DALLAS (BP)–As diplomats worked to end hostility between Israel and their Arab neighbors, 15 Southern Baptists gathered in Dallas to forge a strategy for offering eternal peace to Jews wherever they live. The April 15-18 Summit on Jewish Evangelism drew participation by church planters, evangelists and ministry leaders who share a common burden for God’s chosen people.
Throughout the meeting, times of prayer focused on the conflict involving Israel. One participant asked God to “give us another time of peace that we may share the gospel freely.” Another prayed for Southern Baptists working in the region to have “the wisdom to decide how to keep their own families safe.” Underlying every petition was the recognition “that Jesus is the only hope for real peace.”
Jim Sibley, coordinator of Jewish ministries for the North American Mission Board’s interfaith evangelism team, convened the meeting at Criswell College, inviting Southern Baptist representatives from several overseas regions and three Messianic Jews engaged in planting congregations in Chicago, New York City and Atlanta. Together, they identified areas where sizeable Jewish populations exist, evaluated the effectiveness of current outreach to Jews and considered a joint vision for Jewish ministry within the SBC.
Sibley defines the Jewish people as an ethnic group made up primarily, though not exclusively, of the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. “They are unique among the peoples of the world, in that God has specially chosen them for His purposes in history,” he wrote in a recent article.
By the end of the week, summit participants left with recommendations they will share with the entities to which they relate, laying the groundwork for a network for partnering on a global basis. “We’re arguing for taking a more unified approach to reach the Jewish people rather than considering each on a country by country or city by city case,” Sibley told a luncheon audience of guests from churches, colleges and seminaries.
“Not only is Israel at the center of current events,” Sibley said, “Israel is at the center of the Great Commission. In our evangelistic and missionary efforts, however, so often we operate as though God had made no lasting covenant with the Jewish people. Tragically, I think Jewish people are often seen as one of thousands of people groups and a rather insignificant one at that.”
Seminar participants, though, reasoned that all Jews should be regarded as a people group in order to frame effective evangelistic ministry. Church planters working in major U.S. cities agreed that they share much in common with Southern Baptist representatives who relate to Jews in a particular overseas region. Through stronger ties to the Southern Baptist Messianic Fellowship, participants hope to improve communication regarding all Jewish outreach by Southern Baptists.
Discussion also addressed how to utilize volunteers to establish a long-term interest in providing short-term support for a region where Southern Baptists are ministering to Jews. “People are only as good as you train them to be, and if you have a project that is well thought out, volunteers will have a clear direction of what they’re to do,” one experienced leader explained. “And you’ll get the same people back over again who are then trained in such a way that you do not have to train them again.”
In churches that are unable to send volunteers to an area, members can still provide important prayer support, increasing their awareness of the 25,000 Jews living in a French city or 1,300 living in Ireland. “There may not be enough to establish a resident missionary” in one of the many cities with a smaller Jewish population, one worker said, “but a team of people could say for the next 10 to 20 years we’re going to have a heart to pray for that people group.”
“No Jewish community is too small for us to be concerned about,” added another representative.
Workers were encouraged to post requests for personnel to serve in such regions even if the positions go unfilled for four or five years. “It’s important to put those requests up there because you never know when God is going to send someone to that small town in Ireland.”
Sibley added, “In many of the regions, countries and cities where there needs to be work, the Jewish population may be relatively small, but the significance and influence is out of proportion to the numbers,” he said, arguing for establishing a ministry among Jews wherever God leads.
In his role with the North American Mission Board, Sibley provides training in evangelizing Jews during seminary J-term classes, as well as in churches, associations and state conventions. “I’ll teach anybody that will ask me from 30 minutes to a whole semester. If there’s a volunteer group or a pastor’s fellowship — any venue — I’m ready to come and provide the training.”
Others commended groups that decide to spend the first year of a partnership in prayer walking, followed by involvement in specific projects in subsequent years. “By the time volunteers go over for projects, the group has a very good understanding because the ground was already softened by prayer and we have tremendous results,” a participant stated.
“Sometimes we almost underestimate the potential, the importance and the power of people coming to pray,” Sibley said. “Once they come, they pray and go back with a vision that will not be equaled. They will be your engines for enlisting volunteers.”
Another Southern Baptist representative encouraged the use of volunteers for short-term remodeling and building projects. “They build relationships and help me even though they are only there for a short time.”
Southern Baptist laypeople in particular professions can network with their counterparts in another country or city over a period of months and then visit to teach seminars in their field of expertise. Ultimately, many are able to share their faith one-on-one or even in the context of a meeting as they explain how they work in line with biblical principles.
“You may need to be innovative in finding the people, recruiting the people to do this,” Sibley said, “but it can be done especially if you feel the Lord has led you to do it. It’s a matter of being a catalyst to put them together. It takes creativity.”
Between 1867 and 1921 the SBC adopted 10 resolutions that dealt with Jewish evangelism. Work among Jews began in Israel in 1922, long before the birth of the nation. Since 1975, three more SBC resolutions were passed defending religious liberty in Israel, opposing anti-Semitism and urging the evangelization of the Jewish people.
Sibley credited Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary President R. Philip Roberts for returning Southern Baptists to an emphasis on Jewish evangelism when he led the interfaith witness department of NAMB. The broader attention to various faith groups originally grew out of the Home Mission Board’s department of Jewish work.
Through partnering with Messianic believers in evangelism and outreach, several congregations have been started. In 2000 the SBC set a goal of starting a Messianic congregation, providing support for weekly prayer meetings and teaching seminars and assisting with translating at a Jewish institute. The “Jesus” video is being distributed in Hebrew and Spanish to Jews in many regions of the world as a further effort toward sharing Christ.
Reaction in the Jewish community and secular news media to the SBC resolution on Jewish evangelism was “vociferous and prolonged,” Sibley stated. And yet, the publicity clarified the need for all Southern Baptists to share their faith with those who have not accepted Jesus Christ as Savior. “Grassroots Southern Baptists have also been strengthened in their conviction that the gospel is for the Jewish people — a conviction that compels a greater willingness to face the hostility of the secular press,” he added.
Professors representing three SBC seminaries, Midwestern, Southeastern and Southwestern, as well as faculty from Criswell College and Oklahoma University joined with ministers from Texas Baptist churches in Carrollton, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, Plano, Richardson and Rockwall to hear Jewish ministry representatives share descriptions of their work. In addition, interested church leaders from South Carolina and Oklahoma also attended.
“Right now with the situation in the Mideast, it’s hard for people to think about going there,” one Southern Baptist representative said. “So I highly encourage you to visit Chicago and New York and some of the other areas and get started reaching Jewish people here in the United States.” Although serving in a specific country with a strong Jewish population, he said, “My main call was to the Jewish people. I hope some of you who are thinking of coming to our country will start right here in America and reach some of the fields we have here.”
Another worker encouraged leaders who work with volunteers to continue to consider a ministry in countries currently experiencing conflict. “If you want to have an impact, then come now. They’ll wonder what you’re doing there and you’ll get to tell them that you’re there to stand with them and tell them some very good news, for a change.”
A fifth-generation Messianic Jew who is planting a Southern Baptist church spoke of his own desire to “stir the hearts of the Jewish people as well to reach their own people” with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Sibley concluded, “If we would have the heart of the Father, follow the mind of Christ, follow the example of the apostle Paul, then we must have a burden and a concern for the salvation of Jewish people,” Sibley told those attending the April 18 luncheon. Quoting from Isaiah 62, he asked, “Can we not ask God to move in our hearts, our churches and seminaries so that we can say with Isaiah, ‘For Zion’s sake, I will not keep silent, until her righteousness goes forth like brightness, and her salvation like a torch that is burning’.”
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(BP) photo posted in the BP Photo Library at http://www.bpnews.net. Photo title: SIBLEY AT SUMMIT.
