Jews: An Unreached People

Roai Stanley grew up between two worlds: Israeli and Canadian, Hebrew and English, Jewish identity and Christian faith.

As a Jewish Israeli who later served in the military, Stanley says life in uniform forced him to confront deeper questions: What is life for? What is worth giving yourself to? What if the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses could actually reveal Himself personally?

That search eventually led him to faith in Jesus — or, as He is known in Hebrew, Yeshua.

Today, Stanley serves with Jews for Jesus Canada, part of a global organization whose stated mission is to “relentlessly pursue God’s plan for the salvation of the Jewish people.” (Jews for Jesus) The Canadian branch describes itself simply as “Jews who are for Jesus,” adding that many Jewish people have never heard that following Jesus can be “a thriving expression of Jewish life.” (Jews for Jesus Canada)

That claim gets to the heart of Stanley’s burden.

Many Christians assume Jewish people already know Jesus and have simply rejected Him. Stanley says the reality is more complex. In Israel and in Jewish communities abroad, many people do not know Jesus by His Hebrew name, do not know He was Jewish, and may associate Christianity primarily with painful historical memories or with the loss of Jewish identity.

Even words carry different meanings. “Conversion,” Stanley explains, can sound to Jewish ears like abandoning one’s people. “Torah” may mean the five books of Moses to Christians, but to many religious Jews it includes layers of rabbinic interpretation and oral tradition.

That is why, he says, Jewish evangelism must be patient, contextual, and relational.

Jews for Jesus works globally in places with significant Jewish populations, including Israel, Canada, Europe, South Africa, Australia, and elsewhere. Its staff seek to explain Jesus as Messiah in ways Jewish people can understand without requiring them to erase their Jewishness. A CanadaHelps profile describes the ministry as one that raises awareness of Jesus as the Jewish Messiah, facilitates Jewish community, and provides spiritual care and practical support. (CanadaHelps)

Stanley also points out that Jewish communities remain a significant mission field. Joshua Project identifies several Jewish people groups in Canada, including Israeli Jewish and English-speaking Jewish communities, as groups still needing focused gospel engagement. (Joshua Project)

Yet Stanley resists any suggestion that mission is merely strategy. Every time someone believes, he says, it is a miracle.

“I can help explain and make sense of it,” he says. “But God will open up the hearts.”

For Stanley, the work is not about replacing Jewish identity. It is about revealing the Jewish Messiah hidden in plain sight — Jesus becoming Yeshua again.