RELIGION / JOHN DART : Jewish, Christian Leaders Discuss Evangelistic Conversion Tactics

Agreeing heartily to support Israel and fight anti-Semitism together, evangelical Christians and Jewish leaders at a conference this week in Sherman Oaks also conceded that one sticky issue still harms their coalition--evangelistic tactics that target Jews for conversion.

Rabbi A. James Rudin, New York-based interreligious affairs director for the American Jewish Committee, said that most U.S. Jewish leaders respect Billy Graham because the evangelist offers his Gospel message to everyone.

“What we object to are missions, specialized ministries, campaigns and booklets that target Jews qua Jews to convert to Christianity,” Rudin said.

Many mainline churches have abandoned evangelism aimed at Jewish people, and Anglican Archbishop George Carey recently refused to endorse the Church of England’s traditional mission to Jews. But the theologically conservative Southern Baptist Convention, Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and Assemblies of God still have special departments with strategies to convert Jews.

The Rev. David Lewis, an Assemblies of God evangelist from Springfield, Mo., a co-convener of the three-day conference that ended Thursday, said that he cannot take an active role in trying to change his denomination’s thinking.

“To do so would destroy my credibility with the Assemblies of God . . . Missionaries have been our heroes,” Lewis told the meeting at the Valley Hilton. He said that he has some success in educating colleagues about Israel and anti-Semitism. But just by engaging in dialogues with Jewish leaders, he said, “I am accused by some of my brethren of being a traitor.”

By the same token, some Jews take risks by being friendly with evangelical or charismatic ministers, said Rabbi Israel Kelemer of Congregation Mogen David in West Los Angeles.

Some 12 years ago, Kelemer said, he befriended the Rev. Ralph Wilkerson of Anaheim’s Melodyland Christian Center because of the pastor’s sympathies for Israel, but peer pressure forced the Orthodox rabbi to back out of further speaking engagements at the charismatic church.

Some of the tensions between evangelicals and Jews come out in intermittent battles between the convert-seeking “Jews for Jesus” and the militant “Jews for Judaism” organization that attempts to counter efforts by missionary churches and sects.

Because of Jewish suspicion of evangelistic churches, Rudin urged evangelicals to “place all your cards on the table” when expressing a fervor for Israel or professing love of the Jewish people.

“There are those evangelicals with hidden agendas who do crazy things,” conceded Ed Steele, a leader in the Orange County-based Christian Task Force Against Anti-Semitism. “I don’t like to be lumped with them or go along with their extremist methods.” Steele pleaded with Jewish leaders to recognize that not all evangelicals think alike.

The task force, which includes pastors such as Jack Hayford of Van Nuys and Jess Moody of Porter Ranch, attempts to respond immediately to attacks on Jewish groups by showing outrage and sympathy. This year, the task force came to the aid of a North Hollywood synagogue and school that was vandalized.

The meeting in Sherman Oaks, billed as the First Annual Congress of Evangelical and Jewish Leaders, was an attempt “to keep the dialogue going and to involve new faces,” said Prof. Marvin R. Wilson of Gordon College, Wenham, Mass., a keynote speaker. The Community Relations Committee of Los Angeles’ Jewish Federation Council was a co-sponsor.

Though not the first national gathering of evangelical and Jewish leaders, the meeting took on greater significance because it coincided with the growing visibility of “Christian Zionists” in this country, organizers said.

The Christian Evangelical Zionist Congress of America formally organized at a March meeting in San Antonio, Texas. The loose coalition of ministries, churches and high-profile pastors hopes to influence U.S. policy favorably toward Israel and Jewish people, among other goals.

Among its leading figures are Steele, Lewis and author Hal Lindsay of Torrance, whose best-selling “The Late, Great Planet Earth” helped popularize apocalyptic ideas about the role of Israel in the prophesied “last days” battle of Armageddon.

Rudin said that the frank discussion this week of tensions over attempts to convert Jews bodes well for future relations because it was at least more candid than those at earlier Jewish-evangelical conferences.