“You are indeed the light of the world; a city that is built upon a mountain cannot be hidden.” — Matthew 5:14
More than four centuries ago, John Winthrop stood aboard the Arbella before sailing to New England. Quoting the words of Messiah, he reminded those around him that they were called to become a “city upon a hill”—a people whose lives would testify to the goodness and wisdom of the God they served. Winthrop said they should be “visible saints“, where ‘saint’ is someone whose life is ‘distinct’ from the world. Winthrop and the Pilgrims believed that Christianity in England needed to be redeemed, and that those professing faith appeared no different than anyone in the world. It was the colonists’ call to show them how to do it, as it could not be done from within the Church of England.
The Pilgrims before Winthrop, and many who followed, crossed an ocean for many different reasons. Some sought opportunity. Others sought wealth. But countless families came searching for something greater: the freedom to worship God according to the convictions of their own conscience, and not according to the dictates of a pope or a king.
They were not perfect people. Neither are we.
Yet many of those early settlers possessed something increasingly rare today: a deep reverence for the Scriptures. They believed the Bible should shape every part of life—not merely Sunday mornings. Indeed, one of the first churches built in America was the Seventh Day Baptist Church in Rhode Island. The faith-based colonies expected faith to produce holiness, integrity, compassion, humility, and obedience. They searched both the Hebrew Scriptures and the Apostolic Writings with remarkable seriousness. Some even questioned long-established church traditions, asking whether they truly reflected the teaching of God’s Word. They rejected Christmas and Easter, and made them illegal in their colonies. Men such as William Bradford displayed an unusual appreciation for the Hebrew Scriptures—even writing the sacred Name, יהוה, in Hebrew characters in his own journal.
It is easy to forget just how deeply the Scriptures shaped the earliest generations of American life.
The first colleges established in the colonies were not founded primarily to produce lawyers, businessmen, or politicians. They were founded to prepare ministers and educate young men in the knowledge of God.
Harvard College, established in 1636, declared its purpose plainly:
“Let every student be plainly instructed… to consider well that the main end of his life and studies is to know God and Jesus Christ which is eternal life…” (Harvard Rules and Precepts, 1646)
Hebrew was considered so important that students studied it alongside Greek and Latin. The founders believed that ministers should read the Scriptures as closely to their original languages as possible. What they did not have is the resources to understand Judaic history and cultural context. But some of them got close to becoming “Messianic”. Thanksgiving is purported to have been an attempt at Sukkot, a ‘fall’ harvest festival.
A century later, Yale College was founded because many ministers believed Harvard itself had begun drifting from its original theological foundations. Yale’s founders sought to preserve biblical orthodoxy and prepare ministers who would faithfully teach the Scriptures.
The founders of Harvard required students to study Hebrew so they could read the Scriptures more faithfully. Yale’s very seal still bears Hebrew words from the High Priest’s breastplate [“Urim V’Tumim”, the “Lights and the Purenesses”, used by the King of Israel to appeal to God for direction]. America’s earliest generations understood something we have largely forgotten: the Bible was not merely a book to admire—it was a book to study. The WHOLE book.
The Bible was not treated as an elective subject.
It was the foundation upon which education itself was built.
The goal was not merely to produce educated citizens, but godly men and women whose lives reflected the character of the God they worshiped and His Son who lived it perfectly. Visible Saints. A City on a Hill.
Today, many Americans would be surprised to learn that institutions now known primarily for secular scholarship were once dedicated almost entirely to the study of Scripture and the preparation of ministers of the Gospel.
If even our earliest colleges believed that every field of knowledge began with the fear of God, how much more should the people who claim to follow Messiah hunger to know the Scriptures for themselves?
Sadly, the opposite often seems true. We have more access to the Bible than any generation before us, yet less appetite to study it deeply. We eagerly parrot theological conclusions but often neglect the careful exposition from which those conclusions should arise.
Our fellowship is not attempting to invent a new religion. If anything, we are trying to recover an older habit—opening the Scriptures with humility, testing every tradition by God’s Word, and allowing the whole Bible to shape our lives.
History has never moved in a straight line.
America has known seasons of remarkable spiritual hunger and seasons of painful decline. The First and Second Great Awakenings stirred countless hearts back toward God. That is the very definition of ‘Repent’, which has become a byword in our time. “Shuvu” is Hebrew for “Turn back to God”. Throughout American history, times of national hardship often drove people once again to prayer and repentance.
One of the first things George Washington did after taking command of the Continental Army was to call the army not only to discipline, but to godliness.
On July 3, 1775, Washington formally assumed command at Cambridge. The very next day, in his General Orders of July 4, he issued this remarkable directive:
“The General most earnestly requires, and expects, a due observance of those articles of war… which forbid profane cursing, swearing & drunkeness; And in like manner requires & expects, of all Officers, and Soldiers, not engaged on actual duty, a punctual attendance on divine service, to implore the blessings of heaven upon the means used for our safety and defence.”
Notice what he paired together:
- Discipline
- Moral character
- Reverence for God
- Public worship
- Dependence upon divine blessing
To Washington, military success depended not merely on strategy, but upon the favor of Providence.
Just two weeks later, when the Continental Congress proclaimed July 20, 1775 a Day of Humiliation, Fasting, and Prayer, Washington ordered every soldier under his command to observe it:
“…be religiously observed… It is therefore strictly enjoin’d on all Officers and Soldiers (not upon duty) to attend Divine Service… and it is expected, that all those who go to worship, do take their Arms… and are prepared for immediate Action if called upon.”
That order is fascinating because it joins two duties that modern Americans often separate:
- Trust God.
- Be prepared to act.
Washington expected his army to pray with sincerity and stand ready to defend their country.
These weren’t isolated statements. Throughout his career, Washington repeatedly referred to God as Providence, urged public thanksgiving and prayer, and believed that the nation’s liberty depended upon the virtue of its people. In his Farewell Orders at the end of the war, he wrote:
“The singular interpositions of Providence in our feeble condition were such, as could scarcely escape the attention of the most unobserving…” In other words, even unbelievers saw the hand of God in favoring the U.S. during the war.
When George Washington accepted command of the Continental Army, his first concern was not simply drilling soldiers. His earliest orders called them away from profanity, drunkenness, and irreverence, commanding regular attendance at divine worship and urging them to seek “the blessings of heaven upon the means used for our safety and defence.” America’s first Commander-in-Chief believed that liberty could not endure apart from a people who feared God.
America’s earliest leaders generally assumed that public virtue flowed from biblical faith, even though they differed among themselves on many theological questions.
Even in our own generation, moments of crisis have reminded many that wealth, politics, entertainment, and technology cannot satisfy the deepest needs of the human soul. I personally remember, as a ‘street preacher’ when I was on shore duty in the Navy during Desert Shield, which became Desert Storm, that people were flooding into churches, and they were far more receptive to the gospel, because they feared for the coming war. People would ‘listen’ to God’s Word. There was still a modicum of respect for it trickling through society.
Yet today something feels different.
We live in an age overflowing with information, but starving for wisdom. We have more Bibles than any generation in history, yet fewer people who study The Word, the WHOLE Word, carefully. We have instant access to sermons, podcasts, videos, and social media—but many believers know isolated verses better than the books from which those verses come.
Too often, our faith has become a collection of slogans.
We passionately defend statements we’ve inherited, but seldom ask, “Where does Scripture teach this? How did the prophets understand it? How did Yeshua explain it? How did His apostles preach it?”
God never asked His people merely to repeat religious phrases.
He invited them to know Him. To learn who He IS. His very Name יהוה is a declaration of His Eternal existence and unchanging Nature.
From Genesis to Revelation, Scripture presents one consistent invitation: love יהוה your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Walk in His ways. Receive His mercy. Trust the Son whom He sent. Let His Spirit transform the way you think, speak, work, forgive, worship, and love your neighbor.
Faith has never been merely about possessing the correct vocabulary.
Neither has it been merely about attending services, or about “feeling” God’s presence.
Biblical faith is The WAY of Life, which is embodied in Yeshua’s behavior.
It is a daily walk of repentance, gratitude, obedience, humility, compassion, and hope.
That is what drew us together as a fellowship.
Our use of Hebrew words may seem unfamiliar at first. You may notice that we say “Yeshua” instead of “Jesus,” refer to God by His covenant Name יהוה, or spend considerable time studying the Torah alongside the Prophets and Apostolic Writings. Those things are not ends in themselves. They are simply part of our desire to understand the Scriptures as completely and faithfully as we can.
We do not claim perfection.
We do not imagine that we have exhausted the riches of God’s Word.
But we have become deeply persuaded that the Bible forms one unified story, and that every page helps us understand the Messiah more clearly. We believe every sincere believer should be fully persuaded from Scripture—not from tradition alone, not from popular opinion, and certainly not from personalities.
And we believe America needs this, more than it ever has: to DO God’s Word. That is virtue.
If that sounds unusual today, perhaps it is.
But it shouldn’t be.
The Bereans were commended because they searched the [OT] Scriptures daily to test what they heard from the Apostle Paul, yet few today test the self-proclaimed prophets against The Word. The Prophets of God in the OT continually called God’s people back to His Word. Yeshua Himself repeatedly asked, “Have you not read…?” The apostles reasoned from the Scriptures [OT], not merely from emotion or tradition.
That remains our desire.
Perhaps you’ve quietly stopped attending church because you’ve become weary of entertainment replacing discipleship.
Perhaps you’ve asked honest questions about the Bible and found few willing to wrestle with the answers.
Perhaps you’ve opened the Old Testament and wondered why so much of it seems neglected.
Or perhaps you’ve never believed at all. You’ve watched religious arguments, hypocrisy, and division, and concluded that faith has little to offer. If so, we understand. We simply ask that you look again—not merely at those who claim to follow Messiah, but at Messiah Himself. Read His words. Watch His life. See whether anyone has ever loved as He loved. Do as HE did.
Whether you’ve walked with God for decades or are only beginning to ask questions, you are welcome here.
Come study with us.
Come ask difficult questions.
Come search the Scriptures.
Come discover whether the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is still calling people—not merely to believe something about Him—but to walk with Him.
Our prayer is simple.
Not that everyone would become like us.
But that together we would become more like the Messiah.
““Thus says יהוה , ‘Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, “Where is the good way?”, and walk therein, and you shall find rest for your souls’” — Jeremiah 6:16