Your Missionary Perspective
Journeys to Faith in God’s Timing
by Shoshannah Weinisch
Every Jewish person I minister to is unique, with different backgrounds, perspectives, needs and journeys. Yet my first meeting with each one is almost always the same – I just listen. I want to understand why they reached out to Jews for Jesus, where they are in their spiritual journey, whether they are really seeking, and what they are hoping for from us.
Listening creates a safe environment where people can open up and have meaningful conversations. Sometimes, people are hesitant to meet, and it’s disarming for them to realise that I’m not here to debate but to serve.
Sometimes, if people are looking to debate or have tough biblical or theological questions, I’ll refer them to my husband, Stewart, whom we affectionately call ‘The Closer’ because he has a unique gifting to help people who are considering the gospel take the next step. Stewart and I work well together because we’re so different. I’m very relational and approachable, while Stewart likes to get straight to the point. He can seem intimidating at first – of course, when you get to know him, he’s actually a big teddy bear.
The contrast in our personalities and giftings helps us work as a team and be more effective in coming alongside our Jewish people in their journeys to receive Messiah Yeshua. Sometimes, it takes several meetings over long periods for that journey to faith to unfold, as it did with Pearl*.
Pearl is in her seventies and grew up in an Orthodox Jewish family. She became secular back in college but still carried some nagging spiritual questions. Those questions prompted her to phone our office, and she accepted my offer to discuss her questions in person.
During our first visit, I mostly listened. After that, we began to study the Jewish Bible weekly over the phone. Over several months and after hearing the gospel a number of times, Pearl said, ‘I can believe Jesus is God and died for sin. But dead is dead! I can’t believe in the resurrection.’
I suggested we read Genesis together so that Pearl could see God’s pattern of doing miracles from the beginning. Each week, I would end our visit with, ‘Pearl, what is stopping you from believing in Jesus?’ Her reply was always the same: ‘Dead is dead – the resurrection.’
As we continued to meet, I could see her objection to the supernatural slowly being chipped away by God’s word. One day, Pearl affirmed that she believed that these supernatural events took place. I asked, ‘How is the resurrection different from God’s other supernatural acts? Is dead always dead with God?’
Pearl answered, ‘No.’
I continued, ‘So what is keeping you from faith in Jesus?’
‘Nothing,’ she replied.
I led Pearl in a salvation prayer, and she agreed to have Stewart give her a call. After their conversation, Stewart reported, ‘Pearl understands the gospel. And she believes in the resurrection!’
I continually marvel at how the Lord can slowly take down people’s defences and objections and transform them from the inside out. But while we accompany many people like Pearl on a slow and incremental journey, sometimes the Lord breaks through people’s hearts much more quickly and dramatically in the time that we have with them.
Leah* has a strong Jewish identity and always believed in God. Following many discussions with a Christian friend about the Bible, Jesus and faith, she began to investigate the claims of Jesus for herself.
Last December, Leah came to our Moshava Café in New York to ask questions. By then, she’d already come a long way in her journey. She seemed to understand the gospel and was counting the cost. She feared that professing faith would isolate her from her Jewish family and friends.
At Moshava, Leah was relieved to discover that she could still have community with Jewish people as a follower of Jesus. However, everyone she met that day at Moshava was a second-generation Jewish believer, and she still had questions for someone who did not grow up with believing parents. So, I got to meet her the very next day.
Leah asked me how Stewart and I navigated our faith with our unbelieving Jewish family. I shared our story and invited her to our Shabbat dinner.
Leah came for Shabbat two days later, and as soon as we were seated at the table, she announced, ‘Today, I prayed to receive Jesus as my Messiah!’
As he often does, Stewart asked follow-up questions to see if Leah understood her confession of faith. She answered confidently and biblically. Stewart remarked, ‘Leah answers like someone who has been a believer for a long time.’ Praise God!
While we rejoice at being able to witness a Jewish person’s journey to faith in Yeshua, we often only get to participate in a small part of that journey. We’re so thankful for believers like Leah’s Christian friend who helped lay the groundwork by sharing the hope of Messiah with our Jewish people.
As missionaries, we sometimes feel responsible for how people we minister to respond to the gospel. These days, our Jews for Jesus missionaries in New York and around the world are serving unusually large numbers of people since this has been a very frightening time for the Jewish community. Sometimes, it can feel overwhelming – it’s almost as though we have to ‘triage’ as we follow up with our contacts. Yet Pearl’s and Leah’s testimonies remind us that salvation is ultimately by God’s grace and initiative (John 6:44; Zechariah 4:6) and in His timing (Acts 1:7; Habakkuk 2:3). Pray that the Lord will send more workers to help bring in this amazing harvest.
*Names have been changed to protect identities