Lausanne Consultation on Jewish Evangelism

I've recently returned from the Lausanne Consultation on Jewish Evangelism, an international CEO's conference held near Avignon, France. Attendees represented the leadership of organizations involved in Jewish missions in England, Germany, France, Denmark, Norway, Switzerland, Canada, Australia, the United States, and Israel. All are committed to the cause of sharing the Gospel with Jewish people around the world. The venue for the meeting was once a Catholic convent. How ironic it was to be holding this convocation in a place once propagating the false doctrine that the Church is now the sole possessor of the promises God unconditionally made to the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The ratio of Jewish to Gentile believers in attendance was about even.

The discussion topics were far ranging. One of the final presenters asked the following question: What more could we be doing to stimulate individual believers within the Church at large to become actively engaged in sharing the Gospel with their unbelieving Jewish friends, neighbors, and co-workers?

At the core of this question lies a problematic issue that has existed for hundreds of years. All of us who belong to Messiah must grapple with this issue if the objective of stimulating greater effort and effectiveness in the area of Jewish evangelism and Jewish mission is to be realized.

It is hard to find new believers in Jesus who are developing the personal skills necessary to pursue diligent and disciplined study of the Scriptures. Discerning dialog about what the Scriptures actually teach is seldom heard in the local assembly today. What we are likely to hear are the well rehearsed sound bites gleaned from the "Christian" or "Messianic" superstar of the moment that caters to the personal desires of their audience. The result is that today many of our local churches and assemblies are filled with consumers… not disciples.

The current it's all about me trend is nothing new. It began approximately 6,000 years ago with Satan's taunting of Eve… Did God really say? Ever since that day "me-ism" has robbed individual believers of their ability to grasp God's larger purposes for their life. The Bible teaches that God has a number of pre-ordained plans for believers to walk in throughout the course of their lives. By discovering His plans and submitting to His will for each of us, we glorify Him.

Paul teaches about one of God's principal plans for Gentile believers in Jesus in Romans 9 through 11. Through the transforming power of God's Word in our personal lives, we provide an authentic biblical witness of our genuine love for God and one another. Unsaved Jewish people who know us will have an opportunity to observe our lives. Some of them will take notice, and become jealous enough to investigate our claims about the Messiahship of Jesus and discover for themselves what most Jews have missed for two-thousand years.

All of the first believers in Yeshua were Jewish, but it did not take long for insurrection to erupt from inside the young Church. Within one hundred years of the Church's birth at Pentecost, doctrinal division began to be seen between Jewish and Gentile believers. While Jewish believers had previously removed a barrier to Gentile belief and practice of the faith in Acts 15, the rapidly growing Gentile Church started to rebuild it to the exclusion of Jewish people. This was largely accomplished through the re-interpretation of the Scriptures by some of the early church fathers. Almost all of these men were Gentiles. Over time, their Gentile teaching of the Bible completely separated their hearers from the understanding and intent of the Bible's original Jewish authors.

• Justin Martyr (about 100 to 165 A.D.) – For the true spiritual Israel ... are we (the Church) who have been led to God through this crucified Christ.
• Augustine (about 354 to 430 A.D.) - Provided, therefore, that each of us tries as best he can to understand in the Holy Scriptures what the writer meant by them, what harm is there if a reader believes what You, the Light of all truthful minds, show him to be the true meaning? It may not even be the meaning which the writer had in mind, and yet he too saw in them a true meaning, different though it may have been from this.

Four-hundred years after Yeshua's death, burial, resurrection and ascension to heaven there was virtually no longer any significant Jewish presence visible within institutional Christendom. Augustine's allegorical approach to interpreting the Bible made it possible for the newly organized Roman Church to reinterpret God's prophetically expressed future plans for ethnic Israel (the Jews). His interpretive methodology was in direct contradiction with the original Jewish church's consistent literal interpretation. Sixteen hundred years later, Augustine's destructive Bible interpretation practice has crippled the Church's overall spiritual condition and obscured the mission to Jewish people. Today, many of Augustine's modern admirers echo the plaintive question first heard in the Garden of Eden... Did God really say?

The Vielle-Major Cathedral of Marseille as it is seen here dates from the 11th Century. It was built on the site of a place of worship that dates back to the 5th Century, about the time Augustine's writings began to influence the Roman Church. Look closely at the pictures. Notice the metal cables banding the exterior of the dome. The wooden buttresses holding up the walls and the cables around the top of the building are evidences that the structure is falling apart… from the inside out.

So it is today. Sixteen hundred years after Augustine wrote the City of God many Christians are unaware of God's intentions for their own personal witness to the Jewish people. The destructive force of a largely allegorical interpretation of the Scriptures is still at work in the Church today. Is it any wonder then that emphasis on Jewish evangelism and missions is of little priority for the individual believer in Jesus at the start of the 21st Century? Just look at these pictures once again to realize where this is leading.

The stakes are high. The reason Ariel Ministries exists (in what we believe to be the latter days) is to help those within the Church who are willing to find a solid footing on the timeless Word of God. While there are not many today who will submit themselves to the teaching of sound doctrine, there are some. Our prayer is that you are one of them.

This brings us back to the original question of how do we stimulate individual believers to an awareness of the need to get personally involved in Jewish evangelism and missions? Here are ten practical suggestions for your consideration:

1. Start praying regularly for the leadership of your local body of believers. Ask the Lord to help you to identify ways that you can begin influencing your Messianic congregation or local church towards the teaching of original doctrine and practice.

2. As the Lord points out opportunities, take the initiative to introduce the idea that understanding the Jewish background of the Bible is important to its application in our lives.

3. If you are a Gentile believer in Yeshua, make every effort to not disengage from your local Church. Look for ways to become an influencer and re-introduce an original understanding of the Scriptures from a Jewish perspective.

4. Thoroughly familiarize yourself with the Bible study resources Ariel Ministries has available through our website. Learn how to explain the use of these tools to your friends and family. Be creative!

5. Begin helping someone else get started in their own study of the Come and See level of materials. Focus your efforts on new believers and young people.

6. Start your own personal study of Dr. Fruchtenbaum's Life of Messiah from a Jewish Perspective as soon as possible and make the content your own.

7. Introduce the Life of Messiah from a Jewish Perspective content to your Sunday school class, Adult Bible Fellowships, small groups, and Christian schools. These groups will be fascinated by the Jewish Jesus most believers (particularly Gentiles) have never really seen before.

8. Slow down! Build relationships and earn the right to be heard.

9. Do not gauge your success in terms of numbers. Be willing to start with just one other person and build your life into theirs.

10. Look forward to hearing the Master say "well done."

Follow Me, Mark 1:16-18

Arlie Francis