‘You can count on your evangelical friends’

Last July, two dozen evangelical scholars and other leaders from major Christian institution traveled on a JUF Mission to Poland, led by Rabbi Yehiel E. Poupko, JUF Rabbinic Scholar, in collaboration with Dr. Philip Ryken, the President of Wheaton College. Dr. Ryken recently met with the JUF Board to share his reflections on the importance of the pilgrimage to Poland. Here are excerpts from his remarks:

There has never been a more important time for evangelical Christian leaders to connect with partners in the Jewish community. I say this because of the events of October 7 and the unique distress that followed those horrors, and also because of the ongoing rise in antisemitism that we see in the United States and around the world, from Lincoln Park to Amsterdam.

Wheaton College was founded in 1860 as an abolitionist school. To this day we occupy a unique place within the Christian community as a flagship institution for evangelicalism worldwide. This year we welcomed freshmen from 51 countries, and all 50 states. Like our most famous alumnus-Billy Graham-many of our graduates become missionaries, while others go into medicine, law, and education.

Scholars from Wheaton have enjoyed a vigorous, friendly, 20-year theological dialogue with rabbis from the Chicago area through JUF. There is nothing like it in the United States; indeed, I am not aware of anything like it in the world. Our journey to Poland came out of these dialogues, and especially my friendship with Rabbi Poupko.

Together we learned not only about the sufferings of the Jewish community-as we did at Majdanek, Auschwitz, and other places of painful experience- but also about the once flourishing Jewish culture, theology, and community in Europe. And we learned about the Jewish fighting spirit, because part of the very important story of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and how its memory was and is inspirational for the Jewish community in Israel and far beyond. It was important for us to get a fuller perspective on the worldwide Jewish community.

At the end of the trip, we debriefed what we learned, what questions we were still asking, and what would stay with us. I remember feeling a sense of lamentation. On the one hand, I would like to say to my friends in the Jewish community that you can count on your evangelical friends. However, I also know from history that the Jewish community cannot simply presume upon our friendship. This realization was sad for me. We have built a friendship, which I think is something the Jewish community can depend on. But the events of October 7 have proved the vulnerability of such relationships.

Some of the collaborations that have followed the trip seem notable. Shortly after we returned, there was turmoil in Nashville due to neo-Nazi demonstrations. Within hours, leaders from JUF used their connections from the Poland trip to reach out to evangelical leaders in Tennessee for help.

I invite members of Chicago’s Jewish community to pay attention to what you read about the evangelical community with this in mind: the main interest that the media has in evangelicals is political. But evangelicals are much more concerned about our spiritual lives and theological commitments.

Know that you have a strong contact in the evangelical community through Wheaton College. Several rabbis speak on the Hebrew Bible and other matters of Jewish concern. By and large, you will find that evangelicals are interested in what is happening in the Jewish community and willing to talk about their own perspectives and faith commitments in an open-handed way.

We can have good dialogues, and I am grateful for this opportunity to thank JUF for your friendship and partnership.

Dr. Philip Ryken is a theologian, a Presbyterian minister, and the President of Wheaton College.