Elizabeth Bentley

Our heartfelt condolences to Elizabeth’s family and friends whom she loved and cared for deeply.  Now at rest with her Messiah, earth’s loss is heaven’s gain.

Elizabeth Bentley, or as some will remember her, Elizabeth Hockenhull, was a true ‘eshet chayil’ -a woman of valour. She has been a stalwart of British Messianic Judaism in one form or another for most of her adult life and in the last few days many in the community have written about her care and guidance on their faith journey. She had a much-valued ministry with several organisations working amongst the Jewish community, but CMJ was the one which she served longest.

Elizabeth was born in Pinner, Middlesex , an area with a strong Jewish community and her family, the Viners,  had Jewish roots. However, at the time of her birth, the family were practising Anglicans and the baby Elizabeth Viner was baptised at Christchurch, Roxeth (Harrow), a church that has long had links with CMJ.

Having completed a Social Studies degree, Elizabeth met Keith Hockenhull, an engineer who shared her vision for ministering to Jewish people. They married and had three children: Daniel, Joel and Anna who temporarily distracted Elizabeth from full-time Christian work but not from her vision!

As the children grew, she was able to work for CMJ. Based in Nantwich meant that she was within easy reach of Manchester and the Jewish community there. She established the Manchester Meet-up, which later became  Asefat HaMashiach Messianic Fellowship, and was for some time its chair. However, Elizabeth, or Liz as she was widely known, was also near enough to Sutton Coldfield to encourage the establishment and growth of Beit HaGefen Messianic Fellowship. 

Despite being a busy wife, mother and grandmother, she was constant in her desire to share the good news of Messiah with Jewish people.  She supported several Messianic congregations whether through teaching or visiting, and her lifelong love of the violin brought another dimension to worship: she played often at Messianic gatherings and other events.  The wisdom and encouragement she offered to leaders and members of the Messianic community was incalculable, and the benefits of her insight and direction live on in the legacy of those thriving fellowships today.   She worked with several organisations serving the Messianic community after she left CMJ and continued to be involved with BMJA until her death.

When Elizabeth married Paul Bentley, after Keith’s death, she continued to support Jewish Believers in the Manchester area and to be active in BMJA events. This was a steep learning curve for Paul, but he couldn’t have had a better teacher.

Throughout her illness, which was much longer that the medics expected, Elizabeth engaged with and encouraged others active in ministry. She also shared the truth of Yeshua with her Jewish friends. A phone call with Lizzie was always a blessing and a challenge. Her strength of character and even stronger faith enabled her to continue to be a blessing to others! She will be greatly missed.

May her memory be a blessing!