Missions Organizations

The final words Jesus spoke to His followers before His ascension are known as the "Great Commission." This is when Jesus famously charged His followers to, "Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

Over the many decades and centuries since that time, there have been various missions initiatives established to further the Gospel of Jesus. Christians are not the only ones who establish organizations and send out missionaries; there are many other religions that do something similar in efforts to spread their beliefs. Today though, we are focusing on talking about Christian missions and specifically Christians who focus on sharing the Gospel with Jewish people. 

Jesus was of course, a Jew and Christians look to that heritage as what they have now been "grafted into" using the language of the apostle Paul. In the days of Jesus, many of the religious leaders wrote Him off believing Him to be at best a prophet, at worst a blasphemer and child of the devil. Still today, there is a lot of misunderstanding and confusion in the Jewish community about who Jesus really is. Christians believe the words of Jesus, that He really is the only way, truth, and life and so they desire to see Jews, the people of Jesus, come into salvation and accept Him as Messiah.

To this end, there are Christian missions organizations directed specifically to reaching the Jewish community. In 1996, a ministry called Apple of His Eye was established. Its main goal is to proclaim Jesus as the Messiah to Jewish and non-Jewish people. The organization seeks to accomplish this by opening places of worship and evangelizing in areas with large Jewish populations.

​In its beginnings, the organization created homemade gospel tracts. Written tracts have been around for many, many years and were typically religious. In recent years, these gospel tracts are usually brief pamphlets that are given to people or left in busy places. Apple of His Eye has written over 120 new gospel tracts, and over 600,000 have been distributed.

Steve Cohen is currently the head of the organization, and his wife Nancy leads the women’s ministry. A board of directors oversees the actions and finances of the organization and there are also a number of other staff members. Apple of His Eye offers various outreach opportunities for anyone who desires to become involved in any capacity. The organization also offers up to two-week mission trips. The organization's staff team gives all of the necessary training, and there is no requirement of religious affiliation or experience with missions.

This is just one example of many, many different missions organizations around the world. As Keith Green wrote so famously in one of his songs, "Jesus commands us to go, it should be the exception if we stay."