Dorot Task force

Our Central Question:

What leads Jewish young adults/youth to be attracted to, engaged in, and invested in Messianic Jewish congregations/ communities?

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Executive Summary:

Two years ago, the Union Executive Committee asked the Dorot Task Force to explore how Messianic Jewish congregations could stay relevant to younger and older people in an ever-changing world. They offered us the example of Synagogue 3000, an effort in the broader Jewish community to make synagogues vital centers of Jewish life, and they asked us to evaluate trends in the larger Jewish and Christian communities.

In May 2020, the Dorot team met to discuss our mandate and decided to narrow our scope to one that would research what attracts (and engages) younger people (teens and young adults) to Messianic Jewish congregations. We decided it was crucial to understand how our community’s Messianic Jewish/Gentile young people feel about their current Messianic Jewish community, what they value, what needs improvement, and why some no longer attend. Although the purpose of this study is to describe what attracts (and engages) youth and young adults to Messianic Jewish con- gregations/communities, we also offer recommenda- tions to Messianic Jewish leaders, which will hopefully result in vibrant, distinctly Jewish, and relevant Messianic Jewish communities in a dynamic world.

The largest part of our research involved quantitative (online surveys) and qualitative (Zoom interviews) studies. We researched, developed, and analyzed two surveys, one for Messianic Jewish/Gentile teens and one for Messianic Jewish/Gentile young adults. To create and analyze these studies, we developed a central question: What leads Jewish young adults/youth to be attracted to, engaged in, and invested in Messianic Jewish congregations/communities? While this question only mentions Jewish young adults/youth, we also included some young Messianic Gentiles in our studies. However, our research tries to focus on what attracts Jewish young people to Messianic Jewish congregations because of the paucity of this demographic in Messianic Jewish congregations.

The teen survey had 46 respondents (70-79% Jewish), the young adult survey had 208 respondents (64-74% Jewish), and we interviewed 29 young adults (79% Jewish) at 9 (Union, MJAA/IAMCS, Independent) congregations spread throughout the United States and Canada. Although, we fell short of our interview goals (which was 50 young adults), we believe that those we interviewed offered important insights and were representative of others in the community because their answers correlated with the survey responses. The young adult survey included 26 respondents who do not currently attend/left a Messianic Jewish congregation.

The overall trends that stood out from the survey and interview findings are that young people value timeless elements such as community relationships—with the rabbi, their peers, their mentors, and members of all age groups—and the shared values of honoring Yeshua in the context of Jewish life and tradition. Some of those surveyed and interviewed also want to reflect modern Jewish values such as social justice or humanitarian works, have egalitarian communities, and transparent leaders (and authentic Judaism) who are willing to discuss political and cultural issues of the day; sometimes young adults will leave if these elements are missing. So whether leaders are trying to retain teens and young adults or draw in new people, our findings show it is essential to provide a welcoming community environment where relationships thrive as well as cultivating faith in Yeshua within an authentic Jewish space.

We hope that our findings and recommendations will be helpful for the leadership and members of the Messianic Jewish community toward their continued work in creating vibrant, distinctly Jewish, and relevant Messianic Jewish congregations.

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