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KESZTHELY, Hungary?The head of the Dallas-based Pasche Institute for Jewish Studies was elected coordinator of the Lausanne Consultation on Jewish Evangelism (LCJE) for North America during their eighth international conference at Lake Balaton in Keszthely, Hungary.
North American members of LCJE elected Jim Sibley, a Criswell College professor and former consultant on Jewish evangelism for Southern Baptists, to the post. Among the participants were Southern Baptist representatives serving in Russia and Israel.
The Aug. 19-24 conference provided a platform for the network of organizations and individuals to gather information, coordinate strategies, consider trends, and stimulate theological thinking and missiological research in the cause of advancing Jewish evangelism.
Sibley presented a paper on obstacles to Jewish evangelism in America and Europe, noting trends that must be recognized by those who have a vision for the salvation of the Jewish people. He warned that multiculturalism makes Jewish evangelism politically incorrect and even the Christian community rushes past the promised blessings to Israel in a hermeneutical confusion between the meaning of a text and its application.
“Too often, Christian faith is built on a kind of Gentile midrash?that is, on a manner of understanding Scripture that is superficial, devotional, and spiritualizing.”
He offered examples of how American Christians often apply promised blessings to Israel to their own lives as though that were the original meaning, reinterpreting the text to speak of “my land” in 2 Chronicles 7:14, “my life” in Jeremiah 29:11 and “my Jerusalem” in and Acts 1:8. In most pulpits, “superficial, topically-oriented sermons” have replaced more substantive, expository preaching, he said. “In such a context, motivation for Jewish evangelism is severely weakened, for the voice of Scripture has been muffled.”
Sibley focused on three areas of theological error that lead to poor missiology. In regard to bibliology, he said a stronger counter-attack is needed in light of the erosion of confidence in the use of messianic prophecy, one outgrowth of the attack on the authority of the Bible.
Regarding soteriology, inclusivism driven by religious piety and emotion more than a scripturally based doctrine of salvation, does not regard explicit faith in Jesus as necessary for salvation.
Ecclesiology?the doctrine of the church?is damaged by supersessionism or replacement theology. Sibley explained that the view that “the Church has replaced Israel in the purposes of God” introduces confusion and contradiction when Christians claim to worship the God of Israel but neglect the people
of Israel.
“To deny God’s interest in the Jewish people is to deny the God of Israel,” he said.
He noted that these obstacles are often addressed in Mishkan, a publication of the Pasche Institute of Jewish Studies with many of those resources available online at pascheinstitute.org.
With these theological errors, Sibley warned that the foundational storyline of the Bible which provides the basic impetus for missions is suppressed and Israel is inaccurately assumed to be “God’s failed Plan A.”
“At most, the Jewish people are simply one of thousands of other people groups, with absolutely no biblical, theological, or missiological uniqueness,” he said. “Supersessionism renders most Christians oblivious to the fact that the two most basic ethnic categories in Scripture are “Jew” and “Gentile” and to the fact that the two forms of missions in the New Testament are Jewish missions and Gentile missions.
“At worst, the Jewish people have had their chance and are no longer to be on the agenda of the church at all.” He said the phrase in Matthew 28:19, “panta ta ethne,” is read by some as, “all Gentiles,” instead of “all the nations,” prompting a suspicion that God himself is not interested in the Jewish people.
“This neglect of the Jewish people by mission leaders is reinforced by Western pragmatism that often reduces missions decisions to a ‘cost-per-soul’ type of calculation. In such a calculus, resistant groups, in general, and the Jewish people, in particular, do not generally fare well. It is not viewed as good stewardship of mission resources to invest in groups where the anticipated ‘return’ is not very great.”
Sibley said this entire mentality would be very foreign to the prophets of Israel or the apostles of the early church, citing Ezekiel’s obedience in spite of being told his message would not be received and Paul insisting on going “to the Jew first,” not out of expediency, but because it was necessary as indicated by Romans 1:16 and other passages making Jewish missions a priority through the centuries.
Aware that the obstacles are real, Sibley reminded his audience of the victory promised by God when offering salvation to the Jewish people. “It will not come without struggle, but we must not lose heart.”
The theme of the quadrennial conference was “Jewish Evangelism-Telling the Story.”
Doug Birdsall, executive chair of the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization, spoke in support of Jewish evangelism saying, “The story of Jesus Christ is a message to be shared with the whole world, but especially with the Jewish people, as it is the fullest expression of God’s love relationship with his people.”
LCJE participants adopted a statement which called on “the whole Church to join in presenting the whole gospel of Messiah Jesus to the Jewish people worldwide.” While rejoicing over an increasing number of Messianic congregations, the statement warned against denying an evangelical witness to Jewish people as “the worst possible Christian injustice.”
“We affirm the good news of Jesus is the only hope for the salvation of the Jewish people,” the statement read, adding, “If Jesus is not the Messiah for the Jewish people, then neither is he Christ for the nations. Either Jesus is the Messiah for all, or he is not the Messiah at all.”
The group also denounced contemporary expressions of anti-Semitism and prejudice against Israel while encouraging “evangelism to all the children of Abraham according to the flesh” and prayer “for efforts toward reconciliation between Palestinian Arabs and Israeli Jews in Christ.”
Tuvya Zaretsky, president of the LCJE and an adjunct faculty member of the Pasche Institute of Jewish Studies at Criswell College, noted the historical context for their meeting in Hungary, explaining, “The 1927 Budapest Report documented a growing interest among Jewish people worldwide regarding their destiny and a homeland.Now, on the eve of the state of Israel’s 60th anniversary we rejoice in the stories of an unprecedented openness and opportunity as the gospel is penetrating Israeli society.The gospel of Jesus Christ is as relevant and as unique a spiritual hope today for the Jewish people as it ever has been.”
