Numerous publications and reports originating mostly from Israel give exaggerated numbers about how many Israeli Jewish Yeshua-Believers (IJYB) there are in the Land. Estimates often range from around 10,000 to more than 35,000 Jewish believers living in Israel. Sadly, these intentionally overestimated and fabricated accounts create fake news and are misleading, causing confusion.
How to explain this disturbing phenomenon? In most cases, behind the unrealistic numbers lurk wishful and ambitious aspirations of fundraisers to “impress” supporters and potential donors. Frequently, the guesstimated figures are accompanied by fundraising campaigns during international “Messianic” conferences organized in Israel. At other times, so-called leaders who are invited to speak overseas in conferences and churches pump up the numbers to make it look like many Jews are coming to faith in Jesus. Often these “leaders” are not themselves Messianic Jews, but expatriates or temporary directors of foreign and various denominational entities missionizing in the Land who have no way of knowing the actual numbers of IJYB’s in Israel.
In order to avoid these erroneous perceptions of how many Jews in Israel really believe in Jesus, the Jerusalem based Caspari Center has undertaken to prepare a systematic survey on IJYB’s that will soon be published. This research aims to gather updated figures regarding local Israeli congregational memberships and will include information on the institutional structures of the assemblies and their theologies. The current survey is an updated and new version of a previous overview published by the Caspari Center 20 years ago. “Since then, the number of congregations has grown, but the myths about them still continue,” says Alec Goldberg, Israel Director of the Caspari Center. “The main problem is concerning the myths about the numbers and the rate of growth (of IJYB’s).”
During the last two decades several new congregations were started and there is certainly growth within their memberships. However, the numerous reports about a boom of growth among IJYB’s is simply not true, as Goldberg clarified. The goal of the Caspari Center’s research is to establish accurate figures as much as is possible, as well as “find out about the theological-doctrinal developments since 1999,” Goldberg said. It is clear that the puffed-up numbers of IJYB’s are irresponsible as they often include the numerous tourists participating in meetings (often groups provided with translations), volunteers, visiting students, local Arab Christians and others having no family ties at all to the Jewish people.
David Serner, a Danish Lutheran missionary and pastor in Jerusalem who is on staff at the Caspari Center and is working on the new survey presented preliminary details of the study at the international conference of the Lausanne Consultation on Jewish Evangelism (LCJE) that took place in Toronto, Canada in August. His presentation revealed interesting data with approximately 70% of the survey completed.
Although tentative, these statistical results, provided by Serner, are an eye-opener. The figures show the numbers of different groups within the Messianic congregations in Israel: 5,095 members in Russian-speaking congregations; 1,140 in the Amharic-speaking Ethiopian congregations; 2,497 in Hebrew-speaking; 1,323 in international congregations (of these 196 were Israelis, or Jews, this is not yet clear). In total, the bottom line shows that altogether there are approximately 10,055 IJYB’s. Even if the figures can be realistically rounded up to 15,000, to double this figure, as some have, would be shamming.
Caspari Center’s new survey is timely and important. No doubt that accurate data about contemporary IJYB’s without unnecessary exaggerations is needed not only for our own generation but also for a reliable historical account. In this context, the words of the Lord Yeshua are most relevant: “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8: 32).
Dr. Gershon Nerel Ph.D. Hebrew University of Jerusalem Dissertation: “Messianic Jews in the Land of Israel (1917-1967): Trends and Changes in Shaping Self-Identity.”
His website: www.iseeisrael.com
