Despite Controversy, Jews for Jesus Says Jews More Receptive to Gospel
	LOS ANGELES, Calif. (EP) - The message of Jews for Jesus - that Jesus Christ is Israel's promised Messiah - is often met with anger, frustration and fear by the Jewish community. Condemnations of the ministry's activities by Jewish leaders are commonplace.     But despite this public reaction, individual Jews today are more receptive to the Gospel message today than ever before, says David Brickner, executive director of the international ministry.     "There's long been this image that Jewish people are going to be opposed or hostile," acknowledges Brickner. "That's the image that rabbis and Jewish community leaders want to project. The fact is that individual Jewish people are more open than ever to consider the claims of Christ. When we stand out on the street corners, we encounter Jewish people who are hostile, who are angry, who identify the proclamation of the Gospel with all the worst forms of anti-Semitism in the last 2,000 years. When we meet those kind of folks we want to respond with love and sensitivity because we recognize there is a lot of pain and misunderstanding behind that reaction. Besides, many of us reacted that way when we first heard the Gospel too."     Christians shouldn't let fear of rejection keep them from sharing the story of Jesus with their Jewish friends, says Brickner. "We want Christians first of all to recognize that when there is a hostile response on the part of a Jewish person to their efforts to share Christ, they shouldn't be put off by that," he explains. "They should recognize that there is a long history of indoctrination that kind of brings that about. When you respond in love, a soft answer turns away wrath, the Bible says. More often than not that first reaction is just that, it's a first reaction. But then there are more opportunities afterward. Sometimes we meet people out on the streets and their first reaction is hostility and maybe a month or two months or even years later they'll meet up with a member of our staff and God will have been working in their hearts."     Although the ministry is named Jews for Jesus, its evangelistic efforts reach far beyond the Jewish community. "It's not just Jewish people who respond to our proclamation," says Brickner. "In fact, five times as many non-Jews as Jews come to faith in Christ through our ministry. This is especially true out on the streets because just the kind of cognitive dissonance, I like to call it, of Jews believing in Jesus often provokes them to reconsider a message they might have already heard and rejected. They hear it from a different source a new kind of twist on it."     Jews for Jesus has been surprisingly effective in sharing the Gospel with Gentiles in Germany. "There's such a history of hatred and persecution of Jews with the Holocaust. Now you've got a branch of Jews for Jesus, you've got Germans hearing the Gospel from Jews on the streets of Germany. Talk about a divine irony," Brickner notes. "We have a platform from which to speak to Germans which no other people do. So God is affording us as a ministry wonderful opportunities sometimes because of who we are and what Jewish people have experienced over the ages."     A growing area of ministry for Jews for Jesus is Israel, where a surprising openness has been encountered. "Many people would think that Israel would be a place where there would be more persecution, more hostility. But absolutely not," he insists. "Most Israelis are secularized and as long as you pay your taxes and do your military service, if you are an Israeli you have a right to be there. All of our staff are Israelis. It is only from the Orthodox or the Jewish community leadership that we experience the opposition."     Even that limited opposition will be enough if it succeeds in passing a proposed bill to sharply limit evangelistic work in Israel. "There have been efforts to introduce legislation into the Knesset which would outlaw efforts to evangelize," explains Brickner. "Evangelical Christians here in this country can help by making their opinions known by contacting the Prime Minister's office. Israel is based on principles of freedom of speech and thought so any kind of legislation like this would be scrutinized very carefully in light of some commitments Israel has to its democratic leanings. But it is right to be concerned and it is right to be vigilant. If that legislation were to pass it would be a very dark time for the believers there and for our ministry."
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