Update: Summary of Light Up The Church 2023

November 13, 2023

This summary was written by Gidon Ariel, CEO of Root Source and principal of Light Up the Church.

Following the success of the first run of Light Up The Church in November 2022, we eagerly anticipated repeating the event in 2023.

In 2022, we engaged 72 churches, 18 parachurch ministries, 4 businesses, and 19 individuals. They were all listed on our website, and many provided pictures of their lit-up institutions. Close to 2000 people registered with our “I Stand With The Jewish People” declaration.

Despite major distractions to our focus on Light Up The Church this year, including a previously unplanned two-week-long trip to the USA in mid-October and, of course, the Hamas War, we succeeded in doubling the registrants on our site. This success is primarily due to the efforts of our newly retained Social Media Director, Josh Frampton. He quickly focused exclusively on Light Up The Church, and a fortuitous interview on CBN Jerusalem Dateline, combined with the attention brought by the Hamas War, made significantly more people pay attention to Israel and step up to the plate.

In summary of Light Up The Church 2023, our site now lists 126 churches, 34 parachurch ministries, 13 businesses, and 107 individuals and home groups. Over 1000 people signed our “I Stand With The Jewish People” declaration this month.

We express our gratitude to the Nathaniel Foundation and the Carson-Myre Foundation, who have generously supported this project for the second year in a row. Looking towards 2024, we aspire to expand our reach through more committed partnerships with Christian leaders, a more intense Social Media campaign, and more mainstream media appearances.

Sincerely,
Gidon Ariel
CEO, Root Source