Promise Keepers founder Bill McCartney has reportedly been planning a new initiative for strengthening ties between evangelicals and Messianic Jews–a move that some Jewish leaders said would damage their relations with conservative Christians.
McCartney and Rev. Raleigh Washington, an elder at a Denver church with a Messianic Jewish leader, plan to announce the campaign called “Road to Jerusalem” on Dec. 3 in Palm Springs, Calif., the Denver Post reported. Neither McCartney nor Washington would comment on the report.
Messianic Jews believe Jesus is the Messiah but consider themselves Jewish and observe Jewish rituals. Jewish religious leaders, however, consider them Christian and are offended by their efforts to evangelize Jews.
The Anti-Defamation League and other Jewish leaders have warned that any such alliance would make it impossible for them to work with evangelicals.
McCartney has had previous ties to Messianic Jews. Leaders of the movement participated in a large Promise Keepers rally in Washington in 1997.
