Deanna Van der Velde, Chair of CCJ North East, has asked that this letter be circulated around our Churches Together Groups

CCJ  /  Churches Together  /  Jews for Jesus  /  Messianic Jews

I am a long standing member of the Council of Christians and Jews and chair of their local North East Branch.

The Council of Christians and Jews remit is open and frank dialogue between both faiths without any attempt at proselytising from either side.

Over the years I have been invited by Churches Together to come and speak about various aspects of Judaism such as the Jewish Sabbath or festivals such as Passover.

The audiences were always attentive and welcoming.  Chatting to a group of ladies after one particular session on Passover, they were enthusing  about having attended an event based around Purim (the Festival around Queen Esther) .  When I enquired who had hosted it I was told it was the local (to the North East) branch of Messianic Jews known as Beit Yeshua. 

This rather upset me as the remit of these groups is to convert Jews to Christianity, while claiming to be genuine Jews themselves.  To be honest these groups are anathema to orthodox or indeed all genuine Jews.  If you ‘google’ the name ‘Beit Yeshua’ you can find out more information about then.  They seem to like the Purim story, and the giveaway that it is not a genuine Jewish site is the mention of Yeshua.

Most recently I was in a local church and noticed a set of leaflets in the entrance advertising courses by Beit Yeshua.  I did try to tackle the pastor (although maybe it was not my place to do so) , and while he was polite I could see that I wasn’t getting anywhere.

‘Jews for Jesus’ is, I believe, much more in evidence in the London area, where they target people openly in the street. 

My plea to ‘Churches Together’ is if you are looking for dialogue with Jewish people then do it through the Council of Christians and Jews nationally on 0207 0155160, or through their web site, or locally in the North East through the ‘North East Regional Faith Network web site.*

Listening and discussing in a non-threatening environment where we might not always agree, but we can treat each other with respect, and is surely the way forward.

Deanna Van der Velde

Chair CCJ North East

*  Locally the 2 synagogues are as follows:

            United Hebrew Congregation of Newcastle upon Tyne 0191 2840959

            Secretary only available Monday and Thursday 9.00 am to 1.00 pm

            Newcastle Reform Synagogue 0191 2848621

            24 hour answering service

            Web site www.nertamid.org.uk