“Messianic” – Growing in Popularity

In the past years, I’ve had countless people ask me “what religion/denomination are you?” This has been a tricky question to answer in a way that people understand.

I think Daniel Lancaster had one of the best answers, when he relates in one of his messages that he talked to a guy installing carpet in his house about this question. When he was asked about what religion/denomination he was, Daniel responded, “We’re Christians who practice Judaism.” He said the carpet guy thought a little while, and then said, “You know… that makes perfect sense!” To which Daniel quipped “Even the carpet guy got it!”

Unfortunately, prior to hearing Daniel’s wisdom, I would often use the word “Messianic” in my first attempts to describe our religious persuasion. Hence, my experiences have not all been that well received. Whenever I’ve made mention of the word “Messianic,” the majority of the time it was like being on a sit-com: the world froze…all conversations immediately came to an abrupt halt, music on the overhead ceased to play in the supermarket and all heads turn in my direction, while the person who asked the question looks at me like a deer caught in the headlights. The general response is, “Messy-what?”

Well, recently, I was signing up for something online related to Christian music. I was asked to choose my “denomination” from a select list. I was sure I was going to have to choose “other” as my option. However, low and behold, there was “Messianic” in the options list. Couldn’t believe it. Evidently, Messianic Judaism is slowly garnering popularity and credibility within the Church. Although this is not an end-all, this really gave me a boost and gave me hope for our purpose of restoring of the roots of our faith among the Church. It shows me that people like myself are now beginning to be viewed with some sense of credibility, rather than some kind of fringe movement. It also shows me that we are being looked at as co-laborers in the Kingdom with our brothers and sisters, rather than a movement of opposition. This give me great encouragement and hope for the future.

May we all be united in our service to Hashem and His risen Messiah as we slowly turn the tide to help bring people into a fuller understanding of the practical applications of living out His Word.

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