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Messianic Congregations and the Modern Messianic Movement

By David Sedaca
Vice President of Chosen People Ministries
President of the Union of Messianic Jewish Believers of America

Over the past three decades, a new form of congregation has arisen on the scene: the Messianic Jewish congregation. A Messianic Jewish congregation is a New Testament church that is fashioned after traditional Jewish worship styles. Messianic Jewish congregations represent followers of Jesus who wish to worship, make disciples and witness within a Jewish framework.

The Abrahamic Covenant

By Olivier Melnick

One can learn much about God's character by studying His various names. One of these names is "the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob." Early in the Scriptures, we realize that God is a God of people - a God of relationships. This is one of the most reassuring aspects of our Creator.

Another way to look at the God of relationships is achieved by studying the different agreements that He made with humankind in general and with the Jewish people in particular. These agreements, celebrating relationship and commitment, are also known as covenants. Understanding God's covenants is critical to understanding God's plan for humankind and for Israel.

Eight such covenants have been drawn and ratified throughout God's Word. They are the Edenic, the Adamic, the Noahic, the Abrahamic, the Mosaic, the Davidic, the Land and the New Covenants.

Did Jesus celebrate the Jewish holidays?

By David Sedaca

In order to fully understand the person of Jesus, we must realize that first and foremost Jesus was a Jew. This means that not only was he born into a Jewish family, but also that Jesus' family was part of the Jewish people, a people that had the unique characteristic of knowing its special relationship with God. Religion was an essential part of Jewish life, and religious Jewish life meant the observance of God's appointed times.

Why is it thought that Jewish followers of Jesus are no longer Jewish? Is this true?

By Ben Volman

It is a widely-held misconception that a Jewish person who follows Yeshua as Messiah is no longer Jewish. This view has been mistakenly repeated both by Christians and Jews.

But if well-known atheists such as Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud are still considered Jews, how could a dedicated Jewish follower of a Jewish rabbi lose his or her Jewish identity? Some will answer that Messianic Jews are apostates who have left their religion, traitors who joined a Gentile faith that despises and degrades Judaism. However, neither passion nor mocking makes an argument true.

Did Jesus intentionally create a new religion?

By Daniel Nessim. - Chosen People Ministries U.K.

If Yeshua (Jesus) intended to create a new religion, He went about it all wrong: He aroused the suspicion, and then the hostility, of the religious establishment. He picked an oddball assortment of disciples, deliberately allowed Himself to fall into harm's way, left no writings of his own (an essential if you ever want to start your own religion!), and after making a good start, generally resisted performing further signs and wonders that were convincing the crowds to follow Him.

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