remaining hostages, this in exchange for a five year ceasefire. Israel rejected the proposal claiming that any truce with Hamas that would allow the terrorist group to re-arm, recover and continue its war against the state of Israel with greater intensity is off the table.

Chris Katulka: Well, Steve, here's my take. This is a serious situation and they're asking for a five year hiatus in the war, which again, as they had mentioned, would give Hamas an opportunity to re-arm, recover and continue its war. And actually I think Israel is doing the best that it can to balance all of this, to balance the release of the hostages in Gaza with their stated goal to also destroy Hamas. The truth is this, Hamas is a cancer that must be dismantled, uprooted, and destroyed, or else Israel will continue to deal with Hamas terrorism for years to come. 

Chris Katulka: Well, I am so thankful today that we have Trevor Stewart-Sweet from the United Kingdom with me today. He is actually in Scotland right now doing ministry. But Trevor, thanks so much for joining us and sharing with us about the ministry that you have with The Friends of Israel.

Trevor Stewart-Sweet: Thanks, Chris. It's great to be with you here. And thank you again for having me on the program.

Chris Katulka: Trevor, can you share with us a little about your role with The Friends of Israel in the UK and really the unique opportunities and challenges that you face in Jewish ministry there?

Trevor Stewart-Sweet: Yeah, sure. I'd like to go back to early 2016 when Maggie and I joined Friends of Israel. We were challenged then to grow and develop the ministry throughout the UK—that's England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Well, we already had contact with a number of pastors and we were therefore able to begin with a small number of speaking engagements. But it quickly became apparent to us that FOI wasn't well known as a ministry here. And even those who knew about FOI didn't know about the support we give to the Jewish community and to Jewish nonprofit organizations. And so our initial challenge, and in fact it's really an ongoing challenge, but the initial challenge was that of education. And so we developed presentations that described in detail the work of The Friends of Israel around the world and we share this whenever we're given the opportunity.

We also began with no financial support, either personal or for the ministry in general. And it's taken a number of years for us to build up this background of support and understanding of the ministry. But now, almost 10 years later, we're beginning to see the fruit of our labors in the way that the Lord is blessing the ministry and how there's a better understanding of the scope and the breadth of the work that we do both here in the UK and internationally. We've now got our own dedicated Friends of Israel UK website at www.friendsofisrael.uk. And there we give details of the UK ministry and how Maggie and I became involved. As for challenges, Friends of Israel UK is still not as well known as other Jewish ministries. Before we came on board, there'd been virtually no active promotion of the ministry in the UK.

And so it was not uncommon for us to be confused with other “friends of Israel” ministries and groups, and equally for people to tell us which of those other ministries they were already supporting. Well, in any environment there's always a struggle to become better known. And so we quickly discovered that it's our unique approach to ministry and the giving of grants to Jewish nonprofits that’s actually helped us to better establish the ministry. We also realized that we couldn't use the abbreviation FOI. That wasn't well known in the UK for The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry. And so we have to ensure that we actually use the full name The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry. So that's really where we're at at the moment. We've been really well blessed by the Lord as we go round. We've seen an increase in the number of churches that we have access to. And even just this last week, we had a couple that have introduced us to further venues that we'll be able to speak at next year.

Chris Katulka: Trevor, that's amazing. And I just want to say too for our listeners that Trevor and Maggie Stewart-Sweet are in a unique place in the United Kingdom because really a lot of the origins of our ministry at The Friends of Israel is connected to the events that were happening in London as we would send the funds that we would raise in 1938 and on over to London to help the Jewish people that were suffering under Hitler's hand. And so London has always played a very strategic and important role. The UK has always played a strategic and important role in the ministry, and Trevor and Maggie are continuing that, as you can hear in his testimony here. Trevor, I'm interested though because a lot has happened since October 7th globally when it comes to support for Israel. What does Christian support for Israel look like among believers in the United Kingdom today, and how have you seen that change over the years?

Trevor Stewart-Sweet: Well, that's interesting you asked that, Chris, because obviously the churches and the fellowships that we visit, support for Israel is solid. There's no doubt about that. And Bible-believing Christians wherever you go in the UK are fully supportive of Israel. And if anything, that's become even more so since October ‘23. And so we're seeing very much a solid support for Israel amongst Bible believing Christians. And that's become evident as well when we've attended receptions and functions attended by the Jewish community. The number of Christians that actually are there as well with us is an encouragement. But having said that, for a large number of believers, it's not the case. If anything, lack of support for Israel among many believers has become even more apparent since October ‘23. And I think that's because of the prevalence of replacement theology in the church. It's also down to the fact, and this is linked with the rise of antisemitism, which I think we're going to talk about shortly, with the representation of the situation by our media. So I think there's been a drastic change in many ways of perhaps non-committal to Israel, to maybe a lack of committal to Israel amongst a lot of believers. But within the communities that we see, I think it's fair to say that the support is solid and it's very much there at the fore.

Chris Katulka: You had just mentioned that we're going to talk about antisemitism, and oftentimes what pops up the most since October 7th, is a rise of global antisemitism. That the events that are taking place in Israel as Israel is trying to dismantle and destroy Hamas. All of a sudden you see a rise of antisemitism in major cities all around the world, and the UK is definitely on the map for a rise of antisemitism. So as we look at this, how has this growing hostility affected the Jewish community in the United Kingdom? And how has FOI been responding to these troubling trends in the UK as well?

Trevor Stewart-Sweet: Well, I don't know what it's like around the rest of the world, but certainly the regular marches that have been taking place in this country and are still taking place almost on a weekly basis in major cities, a number of them actually are passing very close, if not passing through areas where there's a Jewish community, they're passing close by synagogues. There've been instances where they've passed very close to synagogues on Shabbat as well. And that's actually given rise to, I wouldn't say so much, well yes, I suppose there is a fear on those, the communities that are living close to those marches, but it's certainly causing people in the Jewish community to be unsettled and concerned.

The way that we've approached this, and I think it's true with a number of people that support Israel, particularly for Friends of Israel, we take every advantage we can to attend meetings or other events that are organized by the Jewish community to stand alongside them. Whenever we meet Jewish people, we come into conversation with them, we will share what we do and why we do it, the reasons that we do it, give them biblical reasons, give them our personal reasons and our heartfelt emotional reasons that are there also. And also share with them the work that the Friends of Israel do to support the community. And so by doing that, we're building up good relationships with Jewish organizations. We've got a very strong relationship with a particular synagogue. It's a very close relationship. And by explaining what we do and why we do it, I think we're helping to give that message of hope to the Jewish community that there are people standing with them because so often they feel isolated and alone.

And even though there's a large Christian community in support, many Jewish people don't know that. They don't realize that as individuals because they don't come into contact. And so it's very much to the forefront for us when we go to these events, when we meet with people to do that. Friends of Israel UK also has, we organized to give some grants last year to Jewish nonprofits with UK offices, so our donors could actually donate in Sterling, which was a great benefit. As we did that, we also met with the senior executives of those organizations, all of them basically based in London. And again, built up those personal relationships by explaining not just the fact that we've given them that grant, but explaining what we do as a whole as a ministry. And so by doing that, we're very much, I think, seeing the fruit of that with the people that we meet and the friendships that we've developed.

Chris Katulka: If you're just tuning in, we're speaking with Trevor Stewart-Sweet, our United Kingdom representative with The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry. And when we return, we're going to share with you about Trevor's most recent visit to Israel as a Friends of Israel representative from the UK and the amazing ministry that he had over there and how it's impacted the Jewish people in Israel as well. So be sure to stick around.

Steve Conover: Chris, we've been blessed to add some new radio stations recently and I'm sure we have some who don't know much about The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry.

Chris Katulka: Yeah, Steve. For years The Friends of Israel has been a trusted source for those seeking to understand God's heart for the Jewish people. We're excited to invite new listeners into our growing community. We're offering a free digital download of our popular booklet, Whose Land is it Anyway? This booklet explores the historical, legal, and biblical claims to the land of Israel, providing clarity on a complex and often misunderstood topic.

Steve Conover: It's a great resource. If you've ever wondered about the ongoing struggle in the Middle East and want to be able to understand and defend why God has given the Holy Land to the Jewish people, this is the resource for you. We want to equip you to understand and support the Jewish people, not based on mere opinion, but based on God's trustworthy and unchanging Word. To get your free digital copy of Whose Land is it Anyway?, visit foiradio.org. That's foiradio.org.

Chris Katulka: Hello everybody, and welcome back. I am with Trevor Stewart-Sweet, our representative with The Friends of Israel in the United Kingdom. Trevor, I'm still waiting to come out and visit you, brother. I got to come out and see you.

Trevor Stewart-Sweet: It's an open invitation, Chris. You just get your flight and tell us when you’re coming. (inaudible) ..and do something good.

Chris Katulka: I would absolutely love that. Now, listen, I know that you were just in Israel. You were over there with my wife recently on one of our Friends of Israel trips that we had where we're able to go over and see all the amazing ministry that's going on in Israel through the Friends of Israel, our Stand with Israel tour. And so what I want to share with you though, share with our listeners is that you went over there as a representative of the Friends of Israel from the United Kingdom, and could you share about the appeal that you had to those believers in England to raise funds for bomb shelters in Israel?

Trevor Stewart-Sweet: Yeah, let me first of all say, I went with my wife too, Chris.

Chris Katulka: That's right.

Trevor Stewart-Sweet: But yeah, we were very privileged to be able to go there. As I said, just in the last segment, we'd in the UK given grants to some organizations through their UK offices. And so Maggie and I went before the group from America/Canada arrived to visit the areas that we'd supported. We visited a couple of the organizations and met with their Israeli staff. But what we did in October ‘23 when everything kicked off is that Maggie and I felt very, very much that we needed to do something more concrete in the UK. So we put an appeal out to our constituents in early October, and we asked them to help us or to partner with us in raising funds to buy a bomb shelter. We were absolutely amazed that within, I think it was five or six weeks, our donors had responded big time, and we were able to send 24 and a half thousand dollars over to Operation LifeShield in Israel to buy a shelter.

That first shelter was actually situated at a school for Disadvantaged Boys. It's called (Hebrew). (Hebrew) is the place where it's located. It's in an orthodox community close to Ben Gurion Airport. And so that first shelter was there. We worked with Operation LifeShield, just as you do in the States. And so Maggie and I visited that shelter. We met with the Rabbi who took us around and explained the facilities for the boys there, and we saw the shelter, and that was a wonderful thing just to see firsthand what our donors had raised to support Israel with. But further than that, we had more funds coming in. And so in early ‘24, we looked at the situation and we approached Operation LifeShield again, and said, “Look, we've got some funds for another shelter.” They came back to us and they said, “Well, there's a kindergarten in the town of Safed up on the Northern Galilee that doesn't have a shelter.

Parents are scared to send their children there because there's no shelter and there's no protection. So we immediately looked at the finances and we asked how much the shelter would cost. When we found out that the cost was $20,000, we had that almost in the funds. So we took a little bit from another fund just to pop it up, and we shipped that over to Operation Life Shield to put that shelter in at the kindergarten. It was the first one they had. Now, just prior to that, they put out a video. One of the parents in particular with a plea for a shelter. They'd actually built the base for the shelter, and they were waiting for the shelter to arrive. And so we were very, very blessed to learn that our shelter was going to be put there. And so when we were in Israel, as well as visiting the shelter at (Hebrew), Maggie and I drove up to the Northern Galilee.

It's not that far from the Lebanese border. We met a young lady there who'd been instrumental in getting the shelter positioned. And we went to the kindergarten and we were told that there was a welcome that had been arranged for us, and it was just a real blessing. We struggled to hold the tears back. The children put on a concert for us. They sang songs. Of course, we had to get involved, and they gave us a little presentation of a picture of the shelter with the children in front of it. And then we went to the shelter. All the children came out, they sat in the shelter, and we were able to position the dedication plaque on there and with the mayor of the town who'd actually asked to be present at the meeting as well at the time we were there, we also put a mezuzah on the door.

And so that was a very touching occasion for us. It goes further than that, Chris, if I might just add a little bit more. Because while we were there, we were told that it wasn't just the issue of rockets that needed to be addressed, and of course, since the ceasefire in Lebanon, that's decreased somewhat. But because of the noise and the emergency sort of situation that the children are placed in, a lot of them are suffering from PTSD, post-traumatic stress syndrome or disorder. And so what they want to do at the kindergarten is to, well, the inside of the shelter is just bare walls and a hanging lamp at the moment, but they want to make it look at more attractive and welcoming for the children, and also to make it such that they can use that as a place to give them counseling. And so we're now looking to be able to fund the upgrade of that shelter internally, and that's something which we're now talking through with them. And so that relationship that we have with the kindergarten, with the young lady that organized it with Operation LifeShield is yet another way that we can stand in and show in real terms, in practical terms, in personal terms, the way that we're supporting not just the kindergarten, but supporting the people of Israel at this drastic and terrible time.

Chris Katulka: Trevor, I'm so thankful that you had a chance to go and to minister to those Israelis and Safed, especially those kindergarten kids, those Israeli kids. And I agree with what you're saying because I was just in Israel a few weeks ago, and we met with a kindergarten teacher down on the border of Gaza, and that kindergarten teacher broke out in tears because every day a kid comes up to him, an Israeli kid, and says, “Are we safe today? Are we safe from the threat of Hamas? Are we safe from the threat of Hezbollah? Are we safe?” And that teacher just looked at us and broke down in tears, Trevor, because he can only, I don't want to use the word “lie,” but he can only pretend for so long. He doesn't have an answer for them. It really wears not only on the children, it wears on the adults as well who are doing the best that they possibly can to protect those children.

And you know what? The Scriptures say in Genesis 12, “I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you.” And Trevor, I know you and Maggie, your wife, who are serving in the United Kingdom are doing everything that you possibly can to bless the Jewish people because your passion for God's Word has led to compassion for God's Chosen People. Look, in the two minutes that we have remaining here, can you just share, looking ahead, what are you looking forward to the most when it comes to your ministry, ministering to the Jewish people, investing in the local church in the UK, and how can we be praying for your ministry as well, Trevor?

Trevor Stewart-Sweet: Well, thank you, Chris. It's been a wonderful opportunity just to share this and just to be there in Israel and to understand firsthand what's happening and the people, it was a real privilege and a blessing. As far as the UK is concerned, we're looking ahead. We've established now a dedicated office. We're now looking to take on some part-time staff to help us with administration. There was one lady in particular has offered her services. We're waiting to see if she can relocate. We just met last week with a couple who are really keen to help us, and so we're working to see how they can do more in terms of promoting the ministry and trying to find more places for us to go and share. We're looking always for more churches and fellowships to open their doors to us to be able to go in and tell them and share the work and the vital work that we do to support the Jewish community, and also to encourage them to support their local Jewish communities because we're only two people and the church is made of many, so they can be part of what we do. They can partner with us in all of this.

And so that's what we're looking forward to doing. We're always looking for activity with the church to be able to give that opportunity to share about the work and share from God's Word about Israel and the Messiah, which is an important part of what we do and as far as praying for us, pray that first and foremost for safety in our travels. We do travel quite extensively. We spend a lot of time away from home, sometimes just for one or two nights, but sometimes for prolonged periods, so we're going for safety on our travels. Pray for new opportunities to meet new churches, new fellowships, to come into contact with more people and to raise up more interest for The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry—United Kingdom here in the United Kingdom. And also to pray that we would have more people that would want to partner with us, because obviously the more partners we have, the more support we get, the more we can invest in the work that we do.

Chris Katulka: Trevor, thank you so much. If you'd like to partner with Trevor and Maggie Stewart-Sweet in the United Kingdom, you can do that actually right here from the United States. You can go to their webpage, foi.org/stewartsweet. That's s-w-e-e-t at the end, foi.org/stewartsweet. Trevor, thank you so much for being with us and we're continuing to pray for you as you serve in the United Kingdom.

Trevor Stewart-Sweet: Chris, thank you so much for the opportunity and thank you to all who are listening for the blessing that you are to us just by hearing this and partnering with us.

Steve Conover: Thanks for joining us for today's episode of The Friends of Israel Today. It was great to have Trevor on with us. If you'd like to learn more about Trevor and his ministry, you can check out our show notes at foiradio.org. Also, while you're there, don't forget to get your free digital download of our popular booklet, Whose Land is it Anyway? Again, that's foiradio.org. Chris, where are we headed next week?

Chris Katulka: Steve, as you know, May 14th, 1948 is when Israel became a nation, when David Ben Gurion, Israel's first Prime Minister, declared independence, and we're going to be talking all about Israel's independence and David Ben Gurion’s thoughts and feelings about what was going on at that time as new documents from his diary have recently been released. It's going to be an interesting conversation to have.

Steve Conover: We hope you'll join us then. Once again, you can reach us at foiradio.org. Our mailing address is FOI Radio PO Box 914, Bellmawr, New Jersey 08099. Again, that's FOI Radio PO Box 914, Bellmawr, New Jersey 08099. You can call our listener line. That number is 888-343-6940. Once again, that's 888-343-6940. Today's program was engineered by Bob Beebe. Edited by Jeremy Strong, who also composed and performs our theme music. Lisa Small is our executive producer. Sarah Fern is our associate producer. And I'm Steve Conover, executive director of The Friends of Israel. The Friends of Israel Today is a production of The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry. Passion for God's Word. Compassion for God's Chosen People.