Yom ha-Azma'ut, or Israel Independence Day, is commemorated each year on the
fifth day of the Hebrew month Iyar. This day marks the end of the British
Mandate and the official forming of the State of Israel in 1948.
Jewish sovereignty over the ancient homeland enabled Jewish people to return
to Israel from the four corners of the world, as the Bible predicted they would.
The modern state of Israel is comprised of Jews from hundreds of nations and as
many different backgrounds and languages. Yet, a distinct Israeli Jewish culture and
style has emerged as demonstrated by the use of Hebrew as a common
language. This means the gospel of Y'shua can be proclaimed to millions of
our people using one language!
Of the almost six million Jews that have settled in Israel, less than one percent
believe in Jesus. As we Jews for Jesus celebrate Israel Independence Day, we also
recognize our dependence on God as we seek to reach Jews in Israel and all over the
world with the message of Y'shua.
Sponsored by the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA), the statement is signed by well-known evangelical pastors, theologians, and journalists who believe in Jewish evangelism. It is a concise, updated reaffirmation of WEA’s 1989 Willowbank Declaration on the Christian Gospel and the Jewish People.
Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League has called it “particularly odious to defend the duplicitous proselytizing of Jews by groups such as Jews for Jesus…” He goes on to stay that “While [the leaders who signed the statement] claim to deplore the use of deception and coercion, they ‘reject the notion that it is deceptive for followers of Jesus Christ who were born Jewish to continue to identify as Jews,’ thus turning the meaning of deception on its head.”
We applaud the WEA and those who signed the document for recognizing the need for the gospel to be lovingly brought to all people, including our Jewish people. And we are particularly encouraged to see our evangelical family acknowledge that those of us who are followers of Y’shua (Jesus) who were born Jewish have every right to continue to identify as Jews.
The Gospel and the Jewish People - An Evangelical Statement
As evangelical Christians, we want to express our genuine friendship and love for the Jewish people. We sadly acknowledge that church history has been marred with anti-Semitic words and deeds; and that at times when the Jewish people were in great peril, the church did far less than it should have.
We pledge our commitment to be loving friends and to stand against such injustice in our generation. At the same time, we want to be transparent in affirming that we believe the most loving and Scriptural expression of our friendship toward Jewish people, and to anyone we call friend, is to forthrightly share the love of God in the person of Jesus Christ.
We believe that it is only through Jesus that all people can receive eternal life. (Acts 4:12) If Jesus is not the Messiah of the Jewish people, He cannot be the Savior of the World.
We recognize that it is good and right for those with specialized knowledge, history and skills to use these gifts to introduce individuals to the Messiah, and that includes those ministries specifically directed to the Jewish people (1 Corinthians 9:20-22).
We deplore the use of deception or coercion in evangelism; however, we reject the notion that it is deceptive for followers of Jesus Christ who were born Jewish to continue to identify as Jews (Romans 11:1).
We want to make it clear that, as evangelical Christians, we do not wish to offend our Jewish friends by the above statements; but we are compelled by our faith and commitment to the Scriptures to stand by these principles. It is out of our profound respect for Jewish people that we seek to share the good news of Jesus Christ with them, and encourage others to do the same, for we believe that salvation is only found in Jesus, the Messiah of Israel and Savior of the World.
Due to space constraints, the following is a partial list of the evangelical Christian leaders who affirm the above statement:
Rev. Dr. Lon Allison—Director, Billy Graham Center, Wheaton College
Dr. Mark Bailey—President, Dallas Theological Seminary
Joel Belz—Founder, World Magazine
Richard Bewes—OBE, former Rector, All Souls Church, Langham Place, London
Lyndon Bowring—Executive Chairman, CARE
Doug Birdsall—Executive Chair, Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization
Dr. D. A. Carson—Research Professor of New Testament, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
Dr. Paul Cedar—Chairman, Mission America Coalition
Dr. Yonggi Cho—Senior Pastor, Yoido Full Gospel Church, Seoul, Korea
Chuck Colson—Founder, Prison Fellowship
Dr. Jim Congdon— Senior Pastor, Topeka Bible Church
David Evans—Bishop, Church of England
Neil E. Gastonguay— Pastor, United Methodist Church, Bath, Maine
Mark Greene—Executive Director, London Institute of Contemporary Christianity
Stan Guthrie—Managing Editor, Special Projects, Christianity Today
Dr. David Harley—former General Director, OMF International
Dr. Harold Hoehner—Distinguished Professor of New Testament Studies, Dallas Theological Seminary
Dr. Jim Holm—President, Mennonite Brethren Bible Seminary
Dr. Kenneth Hutcherson—Senior Pastor, Antioch Bible Church
Dr.Walter C. Kaiser, Jr.—President Emeritus, Colman M. Mockler Distinguished Professor of Old Testament, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary
Joe Kapolyo—Minister, Edmonton Baptist Church
Dr. R. T. Kendall—President, R. T. Kendall Ministries
Dr. Jerry B. Jenkins—Owner, ChristianWriters Guild
Prof. A. N. S. Lane—London Bible College
Rev. Dr. John-Paul Lotz—Lecturer in Church History, London School of Theology
Steve Moore—President & CEO, The Mission Exchange (formerly EFMA)
Rev. Dr. Steve Motyer—Lecturer, London School of Theology
Dr. Marv Newell—Executive Director, Cross Global Link (formerly IFMA)
Hugh Palmer—Rector, All Souls Church, London
The Honorable Tony Perkins—President, Family Research Council
Dr. Raymond Pfister—Principal, Birmingham Christian College, Birmingham, England
Charles W. Price—The People’s Church, Toronto, Canada
John Piper—Pastor for Preaching and Vision, Bethlehem Baptist Church
Dr. Carson Pue, President, Arrow Leadership, Vancouver BC
Dr. Phil Roberts—President, Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary
Dr. Haddon Robinson—President, Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary
John H. Rodgers, Th.D.—Bishop in the Anglican Mission in America
Russell Rook—Director, ALOVE, Salvation Army
John Seawright—Minister, Abbey Presbyterian Church, Monkstown, Ireland
Gordon Showell-Rogers—General Secretary, European Evangelical Alliance
Dr. Lon Solomon—Pastor, McLean Bible Church, McLean, VA
Dr. Joseph M. Stowell—President Cornerstone University
Stephen Strang—Publisher, Charisma Magazine
Matt Summerfield—Executive Director, Urban Saints
Dr. Vinson Synan—Dean Emeritus of Regent University
Dr. Geoff Tunnecliffe—International Director,World Evangelical Alliance
Clive Urquhart—Director, Kingdom Faith Ministries, Horsham, England
Phil S. Walker—Pastor, Ridgecrest Baptist Church, Madison, MS
Mike Wall—Executive Director All Nations Christian College, Ware, England
Mark Weeden—Pastor,Worthing Tabernacle
Chris Williams—Pastor, London Community Church
World Evangelical Alliance is the sponsor of this statement. Those evangelical Christians who would like to add their names to this list can do so by contacting World Evangelical Alliance at www.worldevangelicals.org
Christianity Today's April Edition continues this subject of "Christian Evangelism and Judaism" with an exchange of views between Rabbi Yehiel E. Poupko and Stan Guthrie.
I was born into a middle class, Jewish Amercian family, which would have made me a "princess" except that my father was a florist, not a doctor. We celebrated almost all the traditional Jewish holidays in a superficial way. While I was taught there was a God, I never really knew him.
When I was eight years old I was bitten on my face by a German Shepherd. This changed my life forever. We ha...
World Evangelical Alliance is the sponsor of this statement. Those evangelical Christians who would like to add their names to this list can do so by contacting World Evangelical Alliance at 
