Max Isaac Reich

Max Isaac Reich was born in 1862 in England, and moved with his father from England to Berlin, Germany at a young age to live with his stepmother, an orthodox Jew, where he attended synagogue. Then was apprenticing for a printing firm in London, and asked his foreman John Crane about the meaning of life, and Crane replied, "Jesus".

Soon after, he heard the gospel from a daughter of William Booth (founder of the Salvation Army), then again hearing secondhand of Moody's London crusade which led him to turn his life over to Christ on the evening of June 24, 1884, which ostracized him from his Jewish friends, which led him into the discipleship care of John Galway McVicker of the PB. Thru this friendship led to influences from George Muller and Thomas Newberry, then left in 1886 to preach in North America with the Brethren.

In 1888, he married, and he and his wife ministered together to Native Americans in Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas, then with nine children they relocated in 1892 to Scotland, and ministering throughout Europe, and "gained proficiency in five languages. In 1904 he became a Quaker, then he and his wife became overseers of a retirement home for Christian workers in North London called Beth-shan, returning to the U.S. in 1915 where he founded the Hebrew Christian Alliance of America and served as its president from 1921-1927. In 1937, he founded the Hebrew Christian Alliance in London. In 1930, he joined the extension staff of Moody Bible Institute, then joined the faculty specializing in Jewish Missions.

He also served an editor of Alliance Weekly and wrote articles for it, which eventually culminated in books such as The Deeper Life and Sweet Singer of Israel. He also published writings of A.W. Tozer and V. Raymond Edman of Wheaton College, and received an honorary degree from them in 1936. His papers including his Bible, diaries, photographs, sermon notes, verse and journals are preserved at the Wheaton College Special Collections. He died following an operation in 1945.

PB ministry 1886-1904

1890's

1890

• Topeka Capital-Journal, 1890-1-4: "Max Isaac Reich, a converted Jew, from London, England, will preach at the Gospel Hall, 609 Kansas avenue, North Topeka, on Sunday evening, at 7:30. All are welcome. No collection."

Sources

• Biography adapted from Recollections of Wheaton