"The Lausanne Consultation on Jewish Evangelism is an association of agencies, congregations and individuals who subscribe to the Lausanne Covenant and are committed to Jewish evangelism world-wide and to cooperation and networking with others who share that commitment."
The LCJE is a solidly Christian initiative aimed at supporting any mission to the Jews able to prove its affirmation of its Covenant and come up with the cost of membership. The LCJE's web site is at: www.lausanne.org. Use your back button to return to this page.
Reading the "Lausanne Covenant" should leave no one in any doubt as to the great depth of Christian commitment of LCJE members: LCJE Covenant. Use your back button to return to this page.
The LCJE arose out of a proposal in the, "Christian Witness to the Jewish People" (Lausanne Occasional Paper No. 7, 1980) that offered to, "... establish a Jewish evangelism task force ..." to "... embrace the cooperative spirit of Lausanne".
Individual membership of the LCJE (last time I checked) was $25/year. To be accepted for such membership one must prove one's Evangelical Christian credentials, which includes providing references from individuals already known to the LCJE.
The LCJE is an agency of the, "Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization". Dayton & Fraser ("Planning Strategies for World Evangelization", Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1980) describe how the LCWE is, "... developing resources, both computer and printed, for isolating and dramatizing the needs of unreached peoples in all parts of the world" (p.100).
The same authors quote from a report of the Lausanne Committee (1978b, pp 12-13) thus, "We (the LCWE) recognise as central the themes of God as Creator, the universality of sin, Jesus Christ as Son of God, Lord of All, and Saviour through his atoning death and risen life, the necessity of conversion, the coming of the Holy Spirit and his transforming power, the fellowship and mission of the Christian church, and the hope of Christ's return" (Ibid., p. 78). The LCWE also boasts of its association with such notable Christians as Billy Graham: www.lausanne.org. Use your back button to return to this page.
To further demonstrate the LCJE's conventional Christian credentials here are some of its agency members, "Assemblies of God, Division of Home Missions"; "Belgian Evangelical Mission"; "Bible Society in Israel"; "Chosen People Ministries"; "Christian and Missionary Alliance"; Christian Jew Foundation"; Church's Ministry Among the Jews"; "Comfort Ye My People Ministries"; "Committee on the Christian Approach to the Jews"; "Eastern Mennonite Board of Missions & Charities"; "Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission"; "Finnish Lutheran Overseas Mission"; "Harvest Time Ministries"; "International Messianic Jewish Alliance"; "International Ministry to Israel"; "Jews for Jesus" (including its local branches); "Lederer Messianic Mission"; "Lutheran Free Church"; "Lutheran Institute for Jewish Evangelism"; "Messiah's people"; "Messianic Jewish Movement International"; "Messianic Outreach of Grand Rapids"; "Messianic Testimony"; "Messianic Vision"; "Midwest Hebrew Ministries"; "Ministry to the Jews of the Dutch Reform Church"; "Norwegian Church Ministry to Israel"; "Operation Mobilisation Belgium"; "Oxford Circle Mennonite Church" & "Task Force on Jewish Evangelism". Remember this is just a partial list. However, it should leave no one in any doubt that the LCJE is a deeply committed Christian association dedicated to the proselytisation of the Jews.
In view of the foregoing, why do so many LCJE members present themselves as still being "Jews" to the extent of virtually denying their Christian commitment? Why does the public image generated by LCJE members differ so radically from what one might expect from a deeply committed Christian association like the LCJE? What is the LCJE's hidden agenda for the Jews?
In an attempt to throw some light on these questions let us briefly look at two prominent Christian missionaries who are both LCJE members and living in Israel. Let us start with Mr. David Stern.
Mr. Stern and his wife (Martha) have been LCJE members since 1983. Both call themselves "Messianic Jews". So what was Mr. Stern thinking of when in 1988 (i.e. 5 years after he and his wife had joined the remarkably Christian LCJE) he wrote, "For the purposes of the Law of Return Israel defines a Jew as, 'a person who is born of a Jewish mother or has been converted to Judaism, and who is not a member of another religion'. The issue yet to be decided in Israel's courts is whether the phrase, 'and who is not a member of another religion' excludes 'Messianic Jews'" (Stern, D.H., "Messianic Jewish Manifesto", Jewish New Testament Publications, 1988)?
Are we truly to believe that Mr. Stern did not know at this time that every major Protestant mission to the Jews in the world were and still are, members of the LCJE? Had he forgotten that these very same missions regularly refer to their converts from Judaism as "Messianic Jews"? Had he also forgotten that he too refers to himself and his wife as "Messianic Jews" and that they were both then members of the LCJE who had five years previously affirmed the conservative Protestant Christian "Lausanne Covenant"? Even if Mr. Stern still affirms the now long discredited "Jewish race" myth, surely he could not have thought that anyone who could affirm the "Lausanne Covenant" is anything other than a committed conservative Christian?
In 1989 the Israel High Court of Justice ruled that "Messianic Jews" are indeed members of a religion other than Judaism. Presumably, any member of the LCJE, including Mr. Stern, could have told them that and saved everyone both time and expense. However, that is not what the LCJE is all about.
The LCJE, like other Christian chauvinists before it, thinks it knows the truth and it appears ready to do anything to arrange the world in conformity with its version of the "truth". So if it says that Jesus was the Jewish Messiah, how dare anyone disagree with its wisdom, especially Jews and in particular the sovereign Jewish state? What deeply upsets the LCJE is that ordinary Jews have decided "Who is a Jew" and this conflicts with its conservative Christian theology. This is especially galling to some conservative Christians who despise Jews for their alleged lack of spiritual insight.
Another LCJE individual member is Baruch Maoz. He is an American missionary faking it up as a Jew whilst Pastor of the "Grace and Truth Christian Assembly", PO Box 75, 75100 Rishon L'Tzion, Israel. Home tel: 03 849 2632 (drop the zero and add 972 if calling from abroad) Office & fax number: 03 966 1898. His personal membership is paid for by his major backer, the "Christian Witness to Israel" (a UK based mission). The "Grace and Truth Christian Assembly" is also a LCJE member in its own right. Its ministry is described by the LCJE as, "Evangelical, Jewish, and Israeli. Active in evangelism, open to Israeli society, and committed to a teaching ministry. Theological Emphasis: Evangelical, Reformed, Baptist."
The CWI itself is a LCJE agency member (Mr. Maoz is included in its membership). The LCJE describes the CWI as, "A witness to the Jewish people in Israel and the Diaspora, working through church-based evangelism, street witnessing, personal Bible study, counselling and book publishing."
The "witness to the Jewish people in Israel" referred to above is organised by Mr. Maoz. So in the Winter 1996 issue of the CWI's in-house magazine, the "CWI Herald" (p.12), Baruch Maoz was described as the CWI's, "... Israel Field Director, director of HaGefen Publishing and Pastor of the Grace and Truth Christian congregation".
In the same issue of the "CWI Herald", the suggestion is that on the 24th of each month its readers, "Pray for the work of HaGefen Publishing, that their evangelistic publications will result in many finding Messiah ...". These include Hebrew publications targeted at children.
The "Grace and Truth Christian Assembly" also gets support from the, "Evangeliumsdienst Fur Israel-SW" (Postfach 20 02 18, D-7022 Leinfelden- Echterdingen 2, Germany). The LCJE describes this mission to the Jews as wishing to, "... promote messianic congregations in their testimony and ministry".
This all contrasts most sharply with the carefully crafted image that Mr Maoz prefers to project. For example, in, "As Messianic faith grows in Israel, so does the opposition", ("Philadelphia Inquirer", December 26, 1997) Barbara Demick (Inquirer Staffer) paints a very different picture of the "Grace and Truth Christian Congregation" from the one might predict knowing of its LCJE membership.
Ms. Demick reports that the, "Congregation of Grace and Truth", bears little resemblance "to what most people would identify as a church". Even though it clearly is a church. Note also that all mention of "Christian" has been dropped from its title.
She also reports that, "... most Messianic Jews reject traditional Christianity and its symbols. There is no Christmas tree, no Christmas lights. Instead, there is a large menorah burning a single candle for the first night of Hanukkah and children playing with dredels, the spinning tops that are traditional gifts for the Jewish holiday. Some congregants wear Stars of David."
Ms. Demick continues, "'Of course, we are Jewish,' laughs Baruch Maoz, the American-born pastor of the Rishon Lezion congregation. Their belief is simply that Jesus is the Messiah whose coming was prophesied in the Old Testament. They say this is no more outlandish than, for example, the Lubovitchers (sic), many of whom believe that the late Rabbi Menachem Schneerson was the Messiah."
Mr. Maoz is then reported to have asked, "If there are Jews who believe that some rabbi from Brooklyn is the Messiah, why can't there be Jews who believe that Yeshua is the Messiah?" Is Mr. Maoz really that dumb?
The only difference between Mr. Maoz's foreign Christian mission to the Jews in Israel and any of a dozen other similarly funded missions (even including some other LCJE fellow members) is that the latter do not pretend to be "Jewish".
So why the pretence? Is this motivated solely by that chauvinism so unfortunately typical of many conservative Christians? Or maybe it is motivated by fear? Conservative Christians like to believe that Christianity is the sole heir to biblical Judaism. So if by conversion to Christianity a Jew ceases effectively to be a Jew, might not conservative Christians fear that this means there is something not right about Christianity? Maybe instead it is all just a simple marketing ploy? A way of circumventing the sales resistance to the Christian message generated by many generations of Christian persecution of the Jews in the name of "Christ"? Or could it be that conservative Christian beliefs invariably go hand in hand with conservative social "race" mythology? There is good evidence to suggest that the "Messianic Jew" is to conservative Christianity what the "non-Aryan Christian" (i.e. a "Christian of the Jewish race") was to Nazi Germany. Finally, could it just be the case that Christianity is now so shop soiled that it needs desperate measures to shift it off the shelf?
Whatever the case, it would appear that some Christians are now so desperate
to convert Jews that they will go to any lengths to do so, including denying
that they are Christians in the first place.