Our History
Welcome
Yachad BeYeshua (Together in Jesus) is an international fellowship of Jewish disciples of Jesus. Some of us are part of Messianic Jewish congregations or traditional synagogues. Others of us are members of Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, or independent churches. But we are all united in our love for the Messiah, and our commitment to his people in both of its historical forms: Israel and the Church.
Confessing that Jesus is Lord has not nullified our Jewish identity. In Jesus that identity has only been strengthened. Taking seriously the biblical claim that “the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable” (Romans 11:29), we honor the divine gift of Jewish identity and say yes to the divine calling which accompanies it.
That divine calling has united us in loving fellowship, across national and denominational lines. In forging a corporate identity as Jewish disciples of Jesus we seek to bear witness to God’s eternal faithfulness to Israel, the Church, and all creation.
How We Started
The Messianic Jewish movement of the 1970s began as an outgrowth of the Hebrew Christian movement in the Protestant churches of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Though receiving less attention, parallel developments occurred among Jews in the Catholic and Orthodox churches of the same period. Yet these varied groupings of Jewish disciples of Jesus have had little or nothing to do with
one another.
Until, that is, the middle of June 2010. At that time twelve scholars from six countries and diverse spiritual traditions, all Jewish believers in Jesus, gathered in Helsinki, Finland. They were led by two theologians, Rabbi Mark Kinzer, a Messianic Jew, and Fr. Antoine Levy, O.P., a Catholic priest.
The joint statement they produced gave voice to the surprising impact of their mutual encounter: “At this unprecedented event, we have experienced the depth of our bond, and at the same time we have wrestled with the diversity of our ingrained theological and cultural constructs. In spite of Church divisions, we have come together as Jews who believe in Jesus.”
That “coming together” was motivated by a common conviction: “We think that the life of Jews in the Body of Christ has theological significance for that body as a whole. Their presence serves as a constant reminder to the body that its existence is rooted in the ongoing story of the people of Israel.”
Thus began the Helsinki Consultation on Jewish Continuity in the Body of the Messiah. The Consultation met annually in various European cities over the next seven years, drafting theological statements which expressed their shared vision.
Then, in 2018, the Helsinki Consultation invited a wider group of leaders to join them in Dallas, Texas, to take up a challenge contained in the original Helsinki Statement: “to explore concrete ways” in which Jewish disciples of Yeshua “may live out their distinctive calling” as members of both the People of Israel and the Body of Jesus the Messiah.
These forty-four Jewish disciples of Jesus, from Brazil, England, Canada, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Poland, Russia, Scotland, and the United States decided to work together to form an international and interconfessional fellowship. That work came to fruition in December 2019 with the adoption of a charter for the fellowship. Yachad BeYeshua
was born!
The “Dallas Resolution”
The First International/Interconfessional Congress of Jewish Disciples of Jesus
(August 30, 2018)
I.
We are Jews who worship the God of Israel, Creator of heaven and earth, who has revealed himself in Jesus the Messiah through the Holy Spirit. As disciples of Yeshua, we belong to abroad range of churches – Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant, Evangelical, and Pentecostal – and to Messianic Jewish communities. Inheriting almost a decade of prayer, study, and collaboration by some of our members in the Helsinki Consultation, we are discovering mutual respect, understanding, and affection. We yearn to grow in our common life, to continue to learn from one another, and to support each other’s calling in the Spirit. We believe this is a precious gift from God that should be extended to all our Jewish brothers and sisters who, like us, have come to faith in Yeshua the Messiah. This gift has enabled many of us to overcome the solitude we have felt in our condition as Jewish disciples of Jesus, and we believe our communion with one another can be an instrument of strengthening and faith for all who follow Him.
II.
Without relinquishing our ecclesial communities, we are convinced that Jewish disciples of Yeshua are called to live as a corporate expression of Am Israel within the body of Christ, a prophetic voice within that body and within the Jewish people. We believe that the loss of a Jewish expression of faith in Messiah is a wound within Am Israel and the body of Christ. The healing of this wound calls for the coming together of disciples of Jesus from among the Jews and the nations. This too can inspire disciples from among the nations to increase their efforts to come together with one another in unity. This then will contribute to the fulfillment of the prayer of Jesus that “all may be one.”
Working towards this vision will require a visible structure that will reflect the breadth of Jewish disciples of Christ. That structure will be inter-confessional in nature and will incorporate the statements of the Helsinki Consultation as the basis of its theological work.
Practically, this organization may develop or share:
• mutual support and fellowship
• paths towards repentance and mutual forgiveness among Jewish disciples
• resources for deepening the identity of Jewish disciples of Jesus
• joint prayer and the sharing of liturgical traditions
• theological research
• inter-confessional dialogue and study
• programs of formation
• witness to Yeshua
• networks for building relationships among young people and singles
• support in combatting anti-Semitism
• representation of Jewish disciples of Jesus to the wider Church.