Why Israel? Why indeed! Why is Israel so important that it is rarely out of the news? There are many Christians who believe that the re-establishment of the State of Israel and the continuing struggle in the Holy Land are very significant events.

Within the United Kingdom there are many Christian Ministries which have a particular interest in Israel. These may be ministries which support various projects in Israel, teach about Israel, are helping the Jewish people to return to their Promised Land, or prayer ministries who pray for Israel. These ministries have come together under the name Love Never Fails to work together to promote issues concerning Israel, working mainly in the church.

At the Christian Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem in 1997, Sister Pista from the Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary, Darmstadt, challenged the participants to consider the need for the church to repent of its 2,000-year history of anti-Semitism before the new Millenium. This challenge was picked up in the United Kingdom and a small group of leaders from around a dozen Christian ministries joined together under the name Love Never Fails to express a heart of repentance within the church.

Over the next two years, a number of services of repentance were held in various places around the UK, particularly in places where there had been specific acts of anti-Semitism. This included, for example, cities where the leaders had paid extra money to the King to have Jews excluded from living within their city walls. These times of repentance culminated in a service in the Palace of Westminster in November 1999, when a solemn declaration containing thousands of signatures was presented to the Deputy Lieutenant for Greater London expressing sorrow for the church's anti-Semitism, and conveyed to Her Majesty the Queen.

Then in 2001, the move of repentance returned to Jerusalem, at a major conference organised by the Sisters of Mary. A contingent from Love Never Fails took part in the conference, which was addressed by our chairman, Geoffrey Smith. True repentance is only shown by deeds, and not just by words, so we sought ways in which we could express our change of heart towards Israel and the Jewish people.

Together and in our separate ministries we promote the message of Israel within the church and the wider community. The original ministries have now been joined by others. Each year we produce a newspaper called Why Israel? which is distributed free through ministry mailing lists and at exhibitions and conventions. We have also taken space at some Christian Resources Exhibitions to have a stand, also called Why Israel? to challenge those attending to consider this important issue. In early 2004 we also published a booklet, "Are we on the Edge of Judgement?", based on a talk that the late Derek Prince gave in Jerusalem shortly before he died.

Besides speaking to the Church, our aim is to express the love of the Father's heart for His covenant people, Israel. When the Jewish community held a Solidarity with Israel rally in Trafalgar Square, London in 2003 Love Never Fails was able to mobilise several thousand Christians from around the country to attend the rally and express Christian support for Israel. This was the first occasion at which such solidarity had been expressed from the Christian community, and it produced a groundswell of thankfulness and interest from many Jewish people.

In Ephesians 2:14-22 the apostle Paul speaks about "the dividing wall of hostility" having been destroyed through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This refers to the wall within the Temple area in Jerusalem which excluded Gentiles from coming into the presence of God within the Holy Temple itself. Sadly, the church has been busily rebuilding a dividing wall ever since the early centuries of the Christian era, alienating the Jewish people and persecuting them. We seek within Love Never Fails to knock down this new dividing wall, so that Jewish people can see for themselves what Christianity is really like.