“Toward Jerusalem Council II” is an initiative of repentance and reconciliation between the Jewish and Gentile segments of the Church. The vision is that one day there will be a second Council of Jerusalem that will be, in an important respect, the inverse of the first Council described in Acts 15. Whereas the first Council was made up of Jewish believers in Yeshua (Jesus), who decided not to impose on the Gentiles the requirements of the Jewish law, so the second Council would be made up of Gentile church leaders, who would recognise and welcome the Jewish believers in Yeshua without requiring them to abandon their Jewish identity and practice.
The initiative is led by an Executive Committee of fourteen leaders, seven Jewish and seven Gentile, while both, the Jewish and Gentile members being broadly representative of the different international movements and churches, historic and modern that confess Yeshua (Jesus) as Lord and Savior. The committee members offer themselves as servants of this vision:
- To make known to church leaders and Christian scholars the restoration of the Jewish segments of the church (the church of the circumcision).
- To foster repentance for the sins of Gentile Christians and the Christian Church against the Jewish people, especially for the suppression of the corporate Jewish witness to Yeshua, the Messiah.
- To foster intercession for all the churches of the nations to abandon all forms of replacement teaching concerning the calling and election of Israel and to recognise the place of the Jew in the body of Messiah.
- To encourage the Messianic Jewish community in and out of Israel to enter into this vision of reconciliation and restoration and thereby fostering unity among the different streams and organisations within the Messianic Jewish Movement.
The Executive Committee will seek to do everything possible to forward a convocation of a second Council of Jerusalem. This can only happen under the special leading of the Holy Spirit. Only the Holy Spirit can show us how a Council recognised by all churches, denominations and movements can be possible.
Within this process toward a second Council of Jerusalem there would be a gathering in Jerusalem as representative of churches/ denominations and continents as possible for the purpose of issuing a call to the whole Christian world for the recognition of the church of the circumcision at a second Council of Jerusalem.
We are doing this so that God may be honoured in the reconciling work of His Son through the healing of the original schism in the Body of Christ, that between the Jewish and the Gentile components.
The ultimate purpose in unifying the Body and restoring the Jewish believers to their rightful place is the hastening of the coming of the Lord Yeshua in glory and the full accomplishment of His work of redemption in the Kingdom of God.
If their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead? – Romans 11:15
I just came across this organization on the website. I am not really understanding the vision of this organization. Catholicism already has a Jewish sect within The church that they allow to express their Jewish identity. The church allows Jews to express their Jewishness, however they are still under the authority of the church ( receives Eucharist and other sacraments that have been around since 1st-3 rd century.
The disciples passed down their authority, and that authority is still alive and found within the Roman and Eastern Orthodox churches/Ethiopian churches. Some of the bishops may be Jewish or Gentile….. Regardless if a bishop/Pope/Patriarch are gentile….if they have the authority that was passed down from the disciples… they are still in charge to lead the church ( Jew and Gentile together).
The MJ movement do not seem to agree on their own theology, and it causes confusion. There are sects that teach one law theology where both Jew and Gentile are the same and should both observe ALL of the Torah. There are sects that teach only the Jews need to observe, and Gentile are invited. There are sects that live and act like Orthodox Jews, obeying all Halachah. There are sects that say they observe Torah, but actually pick and choose what they want. There are sects that don’t say Jesus’s name…. There is a lot of disunity in what they believe themselves.
The majority of MJ talk disrepectively of the church and even call it the antichrist/ Babylon/etc.
How can MJ be with the Catholic/Orthodox Church if they disagree so strongly with church doctrine…. How can they be one as in the first century. There have always been Jews within the church. There is actually a lot of Judaism that can be seen within the church…. it’s mass, and other practices.
MJ believe that ALL of Torah is still applicable if how it was before temple destruction, and the Catholic/Orthodox churches see how some Torah commands were fulfilled through Messiah and no longer applicable.
My husband I were in the MJ movement for 12-15 years and saw a lot of bad fruit. Sure, there are some good things we saw and learned… but a lot of bad. The disunity and many people/families leaving their belief in Jesus to convert to either Orthodox Judaism or Reform.
I am just curious how this organization plans to succeed unless MJ is willing to honor and agree with the authority passed down for all Christians…. from the disciples? This authority can be found historically as well. It also would make absolutely no sense for the Holy Spirit to abandon or leave the church to go astray for 1900 years, and now MJ or any other Protestant sect comes up and has it all right, yet disunified. Yeshua said Hades would not win over the church and that He would see His spirit to lead. There is no unbroken chain of authority from MJ. But, we see there is one within the church. I realize the church had some bad times in history…. but that doesn’t mean they don’t have the authority passed down. Israel had a few bad kings in their history, but God was still there.
Thanks