The UMJC was founded 27 years ago with a vision to reach our Jewish people for Yeshua in a Jewish way-by building congregations for Messiah that are rooted in Jewish life and tradition. As we conclude the Jewish year of 5766, it's a good time to renew this vision and to consider its future.

 

I recently asked some UMJC leaders who have been successful in reaching younger people what they felt they were doing right. One responded, "Unlike people who have been in the Messianic movement for 30 years . . . these people need a REASON to be in a Messianic synagogue rather than go to the million other places that can offer far more bells and whistles."

Younger people want a genuine share in the core life of the congregation. It's not just a matter of having some good programs for them, but of bringing them into the center of what we are as congregations. True community reflects the character of Messiah: Sharing power and position, welcoming the outsider, respecting each person simply because he or she is made in the image of God. 

True community also looks beyond itself. Younger people in particular want to participate in a greater mission that should be the heartbeat of every congregation-redemptive, restorative activity in the world. The congregation of the future needs to give all its members a big challenge, a big vision. One younger leader spoke about "Giving to the community, worshiping so that our worship benefits others, and using our gifts to contribute to our society both here and abroad." She pointed out, "One problem with the current paradigm of worship is that it stops where the doors of the building close, rather than causing the worshipers to reach out, and actually showing them how to do so."

These qualities of the congregation of the future are, of course, ancient. Isaiah wrote,
 

Those from among you
Shall build the old waste places;
You shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
And you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach,
The Restorer of Streets to Dwell In. (Isaiah 58:12)

Those from among us will restore the abandoned and ruined testimony for Yeshua the Messiah in the midst of Israel. They will help repair the breach between Messiah and Israel, and between the Jewish and Gentile components of God's people. They will help rebuild the ancient foundations of faith in Messiah within the house of Israel.

This promise, however, depends on two vital conditions, which the congregation of the future will have to fulfill:

If you take away the yoke from your midst,
The pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,
 If you extend your soul to the hungry
And satisfy the afflicted soul,
Then your light shall dawn in the darkness,
And your darkness shall be as the noonday. (Isaiah 58:9b-10)

The first condition concerns "from your midst." Community needs to be a safe place where we refrain from speaking wickedness, from pointing the finger of accusation and blame; a community where we remove the yoke, that is, using people for our own ends, even our righteous, visionary ends. We are most often ready to point the finger and impose the yoke for the sake of religious conviction, which is why Yeshua so often confronted the religious folk. To get our house in shape for the future, we need to overcome this tendency.

Second: "extend your soul." The congregation of the future will engage in redemptive activity in the world, in which we extend our soul to the hungry and afflicted. God has placed us in a damaged world, and a far-from-perfect spiritual community. It is here that we are formed into the likeness of Messiah, and here that we begin to build the congregation of the future. As we look forward to a new year, let's look beyond to envision this future for the Messianic Jewish community.

Then our light shall dawn in the darkness,
And our darkness shall be as the noonday.
Then we shall be like a watered garden,
And like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail. (Is. 58:10-11, paraphrased)

L'shanah tovah,

Russ Resnik

Executive Director