Jews for Jesus is a single Christian ministry which attempts to convert Jews to Christianity.
The term is often used generically for Jewish converts to Christianity who try to retain some cultural trappings of their Judaism.
Leaders of these groups are often ordained Christian ministers who are specifically trained in techniques for converting vulnerable Jews. Members of these groups deceptively use Jewish symbols (such as Stars of David) and language so as to appear Jewish, their goal is to take Jews away from Judaism and to bring them into the Christian Church.
Jews for Jesus actually considers itself an arm of the evangelical church.
A number of Christian denominations have condemned the deceptive and aggressive nature of groups like Jews for Jesus.
The Roman Catholic Church, liberal Protestant churches, interdenominational study groups and interfaith councils worldwide have taken a stand against this form of proselytizing which does a disservice to both faith systems.
Other Christian individuals and groups have been less sensitive to Jewish community concerns and continue to spend hundreds of millions of dollars annually to convert Jews to Christianity.
Most of the missionary and conversionary groups are affiliated with fundamentalist Protestant denominations.
Jewish understanding of salvation simply is different from that of Christianity and so the question of evangelization of Jews boils down to a question of whether or not Christians have the right to try to convince Jews that their version of salvation is preferable to the one Jews have already. Jews and Christians worship the same God — the God who made covenant with Israel. Should Christians then try to convince Jews to worship God in the Christian way, with the Christian goal (salvation) in mind, instead of the Jewish way, with the Jewish goal (obedience) in mind? Many Christians think so; many do not. In each case the response hangs on a critical interpretation of Christian identity.
Those Christians who would convert Jews firmly believe it is the divinely mandated mission of the church to preach the Gospel to them — as well as everyone else — for the sake of Jews themselves, for their salvation. According to this view, Christians would be false to their faith if they failed to bring Jews into the Christian fellowship.
On the other hand, there are Christians who are just as firmly convinced that the attempt to convert Jews to Christianity is to betray the God whom they both worship. On their reasoning, Jews as individuals are, by definition, part of the Jewish people with whom God made covenant; they are already within the covenant and have no need to enter it in a different way. The attempt to convince them otherwise is an attempt to convince them to deny God’s covenant with Israel. The proper stance for Christians, therefore, is to understand as best they can what it means for Jews to live as obedient members of the Jewish people before the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And, in the process, help Jews comprehend how it is that Christians — gentiles for the most part — can rightly worship that same God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Do you feel this Jews for Jesus group(s) is a deceptive form of proselytizing? That they use vague and misleading language along with deceptive tactics in its attempt to convert Jews to Christianity?
The Catholic Church regards the saving act of Christ as central to the process of human salvation for all, it also believes that Jews already dwell in a saving covenant with God. … The distinctive Jewish witness must be sustained if Catholics and Jews are truly to be, as Pope John Paul II envisioned, “a blessing to one another.”