Lausanne Consultation on Jewish Evangelism is a Special Interest Committee of the Lausanne Movement.

LCJE is the only global organization in existence today in which people involved in the field of
Jewish evangelism can come together and -

· Share information and resources
· Study and report on current trends
· Stimulate one another’s thinking on theological and missiological issues
· Strategize on a global level so that more Jewish people will hear and consider the Good News of Jesus the Messiah
· Arrange consultations that will be useful to those engaged in Jewish evangelism

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Risto Santala, z''l - Cherished Scholar of the Messianic Movement, Known Affectionately to Many as the "Rabbi of the Church of Finland"

Risto Santala (1929-2012)

Dr. Risto Santala, beloved pastor, scholar, and author, passed into eternity on September 26, 2012. Juha-Pekka Rissanen's eulogy for Reverend Santala can be found in the November 2012 issue of the LCJE Bulletin, available on this webpage as a PDF download (click on "LCJE Bulletin" in upper right).

 

Rev. Santala passed away on the Day of Atonement. As Rev. Rissanen aptly puts it, the basic theme of his life's work was "to convey the message of the atonement of Jesus the Messiah" to the Jewish people (LCJE Bulletin, Nov. 2012, p. 7).

Dr. Santala's many valuable works are well known among nearly all workers and scholars in the area of Jewish evangelism. These include (among others): The Messiah in the Old Testament in the Light of Rabbinical Writings and The New Testament in the Light of Rabbinical Writings, both of which were written in modern Hebrew. This alone was an extraordinary achievement. But his life was much more than just scholarship - it was full of ministry and teaching. As is noted in the article, "the fruit of his teaching impacted many congregational Messianic Jewish leaders in Israel," while Risto was also "one of very few foreign teachers who was invited to teach in Hebrew-speaking congregations."

Rev. Santala's connections to LCJE extend back nearly to the very beginning of our network. The very first issue of the LCJE Bulletin in 1984 (recently added on this page for download) contains the following entry: "FINNS write in HEBREW" and discusses Risto's then upcoming second book in Hebrew, as well as the biography of Risto's and his wife Kerttu's son Ismo, who died in Jerusalem in 1959 at the tender age of seven. That book was titled, A Little Vessel in the Holy Land.

We are very thankful for Risto Santala's life and ministry, for his part in LCJE and for the many contributions he made in a lifetime of service to our Savior.
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Religious Terrorist Yaakov 'Jack' Teitel - Convicted of Two Murders and the Attempted Murder of Ami Ortiz (in targeting the Messianic Ortiz family)

The Ortiz family in Ariel, Israel: from left to right: Ami, Leah, David, Nathan

In a very important decision for the cause of justice and the religious freedom of the Messianic community in Israel, on January 16, 2013, the Jerusalem District Court found American-Israeli anti-missionary terrorist Yaakov 'Jack' Teitel guilty of two murders of Palestinians and the attempted murder of then 15-year old Messianic teenager Ami Ortiz of Ariel, Israel, as well as other crimes. Ami was miraculously saved from a terrorist bomb disguised as a Purim gift basket that was placed by Teitel outside the Ortiz's apartment door in March 2008. Ami was the only person home at the time. He found the basket and brought it into his home to open it to see what gifts it might contain - a common practice in Israel during Purim. Instead of gifts, the basket contained a bomb, which then exploded and nearly killed him instantly.

God spared his life, but Ami has needed 14 operations thus far. We praise God for Ami's incredible recovery but ask for continued prayer for him and for the Ortiz family for the follow-on operations that he faces in order to deal with the aftermaths of the bomb blast. We also ask prayer for the salvation of Jack Teitel himself, that, just as Yeshua our Messiah appeared in a vision and transformed the hardened heart and life of Saul (who later became the Apostle Paul) on the road to Damascus (The Book of Acts, Chapter 9, in the Brit Chadashah), He might also touch with His love and forgiveness the heart and soul of this modern-day enemy of the Gospel who now sits in prison.

For more on Ami's amazing story, as well as information on the new Rami-Ami booklet in Hebrew and Arabic, published by the Israeli Bible Society as a joint effort with the Palestinian Bible Society, see the Nov. 2012 issue of the LCJE Bulletin, pp. 18-20 (available for PDF download on this page)

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Remembering the Life and Testimony of Jhan Moskowitz (1948-2012)

"The greatest form of anti-Semitism is the withholding of the gospel from

the Jewish people." (JHAN MOSKOWITZ)

In September 2012, we lost our beloved brother in Messiah, Jhan Moskowitz, North American Director of Jews for Jesus and one of the founders of LCJE. Please pray for his widow Melissa, his daughters Kayla and Jesse, and the extended Jews for Jesus family around the world as they deal with his loss.

Jhan had an enormous impact on Jewish evangelism in our day. As Biola professor and LCJE member Judith Mendelsohn Rood stated: "The Lord used Jhan's message on t'shuvah to turn my sinner's heart back to God, to repent of my rebellious ways, and to reconcile with the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob...I thank God for his life of service. His memory is a blessing to my people. He is one of the heroes of our faith."

There are two special tributes to Jhan in the November 2012 issue of the LCJE Bulletin (available for PDF download on this page).

Jim Melnick, International Coordinator, LCJE

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LCJE is an international network. The membership is made up of individual people and organizations working with Jewish evangelism. Find out more about LCJE agency members here

Bulletin No. 1 - 1984

(a friend of LCJE has graciously scanned past copies of the Bulletin. We will eventually be placing these past issues on the website.)

May 27-31, 2013

UPCOMING SOON!

LCJE CEO conference (St. Chrischona, Basel, Switzerland)

 

April 28 - May 1, 2014

10th LCJE European Conference

(Kiev, Ukraine)