Comfort was born to a Jewish mother and a father who he described as “a Gentile [who] was open to the things of God”.[3] According to Comfort’s autobiography, his parents put “Methodist” on his birth certificate because his mother feared the possibility of “another Hitler”, but he was given no religious instruction as a child.[3] After finishing high school at 17, he worked in a bank, and began a successful business when he was 20. He became increasingly religious, and at 22 began seven years training at a local church, after which he was ordained as a full-time pastor. He then spent three and a half years pastoring in Christchurch, New Zealand, and 12 years preaching open-air in the city’s Speaker’s Corner.[4] Beyond this, he has no formal training or theological degree.[5] In his mid-20s, he began receiving invitations to speak internationally. In 1989, he accepted an invitation to join the pastoral staff at the non-denominational Calvary Chapel in Southern California.[4] Ray Comfort nonetheless identifies himself as a Jew.
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