About MLI

• MLI's Mission
• Organization and History
• Key Tenets of Our Faith

MLI's Mission
Messianic Life Institute is an Internet-based, Messianic Jewish graduate school that teaches and offers degrees in biblical studies, ministry, and leadership. It is a school for Messianic Jews and Christians that is theologically conservative, torah compliant, Yeshua (Jesus) centered, Holy Spirit conscious, and imparting of biblical faith and holy living. It is an alternative to the many theological schools and seminaries that teach students a liberal approach to Scripture or espouse dispensational or covenant theologies. MLI is particularly suited for students desiring to study Messianic Judaism and the Jewish roots of Christianity. [Return to Top of Page]

Organization and History
Messianic Life Institute (MLI) is a Florida based ministry of Ahavat Yeshua, a Messianic Jewish congregation located in the District of Columbia. Although MLI was organizationally established in 2006, its spiritual inheritance can be traced back to 1984 when Messiah Yeshiva was established by Beth Messiah Congregation (Ahavat Yeshua's parent congregation) under the presidency of Dr. Daniel C. Juster (currently a board member of MLI), and co-founded by Beth Messiah's elders M. Rabbi Keith (Asher) Intrater and Dr. Michael Rudolph, MLI's founding elder and Dean.

Messiah Yeshiva's original mission was to provide leadership training for members of Beth Messiah Congregation. Soon, however, its reputation grew, and it began to serve the larger Messianic Jewish and Christian communities. It expanded its degree programs and course offerings, and came under the joint oversight of the Messianic Council of Greater Washington, and a Tikkun Ministries apostolic team that consisted of Dr. Daniel C. Juster, M. Rabbi Keith (Asher) Intrater, and M. Rabbi Andrew (Eitan) Shishkoff. Dr. Michael Brown was appointed Director, and the school's name was changed to Messiah Biblical Institute & Graduate School of Theology (MBI).

Dr. Brown was succeeded by Pastor Thurlow Switzer who served as Dean of MBI for several years and was, in turn, succeeded by Dr. Michael Rudolph and then by Dr. Stephen Guice. MBI changed its name once more to Messiah Biblical Institute & the Joseph Rabinowitz Graduate School and, through all these changes, Dr. Juster remained at the school's helm as its President.

The mantle of MBI has now passed to MLI whose board consists of Ahavat Yeshua's elders, Pastor Ralph Finley, Pastor Marcellus Powell, Dr. Michael Rudolph, and shaliach Dr. Daniel Juster. Dr. Rudolph serves as MLI's Dean, and Dr. Jean C. Toth as its Associate Dean. The school's administrative address is located Gainesville, Florida, but its courses are taught worldwide via the Internet. [Return to Top of Page]

Key Tenets of Our Faith
MLI's theology may be described as broad Messianic Jewish / Evangelical orthodoxy that acknowledges the power of the Holy Spirit. It is expressed in the combined faith statements of the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations (UMJC) and Tikkun Ministries International. We believe in the inspiration and authority of the entire Bible (the Hebrew and New Covenant Scriptures), the triune nature of God, the deity, incarnation and atoning death of Yeshua (Jesus), his bodily resurrection, his ascension, his second coming, etc. We also believe that the indwelling Holy Spirit empowers the believer to live a godly life, and that a faith committment to Yeshua is essential to ensure eternal salvation. Yeshua is the "way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through" him (John 14:6).

We believe that the Jewish people are being restored to the land of Israel in accordance with biblical prophecy. This restoration is accompanied by the emergence of Messianic Judaism both in Israel and worldwide. Jewish disciples of Yeshua and the Gentiles who join them together embrace the irrevocable calling of Israel spoken of in Scripture (Exodus 19:6; Romans 3:1-2 and 11:29), and maintain a biblically Jewish lifestyle patterned after the apostles. [Return to Top of Page]

We believe that all born-again disciples of Yeshua (both Jews and Gentiles) are in covenant relationship, and are to work together in the "great commission" (Matthew 28:18-20) of proclaiming Messiah Yeshua to Israel and the entire world. Gentiles who come to faith in Yeshua become grafted into Israel in much the same way as a branch is grafted into a tree (Romans 11:17-18). This grafting creates a covenant relationship between Jews and Gentiles in Yeshua wherein they can both have citizenship in a Commonwealth of Israel (Ephesians 2:11-22).

We believe that Torah is to be understood broadly as God's teaching that is applicable to both Jews and non-Jews (although sometimes applied differently). The New Covenant causes the Torah to be written in our hearts (Jeremiah 31:33), and fulfils the prophecy that the "Torah shall go forth from Zion" (Isaiah 2:3). [Return to Top of Page]