James
Henderson, regional director for Africa, reports on his October visit to the Congo.
James
Henderson, regional director for Africa, reports on his October visit to the Congo.
Mr. Henderson writes that no visiting minister from our fellowship had been to the Congo (formerly Zaire) for almost two years, partly because of the wars, and partly because of our budget limitations.
What I found in the Congo was most encouraging, he wrote. Miraculously, we have no reports of any of our members or contacts being wounded or killed.
We have 10 congregations of the Congolese WCG that promote the gospel in face of both physical and spiritual warfare. They rely on God to use them whenever the Holy Spirit gives them opportunities. Page 5.
What is an
"evangelical" Christian? asks Pastor General Joseph Tkach in this month's
Personal.
We are members of the National Association of Evangelicals, and we have called ourselves an evangelical denomination. When we use this word to describe ourselves, what are we saying?
"Evangelical" comes from the Greek word for "gospel," so we might expect that an evangelical Christian puts a high priority on the gospel--but this is not always the way the word is used. In some places, evangelical simply means Protestant; in other places it practically means Pentecostal. Some people want to define the term narrowly and others more broadly. Some people desire this label; others despise it.
Alister McGrath, an evangelical Anglican, offered six major distinctives of evangelical Christianity: 1) The supreme authority of Scripture, 2) Jesus Christ as incarnate God, 3) the Holy Spirit, 4) personal conversion, 5) evangelism and 6) the importance of the Christian community. Pages 6 & 7.
Pastor General Joseph Tkach writes about our identity and mission.
The priority that Jesus gave the church was the gospel. Take this message into all the world, he said. "This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem" (Luke 24:46-47).
God, true to his promise in the Scriptures, has provided for forgiveness for all nations, and this forgiveness is possible through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
This is the foundation of Christian identity, and it is also the foundation of church identity. Pages 16 to 18.
Income for December
averaged $100,025 per banking day, writes controller Ron Kelly.
The average daily income for the year was $93,478, short of the $95,000 per banking day we had projected.
Total 1999 income from all sources was $34 million. Expenses were $36.7 million. During 1999, it was necessary to take about $2.7 million from reserves. Page 21.
J. Michael Feazell
writes that a common belief among Christians is that all people who do not hear the gospel
and accept it before they die are eternally lost and without hope.
One of the distinctive doctrines in the Worldwide Church of God is our belief that God does provide an opportunity for every person to respond to the gospel, even those who seem to have had no such opportunity before death. Pages 24 to 28.
Copyright © Worldwide Church of God, 2000