Tuesday, 17 March 2020

Messianic Jewish Outreach (1)

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Stuart Dauermann draws a distinction between mission and outreach:

In its methods, the Messianic Jewish movement adapts approaches used in the missions and Hebrew Christian movements, with the exception of certain confrontational approaches that are alien to its ethos. While the methods employed are similar, the message, milieu and underlying commitments of Messianic Judaism differ from those of the Hebrew Christian/missions culture.

Why should this be? What is it that makes us different? Surely we want our people to know Yeshua? Dauermann continues:

The reasons for these differences are rooted in underlying assumptions. First, the Messianic Jewish ethos affirms the importance of ongoing covenantal participation with the Jewish people past, present and future, while the Hebrew Christian/missions paradigm is individualistic. Agents of the latter message often fail to take practical steps to preserve Jews as members of a covenant communiy with responsibilities to be honoured.

We'll continue this tomorrow ...

Taken from Stuart Dauermann, "Messianic Jewish Outreach", chapter 7 in Introduction to Messianic Judiasm, edited by David J Rudolph and Joel Willits, Zondervan 2013, pages 91-92.