What We Are
Some people think of us as a Temple, like an Orthodox or Conservative or Reform Jewish synagogue. Some people think of us as a Church, like a Baptist or Presbyterian or Lutheran congregation. We are both like and unlike these. We are like a Church in the sense that we believe that the Messiah has come, and He is Yeshua HaMashiach, Whom Christianity refers to as "Jesus Christ". While that is a similarity, we believe about Him differently than does Christianity. We are like a Temple in much of how we practice our faith and how we worship, and yet we are also unlike them in much of it.
Confused yet? Well, let's see if I can clear this up for you...
We are like the original followers of Yeshua -- Torah-Observant, Sabbath-Keeping (and I mean the seventh day of the week, aka "Saturday"), Scripture-Reading, Believers in the Jewish mold, although we have both Jews and non-Jews in membership. What do I mean? Let's define a few terms:
"Believers" -- We have been saved from the eternal punishments for our sin because of our faith in Yeshua HaMashiach, as stated in Yochanan (John) 3:16. This Belief is the beginning of our faith journey, not the end. Because we Believe in Yeshua, we are...
"Torah-Observant" -- The term "Torah" has many meanings, but in this sense we mean the 613 mitzvot (commandments) contained in the first five books of the Bible: Beresheis ("In the Beginning," commonly called Genesis), Shemot ("The Names," commonly called Exodus), Vayiqra ("And He Called," commonly called Leviticus), Bamidbar ("In the Wilderness," commonly called Numbers), and Devarim ("The Words," commonly called Deuteronomy). Not all of the 613 Commandments apply to each person. There are commandments only for men, there are commandments only for women, there are commandments only for children, there are commandments only for the Temple and the Temple Priesthood, etc. Part of Torah-Observance -- the part most people ask about -- is keeping the Dietary Commandments, but another important part is...
"Sabbath-Keeping" -- The Hebrew word "Shabbat," comes from the Hebrew word "sheva," meaning "seven". Shabbat, commonly called "the Sabbath," is the seventh day of the week, which is referred to on the regular (Gregorian) calendar as "Saturday." The Church improperly switched the primary day of worship from Shabbat to Sunday. When we meet on Shabbat, we worship...
"In the Jewish mold" -- Attending a Jewish-style service is very different from attending a service in a mainline Christian church. We open with the blowing of the shofar (the ram's horn trumpet), we have responsive prayer readings ("liturgy") and sing liturgical music that utilize Hebrew as well as English, and we sing praise and worship songs that have a different sound and feel to them than what the average Church attendee will be used to. We encourage men in attendance to wear a kippah (a hat commonly called a "yarmulke") and a tallit (a prayer shawl with the sacred fringes on the four corners as commanded in Numbers 15); we encourage women to wear their own prayer shawls that are different in design but also have the fringes. If you don't feel comfortable wearing them, don't worry! We don't require it! In addition to liturgy and music, we have a sermon or teaching based on passages from...
"Scripture-Reading" -- "Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needs not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth" the Rabbi Paul wrote in his second letter to his Talmid (student or disciple) Timothy. Every week, we devote plenty of time to the reading of Scripture, and our study is devoted to understanding it from the perspective of those who wrote it -- Torah-Observant Jews of Biblical Days for whom "Scripture" meant the Tanakh (Torah, Prophets, and Writings, what Christians wrongly call "Old Testament") and "commandments" primarily meant the 613 commandments of the Torah. We not only read the Scripture having to do with the teaching in the service, but we also do a study of the traditional scripture readings for the week, what Jews call the "parasha" (section). A lot of Christians say what they really want is to "get back to the Word." If that's what you want, this is where you want to be.
Confused yet? Well, let's see if I can clear this up for you...
We are like the original followers of Yeshua -- Torah-Observant, Sabbath-Keeping (and I mean the seventh day of the week, aka "Saturday"), Scripture-Reading, Believers in the Jewish mold, although we have both Jews and non-Jews in membership. What do I mean? Let's define a few terms:
"Believers" -- We have been saved from the eternal punishments for our sin because of our faith in Yeshua HaMashiach, as stated in Yochanan (John) 3:16. This Belief is the beginning of our faith journey, not the end. Because we Believe in Yeshua, we are...
"Torah-Observant" -- The term "Torah" has many meanings, but in this sense we mean the 613 mitzvot (commandments) contained in the first five books of the Bible: Beresheis ("In the Beginning," commonly called Genesis), Shemot ("The Names," commonly called Exodus), Vayiqra ("And He Called," commonly called Leviticus), Bamidbar ("In the Wilderness," commonly called Numbers), and Devarim ("The Words," commonly called Deuteronomy). Not all of the 613 Commandments apply to each person. There are commandments only for men, there are commandments only for women, there are commandments only for children, there are commandments only for the Temple and the Temple Priesthood, etc. Part of Torah-Observance -- the part most people ask about -- is keeping the Dietary Commandments, but another important part is...
"Sabbath-Keeping" -- The Hebrew word "Shabbat," comes from the Hebrew word "sheva," meaning "seven". Shabbat, commonly called "the Sabbath," is the seventh day of the week, which is referred to on the regular (Gregorian) calendar as "Saturday." The Church improperly switched the primary day of worship from Shabbat to Sunday. When we meet on Shabbat, we worship...
"In the Jewish mold" -- Attending a Jewish-style service is very different from attending a service in a mainline Christian church. We open with the blowing of the shofar (the ram's horn trumpet), we have responsive prayer readings ("liturgy") and sing liturgical music that utilize Hebrew as well as English, and we sing praise and worship songs that have a different sound and feel to them than what the average Church attendee will be used to. We encourage men in attendance to wear a kippah (a hat commonly called a "yarmulke") and a tallit (a prayer shawl with the sacred fringes on the four corners as commanded in Numbers 15); we encourage women to wear their own prayer shawls that are different in design but also have the fringes. If you don't feel comfortable wearing them, don't worry! We don't require it! In addition to liturgy and music, we have a sermon or teaching based on passages from...
"Scripture-Reading" -- "Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needs not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth" the Rabbi Paul wrote in his second letter to his Talmid (student or disciple) Timothy. Every week, we devote plenty of time to the reading of Scripture, and our study is devoted to understanding it from the perspective of those who wrote it -- Torah-Observant Jews of Biblical Days for whom "Scripture" meant the Tanakh (Torah, Prophets, and Writings, what Christians wrongly call "Old Testament") and "commandments" primarily meant the 613 commandments of the Torah. We not only read the Scripture having to do with the teaching in the service, but we also do a study of the traditional scripture readings for the week, what Jews call the "parasha" (section). A lot of Christians say what they really want is to "get back to the Word." If that's what you want, this is where you want to be.
What We Are Not
So, that's what we are. Let me briefly explain what we are NOT:
We are NOT "Jews for Jesus"! "Jews for Jesus" is a missionary group whose sole focus is evangelizing Jews. They are not connected with the Messianic congregational movement and do not take stances on theological matters. We do not necessarily approve of their ideology, or their methods. While they have contributed to the Messianic community through their musical outreaches, and many Messianics would not know the Messiah without them, Jews for Jesus remains its own organization, separate from the Messianic congregational movement.
We are NOT "Sacred Namers," "Two-House," "Dual Covenant/Noachide," "Lunar Shabbat," "Orthodox Messianic," or any of the other bizarre, cult-like sub-movements that have branched off from the Messianic movement in the last decade or so. Let me explain those quickly:
"Sacred Name" groups teach that you must use the Sacred Name of God (spelled by the Hebrew letters Yud-Heh-Vav-Heh, the absolute proper pronunciation of which is not known today) in your prayers in order to be heard and must prayer in the Name and in the name of "Yahshua" (an improper way of saying the Messiah's Name -- it should be Yeshua) in order to attain salvation. We do NOT teach this in any way, shape, or form. We reserve the use of what is believed to be the Name of God for the most important of ceremonies, such as ordination, and even then, it is whispered, never said out loud.
"Two-House" groups teach that Jewish Believers are of the House of Israel and that non-Jewish Believers are of the House of Jacob, and that these are separate groups with separate prophecies and separate promises from God. We do NOT teach this in any way, shape, or form. We believe that such a perspective re-erects the middle wall of partition between Jew and non-Jew (Ephesians 2:14) and, as such, is totally unscriptural to focus on, even if there might be some sort of technical difference. We also do not believe that the taking down of the middle wall of partition means we should all live like Gentiles (see "We are NOT Christians" below).
"Dual Covenant/Noachide" groups teach that there are separate covenants between God and the Jews and God and the Gentiles, and that the Gentiles should follow either just "the ten commandments" (and not even all of them) or the so-called "Noachide laws" that Judaism has taught that non-Jews who fear God should keep. We do NOT teach this in any way, shape, or form, except that the basics of the Noachide laws are the basic requirements for non-Jews to begin fellowship, and can be found in Acts 15, which also teaches that non-Jews should learn the Torah ("The Law of Moses" or simply "Moses" in some translations) in the synagogues on Shabbat.
"Lunar Shabbat" groups teach that the current calendar in use by modern Judaism is totally wrong, and that we must figure each new month by sighting the New Moon in the sky, and that each month the "days of the Sabbath count" (the numbering of the days of the week) start over. This results in having most months begin with shortened weeks and having two Shabbats within a couple of days of each other. We do NOT teach this in any way, shape, or form. The Scriptures are clear: keep the seventh day. The Jews have kept the seventh day for thousands of years; we know when it is.
"Orthodox Messianic" groups (they go by many names) teach that you must keep the commandments in order to be saved, and not just the commandments in the Scripture, but the traditional rules as coined by Judaism since the Temple was destroyed... essentially, they teach that we must keep Orthodox Judaism, but with the addition of Yeshua. We do NOT teach this in any way, shape, or form. Some of the traditions are right and good, and in keeping with the commandments. Others are not. Only by studying to show ourselves approved of God can we rightly divide the word of truth and discover how God calls us to live.
One final "We are NOT" note:
We are NOT mainstream Christians, at least not in the sense of the modern Church, which has, by and large, and specifically in their theology, become the "workers of lawlessness" Yeshua preached against. The word translated in most Bibles as "lawlessness" means literally "without Torah," and mainstream Christian theology teaches that the Torah is no longer in effect, and that to keep the Torah is to be "under the law" and to advocate Believers to do so is to "Judaize." We do NOT teach this in any way, shape, or form. The five cultish off-shoots of Messianic Judaism mentioned above, to one extent or another, ARE "under the law" (as opposed to keeping the Torah) and attempt to "Judaize" people. That is part of why we do not embrace them, beyond their simply being wrong.
On the other hand, we do not keep Classical/Medieval Christianity. We do not honor Christmas, Easter or any other "christianized" pagan celebration. We do not take Communion -- rather, we take the Afikomen and the Cup of Redemption of the Passover Seder every year... at the Passover Seder.
Now that you know what we are NOT -- and, more importantly, what we ARE -- we hope to see you at services next Shabbat, and may the Lord bless you and keep you...
We are NOT "Jews for Jesus"! "Jews for Jesus" is a missionary group whose sole focus is evangelizing Jews. They are not connected with the Messianic congregational movement and do not take stances on theological matters. We do not necessarily approve of their ideology, or their methods. While they have contributed to the Messianic community through their musical outreaches, and many Messianics would not know the Messiah without them, Jews for Jesus remains its own organization, separate from the Messianic congregational movement.
We are NOT "Sacred Namers," "Two-House," "Dual Covenant/Noachide," "Lunar Shabbat," "Orthodox Messianic," or any of the other bizarre, cult-like sub-movements that have branched off from the Messianic movement in the last decade or so. Let me explain those quickly:
"Sacred Name" groups teach that you must use the Sacred Name of God (spelled by the Hebrew letters Yud-Heh-Vav-Heh, the absolute proper pronunciation of which is not known today) in your prayers in order to be heard and must prayer in the Name and in the name of "Yahshua" (an improper way of saying the Messiah's Name -- it should be Yeshua) in order to attain salvation. We do NOT teach this in any way, shape, or form. We reserve the use of what is believed to be the Name of God for the most important of ceremonies, such as ordination, and even then, it is whispered, never said out loud.
"Two-House" groups teach that Jewish Believers are of the House of Israel and that non-Jewish Believers are of the House of Jacob, and that these are separate groups with separate prophecies and separate promises from God. We do NOT teach this in any way, shape, or form. We believe that such a perspective re-erects the middle wall of partition between Jew and non-Jew (Ephesians 2:14) and, as such, is totally unscriptural to focus on, even if there might be some sort of technical difference. We also do not believe that the taking down of the middle wall of partition means we should all live like Gentiles (see "We are NOT Christians" below).
"Dual Covenant/Noachide" groups teach that there are separate covenants between God and the Jews and God and the Gentiles, and that the Gentiles should follow either just "the ten commandments" (and not even all of them) or the so-called "Noachide laws" that Judaism has taught that non-Jews who fear God should keep. We do NOT teach this in any way, shape, or form, except that the basics of the Noachide laws are the basic requirements for non-Jews to begin fellowship, and can be found in Acts 15, which also teaches that non-Jews should learn the Torah ("The Law of Moses" or simply "Moses" in some translations) in the synagogues on Shabbat.
"Lunar Shabbat" groups teach that the current calendar in use by modern Judaism is totally wrong, and that we must figure each new month by sighting the New Moon in the sky, and that each month the "days of the Sabbath count" (the numbering of the days of the week) start over. This results in having most months begin with shortened weeks and having two Shabbats within a couple of days of each other. We do NOT teach this in any way, shape, or form. The Scriptures are clear: keep the seventh day. The Jews have kept the seventh day for thousands of years; we know when it is.
"Orthodox Messianic" groups (they go by many names) teach that you must keep the commandments in order to be saved, and not just the commandments in the Scripture, but the traditional rules as coined by Judaism since the Temple was destroyed... essentially, they teach that we must keep Orthodox Judaism, but with the addition of Yeshua. We do NOT teach this in any way, shape, or form. Some of the traditions are right and good, and in keeping with the commandments. Others are not. Only by studying to show ourselves approved of God can we rightly divide the word of truth and discover how God calls us to live.
One final "We are NOT" note:
We are NOT mainstream Christians, at least not in the sense of the modern Church, which has, by and large, and specifically in their theology, become the "workers of lawlessness" Yeshua preached against. The word translated in most Bibles as "lawlessness" means literally "without Torah," and mainstream Christian theology teaches that the Torah is no longer in effect, and that to keep the Torah is to be "under the law" and to advocate Believers to do so is to "Judaize." We do NOT teach this in any way, shape, or form. The five cultish off-shoots of Messianic Judaism mentioned above, to one extent or another, ARE "under the law" (as opposed to keeping the Torah) and attempt to "Judaize" people. That is part of why we do not embrace them, beyond their simply being wrong.
On the other hand, we do not keep Classical/Medieval Christianity. We do not honor Christmas, Easter or any other "christianized" pagan celebration. We do not take Communion -- rather, we take the Afikomen and the Cup of Redemption of the Passover Seder every year... at the Passover Seder.
Now that you know what we are NOT -- and, more importantly, what we ARE -- we hope to see you at services next Shabbat, and may the Lord bless you and keep you...
