Chosen People Ministries is a "Messianic Jewish" nonprofit organization which engages in Christian evangelism to Jews. It is headquartered in New York City and currently led by Mitch Glaser, who was raised Jewish and converted to Christianity. Its stated mission is to "pray for, evangelize, disciple, and serve Jewish people everywhere and to help fellow believers do the same." It supports the establishment of Messianic Jewish congregations, which it describes as "faith communities that stress the Jewish context of the Gospel of Jesus."
History
, a Hungarian immigrant to the United States who became a Christian, founded the Brownsville Mission to the Jews in 1894. The Brownsville Mission was later relocated to the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, New York and became the Williamsburg Mission to the Jews from 1897 until 1924. In 1897, the Williamsburg Mission headquarters housed a medical clinic, boys' club, Girl Scouts, and sewing and English classes, in addition to evening Gospel services. From 1924 until 1984 it was known as the American Board of Missions to the Jews. Since then it has been known by its current name, Chosen People Ministries.
Methods and locations
Chosen People Ministries has staff in 16 countries around the world, and planting Messianic Centers and congregations as the main focus of its work. It also sends out missionaries and conducts evangelism in areas of high Jewish concentration, teaches in churches, and produces evangelical literature and media. The organization has ties with evangelical seminaries and often hosts conferences on topics relating to Jewish evangelism and theological matters. The organization also uses media outreach on digital platforms, including the website , and a cooperation with the Israeli based ministry of for producing a series of Messianic Jewish testimony videos called .
Messianic Centers
Jerusalem, Israel
In 2007, Chosen People Ministries opened a Messianic Center in Jerusalem. The organization uses the facility to minister to Holocaust survivors, as well as hosting benevolence ministries, and a place to host short-term outreach teams.
Brooklyn, New York - The Charles L. Feinberg Center
In 2010, Chosen People Ministries attracted attention when it acquired a former funeral home in the heart of an Orthodox Jewish community located in Midwood, Brooklyn. This acquisition has sparked anger from the Jewish community in New York. The Center opened in 2014 and currently houses an English-speaking congregation, a Russian-speaking congregation, and an accredited seminary program. The seminary program, The Charles L. Feinberg Center for Messianic Jewish Studies, is co-sponsored with Talbot School of Theology and offers an accredited Master of Divinity program in Messianic Jewish Studies. The program is designed to train Messianic congregational leaders, outreach workers and educators. In addition to the full Master of Divinity program, it offers a 6-course Certificate in Messianic Jewish studies. Classes are held in Brooklyn at the Feinberg Center, though the summer program includes classes at Talbot's Los Angeles campus.
In 2012, the organization opened one of the first buildings dedicated to Jewish evangelism in Europe since World War II in Berlin, Germany. The Berlin center hosts a hospitality network, Shabbat fellowships, tandem language partnerships, and friendship ministries.
Ramat Gan, Israel
In 2017, Chosen People Ministries opened a Messianic Center in the Ramat Gan area of Greater Tel Aviv. The Center hosts seminars on parenting, financial management, biblical counseling, as well as a bi-weekly women’s Bible study.
