A report recently released by World Evangelical Fellowship on the status of the Jewish Christian Church — or Messianic Jewish Church — in Israel examines the trends and beliefs of the religious group and gives a forecast for the status of Messianic Judaism in 10 years. Baruch Moaz, Messianic pastor and former head of the Messianic Action Committee, wrote the report.
According to Maoz, the major contributing factor to the growth of the Jewish Christian population in Israel is due to the influx of Russian immigrants into that country. Russian-speaking Jews make up about 50 percent of the Messianic population of Israel. Besides immigration from Russia, the report cites evangelism and the existence of a second generation of Jewish Christians raised in Messianic homes as contributing to growth as well.
Will growth continue? Immigration has slowed in recent years and there are no current plans among the population to step up evangelism efforts. Despite this, the report speculates that the growth of the Messianic Jewish community in Israel will more than double in size in a decade, growing from 7,000 to 20,000 persons.
Currently, members of the Messianic Jewish faith are facing increasing pressure to emphasize their Jewishness. The pressure results from a wider cultural trend in Israel reportedly influenced by the Orthodox Jewish population. Included in this trend is the repression of evangelism, something that many Orthodox leaders and politicians favor.
(EP)
Share with others: