# The Jews considered as an unreached people group



## Pergamum (Jan 1, 2009)

Hello;

The world is divided up into many "people-groups."

How should the Jews be considered? Are they an ethnic people? Or a religious people? How do we classify them and how should we list them as an unreached people group? In the long lists of targetted unreached people groups to which we desire to send missionaries, how do we address the Jews?

What do we do with Arab background folks who convert to Judaism? Or European Jewish believers who are polish despite being jewish in belief. From an unreached people group perspective, are these then Jews or Poles?

The NT mentions humanity being made up of Jews and Gentiles; both now having access to the faith. If we just put them in with all the other (Gentile) unreached people groups, is that okay? Or must there be a footnote or some sort of special demarkation for them?


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## TimV (Jan 1, 2009)

> What do we do with Arab background folks who convert to Judaism? Or European Jewish believers who are polish despite being jewish in belief. From an unreached people group perspective, are these then Jews or Poles?


Arabs don't convert to Judaism, that that's the point. Jews don't make converting people a priority like many other religions. So you have a situation where anthropologists say the incidence of intermarriage among European Jews has only been at 5 percent a century.

A Jew from Poland can get immediate Israeli citizenship whether he's religious or not, so that answers the second question. The only time an ethnic Jew has trouble immigrating to Israel is if he converts to Christianity, then he's put on probation for 5 years and If I recall correctly still only gets something like permanent residence rather than full citizenship.

But I think the only Jews one could call an unreached people are the Sephardi and Iranian Jews. European Jews have had the Gospel available and even thrown in their faces for years. Even on this board there are several members who have at least one Jewish parent, as the 5 percent mixing figure goes out the window in the US for some reason.


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## Pergamum (Jan 1, 2009)

Interesting, Thanks TimV.

Now that these European views are in Israel/Palestine do they know become an "unreached people group" due to geographic barriers to the Gospel?


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## TimV (Jan 1, 2009)

> Now that these European views are in Israel/Palestine do they know become an "unreached people group" due to geographic barriers to the Gospel?


With half a million Christian tourists going to Israel every year?


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## Hippo (Jan 1, 2009)

Surely the Jews are the ultimately reached people in that the whole new testament drama was played out specifically for them.

I understand your thrust in that as a people they are presently not being evangelised but I am not particularly in favour of them being classed as unreached, a better description of them would be apostate.


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## Pergamum (Jan 1, 2009)

If a group is "reached" two thousand years ago, are they still reached now?

I am trying to figure out how to classify the Jews in relation to say, the Sundanese of West Java, the Fuau of Papua, the Khazaks, the Tamils, etc.


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## Pilgrim (Jan 1, 2009)

Pergamum said:


> If a group is "reached" two thousand years ago, are they still reached now?
> 
> I am trying to figure out how to classify the Jews in relation to say, the Sundanese of West Java, the Fuau of Papua, the Khazaks, the Tamils, etc.



I think your first question is a good one. Some groups were "reached" centuries ago, but while they may not be animistic cannibals today, many groups could hardly be said to be "reached" today and haven't been so in some cases for 1000 years or more. 

The Jews are both an ethnic and a religious people or group. 

Jerry Marcellino has produced some material on evangelism and the Jews but I haven't read it. See here. I do know that he makes reference to the trips by Scottish Presbyterians M'Cheyne, Bonar, etc. to Israel in the 1800's in one book that I saw. 

BTW, in the quote given promoting one of the books, when Spurgeon spoke of "restoration" he wasn't merely referring to conversion as some do.


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## Glenn Ferrell (Jan 1, 2009)

The Arabs and North Africa was once Christian. But, currently, many of them are obviously unreached.

Present day Jews make up several people groups culturally. Jews from India and those from Ethopia are culturally different. Even in the New Testament, there were major differences between the Jews of Palestine and the Hellenistic Jews.

To be "reached" in the current missiological sense of the word means to have a church of their own among that ethnic group. Hearing the gospel is not enough to be considered "reached."


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## Pergamum (Jan 1, 2009)

Yes, I justordered Marcellino's books and I am researching Bonar's and McChyene's trip to Palestine.


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## Pilgrim (Jan 1, 2009)

JGlennFerrell said:


> To be "reached" in the current missiological sense of the word means to have a church of their own among that ethnic group. Hearing the gospel is not enough to be considered "reached."



This is a helpful clarification. Thanks.


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