“How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.”
Romans 10:14-15
Our Mission
Bringing the Message to the Original Messengers
Our Vision
Giving all Jewish people the opportunity to hear, understand and follow Yeshua the promised Messiah.
Our Objectives
We do this through five areas of evangelism, hospitality, teaching, benevolence, and community.
- Evangelism: Through creative evangelism, personal visitation and evangelistic presentations.
- Hospitality: Enabling Israelis to experience being blessed by Yeshua’s followers through the hospitality of our Host Israelis network.
- Teaching: Equipping and training believers to understand the Jewishness of our faith through our Messianic Training Centre and speaking in churches and schools.
- Benevolence: Meeting the practical needs of our local Jewish communities through Tikkun Olam.
- Community: Establishing and supporting messianic communities where Jew and Gentile can worship together as one.
Our History
Celebrate Messiah exists to pray for, evangelize, disciple, and serve Jewish people everywhere and to help fellow believers do the same. We affirm our commitment to the essence of historic, evangelical faith and our core theological emphases when it comes to Jewish evangelism.
The history of the Jewish people in Australia began with eight Jewish convicts from England, who arrived at Sydney Cove with the First Fleet in 1788. Today there are an estimated 120,000 Jewish people living in Australia with most of them living in Sydney and Melbourne.
Our Caulfield Messianic Centre
Lawrence and Louise Hirsch
Celebrate Messiah was founded in 1995 by Lawrence and Louise Hirsch, and began reaching to Jewish people initially in Melbourne. Lawrence is a Jewish believer in Yeshua and the current Executive Director of Celebrate Messiah, as well as the Rabbi of Beit HaMashiach, a messianic congregation planted by Celebrate Messiah in the heart of the largest Jewish community in Australia, in the suburb of Caulfield, Melbourne.
Celebrate Messiah, joined together in partnership with Chosen People Global Ministries in the year 2000, and is now one of the 23 countries around the world that form this dynamic ministry network. Lawrence is on the boards for both Celebrate Messiah New Zealand, which was planted by Celebrate Messiah Australia, as well as CPM in Israel.
Celebrate Messiah is directly accountable to a Board of Directors and a Board of Reference, made up of clergy and lay-persons of various denominations. For more information about our Boards, visit Meet our Board.
Our Core Values
1. PRIORITY OF JEWISH EVANGELISM
We are deeply committed to bringing the Gospel “to the Jew first…” (Romans 1:16). We believe that the Bible gives priority to Jewish evangelism within the broader context of Yeshua’s command to preach the Gospel to all peoples.
2. MOTIVATED BY LOVE
We firmly believe that the core motivation of sharing the Gospel with any people is the love of God demonstrated in the Person of Yeshua the Messiah.
3. EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION
We are committed to sharing the Gospel in a culturally relevant and effective way, without compromising the claims of Messiah.
4. UNITY IN MESSIAH
We deeply value the unity of the whole body of Messiah, and will seek to maintain fellowship with all people involved in the Church and associated missionary organisations. We believe in the equality of all believers in Messiah.
5. MUTUAL ACCOUNTABILITY
We value the need to be accountable to each other, to associated ministries and to the wider body of Messiah.
6. INTENTIONAL DISCIPLESHIP
We believe that the fruit of evangelism must be preserved by the intentional disciplining of new believers into worshiping communities and Messiah-like lifestyles.
7. SPIRITUAL INTEGRITY
We firmly believe that the messenger must honestly seek to live a life that is consistent with the Message.
8. HUMAN DIGNITY
We strongly believe that since all human beings are made in the image of God, how we treat them is a reflection of our love and respect for Him. We also believe that the worker is more important than the work.
Our Ministry Initiatives
Host Israelis trains and oversees hosts for inviting Israeli backpackers into their homes.
The Messianic Training Centre is a ministry for the training of believers in Jewish evangelism and teaching from a Messianic Jewish perspective.
Tikkun Olam is a benevolent ministry to distribute food hampers to Jewish people in need around Australia, and hold monthly luncheons for the community at our Caulfield Messianic Centre.
The ZulaRoo Surf Lodge is a a place of refuge in Apollo Bay for young Israeli backpackers as they journey through Australia.
Our outreach to the forgotten Jews of the Far East of Russia focuses on the Jewish Autonomous Region in the city of Birobidzhan.
Beit HaMashiach is a Messianic congregation planted by Celebrate Messiah in Melbourne, Australia. It is overseen by Lawrence and Louise Hirsch.
Beit Shalom is a Messianic congregation planted by Celebrate Messiah in Sydney, Australia. It is overseen by Daniel and Monica Valle.
Hineh Yeshua is a Messianic congregation planted by Celebrate Messiah in Canberra, Australia. It is overseen by Robert and Eleanor Miles.
Our Financing
Celebrate Messiah Australia Inc. is a non-profit organisation. We are supported by individuals and churches who see the need to share the Gospel with God’s ancient people.
If you would like to support the mission of Celebrate Messiah Australia, you can choose to give a donation or join our Romans 1:16 Partnership Program.