Very often, in an attempt to respond to a missionary challenge,
one can make a number of seemingly logical moves which, in fact,
play directly into the hands of the missionaries. Therefore, a
number of Jewish communal leaders have prepared these guidelines
for dealing on the spot with missionaries and their
followers.
A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO THE MISSIONARY PROBLEM
1) You will not win hearts to Torah by trying to convince people
that the claims of Christianity are false. Spend your time
learning, teaching and explaining the meaning of the Torah and its
Mitzvos. Better still, invite a person who is in search of
religious values to a Shabbaton, or to your home for Shabbat. Let
the truth and beauty of Torah and its way of life restore people to
the right path.
2) Do not argue with missionaries; do not lend credence or dignity
to their efforts at soul snatching. There are tens of millions of
non-practicing Christians in this country who are better targets
for their efforts.
3) Missionaries are usually closed-minded fanatics. They are
trained to respond to your arguments with pat, almost memorized
answers. If they cant handle your objection, they will deflect it
by raising another, and still another point. Even if you winyou
lose.
4) Do not debate, dialogue or argue with missionaries. Missionaries
often seek to engage Jews in public discussion. Do not be drawn
into this utterly fruitless exercise. Above all, do not invite
missionaries or their followers to address meetings under Jewish
auspices. Such hospitality only gives the missionary cause
institutional dignity and legitimacy. On the other hand, do not
publicly attack or abuse the missionaries; this merely serves to
surround them with an aura of martyrdom, to our loss. Our essential
obligation is to shore up our Jewishness.
5) Do not be taken in by the Jewish Christian ploy. Some
missionary groups appeal specifically to Jews with the specious
notion that those joining them are thereby completed or
fulfilled as Jews. This is patently incompatible with Jewish
tradition and conviction. Conversion to Christianity or any other
faith is an abandonment of Judaism. We must strive, with loving
concern, to restore erring individuals to their own faith and
community.
6) Do not lose your cool. The style of the missionaries is likely
to be cool and affable. Emulate it. When they come smiling to the
door, respond politelyfirmly but with no recriminationNo,
thanks, Im not interested, or some brief and definitive
equivalent.
7) Get the facts. Fact-finding is a must. This is an
indispensable step. Until the actual situation in the community has
been established, planning cannot proceed intelligently. Are Jews,
as Jews, being missionized? By whom, from what centers or sources?
In what settings and by what meansin schools, through coffee
houses, drop-in centers, via the communications media, prayer
meetings, home study groups, bookmobiles?
Plan strategy and approaches. Assuming the
fact-gathering process indicates a problem requiring action:
(a) Survey the available resourcesknowledgeable and experienced
personnel, appropriate literature, suitable facilities.
(b) Priority should go to marshalling individualsyoung and old.
Set up a task force of peer-to-peer as well as adult resource
people with some forte or expertise in this area.
(c) Very carefully study at first hand the needs of those Jewish
young people who are flirting with or have been drawn into other
religious movements, and what they are seeking. Make no
prejudgments on these matters. The Jesus Movement is very
complex.
(d) With equal care plan how to offer a positive Jewish response to
their need and search. Only then will it be possible to reach out
to them and to share the needed knowledge and understanding with
others to be trained for further intensive outreach.
9) Focus on the teenager. Not only college students, but those in
the high schools and even in the junior high schools must be deemed
vulnerable. Many missionaries may concentrate on teenagers,
deliberately using a peer-group approach, exploiting the unsettled
state that marks the adolescent years particularly in these times,
and the readiness of young people to challenge any traditional
accepted values. These areas demand our greatest scrutiny and
innovative planning. Our caution against overreaction bears
repeating here. Crash programs, counter-crusades, or resort to
gimmickry must be avoided.
10) Create opportunities for youth participation. Unfortunately
those who are confused Jewishly and troubled personally will not
always avail themselves of the programs conducted in synagogues, or
youth organizations. Additional ways need to be developed for
reaching out with approaches that truly enable young people to
shape the content, directions and policies of the programs in which
they participate, including those programs that are regarded by
them as not controlled by the establishment. Some recently
initiated youth and teen programs reflect this approach, utilizing
informal settings such as storefronts and coffee houses, providing
opportunity for rapping and for making contacts with other youth.
Such programs are consistent with the long range goals of reaching
youth, providing a Jewish setting in which they can relax, meet
other Jewish youth, shmoos and talk seriously with warm,
sensitive, responsive and skillful people including members of
their own peer-groups. Experimentation with innovative and creative
approaches to opening channels of participation by our youth must
be
given high priority.
Most of all, remember that most people drawn to the missionaries
have never experienced real Torah livingjust suggest before you
go to the gentiles, why not see what our own tradition has to
offer. But follow through by making positive Torah experiences
available to them.