On the evening before his death, Jesus prayed for his disciples and all who would follow, that “we may be one as He and the Father are one that the world would believe the Father has sent His Son” (Jn.17:21). Jesus gave his life that we would become “one new man” (Ep.2:15) – one new people – one new community – that the world would believe.
Our vision as New Heritage Community is to live out the prayer of Jesus – to become “one new man,” “one new community” that the world may believe; to become a community that finds unity in our diversity. “Behold how good and pleasant it is when brothers and sisters dwell together in unity” (Ps.133). We therefore seek to express our unity by pursuing biblical diversity, i.e., ethnic diversity, racial diversity and generational diversity. We want to build a multi-ethnic, multi-racial and multi-generational community, demonstrating and celebrating our new heritage that the world may believe the Father has sent His Son!
We also believe we are called to restore our ancient heritage, i.e., our Jewish roots as the first breach was the break between the Jewish “church” and the Gentile/Christian church. If the people of God are ever to become one, we must go back to the “root” and restore our Jewish “roots.” As the apostle Paul wrote to the gentile church, “You do not support the root, but the root (Israel) supports you (Rm.11:18).”
In addition, we believe the destiny of the Church is intertwined with the destiny of Israel and the Jewish people. We believe we are living in days of prophetic fulfillment. We have seen the return of the Jewish people to their homeland – Israel’s physical return to the Land in preparation for Israel’s spiritual return to the Lord. We believe Israel’s spiritual revival will ultimately release world revival – the final Harvest – resulting in world redemption and the return of the Lord (Romans 11:15, 26). We therefore commit ourselves to participate in the fulfillment of God’s promises to his people Israel.
As New Heritage Community, we invite all who share this vision to join with us – that together we may do our part to fulfill the prayer of Jesus that we would be “one as He and the Father are one, that the world may believe!”