Origin of the vision

In 1995, the Messianic Jewish rabbi of Baruch HaShem Messianic Congregation in Dallas, Texas – Marty Waldman – received the vision, which was to see a mirroring of the first Jerusalem Council from Acts 15. At that time, the whole Church was Jewish and the first Gentiles were becoming believers in the Jewish Messiah, Jesus. The key question for that council was, whether Gentile believers must become Jews in order to be received into the Church. Now, 2000 years later, the Church among the nations is facing an interesting phenomenon: Jews are coming to faith in Jesus. What are we going to do with them? Should they become Catholics, Protestants, Evangelicals, Pentecostals… or do we allow them to remain Jews and express their faith in Yeshua in an authentic Jewish way, as did Jesus and His original Jewish apostles who lived 2000 years ago?

In Marty Waldman’s vision, the second Council will be a gathering of both Jews and Gentiles, fully accepting one another within the one Body of Jesus the Messiah (Yeshua haMashiach). In such a gathering, the Gentile leaders would recognise the Jewish believers in Jesus, personally and corporately, as an integral part of the Church while remaining as contiguous members of the Jewish community, and indeed as representatives of the elder brother who had been given the first place (Rom. 1:16). Since at least the fourth century AD, the Christian Church did not allow the expression of a Jewish identity within the Body, excluding any expression of Jewish identity and prohibiting all forms of Jewish practice by Jewish believers in Jesus, the Son of God.

In vision of Marty´s Waldman, which has become the vision of TJCII, the reconciliation of Jewish and Gentile believers would not be simply accepting one another, but also involve the Gentiles recognising and honouring the rightful place of the Jews. It would mean honour instead of contempt, humility in place of pride. The younger brother would honour the elder brother, the firstborn. The Gentiles would heed the warning of Paul: “Do not boast over the branches. If you do boast, remember it is not you that support the root, but the root that supports you” (Rom 11:18). Such a restoration of the Jewish believers to their rightful place would enable them to restore the God-given calling of the Jewish people to be a blessing to the nations, and would encourage the Messianic Jewish community to preserve the sign of the Abrahamic Covenant and to observe the traditions of their fathers, as far as these are consistent „hold to the traditions of men“ with obedience to Messiah (Acts 21:18-26).

In nearly 30 years, TJCII has become a global movement, active in all continents. TJCII is led by an International Leadership Council (ILC), whose members are broadly representative of the different international movements and churches, historic and modern, that confess Jesus as Lord and Saviour.