Yachad BeYeshua (Together in Jesus) is an international fellowship of Jewish disciples of Jesus. Some are part of Messianic Jewish congregations or traditional synagogues. Others are members of Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, or independent churches. But we are all united in our love for the Messiah, and our commitment to his people in both of its historical forms: Israel and the Church.
Confessing that Jesus is Lord has not nullified our Jewish identity. In Jesus that identity has only been strengthened. Taking seriously the biblical claim that “the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable” (Romans 11:29), we honor the gift of Jewish identity and say yes to the calling which accompanies it.
I am delighted that Yachad BeYeshua brings together Jewish disciples from so many different backgrounds, traditions and experiences. Our unity in the Messiah is a powerful expression of the purposes of God for Israel, the Church and all nations!— Richard Harvey
The Messianic Jewish movement of the 1970s was an outgrowth of the Hebrew Christian movement in the Protestant churches of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. There were parallel developments that occurred among Jews in the Catholic and Orthodox churches during the same period. Yet these groupings of Jewish disciples of Jesus weren't connected with one another in any sort of meaningful way…until June 2010.
At that time, twelve Jewish believers in Jesus, scholars from six countries and diverse spiritual traditions, gathered in Helsinki, Finland. They were led by two theologians, Rabbi Mark Kinzer, a Messianic Jew, and Fr. Antoine Lévy, O.P., a Catholic priest.
“At this unprecedented event, we have experienced the depth of our bond, and at the same time we have wrestled with the diversity of our ingrained theological and cultural constructs. In spite of Church divisions, we have come together as Jews who believe in Jesus. We think that the life of Jews in the Body of Christ has theological significance for that body as a whole. Their presence serves as a constant reminder to the body that its existence is rooted in the ongoing story of the people of Israel.”
Over the next seven years, this group, dubbed “the Helsinki Consultation on Jewish Continuity in the Body of the Messiah,” met annually, refining their vision. In 2018, the Helsinki Consultation invited a wider group of leaders to join them in Dallas, Texas, to explore concrete ways in which Jewish disciples of Yeshua might live out their calling as members of both the People of Israel and the Body of Jesus the Messiah. These forty-four Jewish disciples of Jesus, from Brazil, England, Canada, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Poland, Russia, Scotland, and the United States, decided to work together to form an international and interconfessional fellowship. Their effort came to fruition in December 2019 with the adoption of a charter for the fellowship. Yachad BeYeshua was born!
Since 2019, our numbers have grown. Member webinars, small groups, conferences, and Shabbatons (a weekend gathering focused on sharing Shabbat together in community) have cultivated learning from and fellowshipping with others with whom we might never connect. We are hoping to deepen our ministry as we continue to grow numerically, and create meaningful relationship-building opportunities related to our mission in both the Church and the Jewish community.
The First International/Interconfessional Congress of Jewish Disciples of Jesus · August 30, 2018
I.
We are Jews who worship the God of Israel, Creator of heaven and earth, who has revealed himself in Jesus the Messiah through the Holy Spirit. As disciples of Yeshua, we belong to a broad range of churches – Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant, Evangelical, and Pentecostal – and to Messianic Jewish communities. Inheriting almost a decade of prayer, study, and collaboration by some of our members in the Helsinki Consultation, we are discovering mutual respect, understanding, and affection. We yearn to grow in our common life, to continue to learn from one another, and to support each other's calling in the Spirit. We believe this is a precious gift from God that should be extended to all our Jewish brothers and sisters who, like us, have come to faith in Yeshua the Messiah. This gift has enabled many of us to overcome the solitude we have felt in our condition as Jewish disciples of Jesus, and we believe our communion with one another can be an instrument of strengthening and faith for all who follow Him.
II.
Without relinquishing our ecclesial communities, we are convinced that Jewish disciples of Yeshua are called to live as a corporate expression of Am Israel within the body of Christ, a prophetic voice within that body and within the Jewish people. We believe that the loss of a Jewish expression of faith in Messiah is a wound within Am Israel and the body of Christ. The healing of this wound calls for the coming together of disciples of Jesus from among the Jews and the nations. This too can inspire disciples from among the nations to increase their efforts to come together with one another in unity. This then will contribute to the fulfillment of the prayer of Jesus that “all may be one.”
Working towards this vision will require a visible structure that will reflect the breadth of Jewish disciples of Christ. That structure will be inter-confessional in nature and will incorporate the statements of the Helsinki Consultation as the basis of its theological work.
Practically, this organization may develop or share: