Bob Mendelsohn, the director of the Jews for Jesus organisation's Sydney branch, will be speaking at our Senior School Assembly (Year 10-12) on Tuesday March 24 at 10.30am. Parents are welcome to attend.
Jews for Jesus is an organisation that proclaims that Jesus is the Messiah of Isr
ael and Savior of the world. "What could be more Jewish than following the Jewish Messiah?" says Mendelsohn, who considers himself 100 percent Jewish and 100 percent Christian.
Bob grew up in Kansas City in the center of the United States. He was the third of three children in an Orthodox Jewish home. He kept kosher, was Bar Mitzvah and graduated from Hebrew school. After high school he enrolled in university, but soon dropped out to search for life's meaning via the '60s counterculture. "I didn't find what I was looking for—meaning and reality—in the counterculture. I found it in Y'shua," Mendelsohn says.
Bob returned to university and graduated from Kansas University in 1977 with a B.S. in Education. Prior to his decision to become an evangelist, Mendelsohn taught high school maths and was the pastor of The Mustard Seed, a church of over 700 people which grew out of a prayer group Mendelsohn had established.
Since working with Jews for Jesus, Bob has worked in New York City, Washington DC, Chicago and San Francisco. He helped to pioneer the organization's New York branch, where he was the pastor of Kehilat Y'shua, a congregation of Jews and Gentiles who believe in Jesus. He coordinated the organization's Summer Witnessing Campaigns there. In Chicago, he was the leader of the Jewish gospel music team. Along with his wife and their three children he then founded our work in the Washington area in 1989. He led the flagship station in New York City overseeing training, local operations, and the Northeast US until he moved to Australia in 1998 to found the work among the 100,000 Jews of Australia. The office in Sydney is in Bondi Junction in the Eastern suburbs.
Bob is one of the senior staff of Jews for Jesus, holding the rank of deputy commissioner. He writes for Jews for Jesus publications, as well as authors some of their gospel tracts and the regular Bible study materials used by the worldwide staff. His testimony of faith (Whoever Heard of a Jewish Missionary?) was published in 1999. It includes his grandmother's story of becoming a believer in Jesus.
He is also a sought-after speaker and organiser for other groups concerned with evangelism. He has served on the Board of Directors of the North American Renewal Service Committee and has been published in their magazine A.D. 2000: Together. He serves on the Board of Advisors for Women’s Aglow and has written for Aglow and for Charisma magazines.
He has been interviewed on media outlets throughout the States and here in Australia including Gordon Moyes’ Sunday Night Live and also on the ABC. He is a regular writer for Alive magazine.
Mendelsohn has a Master’s Degree in Missiology with concentration in Jewish Evangelism/Judaic studies from the Fuller School of World Mission in Pasadena, California. His wife, Patty, also holds the same degree.
The Jews for Jesus organisation was founded by Moishe Rosen, a Jew who has believed in Jesus for over 40 years. The organisation has permanent branches in seven North American cities (San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Toronto, New York City, Washington D.C. and South Florida) as well as over seventy chapters spanning some thirty states. The group's international branches are headquartered in Johannesburg, London, Paris, Odessa, Moscow, Rio de Janeiro, Essen and Tel Aviv besides Sydney.
Dr. Rosen is quick to point out that he did not "start" Jews for Jesus. "Jews for Jesus began about 2,000 years ago, around 32 C.E., give or take a year. Jesus' first disciples were Jewish, and there have been some Jewish people who have believed in him ever since."
To Bob and other Jews for Jesus, believing in Jesus makes sense in light of the Jewish Bible and in light of their experiences as "believers." For those who argue that Christianity contradicts the meaning of Judaism, Bob says there are answers, which he is happy to discuss with any inquirers.
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