Add an Article Add an Event Edit

Ben Israel Fellowship

43237 Cass Line Road
218-335-2562

Mission Statement :

From its beginnings in the mid-1970's, this fellowship has been, and still is, predicated on the classic evangelical credo of the faith, as subsumed and expressed in The Apostle's Creed, that is, we believe:

"In God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary; suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried; He descended into Hades; the third day He rose from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead. We believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy catholic Church; the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting."

What distinguishes us from other conventional church bodies subscribing to the same creed, is the divine leading of the Lord to establish a community of believers in a shared life together, lived in daily proximity upon the model of the early apostolic Church, where believers went "from house to house breaking bread". This model of Christianity is better known overseas than in the United States, though the present Hutterite communities are a well-known example on this continent.

Though we believe we have a biblically-based, historically-sanctioned model, we do not deprecate or criticize those Christians satisfied with the more traditional Sunday service, midweek Bible study, prayer-meeting model. That "great grace was upon them all" is the biblical testimony of God's approval of a people who "were of one heart and one soul" in keeping with the Lord's own prayer that, "They might be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that Thou hast sent Me, and hast loved them, as Thou hast loved Me."

We feel that the great salvational end, that "the world may know" is contingent upon a people "made perfect" under the intensive and sanctifying conditions of life together, which mere Sunday worship cannot in itself provide. While we are yet far from that attainment, and acknowledge that, many have been blessed over the years by visits to our community.