The Bible Comes to Life
Could you invite CMJ to your school?
Who are we?
At CMJ UK (The Churches Ministry Among the Jews) our mission is to magnify Jesus Christ.
On May 23rd, 1809, the first annual report of the organization stated the following ‘The time is come when Christians ought to make some exertion for promoting the knowledge of the truth, as it is in Jesus, among God’s ancient people.’
It goes on to record, using the language of the era, that this is not a novel idea, but ‘it is to be lamented, but ever to be remembered by Christians, that the pages of history, even of British history, are stained with relations of the most atrocious cruelties towards…[the Jewish people].’
None other than William Wilberforce himself was one of the vice-presidents of the organization from its beginning, and in 1813 the patron was the Duke of Kent, Prince Edward, the father of Queen Victoria.
At its outset, CMJ (originally called ‘The London Society for promoting Christianity amongst the Jews) ministered to the Jewish people in Britain, at that time mostly consisting of an extremely poor community. Later CMJ’s work would expand well outside Britain and sent missions through Europe and beyond. CMJ established the first Anglican Church in Israel, Christ Church, Jerusalem. The building was consecrated in 1849, construction having begun some years earlier through the work of the first Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem, German-Jew, Solomon Alexander.
This first bishop journeyed from England to the Holy Land with the help of the Royal Navy, who first offered him passage aboard a ship called ‘Infernal’. He declined to arrive in the Holy Land as a man of peace in a vessel so named, and finally consented to travel on the alternate ship offered for his journey; a ship called ‘Devastation’!
CMJ built and ran the first school for girls in the Middle East which opened in 1842, and in 1844 they also opened the first modern hospital in Jerusalem. Their most famous patient was Richard Cadbury, of the Cadbury’s chocolate dynasty, who having contracted diphtheria in Egypt was taken to the hospital where sadly he succumbed to his illness and died there in 1899.
Back in England in 1882 a Jewish believer in Jesus named Samuel Schor arrived, whose parents had come to faith through the ministry of CMJ in Jerusalem. Samuel became an Anglican minister in Felixstowe, and soon discovered his parishioners knew little about the Middle East or its culture and customs, leaving them short of a full comprehension of the scriptures.
In an effort to remedy this he began importing artefacts from Palestine to help him explain the culture and context of the Bible, over time his collection grew to the point that he realized he could host an exhibition, and in due course he launched the ‘Palestine Exhibition’ and toured the country with it. In June of 1907, the exhibition was set up at the Royal Agricultural Hall in Islington where it attracted three hundred and fifty thousand visitors over nineteen days.
The Palestine exhibition was only interrupted by the outbreak of WW2, after which it continued in various forms until it ran out of steam in 2007 leading to a ten-year pause. In 2017 Paul and Janey Hames revived the exhibition with an updated format, made its ‘six stations’ easily portable and managed to get the show back on the road with one van instead of its past requirement of four railway carriages!
Today the exhibition continues, with two main goals. First, by remaining true to its founders original intent, it is a tool to help Christians learn and understand Biblical history and the Jewish roots of their faith, and second, the exhibition has proven to be a great way of introducing our largely secular culture to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God and Father of our Lord, Jesus the Messiah. Through the exhibition we can communicate the fundamentals of the Gospel. God’s self revelation to a fallen world through a chosen people, the arrival of the promised Messiah, Jesus, and the sending of Jesus followers into all the world to disciple the nations.
The exhibition is an excellent resource for schools as its content covers the fundamentals of Judaism and Christianity, with lots of the history of Israel and Jerusalem during the Biblical period.
We currently display the following exhibits:
• Model of the tabernacle that the Israelites transported through the wilderness.
• Large model of the second temple which was built during the period recorded by the biblical books of Ezra and Nehemiah. This second temple was enlarged by Herod the Great around 5 BC and then destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.
• ½ scale model of the Ark of the Covenant, the famous gold covered box containing the ten commandments alongside an accurately outfitted mannequin in the High Priest’s clothing.
• Torah scroll, the first five books of the Old Testament, written by Moses, forming the central text of the Jewish faith, also scrolls of the book of Esther, one of which dates to the late medieval period, these are displayed with a variety of English and Hebrew Bibles.
• A display focusing on Rabbinic Judaism, with examples of Shofars (rams horns) Tefillin, Mezuzah, Seder plates, Menorah, Kippah’s etc.
• A display of the Biblical Feasts; Passover, Shavuot, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Tabernacles, Hanukkah, and Purim.
• A display explaining Jesus , his incarnation, life, death, and resurrection. We bring a team with detailed knowledge of the ‘station/s’ they are covering, and we dress in Biblical era style clothing, much of which was made in Israel or was hand made for the ‘Palestine exhibition’ of the past, these include Priests, Prophets, Shepherds, Nazarene ladies or a Roman Centurion.
If space allows, we set up our reproduction Bedouin tent which makes a great backdrop for our engagements with school groups. We like to involve the students in ad-hoc recreations of famous Bible stories as an ice breaker before getting everyone into groups and moving them round the exhibition. Within the last six months we have put the exhibition on in a comprehensive school in Lincolnshire where we saw all the RE and PHSE classes for years 7 to 11, around 320 students, and we have also run two exhibitions from church halls, one in the London and one in the Birmingham area, in these events we saw multiple classes from the local primary schools during the day, and then opened for the general public in the evenings.
We welcome bookings from Churches, Schools, Christian Education Co-Operatives and more, we will go wherever there is the potential to increase people’s knowledge and understanding of God’s Story.
We are committed to providing you with a high quality, authentic and adaptable exhibition that is engaging for your visitors. We are friendly, enthusiastic, and sincere, and we look forward to working with you!
Our ‘Bible Comes to Life’ Exhibition can support you with:
• Key Stage 3 Religious Education
• Key Stage 4 Christianity
• Key Stage 4 Judaism
• SMSC
• Understanding of different faiths (British Values)
• Connecting your school with your community and /or churches
If you would like more information or to get in touch, please email: danb@cmj.org.uk
A short taster video of the exhibition can be found here: https://youtu.be/m06vRcXMnV0