Be-True is a community initiative to empower Jewish youth with vital information and invaluable tools designed to refute and repel the current missionary onslaught.

In the past, missionaries utilized tactics that were primarily overt, such as distributing their literature on street corners and on college campuses. This in-your-face technique garnered them notoriety and converted many Jews. 

Currently, a new missionary trend has begun to spread on campuses throughout the country. Evangelical Christian missionaries have expanded their efforts to include a covert and deceptive “peer-to-peer” proselytizing model that specifically targets Jewish high school and college students. 

Working with a team of collaborating agencies that includes Hillel, JSU, LA Hebrew High and JCA Shalom Institute, the Be-True initiative has developed several resources to help students and community agencies across the country respond effectively to this critical issue. In addition to our Annual Student Leadership Training Conference, we are developing a state-of-the-art website, comprehensive student prep-kit, interactive DVD, specialized training for Jewish professionals, and Campus Representative program.

Background of Jews for Judaism

The Be-True initiative is a project of Jews for Judaism, an international organization that works In partnership with Jewish educational and community organizations spanning the spectrum of Jewish observance.

Jews for Judaism provides educational programs and resources to reinforce and enrich Jewish identity, providing a wide variety of counseling services, along with education, and outreach programs that enable Jews of all ages to rediscover and strengthen their Jewish heritage.

Jews for Judaism was established in 1985 and has since become the Jewish community's leading response to the multi-million dollar efforts of cults and evangelical Christians who target Jews for conversion. With the help of generous seed grants from the Los Angeles Community Foundation and the Jewish Venture Philanthropy Fund, Jews for Judaism launched the Be-True initiative in 2008.

Our Challenge

According to recent Gallup and Harris polls, there are over 70 million “born again” Christians in North America, many of whom are convinced that in order for Jesus to return, the Jewish people must first be converted to Christianity. Christian denominations such as the Southern Baptist Convention  – which passed a resolution in 1996 targeting Jews for conversion – and the Assemblies of G-d, in addition to over 1,000 other Christian groups worldwide, contribute more than $250 million annually to aggressively evangelize Jews.  The annual budget for one such missionary group. “Jews for Jesus,” is over 12 million. These evangelical Christians have established special “Hebrew Christian synagogues” to attract Jews.  Such “synagogues” have grown in number from 20 to 400 in the last twenty years.  

Missionaries convince their recruits that they are not complete as Jews until they accept Jesus as the Messiah, and that a Jew retains his or her Jewish identity after converting to Christianity. According to a 1990 Council of Jewish Federation population study, over 600,000 Jews in North America alone identify with some type of Christianity.  Over the past 25 years, more than 275,000 Jews worldwide have been converted specifically by missionaries who use deceptive tactis that masquerade Christian beliefs in the guise of Judaism.  The Gospel is preached by “Messianic rabbis” wearing yarmulkes (skullcaps) and talleisim (prayer shawls) at “Shabbat” and “High Holiday” services. These “Hebrew Christians” promote their Christian faith by using a new name: “Messianic Judaism.” 

Jews are often confused and intimidated by missionaries, It is important that we understand the theological flaws in the “Hebrew Christian” argument that accepting Jesus is a fulfillment of Judaism. While most Jews know that we do not accept Jesus as the Messiah or G-d, few are able to explain why. The best antidote to “Hebrew Christian” missionaries and cults is an educated and committed Jewish Community. This website offers information outlining the nature and extent of the efforts to convert Jews, as well as a variety of resources explaining how to counteract them.