Fiona Sorbala

Fiona grew up in London in a secular home. Her family never spoke of God, which was not surprising as her father was a Scottish psychoanalyst who married a French lady—or so he thought. The first Friday after their marriage, someone invited them to a Sabbath dinner. He then discovered not only was she not French, she was a Jewish refugee from Egypt who came to England via France.

At the age of six, Fiona started attending an Anglican church. Perhaps the Lord was preparing and drawing her to Himself because she would need Him when her mother died unexpectedly. Her Scottish grandmother took her north, forcing her dad to move as well.

She treasured the memory of her Jewish mom, whose brother died working with the French underground during World War II. However, the move north disconnected her from her Jewish roots. As a result, at fourteen, Fiona got saved in a Brethren Assembly and began pursuing God in earnest, and at sixteen, she knew the Lord called her to be a missionary.

At Bible college in her twenties, she gained a renewed awareness of her Jewish identity, which led to a radical change in direction as she explored Messianic Judaism. In 1992, she had the opportunity to go to Saint Petersburg in Russia on an evangelism/humanitarian aid trip. It was a turning point for her, and she felt a strong call both to Jewish people and to the Former Soviet Union, where she would serve the Jewish people in Russia, Ukraine, and Moldova before returning to the United Kingdom in 2003.

Fiona is the co-director of Chosen People Ministries—United Kingdom, where she is on the leadership of Beit Sar Shalom Messianic Congregation in Northwest London. She still loves ministry to the Russian-speaking Jewish community. Fiona spent four months in Berlin helping the Ukrainian refugees. When she can, she travels to the Baltics to minister.