Joel Goldberg, director of Netivah Youth Ministries in Israel, reports that attendance at the organisation's conferences has grown tenfold — from around 60 participants in its early years to 500–600 per conference today, with approximately 1,500 young people attending annually across seven events. Goldberg shared these figures during a visit to Finland in spring 2026, where he spoke at Forssa Free Church (Forssan Vapaaseurakunta), a congregation that has supported the ministry since 2000.
Netivah, which means "God's path" in Hebrew, was officially founded in 2006 by Joel and Leila Goldberg and will mark its 20th anniversary this autumn. The organisation focuses on a critical window in the lives of messianic young people: older adolescents who, according to Goldberg, face intensified spiritual warfare and are often driven away from congregational life. Netivah provides biblical teaching, pastoral care, and community precisely for this vulnerable age group, and has become the largest organisation in Israel training youth workers for messianic congregations. Conferences are organised separately by age — from around 14 years old to those preparing for mandatory military service, and even gatherings for soldiers on leave.
Speaking at Forssa, Goldberg noted that the COVID-19 pandemic, far from diminishing the work, pushed the team to adopt digital formats and establish a dedicated pastoral phone line. Current security conditions in Israel, he said, have only deepened the hunger young people have for faith and community. Two of the Goldbergs' own sons were serving near the Lebanon border at the time of the interview. "It is a time of enormous expansion," Goldberg told the congregation, adding that the team is praying for God to arrange the resources needed to meet growing opportunities. His persistent prayer is that no young person — their own or anyone else's — would have to serve in war without faith in Jesus.
(Originally published in Finnish. Summary translated by CC / Connexion.)
Source: Suomen Vapaakirkko / Suomen Viikkolehti — svl.fi
