Jewish Evangelism Research Paper

Jewish Evangelism: A Call to the Church compiled by the Lausanne Consultation on Jewish Evangelism underscores a recommitment to evangelism to the Jews. Drawing from scripture, the document emphasizes the need to challenge the church to “develop a new heart for the Jews”, acquire a vision of a combined body of Jewish and Gentile believers, and renew the call to sharing the Gospel with Jews globally.

The Lausanne International Committee released six (6) affirmations. I found it to be quite refreshing that the second affirmation acknowledges that the Church still needs to learn to “love thy neighbor as thyself”. The failure to live out this fundamental truth has caused great, unnecessary division in the Body of Yeshua between Jews and Gentiles,

The depth of the deception that exists to think that the Jews either do not need to be evangelized or that they should not be evangelized is rooted in centuries of deceit and prejudice. The unenthusiastic reception of Jewish leaders only adds to the reluctance of many in the Body of Yeshua to reach out to their Jewish brothers and sisters. However, the latter reason is a poor excuse for not evangelizing given that evangelical efforts in general are not always well received. One of the greatest barriers to Jewish evangelism, aside from incorrect viewpoints of the role and continued covenant of Israel, is the lack of connection with their Jewish roots displayed by Gentile believers. This portrayal of Christianity as largely being a “Gentile” religion whereby Gentiles serve the same God as Israel is simply a lie of the enemy. Yet the church has relayed this message of Christianity being a Gentile religion so well that even the Jews believe it. Franz Rosenzwieg’s conclusion that “the Jew is already with God” and “the Gentiles, however, need a mediator, the Jew Jesus” provides the reflection of what the Jew sees when they look at the Body of Christ. To them, Jesus was for the Gentiles. It’s not difficult to see how Jews would believe this given the lack of understanding of its Jewish roots. How can we expect the Jew to see that the

The writers of the document believe that this position potentially compromises the “uniqueness of Christ and the freedom the Gospel brings”. While I agree that the position should never be taken to legalism, the authors fail to acknowledge 1) that Yeshua was already present at Creation, thus His “uniqueness” was already in play in the Torah and 2) Yeshua, His disciples, and the Apostle Paul observed the Torah their entire lives. While Paul was called out with other Jews to be disciples to the Gentiles, there was a very real, historically documented Messianic Jewish presence that observed the Torah and invited the Gentiles to join them. The only true concern here should be falling into legalism or complete isolation from the remainder of the Body of