Addressing the Theological and Spiritual Issues of the Broad Messianic Movement
The development of today’s modern Messianic Jewish movement goes back to the late 1960s and early 1970s, as Jewish Believers in Israel’s Messiah established congregations, synagogues, and assemblies with the mission of facilitating Jewish outreach, Jewish evangelism, and solidarity with the State of Israel. This is a mission which continues to our present day, and should ever be on the hearts and minds of those involved with today’s Messianic congregations.
Today’s Messianic community is a venue for Jewish outreach and evangelism. Unlike more customary Protestant evangelism, where the main purpose is to reach out with the love of the Lord to a hurting world beset by sin—the Messianic community has to go further, in invoking the First Century dynamics of “God brought to Israel a Savior—Yeshua” (Acts 13:23, TLV), in actually proving to some significant degree that Yeshua is the anticipated Messiah.
Every Messianic congregation or assembly, whether it is in Israel, North America, or elsewhere, is going to have some vehicle for Jewish outreach and involvement in the local Jewish community.
J.K. McKee of Messianic Apologetics discusses a number of the controversies the arise in today’s broad Messianic movement, involving various outward forms of Torah observance and associated tradition.
Margaret McKee Huey of Outreach Israel Ministries discusses some of the distinct challenges that our family went through when adopting a kosher-style of diet.
J.K. McKee of Messianic Apologetics discusses the significance of the kosher dietary laws and various outward forms of Torah instructions, for today’s broad Messianic movement.
A majority of you who commemorate the Biblical and Jewish holidays experience precisely this: a sense of spiritual fulfillment and unity when they appear in the annual cycle. Yet, it would be entirely inappropriate to introduce you to the appointed times, without also letting you know that these can be periods of division and discord within the Messianic community. Many of you already know this to be the case, if for any other reason because you have volunteered at your local Messianic congregation or fellowship to help, in some capacity, during the Fall high holidays or with the congregational Passover seder. You probably got a quick lesson in how it is one thing to remember the Biblical and Jewish holidays within the privacy of your own home; it is another thing to remember the Biblical and Jewish holidays in a much larger venue of people who have opinions about the “right way” things are to be done.
J.K. McKee of Messianic Apologetics discusses how today’s Messianic people tend to observe the Biblical and Jewish holidays, mainly at a congregational level.
J.K. McKee of Messianic Apologetics provides a summary of the major Biblical appointed times, as well as various traditional Jewish and modern-day Israeli holidays.
Within today’s broad Messianic movement, different perspectives are witnessed as they involve the ongoing relevance of the Torah or Moses’ Teaching for God’s people. For sure, it is agreed that the Torah composes the ethnic and cultural heritage of today’s Jewish people, to which they should be faithful. Yet, how do we approach the Torah as our spiritual heritage?