Learning about loving Jesus’ DNA family in Texas

CMJ Staff • August 18, 2026
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CMJ USA visits Christ Church Midland with New Wineskins Anglican Partners

August has marked the restart travel for us at CMJ USA after a quieter season of working on office-focused projects. Rev. Cariño Casas flew to Midland, Texas to be part of the Anglican Global Mission Encounter with the New Wineskins Missionary Network and other members of the New Wineskins Anglican Partners.[1]


Rev. Andrew Petta at Christ Church Anglican Church in Midland reached out to New Wineskins for help hosting a missions fair. We at CMJ USA were excited to participate at an event with Christians interested in engaging with neighbors both near and far.


We spent Saturday and Sunday sharing about our various ministries. Cariño reminded the people of Christ Church Midland that there is a small Jewish population in the Permian Basin. These smaller Jewish communities report feeling less heard about their security concerns. It’s important that Christians in these smaller cities are attentive to the thoughts, feelings, and needs of their Jewish neighbors. Overall, only one third of American Jews feel safe in the United States. Two in three Jewish neighbors feel safe!

Why should Christians care if our Jewish neighbors are feeling safe?

Jesus, quoting the Torah, commands us to love our neighbors as ourselves, a mandate second only to loving God with our whole being. The call to love others as ourselves is a call to compassion.


We see another reason. Jesus himself is Jewish. Those of us who love Jesus are waiting for the day when we can see and hold him like the first century disciples did. We believe his promise that he will return and that we will see him on the other side of death. While we wait, his DNA family is here among us, our Jewish neighbors.


There is a vicious lie going around that many or most Jews today are not related to the ancient Israelites. The bad information can be traced in part to Arthur Koestler, who in his 1976 book The Thirteenth Tribe, argued that the Ashkenazi Jews come from a people in Central Asia called the Khazars.


Studies from the last 20 years show that Jews living today have genetic links to the ancient Israelites. See Tracing the Roots of Jewishness at Science.org and More evidence for modern Ashkenazi Jews' ancient Hebrew patrimony at Stanford Medicine New Center.


DNA studies in our time show that our Jewish neighbors are related to the people of the Bible. This must mean they have a genetic link to Jesus. We owe it to him to show kindness and care to his family, whether they believe he’s the Messiah of Israel or not.

Fall travel

We’re looking for more travel in September, October, and November. Sadly, our scheduled study tours to Greece and Israel had to be canceled. This freed up our schedule for other ministry opportunities. Sign up for our newsletter and follow us on social media for updates on where we’ll be next.


Invite us to church! CMJ USA is eager to meet you, and we welcome your asking us to come teach, preach, and lead a Passover seder. What questions do you and your church family about loving on Jewish neighbors well in this season? Let us know. 




 

Footnote

  1. CMJ USA has been a long-time member of New Wineskins Anglican Partners, and CMJ USA director Cariño Casas currently serves on the leadership team.

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