The Messianic congregational movement did not spring up full grown overnight, but has developed according to God's timing. In the latter 1960's during the period of unrest in this country, Jewish people started to come to the Lord in a "new" way that had not been experienced for almost two thousand years. They were accepting Yeshua as the Messiah while still maintaining a Jewish identity. This was quite novel, although the consensus in theological circles was that "you could be Jewish and still believe in Jesus." As the phenomenon continued and more and more Jewish people came to the Messiah Yeshua there arose a desire and a need to congregate together for prayer and support. A variety of Churches and missions provided this opportunity, and Jewish fellowships arose within churches and as appendages to other outreaches.

During the 1970's a few Messianic Jewish congregations arose here and there, and they provided receptacles for the Jewish believers who desired to keep a stronger touch with Jewish roots. Now, as a result of the over one-hundred Messianic congregations that have erupted within the United States, several associations of congregations have arisen as umbrella organizations connecting the congregations and congregants through constitutional structure, national conferences and regional gatherings.

Although the Messianic congregational movement has been slower to happen in other parts of the world, it is nonetheless happening throughout. In Israel there is now a very significant number of Messianic congregations of indigenous leadership and congregants. This move in Israel is reminiscent of the early Jewish believers in that land.

Man's Opposition
Now that Messianic congregations are established they are under fire from both traditional Jewish and Christian critics. Orthodox Jewish critics accuse the congregations of using Jewish symbols to trap unwary Jews in a "net of Christianity." They insist that Messianic Jews are really not Jews at all, but only Christians in Jewish garb out to "Christianize" the Jew. They accuse the Messianic movement of committing spiritual genocide against the Jewish people. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Jewishness is not something that is turned on and off like a faucet. Jewishness is a natural expression that comes forth freely from those who both are, and identify as, Jews. It is quite natural for the Jew who accepts the Jewish Messiah, prays to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and studies the Jewish scripture, to exhibit a Jewish lifestyle of celebrating the feasts, attending Jewish services and manifesting Jewish cultural expression. And this is even more enforced when one understands that the first century Jewish believers did not cease being Jewish in fact, or in cultural expression, when they chose to follow Jesus. The truth is that what God has made Jewish, no one can annul.

Moreover, the heart of the matter boils down to, "Who is this man Yeshua?" If he is, in fact, the Jewish Messiah promised to the Jewish people and the world, which Messianic believers know to be true, then the opposition to Messianic Jewish congregations is no less than an opposition to God.

From Christian circles the Messianic congregational movement is under attack because we are "re-erecting the middle wall of partition." After all, they say, "there is no difference between Jew and Gentile." Here is a prime example of mishandling scripture. Those who quote those verses do so out of context. They fail to understand that the same scripture also says there is no difference between male and female. We know there is a very big difference between these two in many ways. What God was stressing here is that whoever we are, whether we be Jew or Gentile, male or female, bond or fee, we all must come to God the same way - through repenting of our sins and accepting Yeshua. The scripture was not referring to the cultural distinctions that obviously remain even after entering into a relationship with Messiah.

A large portion of the Believers have been influenced and afflicted by a belief that the true Israel of God is the Church - the Body of all believers. This doctrine of spiritual Israel, an old doctrine, which has recently arisen in new garb, is wrong and dangerous. God has not rescinded His promises to Israel that He would make it a "great nation," and that He would regather the Jewish people to the land and that they would be spiritually strong, "exceedingly great." Those who endorse belief, that God will not deliver on His promises to Israel, but instead has replaced the original benefactor with the Church, are in serious error. From this wrong interpretation there arise such evils as antisemitism, biblical liberalism, and a departure from sound hermeneutics.

Man's Obligation
The Messianic Congregational movement of God is challenging the larger part of the Body to examine its roots and come to terms with God's plan for Israel and the Jewish people, and the role of the Body of believers within that plan. Paul said that the gospel of the Messiah is the "power of God ... to the Jew first." What is the responsibility of the Gentile who has been grafted into the good olive tree by accepting Jesus, who is partaking of the blessings of the Jewish Messiah and the scriptures which were written by Jews and kept intact by them? What is the responsibility regarding bringing the gospel back to the Jewish people who will in the future come to believe upon the Pierced One? For if the rejection of the Messiah by the Jewish people as a nation meant blessing for the Gentiles, how much more will their acceptance of the gospel be, but life from the dead? (Romans 11:12;15)

God's Plan
God has a very distinct plan for the Jewish people and the nation of Israel. And Messianic congregations appear to be a very integral part of that plan. There is coming a time when "all Israel will be saved." As this Messianic movement continues to spread, more and more Jewish people will come to the Lord, thereby necessitating more and more Messianic congregations. And, as more Messianic congregations erupt, more and more non-Jews will take their place alongside the Messianic Jewish believers in the congregation. And, in that day there will be a union of Jews and non-Jews clasped together in singleness of purpose, praying for the peace of Jerusalem, reaching out to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and praising Yeshua for His enduring mercy.