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| "Price-Tag"
Vandals Feb 19th, 2012 Late Sunday night, Feb 19, 2012, "Price-Tag" vandals attacked Baptist House, home of the Narkis Street Congregation, spraying multiple slurs against Jesus and his followers: "Jesus son of a whore" Besides defacing the church's walls, the attackers also damaged three vehicles in the Baptist House parking lot. The cars also were spraypainted in slurs and had their tires slashed. The next morning, Monday, Feb 20, Baptist staff along with Pastor Chuck Kopp met with the Jerusalem police, the Israeli government's Christian Communities Liaison Officer, the Advisor to the Mayor for Religious Communities, and media members to report and discuss the attack. The next day, Tuesday, Feb 21, a small gathering was held in the chapel with Dr. Moti Zaken, Special Advisor to the Minister of Internal Security of the Israeli government. Dr. Zaken proclaimed his solidarity with all of us on the corner of 4 Narkis Street along with other Christian residents of Jerusalem.
Our congregation has been down this path before... 1982, October, our original chapel was burnt down by arsonists Liz Kopp recalls from that 1982 attack, "Among all the letters, cards, and bouquets the most poignant expression of solidarity was left by an elderly holocaust survivor in the form of a single red rose thrust between the charred piano keys."
2007, November, our new chapel was attacked by arsonists but ultimately did not succeed this time
This corner where our church has met for decades has been the object of violence and vandalism multiple times including rocks, fire bombs, and molotov cocktails through our windows, and the detonation of a paint can filled with nails at one of our entrances. In each and every instance, God's grace has prevailed and not one person has been killed or maimed. We will not grow weary in well doing and will not cease in being the light that inspires our neighbors to glorify the Father. We will continue to be the salt that causes people to thirst for the Truth (Matt 5:13-16). Thank you for your prayers and support that helps us spread the Good News.
Narkis Street Congregation, October 2012, it has been 30 years since our original chapel was burnt down.
Letters from Neighbors and Abroad: "dear narkis community, i was deeply saddened to hear today of the attack perpetrated against you three days ago. this is absolutely unacceptable. our psalms speak of jerusalem as a city in which people pursue peace. i can think of no worse way people can be acting in such a city as to perform acts of hate and terror like these. we say in the jewish tradition, "kol yisrael arevim zeh la zeh," each Jew is responsible one for another. so, i felt compelled to write in and express to you my absolute condemnation of such a despicable act. in peace and solidarity..." Dear Pastor Kopp, I want to express my deep sympathy over the attack on your church, and to condemn these actions. As an American Jew with close ties to Israel, I feel that these events are unfortunately, the work of a few extremists, who claim to represent a larger population than they actually do. The important thing is that as servants of one G-d, we can work together to spread His messages of love and unity throughout the world, and together triumph over such harmful actions as these. Sending prayers to you and your community at this time, Sincerely, Pastor Kopp, Message:For Narkis Street Congregation. Dear members of the Narkis Baptist congregations, Like many Jews around the world, I am truly horrified to hear and see the pictures of what has happened to you in recent days. All the more so to learn that this is not the first such attack you have suffered. A onetime frequent visitor to Jerusalem, I passed by your site many times and can picture its tranquility in my mind's eye. How can we explain such behavior on the part of Jews? How can they/we not know better? Do all the lessons of Jewish history mean nothing? My heart breaks at the thought that members of my people, now for the first time in a majority, act in this horribly un-Jewish and un-Biblical way toward "strangers" in their midst. If I search for explanation, as I must, I find it mostly in the depth of still unhealed wounds. Centuries of persecution and degradation leave deeper marks than we can plummet, as we see with various populations who are at once liberated and yet still stuck in the patterns wrought by the chains of their old life. I pray that you - who are so well-trained in forgiveness - will be able to forgive them, for your own healing as well as theirs. I do hope that the Israeli leadership finds a way to identify, punish, and re-educate them, for their sake and for the sanity and wholeness of our Jewish body politic, which is as gravely wounded as you are by this awful act. Peace and blessings to you. Hello Narkis Street Congregation, I am praying that you will not lose heart, that the Lord will keep you safe, and that you would be a shining light of the Gospel in the Holy Land. "Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen." (Heb 13:20-21)
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Regarding the wave of anti-Christian “price-tag” attacks in Israel in 2012...
Christian-Jewish Solidarity
Reception at Baptist House
In response to the outbreak of multiple anti-Christian attacks by the "Price-Tag" group, Narkis Street Congregation hosted a Christian-Jewish Solidarity Reception at Baptist House on Oct 23, 2012.
Deputy Mayor Pepe Alalu (pictured
above), Dr. Moti Zaken, Special Advisor to the
Minister of Internal Security on Minority Affairs, Prof.
Elihu D. Richter, founder of the Jerusalem Center for
Genocide Prevention, Pepe Alalu emphasized that “Jerusalem has
to be a model of tolerance and peaceful coexistence.” Besides Chuck Kopp, pastor of Narkis Street Congregation, Chad Knight, Business Manager of the Baptist Convention in Israel, David Pileggi, Rector of Christ Church in the Old City, and Malcolm Lowe of the Ecumenical Theological Fraternity in Israel, spoke on behalf of Christians urging the Israeli authorities to do their uptmost to end these attacks. Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat personally called to offer his apologies for not being able to attend the Solidarity Reception. He intends to attend the upcoming Dec 13th Christmas-Hanukkah Reception at Baptist House to deliver a speech of solidarity then. For more on the Solidarity Reception, "Christians, Israeli Jews Fight Persecution Together," CBN, Nov 1, 2012 "Christian leaders: Arrest ‘price-tag’ vandals," Jerusalem Post, Oct 23, 2012 Price-Tag Attacks Against Monastery of the Cross, Feb 7, 2012 Baptist House, Narkis Street, Feb 19, 2012 Latrun Monastery, Sept 4, 2012 Church of the Dormition on Mount Zion, Oct 2, 2012 St. George Romanian Orthodox Church, Oct 8, 2012 Reports on and Responses to the Feb 19th, 2012 Attack on Baptist House at Narkis St.: AFP Video (37 sec) of Pastor Chuck Kopp CBN Video (2 min 12 sec) Photos of the Attack Other Photos from Demotix News "Vatican asks Peres to help find 'price tag' culprits", Haaretz, Feb 27, 2012 Letter from Kehilat Har-El, neighboring reform synagouge to Narkis Street "Vandals daub death threats on Jerusalem Baptist church", Reuters/AP, Yahoo, AFP, ABC, etc "Jerusalem Christians are latest targets in recent spate of 'price tag' attacks", Haaretz "Latest price tag attack against J'lem church", Jerusalem Post "Jerusalem Church Defaced with Hateful Graffiti", by Julie Stahl, CBN "Jerusalem Baptist Church Vandalized", in Terra Santa "Violence against Baptist Church in Jerusalem, mosques elsewhere, reprehensible and should be denounced", by Rabbi Dow Marmur in the Jewish World "Price tag attack on J’lem church provokes religious condemnation", by Rabbi Dr. Marc Gopinin, +972 Magazine "Writing on the Wall: Israel and Its Christians", by David Rosenberg, The Media Line (Opinion)
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Representatives
from the Foreign Ministry, Interior Ministry, and Public Security
Ministry were invited.
While
Moti Zaken (left) declared that “we are here to express
solidarity. We are here to express sympathy, but let me be very
clear. Solidarity and sympathy is not enough. We have to act.
We have to act through education. We have to act through pressure.”