Research in Progress
Ephraimites, 2-House Movement

Alternative names in this movement: Ephraimites, Messianic Israel, Hebraic Roots Christians, Lost Tribes, Northern Kingdom,
Israelites, House of Israel, Messianic Christians, and House of Joseph

Definition and Basic Theology

History

Organizations

Leaders

Founding Figures and Leaders

Eddie Chumney (Hebrew Roots, Hebraic Heritage)

Moshe (Marshall) Koniuchowsky (Your Arms to Israel)

Monte Judah (Lion and Lamb Ministries)

Batya and Angus Wootten (Messianic Israel Alliance)

One of the first (if not the first) systematically articulated theological solutions to the growing Jew/Gentile divide within the Messianic movement was formulated and committed to writing by Batya Wootten in the late 1990s. The minstry that she and her husband, Angus Wootten brought to life, the Messianic Israel Alliance, was the first attempt to organize the Judaized but non-Jewish followers of Jesus into a corporate identity that would not be perceived as inferior in the way that "Gentile" had come to be seen. [last updated 8-11-08]

 

Related Links

Brit-Am (Yair Davidy)
[self-description] "Brit-Am is an organization centered in Jerusalem ... and comprised of Jews and non-Jews. Brit-Am traces the Lost Ten Tribes to Western Nations. ... Brit-Am avoids the discussion of religious differences between Judah (the present-day Jews) and the Lost Ten Tribes represented by 'Joseph'." [read endorsement by Eddie Chumney 2001]

Netzarim (Yirm'yahu Ben-Dawid)
[self-description] "The Netzarim are the only followers of Ribi Yәhoshua as Mashiakh on the planet since 135 C.E. (!) who are in good standing in the same community in which Ribi Yәhoshua and the original Netzarim lived, practiced and taught — i.e., recognized by Pharisaic (today's Orthodox) rabbis as Jews and geirim in good standing". They do not consider Jesus divine, do not consider the New Testament to be divinely inspired, who use only the book of Matthew and who "submit there (sic) halcha and doctrine to an orthodox beit din for its approval" [read quote from James Trimm June, 1997 on heb_roots listserve; Eddie Chumney rejects as 'counterfeit' Hebraic roots group].

Non 2-House Messianics

UMJC: [self-description] "Messianic Judaism is a movement of Jewish congregations and congregation-like groupings committed to Yeshua the Messiah that embrace the covenantal responsibility of Jewish life and identity rooted in Torah, expressed in tradition, renewed and applied in the context of the New Covenant." The Union of Jewish Messianic Congregations is theologically opposed to the Two House or Ephraimite position espoused by Wootten, Chumney, Koniuchowsky and others. [PDF position paper on the "Ephraimite Error" available here]

Messianic Jewish Rabbinical Council: The MJRC consists of a group of ordained Messianic Jewish Rabbis and associated leaders who share a common vision for Messianic Jewish practice rooted in Torah, instructed by Tradition, and faithful to Messiah Yeshua in the twenty-first century. [on conversion for Gentile believers]

Hashivenu: A non-membership based organization of Jewish Messianics for whom MJ is a form of Judaism; for whom the Jewish people are "we" and not "them" and who acknowledge Rabbinic Judaism as a "valuable part" of their heritage.

(c) 2008 by Patricia A. Power (Arizona State University) . email: papower@cox.net
unpublished research - please do not cite without permission of the author