While serving St. Luke’s Lutheran Church in Philadelphia, PA, in 1969 Rev. Bruce Lieske noted that the setting of his church was in a heavily Jewish neighborhood. As a "rookie" pastor, and with zero background in how to share the Gospel with Jewish people, Pastor Lieske turned to prayer. He met with several ladies of the church for prayer - asking God how to bring the good news of Messiah Jesus to the Jewish people of his neighborhood.
Within a year or so, a short, scholarly-looking man came knocking at the door of the parsonage. This was Dr. Daniel Fuchs, the President of the American Board for Missions to the Jews, since renamed Chosen People Ministries. Dr. Fuchs wanted to know whether we had any facilities that could be used for a new outreach center for Jewish evangelism. Pastor Lieske told him, "yes and no." Between the parsonage and the church building was a large house, our defunct parish center. Before Lieske’s tenure as pastor the pipes had frozen one winter, ruining the inside of the building rendering it useless to the congregation. The congregation told Dr. Fuchs, if ABMJ would renovate the building at their expense they could rent it from the congregation. Dr. Fuchs accepted this "deal" and Beth Sar Shalom became a reality, complete with three ABMJ missionaries and a secretary.
Their ministry was very successful and was also a great blessing to St. Luke’s Lutheran Church, and to Rev. Lieske personally. Unable to support his family on the wages of a small congregation, Rev. Lieske, with the permission of the church, began to work part-time for the American Board for Missions to the Jews with their student outreach at Temple University. As he grew in his understanding of Jewish people Rev. Lieske had a vision and continuing prayer that The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod also grow in its ability to share the Gospel with God’s original chosen people. At his behest, St. Luke’s Lutheran Church submitted a memorial to the 1973 convention of the LCMS, titled "To Facilitate Gospel Proclamation among Jews." The Synod took no action, except to refer it to the Board Directors, which referred it to Synod’s Board for Evangelism, which referred it to an ad hoc committee, headed up by Dr. Erwin J. Kolb.
The Ad Hoc Committee for Witnessing to Jewish People met for the first time in St. Louis in the Fall of 1974. The "ad hoc" was eventually dropped from the name as the enthusiasm of the committee members grew under the able leadership of Dr. Kolb - who was able to blend the creativity and "offbeat" style of its members with the stable, conservative protocol of a German-ic denomination. The Committee for Witnessing to Jewish People eventually became the Task Force for Jewish Missions and became subsumed under Synod’s Board for Mission Services.
After seven years a paradox developed. In the history of Christian missions normally independent faith mission societies form first, and are eventually institutionalized into denominational structures. However, in November 1981 several members of the Synodical Jewish missions committee chose to resign in order to allow for new people to join Synod’s group, and to permit the formation of an independent Lutheran mission society. The new mission society was called the Lutheran Institute for Jewish Evangelism, with Rev. Bruce Lieske as its first Executive Director. (The name was eventually changed to Lutherans in Jewish Evangelism - which expresses who we are and what we do.) Lutherans in Jewish Evangelism, apart from deaf and Bible translation work, was the first LCMS cross-cultural mission organization to be formed since World War II. We believed back in 1981 that a mission organization would attract an ever-growing number of Lutherans to partner with us to bring Messiah Jesus to Jewish people, and that an i independent LCMS mission to the Jews could become self-funding. In October 1993 the Florida-Georgia District, as a result of District convention action and in consultation with Synod’s Task Force on Jewish Missions, called Rev. Bruce Lieske to establish that District’s first mission to the Jews. This mission, known initially as "Apple of His Eye/FL-GA," became self-supporting on January 1, 1998 and was released to Lutherans in Jewish Evangelism (LIJE), thus becoming LIJE’s first branch. In January 2000 Apple of His Eye/FL-GA began new work on Gulf Coast Florida under the direction of Mr. Robert Reed, a DCE of the LCMS, working out of Tampa, FL. The success of Apple of His Eye/FL-GA inspired LIJE to establish a second branch in April 2001 in Michigan under the leadership of Ms. Suzanne Hall. This new branch was called "LIJE/Michigan" with the purpose of bringing the Gospel to approximately 100,000 Jewish people in metro Detroit. The Florida-Georgia District branch changed its name in 2002 from "Apple of His Eye/FL-GA" to "LIJE/FL-GA" in order to avoid name confusion with a sister LCMS mission to the Jews that had begun in 1996, The Apple of His Eye Mission Society.
In May 2005 Rev. Kevin Parviz became the second Executive Director of Lutherans in Jewish Evangelism, and the headquarters was moved from Orlando, FL to St. Louis, MO. A third branch of LIJE was formed in 2005, "LIJE/Missouri", under the direction of Mr. David Wrobel. Work in the Florida-Georgia District branch continues with Mr. Robert Reed as the Interim Branch Leader, and Rev. Mark Wessling and Rev. Ed Gross producting the "Burning Bush" Jewish evangelism radio program out of south Florida.
Since its founding in 1981 LIJE has developed many materials that facilitate Gospel sharing with Jewish people, has conducted workshops, Messianic Passover seders and oneg Shabbats at various congregations. Its free newsletter, The Burning Bush, continues to inspire and help Lutherans to share Messiah Jesus with Jewish people. Lutherans in Jewish Evangelism is a Recognized Service Organization of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, and is a non-profit agency with IRS 501(c)(3) status, tax ID 93-0810456. LIJE works cooperatively with its sister LCMS Jewish missions organization, The Apple of His Eye Mission Society.