An organizational meeting launching LCJE Korea was held in Seoul, South Korea in July 2016.
This photo shows the initial leadership of LCJE Korea. LCJE President Tuvya Zaretsky attended,
and Jeong Jacob Lee was elected the first LCJE Area Coordinator for Korea. Click here to see
a Korean language Christian TV program that discusses the establishment of LCJE Korea. More in-depth
articles can be found in the September-October 2016 issue of the LCJE Bulletin (No. 125)
LCJE Responds to Vatican Commission Document, "The Gifts and Calling of God Are Irrevocable
On December 10, 2015, the Vatican's Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews released a document titled, "The Gifts and Calling of God Are Irrevocable" marking the fiftieth anniversary of Catholic-Jewish dialogues known as the 'Nostra Aetate," launched in 1965 by the Second Vatican Council. Described as "far-reaching" by the New York Times, according to the document Jewish people do not need to believe in Jesus in order to be saved.
In a key section of the document that is a direct repudiation of what the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 11, the Commission authors state that, "From the Christian confession that there can be only one path to salvation, however, it does not in any way follow that the Jews are excluded from God's salvation because they do not believe in Jesus Christ as the Messiah of Israel and the Son of God... That the Jews are participants in God's salvation is theologically unquestionable, but how that can be possible without confessing Christ explicitly, is and remains an unfathomable mystery..."
If these assertions in the document were true, then there would be no need for evangelism to the Jewish people - they would automatically be saved simply because they are Jewish. LCJE's response to the Vatican document can be found here.
Kehila News in Israel also carried the LCJE response, which can be found here.
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"JEWISH EVANGELISM LEADERS MEET IN JERUSALEM"
Jerusalem, ISRAEL – August 23, 2015. Reaching Jews with the message of Jesus is truly a global enterprise, as evidenced by the tenth international conference of the Lausanne Consultation on Jewish Evangelism (LCJE) held from August 16-21. More than 200 participants from six continents gathered together in Jerusalem to strategize, plan and encourage one another to carry out this effort that began in that same city 2,000 years ago. The conference theme was, “From Jerusalem and Back – An Unchanging Gospel.”
Joseph Steinberg, CEO of Christian Witness to Israel, and a first time attender to this gathering, commented: “The thing about LCJE is that it provides a great setting for organizations like ours to partner with others for the advancement of the gospel."
Tuvya Zaretsky, LCJE President, said in one of the final sessions, “I urged our LCJE members to affirm initiatives for reconciliation between Jews and Palestinians. Our network members recognize the powerful testimony when former enemies are made one through forgiveness and grace in Messiah Yeshua (Jesus). We appreciate statements about reconciliation ministry in the Cape Town Commitment Part II. B. 1, “Building the Peace of Christ in our Divided and Broken World.”
While at least one session was held that touched on this hot topic, which some called ’the elephant in the room,” many other equally important issues were discussed, such as dealing with opposition when bringing the Gospel to Jewish people. Local congregational leader Howard Bass described his religious services being broken up by local Orthodox Jewish anti-missionaries. Leah and David Ortiz described how they responded to the terrorist act by imprisoned Jewish terrorist Jack Teitel, who planted a bomb that exploded at their home - nearly taking the life of their young son, Ami. Josh Turnil, Paris director of Jews for Jesus, gave account of how his workers responded to the Charlie Hebdo terrorist acts on the Jewish community in Paris. Conference participants were encouraged to continue strongly despite opposition.
At the 35 year mark, the conference ended with a call to raise up the next generation of those who are called to bring the gospel to Jewish people. One of the younger participants, Simon Kruger of the Danish Israel Mission, put it this way: "The program honored pioneers in our field but also sounded a strrong note for the empowerment of younger leaders to lead LCJE into the future."
The conference also produced a more comprehensive statement, available at lcje.net (see below). For more information about LCJE, contact their International Coordinator, Jim Melnick, at: lcje.int@gmail.com. For interviews, please contact Susan Perlman at susan.perlman@jewsforjesus.org
The link to the Messianic Times' story on the conference can be found here.
Photos from the conference can be found here.
Papers and presentations from the conference can be downloaded here.
The conference survey results can be downloaded as a PDF file here.
LCJE History Video - Anniversary of International LCJE Gatherings (Susan Perlman) - video shown at the Pavilion in Jerusalem (20 August 2015)
Conference Statement of the LCJE 10th International Conference, held in Jerusalem from 16-21 August 2015:
From 16th-21st August 2015, more than 200 participants from six continents met in Jerusalem – the city from where the gospel went forth into all nations – for the tenth International Conference of the Lausanne Consultation on Jewish Evangelism (LCJE). LCJE is an international network of agencies, congregations, educational institutions and individuals engaged in mission to the ewish people, and is affiliated with the global Lausanne Movement. LCJE began in 1980 at the Consultation on World Evangelization (COWE) in Thailand as a task force on reaching Jewish people and has grown to include eight regional chapters. LCJE is the longest standing working group within the wider Lausanne Movement and Michael Oh, the CEO of Lausanne, describes Jewish mission as ‘part of our DNA.’ The conference celebrated and honoured the many Hebrew Christians and Messianic Jews who, during the last 2,000 years, have enriched not only the believing Jewish community but also the wider church. At the conclusion of the conference the delegates issued the following statement:
"We, the participants at the 10th International Conference of the Lausanne Consultation on Jewish Evangelism, as Jewish and Gentile followers of Jesus, rejoice that in every generation there have been Jewish people who embrace Jesus as Messiah and continue to identify as Jews.
We thank God for the increasing number of such Jewish people worldwide, especially in the land where Messiah lived, died for our sins, rose from the dead and ascended to the right hand of God.We rejoice in the impact of a new generation of Jewish followers of Jesus on Israeli society through their bold witness and contribution to the country in education, the arts, health care, the military and start-up companies, and by providing help to the marginalised within society.
We rejoice also that God is working among Arab believers in the land and pray for their effectiveness in proclaiming Jesus in these troubled times.
With the wider Lausanne Movement we affirm that Jesus, through his saving work, has ‘broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility’ and we applaud those Messianic Jews and Arab Christians who live out this reality. We also affirm:
* The Jewishness of Jesus, who, as Israel's Messiah, is the Saviour of the world
* The Jewishness of the Christian faith
* The irrevocable character of God's gifts and calling in relation to Israel
* The special importance of taking the gospel to the Jewish people as an ever-present obligation on the Church, in accordance with Romans 1:16
Encouraged by the promises of God regarding Israel and the evangelistic successes of the past, LCJE is seeking to nurture a new generation of gifted leaders who, empowered by the Holy Spirit, will inspire the worldwide Church to share the life-giving message of Messiah with Jewish people until, as foretold by the apostle Paul in Romans 11:26, ‘all Israel will be saved’!"
(The conference statement is also available in PDF form and can be downloaded here).
Conference participants at the LCJE 10th International Conference, Jerusalem (August 2015)
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Lausanne Movement Responds to Recent Online Articles
On February 5, 2015, Michael Oh, CEO/Executive Director of the Lausanne Movement, responded to recent online articles that were titled, "Leading Evangelism Movement Slams Christian Zionism." These were in response to an earlier article that had appeared in January 2015 in the Lausanne Global Analysis publication, whcih had provoked some criticism.
Oh's response came in the form of a Letter to the Editor, seeking to "correct any misrepresentation of the Lausanne Movement that your readers will have received." Oh added that he was "particularly concerned about the inaccurate portrayal of the Cape Town Commitment" contained in the online articles. He requested that corrections be made "in the name of fairness" and that his letter be reproduced in full.
Oh explained that "[t]he Lasuanne Movement is a global network of individuals and ministries from a wide range of denominations, nationalities, theologies, and strategic perspectives that shares an evangelical faith and commitment to work together to bring the whole gospel to the whole world, which includes both Jews and Palestinians." He clarified that "the Lausanne Movement does not and cannot prescribe how the nation of Israel should deal with the many sensitive internal challenges it lives with daily."
In his response, Michael Oh also expressed his strong commitment to LCJE. He stated: "We stand in unity with the LCJE in their ministry around the world among the Jewish people." His full response is available here.
When LCJE International Coordinator Jim Melnick met with Michael Oh in Nagoya, Japan, in September 2014 to discuss LCJE and its relationship to the greater Lausanne Movement in world evangelization, Michael strongly expressed the Lausanne Movement's long-standing commitment to Jewish evangelism and LCJE, stating, in part, that "Jewish evangelism is part of our DNA."
We in LCJE appreciate that strong support for our network, and we are thankful for Michael Oh's clarification as the head of the Lausanne Movement regarding recent issues of concern.
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20th Anniversary of LCJE Japan - celebrated in Osaka, Japan (September 2014)
The celebration of the 20th anniversary of LCJE Japan was held in Osaka, Japan in September 2014 (Photo above, from left to right: LCJE Japan member Pastor Isaac Ishiguro; Jim Melnick, LCJE International Coordinator; Rev. Charles Klingensmith, LCJE Japan Secretary; Teiichiro Kuroda, LCJE Japan Area Coordinator; Brother Takase, LCJE Japan member.
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Лозаннская Консультация по Евангелизации Евреев (ЛКЕЕ - LCJE)
Special Russian Language Edition of LCJE Bulletin released (April 2014) - part of the 30-year anniversary of the LCJE Bulletin (1984-2014)
Click for full Russian language PDF of the LCJE Bulletin. Produced especially for Rus sian-speaking participants from former Soviet Union countries who attended the LCJE 10th European Conference in Kiev in April 2014.
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Statement of LCJE 10th European Regional Conference - April 30, 2014 (Kiev, Ukraine) (PDF download)
Some of the participants at the 10th LCJE European Conference (Kiev, Ukraine, April 2014)
Photos from the conference can be accessed and downloaded from Flickr here.
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The Billy Graham Center - Wheaton, Illinois, USA (near Chicago)
Photos from the LCJE-North America (NA) 2014 conference in Chicago (Wheaton, Illinois) can be accessed and downloaded on Flickr here.
Papers from the LCJE.-NA 2014 conference are available here.
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Jews for Jesus Campaigner Arrested and Taken to Prison in Israel; Released After Four Days of Detention, Expelled from Israel (Nov. 2013)
(Source of photo: Jews for Jesus press release, November 22, 2013).
August 2015 UPDATE: In a major step forward, Barry and Alison Barnett were allowed to enter Israel on August 10, 2015, but the Israeli government continues to maintain the absurd fiction that Barry must be formally barred from 'working' in Israel - as if holding up a banner proclaiming Yeshua equates to doing 'work'! As far as is known, no Israeli immigration officials nor Ministry of Interior (MOI) officials have yet been reprimanded for their blatant violation of Barry's civil and religious rights, other than the publicity surrounding Barnett's Israel Supreme Court case.
April 2015 UPDATE: Barry Barnett's appeal to the Israel Supreme Court was heard on February 9th. In a positive development, the court directed the MOI to issue a visa to Barnett.
Barry Barnett, 50, a British citizen who is a member of Jews of Jesus UK, was participating as a volunteer campaigner in the Jews for Jesus "Behold Your God" Israel Campaign around the city of Be'er Sheva in the Negev region when he was arrested by Israeli authorities around 4 PM on Wednesday, November 20, 2013.
Along with other campaigners, Barry was helping hold up a banner in public in Hebrew that read "Yeshu=Salvation=Yeshua" (with a contact phone number), when he was suddenly taken into custody by numerous Israeli immigration inspectors, detained for hours at an immigration office in Omer, outside of Be'er heva and then taken to Ramle Prison in Israel. This is the first time that anyone in Jews for Jesus in Israel has been taken to prison for expressing their belief that Jesus is the Messiah. The banner was also seized by the authorities.
Israel director of Jews for Jesus Dan Sered stated: "I am shocked at this outrageous behavior. As an Israeli, I have been proud that our country allows for freedom of religion, yet those who seized Barry and took him to prison have done a shameful thing. Our outreach in Israel is 100% legal and Barry, though a British citizen, is not an illegal worker in Israel. With his B2 visa he is permitted to exercise his faith, which is what he was doing."
In another interview Sered said that the authorities "did not really give a reason why they detained [Barry]...All they said is that he was doing 'missionary activity.' That is correct, he was doing missionary activity, and that is legal to do in Israel."
After four days and nights in Ramle Prison in an immigration-holding unit, Barry was released on bail under an explusion order from the Ministry of Interior to leave Israel by December 3, 2013. Barry is now back in the UK, awaiting the next stage in this case. His lawyers in Israel have launched a legal battle to fight this expulsion order in the courts and to support his religious rights.
Jews for Jesus Executive Director David Brickner stated in an online video response to this incident: "We think that those who are opposed to the Gospel in Israel are behind this." According to Christianity Today, the anti-missionary group Yad L'Achim "had followed the Jews for Jesus teams to their campaign sites in Israel" from the time when it began.
Convicted anti-missionary religious terrorist and self-confessed murderer Yaakov "Jack" Teitel (see story below on the Ortiz family) is believed to once have had ties of some kind to Yad L'Achim, although they later disavowed him. According to Christianity Today, "Yad L'Achim has worked to deny Messianic Jews...the right to return to Israel and to deny spouses of Messianics immigration visas." Further, the group is known "to picket and severely harass Messianics at their homes and congregations" and has also been "linked to different government agencies revoking the licensing of Messianic-owned businesses." At least one element of the Yad L'Achim organization has received funding from the government in the past as part of the Israeli national budget, although it is not a government entity. Nevertheless, there appear to be close ties between the anti-missionary group and some sympathetic Israeli government officials who wish to deny religious rights to Messianic believers and foreign visitors to Israel in violation of Israeli law and international treaties and codes that Israel has signed. Christianity Today states: "Informing on Barnett would fix a pattern of cooperation between Yad L'Achim and the government that has been well documented by the Israeli media."
We ask continued prayers for Barry, for his wife Alison, for the entire Jews for Jesus staff in Israel and around the world at this critical time, as well as believers in Israel in general. We will be following developments related to this incident very closely, as well as the impact of any possible precedents in this case.
For more information on the initial incident, go to:
http://www.jewsforjesus.org/about-jews-for-jesus/press/jews-for-jesus-campaigner-taken-to-prison-in-israel-without-cause
For an update since Barry's release from prison, go to:
http://www.jewsforjesus.org/about-jews-for-jesus/press/campaigner-released-on-bail-from-prison
See also the Christianity Today online article dateline November 26, 2013 (see below)
Sources: Jews for Jesus press release dated 21 Nov. 2013; website updates; Christianity Today online article, November 26, 2013, ""Israel Orders Deportation of Jews for Jesus Missionary". http://www.christianitytoday.com/gleanings/2013/november/israel-orders-deportation-of-jews-for-jesus-missionary.html. (11.29.2013)
This news item was updated on December 19, 2013, February 28, 2014 and October 7, 2014.
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Fourth LCJE CEO Conference, St. Chrischona, Basel, Switzerland, 27-31 May 2013
St. Chrischona, near Basel, Switzerland - in the "Three Countries' Corner" where Switzerland, France and Germany meet. St. Chrischona has a rich legacy in Jewish evangelism connected especially to Jerusalem.
The 4th LCJE CEO Conference was held at St. Chrischona, Basel, 27-31 May 2013. The venue was the Pilgermission St. Chrischona, set in beautiful surroundings in what is called the "Three Countries' Corner" where Germany, France and Switzerland meet. It is home today to a theological seminary and also has a long and rich history with respect to Jewish evangelism, especially in Jerusalem. Participants included executives and leaders of organizations, congregations and churches who are involved in Jewish evangelism and ministry who are members of LCJE (individual or agency members), as well as their spouses.
There were 37 participants in this CEO Conference. Topics included: "The Social and Political Context of Jewish Mission," "Issues in Israel," "The Internet and Other Media," "Women in (Jewish) Ministry," "The Next Generation and LCJE," and "LCJE and the Future." Other topics covrered areas such as: communicating with donors, reactions to a recent reconciliation initiative, "What's in a Name?" - dealing with issues related to replacement theology and supersessionism, and the importance and relationship of academic work to Jewish evangelism.
Papers from the St. Chrischona CEO Conference can be downloaded here.
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Risto Santala, z''l - Cherished Scholar of the Messianic Movement, Known Affectionately to Many as the "Rabbi of the Church of Finland"
Risto Santala (1929-2012)
2, p. 7).
Dr. Santala's many valuable works are well known among nearly all workers and scholars in the area of Jewish evangelism. These include (among others): The Messiah in the Old Testament in the Light of Rabbinical Writings and The New Testament in the Light of Rabbinical Writings, both of which were written in modern Hebrew. This alone was an extraordinary achievement. But his life was much more than just scholarship - it was full of ministry and teaching. As is noted in the article, "the fruit of his teaching impacted many congregational Messianic Jewish leaders in Israel," while Risto was also "one of very few foreign teachers who was invited to teach in Hebrew-speaking congregations."
Rev. Santala's connections to LCJE extend back nearly to the very beginning of our network. The very first issue of the LCJE Bulletin in 1984 (recently added on this page for download) contains the following entry: "FINNS write in HEBREW" and discusses Risto's then upcoming second book in Hebrew, as well as the biography of Risto's and his wife Kerttu's son Ismo, who died in Jerusalem in 1959 at the tender age of seven. That book was titled, A Little Vessel in the Holy Land.
We are very thankful for Risto Santala's life and ministry, for his part in LCJE and for the many contributions he made in a lifetime of service to our Savior.
Religious Terrorist Yaakov 'Jack' Teitel - Convicted of Two Murders and the Attempted Murder of Ami Ortiz (in targeting the Messianic Ortiz family)
In a very important decision for the cause of justice and the religious freedom of the Messianic community in Israel, on January 16, 2013, the Jerusalem District Court found American-Israeli anti-missionary terrorist Yaakov 'Jack' Teitel guilty of two murders of Palestinians and the attempted murder of then 15-year old Messianic teenager Ami Ortiz of Ariel, Israel, as well as other crimes. Ami was miraculously saved from a terrorist bomb disguised as a Purim gift basket that was placed by Teitel outside the Ortiz's apartment door in March 2008. Ami was the only person home at the time. He found the basket and brought it into his home to open it to see what gifts it might contain - a common practice in Israel during Purim. Instead of gifts, the basket contained a bomb, which then exploded and nearly killed him instantly.
God spared his life, but Ami has needed 14 operations thus far. We praise God for Ami's incredible recovery but ask for continued prayer for him and for the Ortiz family for the follow-on operations that he faces in order to deal with the aftermaths of the bomb blast. We also ask prayer for the salvation of Jack Teitel himself, that, just as Yeshua our Messiah appeared in a vision and transformed the hardened heart and life of Saul (who later became the Apostle Paul) on the road to Damascus (The Book of Acts, Chapter 9, in the Brit Chadashah), He might also touch with His love and forgiveness the heart and soul of this modern-day enemy of the Gospel who now sits in prison.
For more on Ami's amazing story, as well as information on the new Rami-Ami booklet in Hebrew and Arabic, published by the Israeli Bible Society as a joint effort with the Palestinian Bible Society, see the Nov. 2012 issue of the LCJE Bulletin, pp. 18-20 (available for PDF download on this page)
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Remembering the Life and Testimony of Jhan Moskowitz (1948-2012)
In September 2012, we lost our beloved brother in Messiah, Jhan Moskowitz, North American Director of Jews for Jesus and one of the founders of LCJE. Please pray for his widow Melissa, his daughters Kayla and Jesse, and the extended Jews for Jesus family around the world as they deal with his loss.
Jhan had an enormous impact on Jewish evangelism in our day. As Biola professor and LCJE member Judith Mendelsohn Rood stated: "The Lord used Jhan's message on t'shuvah to turn my sinner's heart back to God, to repent of my rebellious ways, and to reconcile with the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob...I thank God for his life of service. His memory is a blessing to my people. He is one of the heroes of our faith."
There are two special tributes to Jhan in the November 2012 issue of the LCJE Bulletin (available for PDF download under the "Bulletin" link at: "110 November 2012").
Jim Melnick, International Coordinator, LCJE
