London Society For Promoting Christianity Amongst the Jewish People

The evangelisation of the Jewish people continues to be a controversial area of Christian missions. The London Society For Promoting Christianity Amongst the Jews was founded by evangelical Christians in the early nineteenth Century. The Rev. W.T. Gidney’s History covers first hundred years of the operation.

Wikipedia notes that:

In response to changing attitudes towards outreach and the Jewish people, the society has changed its name several times over the years, first to Church Missions to Jews, then The Church’s Mission to the Jews, followed by The Church’s Ministry Among the Jews, and finally to the current name of The Church’s Ministry Among Jewish People, which was adopted in 1995.

A copy of this public domain title was kindly provided for digitisation by the Cambridge Centre for Christianity Worldwide.

W.T. Gidney (1852/3-1909), The History of the London Society For Promoting Christianity Amongst the Jews, From 1809 to 1908. London: London Society For Promoting Christianity Amongst the Jews, 1908. Hbk. pp.672. [Click to visit the download page]

Chapter 1. Introductory

Before entering upon the History of the London Society for Promoting Christianity amongst the Jews, it seems necessary, by way of introduction, to give, first, a brief account of efforts to evangelize them prior to its foundation, and, secondly, a short epitome of their history in our own country.

We shall see in this chapter that, whilst there have been some attempts to bring this ancient people of God to a knowledge of His Son, Jesus Christ, they have been, for the most part, spasmodic and unorganized, without any very intelligent or sustained aim. Not that the Jews have ever been altogether neglected, nor that there has ever been a time when the “remnant according to the election of grace” was non-existent.

We pass over, in the fewest words, the age of Christ and His Apostles. His and their work for their brethren according to the flesh stands out in clear relief in the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles….