Equipping Gentile Believers to Share Messiah with the Jewish People

Chosen People Ministries (CPM) exists to “pray for, evangelize, disciple, and serve Jewish people everywhere, and to help fellow believers do the same.” That second part of our mission statement—that is, equipping Gentile believers to share the good news of Messiah with the Jewish people—is vital to our work. Much of our time and resources are spent on educating and equipping believers to share the gospel and fulfill the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19) “to the Jew first and also to the Gentile” (Romans 1:16). Throughout our history, Gentile believers in Yeshua (Jesus) the Messiah have partnered with us and utilized our resources to lovingly reach out to Jewish people with the love of Messiah. But why is it so important to equip Gentile Christians to share Messiah with Jewish people?

The main reason many Jewish people do not believe Jesus is the Messiah—and why it is important for Gentile Christians to know how to lovingly share the gospel with our Jewish brothers and sisters—is that the Christian church has had a long history of antisemitism, and thus Jewish people have had a historically negative relationship with those who claim to believe in Jesus. It is therefore essential that Gentile believers faithfully and lovingly show the Jewish people in their lives the difference between people who call themselves Christian but have hateful hearts toward the Jewish people, and true believers in Jesus as Messiah who have been transformed by the truth of the gospel. Chosen People Ministries has a long history of equipping and inspiring believers to do just that.

While praying for, evangelizing, discipling, and serving Jewish people directly is a significant aspect of the work we do, equipping and inspiring believers to do the same thing plays an equally significant role in our ministry. There are many resources on our website and in our online store to help believers witness to their Jewish friends. For example, Chosen People Ministries has made a number of resources available specifically for churches on our website, such as Sunday school lessons, presentations, and other teaching resources that are intended to educate believers on the Jewishness of their faith and equip them to share that faith with those through whom the Messiah first came—the Jewish people! Aside from these resources, other ways that we train believers to share the good news of Messiah are through short-term missions programs, volunteer and internship opportunities, and more. Here is one story we have of believers spreading the good news of Messiah after being inspired and equipped by our ministry:

On Maundy Thursday in 2025, one of our staff led a Messiah in the Passover banquet at a local church. He walked through each part of not only the Passover traditions but the Passover story, revealing at each step how it all pointed to Jesus. Jesus is the one who would free us, deliver us, and redeem us so He could take us to be His people, and He could be our God. There were about forty-five people in attendance that evening, and although our staff member did not know it at the time, one of them was a not-yet-believing Jewish woman who was curious. About a year and a half later, our staff member received an email from the pastor of that church. As it turns out, the woman had returned and, under the guidance of that pastor, has since become a believer in Yeshua and was recently baptized! The tools provided by our staff and the heart of the pastor to see that Jewish woman saved were exactly what she needed, and we are praising God for the connection. She is now attending that church regularly and has begun reaching out to connect with other Jewish believers.

Chosen People Ministries has a long history (132 years!) of equipping believers to join us in our mission of sharing Messiah. Our ministry has many resources on how to lovingly and sensitively share the gospel with Jewish people, and our partners are constantly praying for the salvation and wellbeing of the Jewish people. Here is another story of how we have fulfilled the second part of our mission statement—except this story is from 25 years ago:

A short time after the terrorist attacks in New York City on September 11, 2001, there was a Chosen People Ministries event in the Empire State Building. At the event, there was a couple who appeared to be the only happy people in the building! Our president, Mitch Glaser, noticing their joyful attitudes during such a time of grief and fear, went up to them and asked why they seemed so happy. Their answer? They said that they had friends who knew Chosen People Ministries and had been inspired to share the gospel of Jesus with them for a long time, so much so that they had become annoyed. Then when the 9/11 attacks began, their son was in the World Trade Center, so they prayed this prayer: “God, if you save our son, then we’ll believe in Jesus.” And their son survived! Upon learning that God had answered their prayer and saved their son, the couple placed their faith in Jesus as the Jewish Messiah.

So, what are some best practices for how Gentile believers in Messiah can lovingly share their faith with Jewish people, given the vast history of antisemitism in the church? There are many things to keep in mind when sharing the good news of Messiah with our Jewish brothers and sisters. For example, it is important to keep in mind that your Jewish friends may not believe in the Old Testament, or may not be especially familiar with it, as many Jewish people are secular and may not even believe God exists. Even if they do have a religious background, Jewish people are generally taught to reject certain Christian teachings, such as the second coming of Jesus, the deity of the Messiah, and the Trinity; the Trinity especially is viewed by many Jewish people as violating “the Lord is our God, the Lord is one” (Deuteronomy 6:4). Most Jewish people are surprised to find out that the New Testament was written almost entirely by Jewish people and that Jesus Himself was Jewish. In addition, many Jewish people know that if they do put their faith in Jesus, then their Jewish family, friends, and community would not understand, and might even disown them.

While it is essential that we share our faith with our Jewish brothers and sisters (Romans 1:16), it is also important to know that there is no “formula” for sharing your faith in Messiah in a Jewish way, and that Jewish people hold a very wide range of different beliefs! It is crucial to be sensitive to the church’s history of antagonism toward the Jewish people by watching the language you use. For this reason, it is better to use “Jesus,” “Yeshua,” or “Messiah” in place of “Christ” (which is the Greek word for “messiah”), and you can say “tree” instead of “cross.”

One of the most important considerations when sharing Messiah with your Jewish friend is to try to understand their mindset toward the gospel and maintain a relationship with them by spending time with them, whether that’s just hanging out one-on-one or celebrating Jewish holidays with them! While you should never view a Jewish person as a project and only befriend him or her to “get him or her saved,” the best witness is often the witness of a friend or close relation (John 1:40–45). Don’t be discouraged if you share the gospel with them and they say no; you can keep looking for ways to extend God’s love to your Jewish friends even after an initial rejection.

Though sharing the gospel can feel scary and risky, it is nonetheless worth it. When writing to the Romans, the apostle Paul says, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (Romans 1:16). In Greek, the word “first” is prōtos, which does not only mean first sequentially, but “first by way of priority.”^[1] While it is also important to evangelize Gentiles (“There is neither Jew nor Greek . . . for you are all one in Christ [Messiah] Jesus”—Galatians 3:28), what Romans 1:16 tells us is that reaching Jewish people with the gospel is a priority for all believers in Jesus.

Another reason sharing the good news of Jesus is a priority for the church is that Jesus dearly loves the Jewish people through whom He came! He wept over Jerusalem and said, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem . . . How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks” (Matthew 23:37). This is why Chosen People Ministries not only prays for, disciples, and serves Jewish people everywhere, but also helps fellow believers to do the same. If all believers in Jesus are called to share the gospel (Matthew 28:19), love those whom Jesus loves, and obey His commands, then all believers are called to share the good news of Jesus with the Jewish people. An essential part of our mission is equipping all believers to fulfill that call.

Get Equipped with our Free Jewish Evangelism Course

Want to be equipped to share your faith with your Jewish friends and family? Join our President, Dr. Mitch Glaser, in our free evangelism course. Learn practical tools, biblical teaching, and wisdom for sharing the Good News with Jewish people compassionately, respectfully, and truthfully.

^[1] Walter Bauer, William Arndt, and F. Wilbur Gingrich, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., ed. Frederick William Danker (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2001), 894.