7 affirmations
STATEMENT
Consistent with the principle of respect for diversity in the Body of Christ concerning Jewish and Gentile identity established in the original Jerusalem Council of Acts chapter 15, we make the following statement:
We affirm
the election of Israel, its irrevocable nature and God’s unfinished work with the Jewish people regarding salvation and the role of Israel as a blessing to the nations.
We encourage
Jews who come to faith in the Messiah, Jesus, to retain their Jewish identity and live as part of their people in ways consistent with the New Covenant.
We affirm
the formation of Messianic Jewish congregations as a significant and effective way to express Jewish collective identity in Jesus. We also affirm Jewish individuals and groups that are part of churches and encourage them in their commitment to Jewish life and identity.
We invite
churches and ecclesiastical bodies of all traditions to build bridges into Messianic Jewish Communities, and extend to them the hand of friendship.
We encourage
Messianic Jewish congregations to develop authentic Jewish expressions of their faith in Jesus the Messiah and so to fulfill their God-given purpose. They can rely on us as their brothers and sisters in Messiah.
We affirm
our willingness to be a voice within our own ecclesiastical structures and spheres of influence against all forms of antisemitism, replacement theology (supersessionism) and teaching that precludes Jewish expressions of identity in Jesus.
We are confident
that as Jewish and Gentile expressions of life in Jesus grow organically side by side, with distinct identities, that God will be glorified; that the Kingdom of Heaven will be advanced; and that the vision of “the one new man” in Ephesians 2 will unfold as fruit from the original Abrahamic blessing to the nations.