Our Founding

Hebrew Christian Fellowship was founded by Rev. O. E. Phillips, a beloved pastor, evangelist and author, in 1944. The ministry began with a reading room on South Twelfth Street in Philadelphia for the purpose of presenting Jesus, the Messiah, to the Jewish community. The mission was incorporated under the laws of Pennsylvania on September 25 of the same year and was approved by the Department of Internal Revenue as a tax-exempt organization in 1958.

The purpose of Hebrew Christian Fellowship is to glorify God through the evangelizing and discipling, consistent with Biblical principles, of Jewish people, recognizing the priority of the local church by:

• equipping the local church for Jewish evangelism,
• nurturing Jewish believers through the local church, and
• acknowledging our dependence on the local church for prayer and financial support to sustain this ministry.

Our expressed desire is to take the message of Jesus, the Messiah, to the Jewish people not only in Philadelphia, but also to other areas where there is a sizable number of Jews who need to hear the gospel. To date we are an international ministry reaching out to the "lost sheep" of the House of Israel here in the United States and also in Israel and Eastern Europe.

Our Foundation

The basis for our ministry is found in the Scriptures in the book of Romans:

• The People: "...the gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek [i.e., Gentile]" (Romans 1:16).
• The Problem: "...God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear..." (Romans 11:8).
• The Promise: "Even so, then, at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace" (Romans 11:5).

Missionaries to Jewish people often fell somewhat like Moses. Although God told him to go to Pharaoh, he was also told that Pharaoh would not let Israel go. God has given a clear mandate to the Christian to witness to Israel in spite of darkened eyes and deaf ears. He has assured us there is a remnant to be gathered from this present time. It is this remnant we seek for Messiah's sake.

Our Family

Our goal is to acquire, under the guidance of the Spirit of God, a "family" of missionaries and volunteer workers who share our burden to give the good news of the gospel to Israel. God continues to provide a faithful core of volunteers whose help enables our missionaries to be free to pursue the ministry to which God has called them.

We are privileged to have a fine board of trustees made up of laymen and pastors. They share a mutual burden that we should do everything possible to take the good news of the Messiah to the Jews of the world, beginning with our "Jerusalem" and extending to the uttermost parts of the world.

Our Function

Acts 11:19 states that the early church went everywhere preaching the gospel exclusively to the Jews. Today a reversal is virtually taking place. The church is going everywhere preaching the gospel, almost to the exclusion of the Jewish people in spite of the priority of Romans 1:16: "...to the Jew first, and also to the Greek [i.e., Gentile]." Our function is to do all we can to remedy this neglect by confronting Israel with the validity of Jesus being the Jewish Messiah as described by the prophets of Israel.

This is done by door-to-door outreach, visits to synagogues, Jewish shops and stores, select mailing, tract distribution, witnessing to Jewish students on university campuses, Bible study classes and taped telephone messages. These ministries provide contacts for follow-up.

It is also our goal to challenge individual Christians and churches concerning both our scriptural indebtedness to the Jewish people and the need to get the good news of the atoning death of Messiah to them. For interested individuals, groups and congregations we provide training on how to witness to Jews.

Our Focus

We believe that the Holy Spirit sovereignly directs the lives He calls to designated fields of ministry. To this end our focus is on the whole remnant of Israel wherever they may be and wherever the Lord shall enable us to reach them. Presently our focus, where we are privileged to have ministries, includes Israel, New England, New Orleans and the Eastern United States (primarily New Jersey and the Philadelphia area). As God leads we will endeavor to place workers in other predominantly Jewish areas.

Our Finances

Hebrew Christian Fellowship is a faith mission. The ministry is made possible by the gifts of God's people, both through individuals and supporting churches. All gifts are tax deductible and are used entirely to reach "the Jew first, and also...the Greek [i.e., Gentile]" with the good news of the gospel.

Missionaries raise their support by deputation with Bible believing churches and individuals who share our burden to take the gospel to the Jewish people.

All designated funds go entirely to the purposes and projects designated by the donors. The general fund enables the effective funciton of the mission's ministries without charing our missionaries for home office expenses and promotion. All gifts must be acknowledged and receipted from the headquarters office to be valid for income tax purposes.

Our Faith

Although every aspect of one's faith cannot adequately be expressed in a doctrinal statement, the following statement is required to be signed annually by our board of trustees and our missionaries:

Article III of the Constitution of
HEBREW CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP

I heartily subscribe to the following:

1. The verbal inspiration and inerrancy of the Bible--the Word of God.
2. The Trinity of the Godhead: the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
3. The preexistence, deity and incarnation by virgin birth of the Lord Jesus Christ.
4. The vicarious atonement and substitutionary death of the Lord Jesus Christ through the shedding of His own precious blood.
5. The resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ in the body in which He suffered and died and His subsequent glorification at the right hand of God.
6. The personality and deity of the Holy Spirit.
7. The fall of man, his subsequent spiritual death and utter sinfulness, which necessitate the new birth.
8. Salvation only by grace through faith.
9. The bodily resurrection of all men: the saved to everlasting life and the lost to everlasting punishment.
10. The reality and personality of Satan.
11. The premillennial coming of Jesus Christ.
12. The ordinance of water baptism and the Lord's Supper for the believer in Christ.
13. The Great Commission to preach the gospel to every creature, "to the Jew first, and also to the Greek [i.e. Gentile]."
14. The sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit, enabling the believer to abstain from worldliness and to live the victorious life.