From the coordinator
We are Not Ashamed of the Gospel
At 2004 Forum for World Evangelization in Pattaya, Thailand, one of the 31 Issue Groups was "Reaching the Jewish People with the Gospel". The report from this group's work will be released in the beginning of 2005. This issue of the Bulletin will give a few glimpses from 2004 Forum. The following is an excerpt from the introduction to "our" report.
A new heart
In an era of global pluralism and terrorism it is time for the church to develop a new heart for the Jewish people. The history of the wrongdoings by the church against the people of Israel throughout the ages cannot be unwritten. This record, as evidenced by the Holocaust of the last century, has been so difficult that many Christians are of the opinion that the church has forfeited its credibility and its right to share the gospel with Jewish people. In this regard we state:
We are ashamed of the church's atrocities against the Jewish people and the teaching of contempt that has taken place through the history of the church, and we denounce it.
We pledge ourselves to remember the misdeeds of the church against Jewish people. Only with this memory in mind can Christians develop a new heart for the Jewish people. Such tragic history should also be a mirror through which evangelistic efforts today may be critically analysed - for Jews first and also for non-Jews.
A new vision
In this age of globalisation the church needs to acquire a new vision for the salvation of the Jewish people and of all nations of the earth. When Jewish people today together with the other nations confess faith in Jesus as their saviour, together with the other nations, it is a sign of hope for the church and for the world. Therefore, we also state:
We are not ashamed of the gospel. In the words of the Jewish apostle Paul, the gospel is "the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile" (Romans 1:16).
We therefore also pledge ourselves to uphold such a vision for the church that affirms that in Christ we are one, Jew and gentile, and that in Christ alone is the hope of salvation for both Israel and the nations.
Kai Kjær-Hansen
lcje.int@gmail.com