Sunday, January 27, 2013

2008 WEA Statement on Jews and the Gospel

  2008 WEA Statement on Jews and the Gospel  


THE GOSPEL AND THE JEWISH PEOPLE AN EVANGELICAL STATEMENT

wea lOGO.jpgOn June 26, 2008 the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) released a statement stating their position on the Jewish people and whether the alliance felt it was appropriate to evangelize to them. This statement also spoke of topics concerning the status of the Jewish people's condition of their souls without reconciliation with Messiah Yeshua and the status of Messianic Jews in todays society. The Road to God Ministry would like to add its full support to this statement as we wholeheartedly agree in every aspect of the increase of the lost Children of Israel into God's Kingdom!

 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.