Robert Bye via Unsplash
John McKee delivers the January 2023 Outreach Israel News update.
It is hard for me to believe this, but this past month marks a full ten years since our family relocated from Central Florida to North Texas. How many changes have we witnessed across the broad Messianic spectrum from 2013-2023? How many changes have we ourselves gone through? These are some very significant questions which I have been asking myself and reflecting upon, over the past several weeks.
We absolutely know today that our move back to the Dallas-Ft. Worth Metroplex was of the Lord. Not only did we have two and a half years in Central Florida (2010-2012) to prepare for our move, but we could have pulled out at any time. Now, having spent a full decade in North Texas, we can legitimately look back on the doors and ministry opportunities which God has been very gracious to open up to us. Many things which we have been involved with, were anticipated. Some things which we anticipated taking place, did not materialize. Other things which were unexpected, have instead taken place. And, we are all the more grateful to the Lord for it!
If one follows a scientific method in one’s faith and theology, then when being presented with new information, one then makes the necessary adjustments and recalibrations. One’s faith and theology can also be adjusted, here or there, by the experiences one has over time. How are we growing in the knowledge and grace of God? How are we improving in our understanding of what God is doing in history? What people has the Lord brought across our path, in order for us to consider a more useful or beneficial approach to a matter? While the past ten years back in North Texas have had their challenges, these particular questions have steered our ministry on a path which many others we interact with have not taken.
Our Reassociation With Messianic Judaism
Throughout our time of service with Outreach Israel Ministries, we have interacted with individual people across the Messianic spectrum. We are some of the few, who have had firsthand interactions with people who not only label themselves “Messianic,” but who also may label themselves “Hebrew Roots,” “One Law,” “Two-House,” and most recently (2020-2022) “Pronomian.” Yet of the things which we definitely knew were going to take place, as a consequence of moving back to North Texas in 2012, was going to be some sort of reassociation with Messianic Judaism. Our family got its start in Messianic Judaism—we then went out into the field for a while—and then we returned. We acquired a great deal of knowledge and experience! But because of our personality and value system, rather than be antagonistic toward Messianic Judaism (as many non-Jewish Believers in the previously mentioned movements can be), we have always striven to focus on common agreement first. This means that the most important thing is the completed work of Yeshua on the tree, and His salvation. What various Messianic Jewish people may or may not think about non-Jews and matters of Torah is secondary.
At the beginning of the 2010s, there were many different dynamics in flux in the Messianic community, regarding the place of non-Jewish Believers. If all someone did was read books and position papers, you could conclude that most Messianic Jewish congregations would want most of its non-Jewish attendees to leave, with a few small exceptions. This kind of thinking has understandably gotten many people upset, and even a few to be quite hostile to Messianic Judaism. But there can be an entirely different experience in person, than with what one reads on paper. If one enters into a Messianic congregation or synagogue with the expectation that he or she will be rejected, this will probably happen. If one enters into a Messianic congregation or synagogue with the intention of getting to know the leadership, and what the assembly has been set out by the Lord to do, one’s experience as a non-Jewish Believer might be entirely different.
Our family admittedly had a few prior advantages, when we became a part of Eitz Chaim of Richardson (now Plano) back in 2013; we knew Rabbi David Schiller and his wife Elizabeth from our previous time living in Dallas (1994-1998). A Messianic Jewish family like the Schillers knew who we were, and their Jewish identity was hardly threatened by the thought of sharing sacred space with us a few times a week, as fellow brothers and sisters in the Lord. Because our faith in Yeshua the Messiah, and His completed work, is the most important thing, the same has also been true when we have attended and exhibited at various Messianic Jewish events such as the Messiah Conference in Grantham, PA (2016-2019, 2022).
Over the past ten years, it has been no secret at all that our family has been involved in many of the activities of the Messianic Jewish Alliance of America (MJAA), and has not only become acquainted with many of its rabbis, but good friends with some of its main leaders and president. As non-Jewish Believers who place the work of Yeshua at the center of our faith, only the Lord Himself could open up the doors with Messianic Judaism for us over the past decade. The most significant to date, of all of the opportunities, has been my ordination as a Messianic Teacher in 2022, by the International Alliance of Messianic Congregations and Synagogues (IAMCS).
Are you truly called into the Messianic movement?
I certainly believe that Jewish and non-Jewish Believers are fellow citizens in the Commonwealth of Israel (Ephesians 2:11-13), with non-Jewish Believers grafted-in to Israel’s olive tree as wild branches (Romans 11:16-18). Jewish and non-Jewish Believers do have various differences, and they are not one-hundred percent the same—but they also have much more in common, and our unity is to be predicated on our trust in Israel’s Messiah.
One might have thought—as even I did to a certain degree ten years ago—in reading a number of the books which were circulating from some Messianic Jewish writers, that non-Jewish Believers might expect to find themselves immediately unwelcome in Messianic Jewish congregations. But with the demeanor and personality which our family tends to have, we have encountered something much different. The questions which we have had to answer from a number of our Messianic Jewish colleagues in ministry, were not as publicized as they probably should have been back in the late 2000s. If they had, then some of the division which was witnessed, may actually have been avoided.
Because of my Wesleyan theological background, its emphasis on holiness, and most especially its emphasis on the sanctifying grace and transformative work of the Holy Spirit—I have frequently come into clashes with those who have approached matters of God’s Torah as a strict “obligation.” Our starting point, as redeemed men and women in Yeshua, who have been transformed by the good news or gospel, is to be focused on the work of the New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-34; Ezekiel 36:25-27). The New Covenant promises that the people of God will be given a new heart by which to obey His commandments. The Holy Spirit writes God’s commandments onto the hearts of born again men and women at the Holy Spirit’s pace, and on the Holy Spirit’s timetable. So, when it comes to non-Jewish Believers and various matters of God’s Torah (i.e., the seventh-day Sabbath/Shabbat, the appointed times, a kosher-style diet), my default position has always been to consider what the Holy Spirit is prompting various people to possibly be doing. If an individual is truly maturing in the Lord, then these sorts of matters will not be a forced work of the flesh or an act of legalism. Instead, these will be matters which can help better sanctify one’s outward actions, and teach someone important ethical and moral lessons. A supernatural compulsion model of approaching God’s Torah, will also lead by a positive example, and not be harsh or condemning toward others. It will also not attempt to mandate or coerce changes on the part of someone else (unlike the hyper-conservative Pharisees of Acts 15:1, 5).
It was with this ideology of Torah in mind, that when I became more closely associated with Messianic Judaism throughout 2013-2017—and especially became close friends with various Messianic Jewish pioneers—that I saw some significant compatibility with their own ideology regarding the place of non-Jewish Believers.
It might be surprising for some of you to know this, but matters of Torah are not the most important thing on the hearts and minds of the significant majority of today’s Messianic Jewish people. The Messianic movement was not originally set up as a “Torah movement.” The most important thing on the hearts and minds of the significant majority of today’s Messianic Jews is the salvation of one’s fellow Jewish people. The Messianic Jewish movement was principally established to serve as a venue for Jewish outreach and evangelism, and its congregations are to serve as places where Jewish Believers do not have to give up on their ancestral heritage and traditions, fully assimilating into Christianity. Because Yeshua and His completed work is the most important thing to me, how can I have any problems with Messianic Jewish Believers being concerned about their loved ones coming to a knowledge of Him? If anything, in some of the early years back in North Texas, I was a little embarrassed that a ministry with a name like “Outreach Israel,” we were not doing more to contribute to seeing Jewish people come to a knowledge of Messiah.
The main question which is asked of non-Jewish Believers attending most Messianic Jewish congregations, on the ground, is one which does not get highlighted enough: Are you called? Holding to a Supernatural Compulsion, Holy Spirit model of God’s Torah via the New Covenant—I found throughout 2013-2017 that non-Jewish Believers being specially called by the Lord into the Messianic movement, was the other side of the coin. Most frequently, non-Jewish Believers being enriched by something like “Jesus in the feasts,” will lead to them being further prompted to engage in study of the weekly Torah portions, and eventually to attend and possibly even join a Messianic congregation or synagogue. These are people who will often then spend a few years tangibly reconnecting to their faith heritage in the Tanach Scriptures. But then after a few years, some of these people will leave a Messianic congregation. Many will return to evangelicalism. Yet, many will continue, and their ongoing presence is a likely indicator that they have indeed been called by the Lord to participate in the Messianic movement. Such persons will then frequently find themselves to be ready to serve as co-laborers with their fellow Jewish Believers in the salvation of Israel.
Non-Jewish Believers being Divinely summoned by the Lord into the Messianic community, are often likened unto how Ruth joined to Naomi, telling her, “For where you go, I will go, and where you stay, I will stay. Your people will be my people, and your God my God” (Ruth 1:16, TLV). But the severity of non-Jewish Believers in today’s Messianic movement being likened unto proverbial Ruths, is intensified by her following word, “Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May ADONAI deal with me, and worse, if anything but death comes between me and you!” (Ruth 1:17, TLV). Non-Jewish Believers who are truly called into the Messianic movement, have to be involved for far more reasons than being prompted by the Lord to keep Shabbat or the festivals! They have to be willing to die right alongside of their fellow Jewish Believers, as they are actively participating in something quite significant to salvation history: “all Israel will be saved” (Romans 11:26).
I had to learn how to more consciously incorporate this into our ministry teachings, throughout the 2010s. I think many who have followed the progress of Outreach Israel Ministries and Messianic Apologetics can acknowledge how we have definitely talked more and more about Jewish issues! It is entirely Scriptural to recognize the deep concerns which Yeshua and the Apostles had for the redemption of the Jewish people.
Being Anchored to the Messianic Mission
Throughout the 2010s, and now into the 2020s, our in-person interactions, worship, and fellowship has mainly been within the Messianic Jewish community. Yet online, where a great deal of our ministry teachings and interactions circulate, the audience we encounter is much more diverse.
If you have paid close attention to any of my own teachings and broadcasts over the past five to six years, for certain, you would easily recognize that I am not always favorable to the different non-Jewish Torah movements which are out there. While there are indeed many sincere brothers and sisters, who I know and appreciate, who have connected to their faith heritage in the Scriptures of Israel—how many of those same people are actively involved in the Messianic mission? I know that when many of the non-Jewish, Torah observant people, who follow our ministry, are prompted to consider the agony of Paul toward the First Century condition of many of us fellow kinsfolk (Romans 9:1-5), they are not spiritually or emotionally moved in the same way that I am. Why is this the case? I am sure that the answers are varied. But the one major, uniform criticism, which today’s Messianic Jewish leaders and rabbis have about the independent Hebrew/Hebraic Roots movement, is: they are not concerned or involved with matters of Jewish outreach or evangelism. Why is this the case? Many conclude that it is replacement theology or anti-Semitism.
When a non-Jewish person has anchored his or her participation in things of Torah to the Romans 9-11 trajectory of salvation history, you are in alignment with the “words of the Prophets” (Acts 15:15) and the will of the God of Israel. You are participating in the restoration of David’s Tabernacle (Amos 9:11-12; Acts 15:15-18). And, when a non-Jewish Believer is part of a healthy Messianic congregation, concerned with seeing Jewish people come to faith in the Messiah of Israel, then one of your main goals is to serve as a vessel of mercy toward those who gave Yeshua to the world:
“Concerning the Good News, they are hostile for your sake; but concerning chosenness, they are loved on account of the fathers—for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. For just as you once were disobedient to God but now have been shown mercy because of their disobedience, in like manner these also have now been disobedient with the result that, because of the mercy shown to you, they also may receive mercy. For God has shut up all in disobedience, so that He might show mercy to all” (Romans 11:28-32, TLV).
It is absolutely true that God is concerned with the salvation of all of His human creations! But the corporate salvation of the Jewish people is something unique; it will lead to the return of Israel’s Messiah, and the inauguration of His reign over this planet! Why would someone not want to be directly involved in this? The fact on the ground, is that many non-Jewish Believers are not called to participate in the Messianic movement, because they do not have the abilities required. A significant majority, I think, of today’s evangelical Protestants are not called to join the Messianic movement. I do personally wish that many who I have known from church settings over the years would join into this, but I am also realistic and pragmatic. Many just do not have the spiritual maturity, theological acumen, or steadfast patience to participate in matters of Jewish ministry. They do not have the ability to operate in a still-maturing and still developing Messianic community, and juggle multiple balls, as it were.
I do hope that many of my born again, evangelical brothers and sisters, are able to be involved in conservative church settings which value the Old Testament and its code of morality (the so-called “moral law,” if you like)—and that those same settings support the State of Israel and the Jewish people, standing against anti-Semitism. This is far more healthy and useful than being part of many of the independent Hebrew Roots fellowships out there, entirely unsure about whether Yeshua is God, whether the New Testament is inspired, being hyper-patriarchal and winking at polygamy, and may believe that Planet Earth is flat—among many false teachings.
I had to ask myself, “Am I called?”
As I have absorbed ten years of on the ground experience, directly participating in Messianic Judaism, I myself have had to ask the question: Am I called? I cannot deny how at a few points from 2013-2023 I have had my doubts. I have then been prompted by the Lord to look back on the circumstances He used to direct my family into the Messianic movement, the various interactions we have had with people all over the spectrum, and then the doors which only He could have opened during the past decade. My conclusion, when considering what only God Himself could have orchestrated, goes a step beyond whether or not a non-Jewish Believer is called into the Messiah movement; our family got assigned to the Messianic movement.
Like many of the Messianic Jewish Believers who I work alongside of, and who I consider my friends, I believe in an inclusive Messianic movement. It does grieve me when I hear stories of various non-Jewish Believers who have been turned away, at times, from various Messianic Jewish congregations. But, it also infuriates me when I hear that some non-Jewish people have gone into a Messianic congregation, and then screamed at the leadership with unreasonable demands rooted in a One Law/One Torah or Two-House theology. People who are troublemakers are going to be turned away. People who pass out unauthorized literature like drugs, or direct people to various social media channels, are going to be asked to leave. People who are teachable, and can see the importance of the Messianic mission of Jewish outreach, evangelism, and Israel solidarity, are those who are most probably called by the Lord into this.
Humans being who they are, there will always be issues of Jewish and non-Jewish equality in today’s Messianic community (cf. Galatians 3:28; Colossians 3:11), which will not satisfy everyone. I cannot say that I have not had to ignore various statements made here or there, either at my local congregation or at conference level events. Yet I am called into the Messianic movement, and I am participating in its long-term goals of seeing Jewish people come to faith in Yeshua, and see the Messiah return! I have had to develop a high level of tolerance around some, but I have also been pleasantly surprised around others. None of us have arrived or have a one-hundred percent handle on all matters of spirituality!
I have come a long way the past ten years. I am still trying to process some of it, especially as I look back on some of my older writings, and recognize that new information and experiences have to be factored in to a number of updated editions. I also look forward to the future, and how in my own ministry work, I can indeed help to facilitate greater stability, assisting with seeing many non-Jewish Believers—just like my own family—come over into the Messianic Jewish experience. We are blessed to be a part of a Messianic Jewish congregation, as well as be active participants in larger Messianic associations. I hope that for some of you reading or hearing this, that in the future, you will be able to see your participation in things of Torah, at the very least, align much more closely to the Messianic mission. I pray that some of you have a better appreciation for what the Messianic movement is really all about. We hope to expand upon this in further teachings and updates, as we enter into a second decade of service to the Lord in North Texas!
“O the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and how incomprehensible His ways! For ‘who has known the mind of ADONAI, or who has been His counselor?’ [Isaiah 40:13, LXX; Job 15:8; Jeremiah 23:18] Or ‘who has first given to Him, that it shall be repaid to him?’ [Job 41:3] For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever! Amen” (Romans 11:33-36, TLV).
