Should We Evangelize?
Should Christians Evangelize Jews?
Many Christian theologians today, as well as many different and disparate Christian denominations, question the need to share the gospel with Jewish people. In fact, many consider attempts to do this as being insensitive and judgmental. Indicative of this is a quote from Eric Gritsch in a publication of the Lutheran Council in the USA, distributed by the ELCA. In it Gritsch states: [T]here really is no need for any Christian mission to the Jews. They are and remain the people of God, even if they do not accept Jesus Christ as their Messiah. Why this is so only God knows. Christians should concentrate their missionary activities on those who do not yet belong to the people of God, and they should court them with a holistic witness in word and deed rather than with polemical argument and cultural legislation.
The long history of Christian anti-Semitism calls for repentance, not triumphalist claims of spiritual superiority.
One Jewish Man's Personal Perspective on Jewish Evangelism
There are thirteen million Jewish people alive today; 99% are unsaved. There are over seven billion gentiles, 80% unsaved. What shall we do?
I invite you to consider the historic ramifications of the rise, fall and re-evaluation of Jewish missions over the past two millennia.
I am Jewish. I grew up surrounded by Christians. For the first twenty-three years of my life, none of my Christian friends ever spoke to me of Jesus! Finally, one caring Lutheran prayed for my salvation daily for three years and personally risked our friendship to speak to me of Jesus. I am eternally grateful that he did. He lived in view of Romans 1:16—he was not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ for this is God‘s power for salvation to all who believe…to the Jew first.
When I was a new believer in Jesus, my late wife Jan invited me to tag along to the Lutheran congregation where she was an organist. I had many questions, and one day during the Sunday Bible class, I asked, “If you have a friend who does not yet confess Jesus, how do you begin a conversation?” One of the members said, “Mr. Cohen, we are Lutherans. We wouldn‘t do that!”
If 80% of gentiles and 99% of Jewish people are unsaved, why wouldn't we have that conversation? After all, it has eternal consequence.
Excerpted from A Case for Romans 1:16...Again! by Steve Cohen