Text and Context

The Kesher course a ten session course, available on
5 DVD discs. The course looks at the Jewish roots of the Christian faith and the place of Israel in God’s purposes today.

The Kesher course is ideal for personal & small group study.
It makes a good Lent Course.

CFI is ministry with a twin focus. CFI seeks to:

1. Bless Israel by means of practical and moral support.

2. Serve the Church with teaching and resources about God's love and purposes for Israel and the Hebraic roots of our faith.

CFI Charitable Trust is a Company limited by guarantee, No. 04984515. Registered Charity No. 1101899

Many who have been studying using CFI-UK's "Kesher Course" have asked what comes next? In response, CFI organised a teaching conference as an opportunity to explore on a deeper level the Jewish roots of our faith, setting the person of the Lord Jesus back in his Jewish context.

Jesus never went to church. He never read a New Testament.  He never sang a Christian hymn. He never encountered a Protestant or a Roman Catholic. He never possessed a passport. Much has been written and spoken about Jesus, but so often this has been filtered through the lens of scholarship or culture. Jesus has become many things to many people and sadly the real man from Nazareth has been obscured or even lost. We constantly need to pursue the quest for insights into the true Jesus as we engage with His world, words and wisdom.

Jesus was a Torah-observant Jewish Rabbi and if we are ever going to understand anything about him then we must set Him in the matrix of first century Jewish life. He grew up in a Jewish family, attended synagogue on Sabbath, celebrated the Jewish festivals and walked the land of Israel. So much of what He said was coherent with Jewish thought and consistent with the teaching of contemporary rabbis. Yet He was unique. He lived in a context of social turmoil, political conflict and religious dissent.A line from Gerard Manley Hopkins provides an appropriate prayer for this conference. ‘Lord of Life, send our roots rain.'   This series will be an opportunity to ‘xplore' the roots of our faith in more depth.  Delving into the world of Yeshua is like visiting a foreign country where we discover people do things differently and speak another language.

However, both the text of Jewish Scripture and context of Jewish life will help us get to know more about the person and work of this Torah-observant village workman whose work is now known all over the world