Joshua Turnil is the director of Jews for Jesus in France and Switzerland, overseeing the work in francophone Europe. Joshua was born in New York and has a bachelor’s degree in French literature. His wife, Delphine, who is French, also serves with Jews for Jesus. They have three children: Ilan, Lilya, and Levia.

Joshua came to personal faith in Jesus when someone sitting next to him on a plane asked him a question he had never heard before: “If you were to die tonight, what would you say to God if He asked you, ‘Why should I let you in?’” That question shook him to his core, and shortly thereafter, at an evangelistic meeting, he stood up to accept Jesus.

Joshua has participated in and produced five music albums, as well as video projects such as the life story of resistance fighter and Holocaust survivor, Ruth Gottlieb. Josh is uniquely qualified to speak to the question of antisemitism, as his Paris office is often the target of antisemitic threats and is under the constant vigilance of the French police. Also, he has worked side by side with leaders of the French Jewish community and church leaders to actively fight against antisemitism.

Lionel was born in Lausanne, Switzerland to a multicultural family with his Jewish father being from Argentina and his mother from a Swiss-English background. He came to the Messiah in 2003 and began full-time missionary work in Switzerland two years later. Lionel received a bachelor’s degree in theology in 2012. He continues to be passionate about mission work and is now serving in Paris. Lionel is also a qualified fitness instructor and used sports and fitness to reach out to young and old alike during Behold Your God Jerusalem in 2018 and now uses it in France.

Lionel is a member of the international team of counselors for Jewish-Gentile couples and runs the Gilgal camps in France. He is married to Valérie, and they have three sons: Marc, Luca, and Noah.

Delphine grew up in France in a secular Jewish-Gentile home that was strongly impacted by the Holocaust. She came to faith as a teenager after she was invited by a Christian friend to attend a Billy Graham crusade in Paris. Delphine studied at the Sorbonne and received a master’s degree in English and American literature.

Delphine grew up in a secular Jewish home greatly impacted by the Holocaust. She came to faith later in life after Christian friends invited her to attend a Billy Graham crusade.

For the reason stated above, she did not grow up with a strong Jewish identity and came to a better understanding of her Jewishness when she came to work with Jews for Jesus. That was one of the motivating factors for her interest in the mission. This is where she met her husband, Joshua, who was also serving with our ministry. They have three children.

Delphine serves in France as a missionary with her husband. Additionally, she is part of a small administrative team that carries a huge workload. She also edits and approves our French monthly newsletters and all other written communication for the Paris branch.

After more than 30 years in publishing, Geneviève joined Jews for Jesus in January 2019 as a church relations coordinator for France, Belgium, and Switzerland. She also makes many films and reports for our YouTube channel, including interviews with Jewish people about their family histories from the Shoah (Holocaust), the Algerian War of Independence from France in the 1960s (when many Jewish people were displaced), antisemitism, and more.

Geneviève was born into a committed-Christian family. Her grandfather was a Jew who escaped terrible abuses in his native Romania. Her mother was a child hidden during the Shoah in Paris. What they transmitted to her from this identity of a son and a daughter of Israel allowed her to feel close to the Jewish world and to be able to forge bonds of friendship and trust. She is always concerned to make Christians aware of the need to stand as sentinels around Israel. As a committed Christian believing in Yeshua, Messiah of Israel, Geneviève feels the need to be a bridge between the church and the Jewish people.