Our Beliefs & Values

Our Values

  • Seeking after God with prayer, worship, and by studying His Word.
  • Honoring God by keeping His Torah, including the Sabbath and holy days.
  • Building a community of authentic relationships rooted in love, dedicated to growing closer to God and one another.
  • Reaching out to the world around us with the redemptive love of God.
  • Standing in solidarity with the Jewish people, rejecting replacement theology in all of its forms, as a community of Jews and Gentiles.

What is Messianic Judaism?

Simply put, Messianic Judaism is the faith of Yeshua and his disciples. What we now know as Christianity began as a small but quickly growing sect of Judaism in the first century. Over time, a rift developed between mainstream Judaism and the sect of Yeshua-followers, which also became increasingly Gentile. Eventually, the Christian (and Roman Catholic) church developed, and believers in Yeshua fell completely away from any form of Jewish practice.

In recent decades, God has been reviving a desire in Jewish believers-in-Yeshua all over the world to maintain their Jewish identity in the context of Yeshua-faith. This has resulted in the modern-day development of the Messianic Jewish movement. But in addition to Jewish believers returning to the faith of their forefathers, many Gentiles have also embraced this faith practice, a fulfillment of Zechariah 8:23.

Messianic Judaism is a form of Jewish faith and practice that honors Yeshua as God and Messiah, and believes that the Apostolic Scriptures are authoritative in our lives today. We believe in salvation by grace through faith, and also in showing our love for God by honoring the Torah in obedience.

For more information about Messianic Judaism, please read this article from the Messianic Jewish Alliance of America.
For more information about Gentiles within Messianic Judaism, please read this article from Jewish Voice.

Our Statement of Faith

  • We believe in one true God as He has revealed Himself in Scripture. “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One.” (Deuteronomy 6:4) We believe He is a personal God who not only created us and the world, but desires relationship with us and has placed Himself into the created world in the form of His Son and His Holy Spirit.
  • We believe that Yeshua of Nazareth is the Son of God, the promised Messiah of Israel, the Eternal One in whom all the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form. He is the Word who became flesh and dwelt among us. (John 1:1-14; Colossians 2:9) We believe He came first as the Suffering Servant to make atonement for our sin and that He will return again to reign as King in the Messianic Era. (Click here for an in-depth teaching regarding the deity of Yeshua.)
  • We believe the Spirit of God comforts, teaches, leads, indwells and empowers all whom God regenerates. (Acts 1:8, 9:31; 1 John 2:27; John 16:13; 1 Corinthians 3:16; 2 Timothy 1:7) We believe the Holy Spirit has always existed (Genesis 1:2) and functioned in the world, operating through people of his choosing, including the prophets of old. We believe the Holy Spirit is the Comforter Yeshua promised to send to all his disciples after He ascended to heaven, as a pledge towards what will be in the Messianic Era. (John 14:15-26)
  • We believe that the Bible, including the Tanak (Old Testament) and the Apostolic Scriptures (New Testament), are the only inspired, infallible, and authoritative written Word of God. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)
  • We believe that all have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23)
  • We believe that Yeshua’s death and resurrection accomplished atonement and forgiveness for all who place their faith in Him. Whoever surrenders their life to God is made a new creation in Yeshua, indwelt by the Spirit of God, and is transferred from the kingdom of darkness into His glorious kingdom. (Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 5, 6)
  • We believe in justification by faith alone through the grace of God alone, and not by human efforts. One may not earn, merit, or keep this eternal salvation by his own efforts. A new creation is the work of God alone. (Ephesians 2:8-10; Romans 8:29-39)
  • We believe in the literal, physical return of Messiah to rule and reign upon the throne of David in Jerusalem, at which time the New Covenant will be completely fulfilled. (Jeremiah 31, Ezekiel 36, Zechariah 14; Revelation 19-20)
  • We believe in the spiritual unity and equality of all believers in Yeshua the Messiah. (Ephesians 2:11-22)
    • We believe in the continuity of God’s covenants with the Jewish people, the physical people of Israel (Jeremiah 31:35-36 and parallel passages). Part of the fulfillment of these covenants is the return of the Jewish people to their promised land. (Deuteronomy 30)
    • We believe that all non-Jewish people who trust in Yeshua are grafted into Israel. While this does not make them Jewish, they are participants in the covenants of promise through adoption. (Ephesians 2:12; Romans 11:11-24; Jeremiah 31:33)
  • We believe that the Torah is a revelation of God’s righteousness and a description of the lifestyle of the redeemed community upon which the rest of Scripture builds. This includes God’s design for marriage between one man and one woman, which forms the basis for His design for the family. (Matthew 5:17-19; 2 Timothy 3:16-17)
  • We believe everyone has been created by God with intention, and as a result, all human life is sacred from conception. In God’s intentionality, no one was made by accident or without purpose, including his or her gender or ethnicity. (Psalm 139:13-14, Genesis 1:27, Mark 10:6-9)

Our Affiliations

In 2019, we were accepted into membership in the International Alliance of Messianic Congregations and Synagogues (IAMCS). The IAMCS is a branch of the Messianic Jewish Alliance of America (MJAA), and the largest association of Messianic congregations in the world.

Since its formation, The Bridge has been a part of the Foursquare movement. Foursquare offers us accountability, networking, support, and freedom to practice our faith in our unique way. We are also a member of Foursquare Messianic – a small group of like-minded congregations within Foursquare.

For more information, please read Our Relationship With the Greater Church.