April 2000Contents

We are rapidly approaching the spring festival season, at which we commemorate the death and resurrection of our Savior, Mr. Tkach writes in this month's Personal.

We are not commemorating days, of course--the days are merely a method we use to commemorate our Savior and the salvation that he has achieved for us.

Our existence now and our eternity rest solely on the work of Jesus Christ. "By a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified" (Heb. 10:14, NRSV). "We have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all" (v. 10).

Jesus paid for the sins of everyone--even though many do not yet know it. Pages 6 and 7.

Grace

How can you be sure you are in the kingdom of God and not destined for the lake of fire? asks J. Michael Feazell.

Many Christians worry that in the final analysis, they might not be counted among the children of God. Pages 8 to 13.

Window on the World

God is sensitive to the suffering of each little one who cries alone in the night, writes Randal Dick.

Yet, what he sees is not just 100 million physical children growing up without a parent, but also 4.2 billion precious children of all ages, trying to make it on their own spiritually without the support of a spiritual Mother.

Spiritually speaking we have a problem of dying spiritual mothers (church congregations). Fifty to 70 churches in the United States cease to exist every week. That is a high mortality rate.

Indications are that the death rate of spiritual mothers will rise dramatically in the coming decade. Pages 14 and 15.

Asia

Asia is a most challenging area for Christians to live in, let alone be dedicated to fulfilling their part in the commission Jesus gave his church, writes regional director Rod Matthews.

In some countries the national religion is a massive hurdle that must be overcome to introduce someone to their Savior.

A better understanding of the core of the Christian message and certain lessons have changed how we go about spreading the gospel in Asia. Pages 16 & 17.

Prison Ministry

Several WCG members participated in the Iowa InnerChange Freedom Initiative dedication in Newton, Iowa, Saturday, Dec. 4.

Guest speaker Chuck Colson said: "You can't scare people out of crime. Something has to happen in the human heart."

Several members from Chariton and Des Moines are learning the meaning of pure religion (James 1:27) as volunteers and counselors at a state correction center, in Newton.

The goal of InnerChange is to change the hearts of offenders, thus their values and lives, through Jesus Christ. Page 19.

Financial Report

February closed with a total income of $1,865,432, writes controller Ron Kelly. Daily average donations were $85,580.

Donations (income from members and regular contributions) were one percent under budget estimates for the year. Total income, which includes such things as income from the estates of recently deceased people, was down 15 percent. Page 27.

Leadership
conference
in Zambia

LUSAKA, Zambia--The church conducted a leadership conference in Lusaka, March 11 and 12.About 30 church leaders from eight areas of Zambia attended. Kalengule Kaoma, area pastor for Zambia, Malawi and Zimbabwe, was chairman of the conference.

James Henderson, superintendent of African missions, was guest speaker. Mr. Henderson gave two presentations, one titled Do We Value the Mission God Has Given Us? and the other, The Development of Ideas. He also led discussions on baptism with the Holy Spirit and spiritual gifts.

On the first day, David Kachimwa was ordained a deacon to serve the fledgling Longo congregation.

Two new WCG congregations were represented. They are the Zambezi and Chavuma groups. Sometime ago they were founded by Peter Lukama, who embarked on a self-imposed program of personal evangelism after reading our magazine.

Mr. Lukama contacted Mr. Kaoma, who explained to him the church's understanding of the new covenant. Mr. Lukama gladly received Mr. Kaoma's message and has taken the new understanding back to the groups, which are being integrated into our fellowship.

Mr. Kaoma commented after the conference: "It was encouraging for the host Lusaka congregation to meet leaders from the outlying areas. We all benefited from the conference, and we realize that we need to know our Bible so that we are not swept away by every wind of doctrine.

"The church in Zambia is greatly blessed by the gift of the Holy Spirit, and our members are learning how to access that gift in a great way. We all desire God's love so that we become instruments of his gracious purpose for all humanity."

LUSAKA--Above, members sing and rejoice.
Right, Erica Kaoma, one of the children in the
Lusaka congregation. [Photos by James Henderson]

ORDINATION--David Kachimwa is
ordained by Kalengule Kaoma,
Muphana Ngula and Wilson Nkhoma.

ZAMBIAN LEADERS--Pictured are leaders
who attended the leadership conference March 11 and 12.

Worldwide Church of God articles about Jesus Christ

The church has more than 300 articles on the literature website. Below are the articles we have about Jesus Christ:

Existence before his birth

His birth

His life

His death

His resurrection

His return

Other

We do not have any printed copies of this literature. You may see these articles on our Internet website. Many public libraries offer Internet access, and most congregations have members with Internet access. For articles about Jesus, www.wcg.org/lit/jesus is a good place to start. For a complete list of WCG literature, see www.wcg.org/lit/alpha.htm

Meet your district superintendents

Fran and Elfie Ricchi

Fran and Elfie Ricchi came to Cleveland, Ohio, in 1995 after serving 23 years in the Canadian ministry.

Fran is originally from Massachusetts, and Elfie is a native of Austria. They met in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and were married there in 1975.

They live on Cleveland+s east side and have two children, Tanya, 20, and Mathew, 18. Fran pastors the Cleveland congregation and serves as district superintendent for the Cleveland district.

Robert and Kay Persky

Robert Persky started attending the WCG in Houston, Texas, in 1960 when he was 15 years old. His parents started attending later.

After studying electrical engineering at the University of Houston for one year, he transferred to Ambassador College in Big Sandy and became a member of the pioneer class in 1964. He graduated in 1968.

One year later, he married Kay Hyde. They have three sons and two daughters-in-law, Ted of Euless, Texas, Neal and Jodie of Euless, Brad and Sharby of Bowling Green, Kentucky; and a daughter and son-in-law, Livia and John Matteson of Orlando, Florida. All of their children have attended Ambassador University.

Mrs. Persky began working as a beauty salon receptionist. She is renewing her cosmetology license. She joins her husband on district trips, where she speaks, leads worship and sings.

Mr. Persky+s first assignment, the summer before his senior year at Ambassador, was in South Bend, Indiana, and Grand Rapids, Michigan. Upon graduation he assisted in Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, Indiana.

His first pastorate was in Lafayette, Indiana, and Champaign, Illinois. Later he pastored in Roanoke, Virginia; Charleston, South Carolina, and Savannah, Georgia; Bowling Green, Kentucky, and Clarksville, Tennessee, and as interim pastor in Elizabethtown, Kentucky.

Mr. Persky became district superintendent of the Bowling Green district in January 1996. The Perskys were transferred to Orlando, Florida, in February 1999. He supervises 16 churches and one house church in Florida. They are pastored by seven vocational pastors and five bivocational pastors.

Personal from Joseph Tkach

The work has been done

We are rapidly approaching the spring festival season, at which we commemorate the death and resurrection of our Savior.

We are not commemorating days, of course--the days are merely a method we use to commemorate our Savior and the salvation that he has achieved for us. "By a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified" (Heb. 10:14, New Revised Standard Version throughout). "We have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all" (v. 10).

The work has been done. The gift has been given. The money is in the bank, we might say. It is ours to use. Jesus Christ "is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world" (1 John 2:2).

Jesus paid for the sins of everyone--even though many do not yet know it, even though not everyone accepts it. The atonement has been made--fully effective, once for all time. Our faith doesn+t add anything to its effectiveness or cause it to be given. Our faith merely accepts the gift that has already been secured. And all who accept Christ, who accept his gift, rejoice!

The spring festival season is a time of joy. When we commemorate the resurrection of our Savior, we leap for joy, because his resurrection foreshadows our own--and even now we live with Christ in newness of life.

The spring festivals also remind us of the shameful death of Christ, and even this is an occasion for joy, because of the significance of his crucifixion. He was the second Adam, and his death was sufficient to reconcile all humans to God.

A re-creation

One way that the Bible describes our salvation is as a re-creation. We are a new creation, a new person, born again, with a new identity. We are a new humanity. We say, with the apostle Paul, that the old person died with Christ--and that is why his crucifixion is so important for us. We were with him on the cross, and the old sinful person died with him, and we now live anew in the risen Christ. There is a contrast between the old humanity and the new.

This picture is seen again when Paul says that Christ is the image of God, and that we are being re-created in his image. God loves us so much that he sent Christ to redeem us from our own rebellion and selfishness.

The wonder of it all hearkens back to Psalm 8:3-6. When we look at the heavens, when we consider the moon and stars, when we consider the enormity of the universe and the stupendous powers involved in each star, we might well wonder why God bothers with us at all. Why should we think that he even looks us, and cares about each individual?

What are human beings?

Human beings are in some ways like God himself, yet inferior, yet crowned by God with honor and glory. Humans are a paradox--so tainted with evil, and yet believing that they should behave morally. So far below God, and yet called honorable by God himself.

Scientists call us Homo sapiens, a member of the animal kingdom. Scripture calls us nephesh, a word also used for animals. We are dust, and when we die, we return to the dust. Our anatomy and our physiology is like that of an animal.

But Scripture says that we are much more than animals. -God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them+ (1:27). Humans are a special creation, made in the "image of God." We are in some way like God himself.

Women and men are both made in the image of God; they have equal spiritual potential. Social roles do not change a person+s spiritual value. All humans deserve love, honor and respect.

Genesis 1 concludes by noting that everything was "very good." This was just the way God wanted it to be--but anyone who lives in the real world realizes that something is now terribly wrong with humanity.

What went wrong? Genesis 2 and 3 explain that the originally perfect creation became marred. Adam and Eve ate from the forbidden tree. Humanity sinned, rebelled against the Creator, chose to go its own way.

The first result of their sin was distorted vision--they saw something wrong with their nakedness (3:7). Even after making loincloths, they were afraid of being seen by God (3:10).

They made their lame excuses, and Yahweh explained the consequences: Eve would bear children, which was part of the original plan, but now it would be with great pain. Adam would till the ground, which was part of the original plan, but now it would be with great toil. And they would die. In fact, they were already dead. "In the day that you eat of it you shall die" (2:17). Their true life in union with God was over. All that was left was mere physical existence, far less than the true life God intended.

What Adam and Eve did in Genesis 3 is what humanity as a whole has done; the story illustrates why humanity is in a less-than-perfect situation. Humanity is typified by Adam and Eve-humanity lives in rebellion against its Creator, and that is why sin and death characterize all human societies.

Plan of redemption

So the scene has been set: The problem that humans find themselves in is their own fault, not God's. He gave them a perfect start, but they blew it, and everyone ever since has been infected with iniquity. But despite human sinfulness, humanity continues to be in God+s image--tarnished and dented, we might say, but still the same basic image.

But God still cares, and he has a plan for us. Jesus Christ, God made flesh, is the perfect image of God (Col. 1:15). He became fully human, showing us exactly what a human being ought to be: perfectly obedient, perfectly trusting. Jesus restored the life that was lost through sin. He is the resurrection and the life (John 11:25).

Jesus is called "the last Adam" (1 Cor. 15:45). What Adam did for physical humanity, Jesus Christ does for the spiritual revision. He is the starting point of the new humanity, the new creation (2 Cor. 5:17). In him, everyone will be made alive again (1 Cor. 15:22).

We are born again. We are starting over, this time on the right foot. Through Jesus Christ, God is creating the new humanity, and sin and death have no power over this re-creation (Rom. 8:2; 1 Cor. 15:24-26). The victory has been won; the temptation has been rejected.

Jesus is the one we are to trust and the model we are to follow (Rom. 8:29-35); we are being transformed into his image (2 Cor. 3:18), the image of God.

Through faith in Christ, through his work in our lives, our imperfections are being stripped away, and we are being brought closer to what God wants us to be (Eph. 4:13, 24). We are going from one degree of glory to another--to a much higher glory!

Of course, we do not yet see the image in all its glory, but we are assured that we will. "Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust [Adam], we will also bear the image of the man of heaven [Christ]" (1 Cor. 15:49).

Our resurrected bodies will be like Jesus Christ's: glorious, powerful, spiritual, heavenly, imperishable, immortal (vs. 42-44).

John put it this way: "Beloved, we are God's children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is" (1 John 3:2-3).

We don't yet see it, but we know it will happen, for we are God's children, and he will make it happen. We will see Christ in his glory, and that means that we will also have a similar glory, able to see spiritual glory. And then John adds this pastoral comment: "And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure" (v. 3).

Humans both physical and spiritual

1) Even the natural human is made in God's image. No matter how much a person sins, the image is still there and the person is of tremendous value. God has a purpose and plan that includes every sinner.

2) Through faith in Christ, a sinner becomes a new creation, modeled after the second Adam, Jesus Christ. In this age, we are just as physical as Jesus was during his earthly ministry, but we are being refashioned into the spiritual image of God.

This spiritual change means a change of attitude and behavior, brought about because Christ lives in us and we live by faith in him (Gal. 2:20).

3) If we are in Christ, we will bear the image of God perfectly in the resurrection. Our minds cannot now fully grasp what that will be like, and we do not know exactly what the "spiritual body" will be, but we know that it will be wonderful. Our gracious and loving God will bless us with as much as we can enjoy, and we will praise him forever!

Friends, when you see people around you, what do you see? Do you see the image of God, the potential for greatness, the image of Christ being formed? Do you see the beauty of God's plan at work in giving grace to sinners? Do you rejoice that he redeems a humanity who went astray? Do you rejoice at the majesty of the wonderful plan of God?

This is far more wonderful than the stars. It is far more glorious. He has given his word, and it is so, and it is very good. In the spring festivals, let us rejoice in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Let us be thankful for the sacrifice he made, and be thankful that it was effective for the whole world, even for us. In him we have new life!

A simple matter of trust

How can you be sure you are in the kingdom of God and not destined for the lake of fire?

Many Christians worry that in the final analysis, they might not be counted among the children of God and will face their fate in the destruction of the lake that burns with fire and brimstone (Revelation 20:8).

What is the basis for such a worry? Personal sins, of course. Deep inside, we know how ugly and real our sins are and continue to be, and we fear that since God knows it too, there is no way he will "let us in" his kingdom. After all, we know that God is pure and holy, and that his kingdom is also pure and holy.

So where does that leave us? Well, since we are not "pure and holy," we figure it can only leave us on the outside looking in. We want to overcome. We struggle to overcome. We pray against our sins. We set our wills against our sins. But when all is said and done, we never do quite get rid of them. We are sinners, and as such, we keep on sinning.

"You can't play games with God," we are told. "Christ didn't die for you so you could keep right on sinning," we are warned. We listen to the Ten Points for Overcoming Sin sermons, the Five Rules for Ruling Your Emotions sermons, the Nine Keys for Healthy Happy Families sermons, the Seven Laws of Success sermons. On and on and on they come, the never-ending stream of "Get Your Life Straightened Out or Burn" messages.

We take notes feverishly, we pin them up on the fridge, we pray over them, we try and we try, yet, when the chips are down, we blow it, confronted once again with the stark truth that we are what we are, and what we are stinks.

So where does our loser life leave us with God? Why should he keep putting up with us? And why should he let us into his pure and holy kingdom?

"Don't kid yourself," the little voice in the back of your mind whispers. "You're a loser. If you think God is going to give anything good to you, you must be in dreamland, pal."

Bad information

Somewhere along the line, Christians have given other Christians bad information about how this kingdom of God thing works. The kind of thinking I have been talking about above does not come from the Bible. It comes from ugly rumors and twisted tales about God, making him out to be rather more like one of us than the way the Bible says he really is.

The Bible says God is on your side, even though you are a sinner. That's right. Even though you are a sinner. Don't ever forget this: Christ died for you while you were still a sinner (Romans 5:8).

Contrary to what you may have heard and may have thought, the Bible is not primarily a rule book, though it does contain plenty of good instruction about how humans ought to live.

No, the Bible is not first and foremost, as you may have heard, "God's instruction manual for humans," which if you don't heed and obey, God will hurl you kicking and screaming and gnashing your teeth into his supernatural furnace.

Quite the contrary, the Bible is good news, and it is good news for you just as it is for everybody who has ever lived--not merely good news if you straighten up, but pure and simple good news no matter what you have done or do or will do.

In Christ, God has chosen to reconcile nothing less than his whole creation to himself, and he didn't even ask your permission to do it (1 John 2:2; John 12:32; Romans 8:21; Colossians 1:20).

In personal terms, in Christ, God has reconciled you to himself, and he didn't even bother to check your credit first. You have been reconciled, like it or not, and the only question left is whether you will trust him that it is so, and enjoy it, and start seeing yourself the way you really are--the way God has made you in Christ--or just keep on seeing yourself the way you always have, through your own dirty, cracked and crooked lenses.

The Bible is the record of God's work of grace through which he has redeemed the world through his Son Jesus Christ (Luke 24:45-47).

When you read the Bible, you are reading about a world of people who need redemption, and whom God has in fact redeemed through the birth, life, death and resurrection of his Son, God with us, God in the flesh, God in death and God in resurrection, Jesus Christ (John 3:17; 5:46; 1 Corinthians 15:3; 1 Timothy 2:4-6).

God holds you as you really are, the way you were always meant to be, in Christ, and what the Word and the Spirit say you are, that is precisely what you actually are, for it is only in God that we exist at all (Acts 17:28). And God says that you, as you are held in Christ, which is the only way you exist at all, are good (Romans 6:11, 23; 8:2; 1 Corinthians 1:30; 2 Corinthians 1:21; 5:17; 17-19).

You, as you are in Christ, are God's beloved son (males and females alike) in whom he is well pleased. That is true, whether you want to believe it or not. It is true precisely because God says it is, and what God says is, is.

No strings attached

So what room is there for worry about our salvation? There is no room for it. Remember, it is for Christ's sake that we are accounted worthy before God. Without Christ, we are dead meat. With him, we are full members of God's family.

When he touched the rotting corpse of our loser life, he healed it completely and made us his own. He made us, in him, the beloved children of God (John 1:12; Galatians 3:26). Being "good" doesn't cut it--never did and never will. There is only one ticket into the kingdom of God--trusting in Jesus Christ.

The kingdom of God is free, absolutely free, with no strings attached. You enter it by trusting God to give it to you. You cannot get in with spiritual merit badges. You cannot buy a ticket. All you can do is walk right through the front door by trusting the Giver of the gift to do exactly what he promised--to give you his kingdom (Luke 12:32; Galatians 2:16).

You don't have to worry about the cost; it has already been paid (Romans 5:9; Revelation 1:5). You don't have to worry about how to dress; he will give you an outfit. You don't have to worry about what to say or do when you get inside; he will show you. You don't have to be anybody special, do anything special, pass any test, fit any profile or win any drawing.

It's free. God wants you there. The invitation is platinum plated real from God himself. And yes, he knows you are a rat. He took care of that. To him (and he is the One who decides), you are in fact not a rat any more, even though he knows you still act like one.

"In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins" (1 John 4:10, New Revised Standard Version throughout).

The initiative in all this is God's, not ours. It depends on him, not on us. He is the author and the finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). Our part is to believe and accept, and that's it.

This is not a "Thanks for everything, Jesus. I'll take it from here" arrangement. No, it is only Jesus, Son of the Father Almighty, with no help from us, from start to finish. You can take it or you can leave it, but there is not one thing you can add to it. If you try, you'll wind up like the fool who sneaked into the banquet wearing his own filthy rags instead of the free wedding garment provided by the King (Matthew 12:22).

"But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8).

"Trust me," God says. "You're in. You don't have to do anything except trust me. The wedding banquet of the Lamb is totally free to you. I have already paid the bill. Now it is time to celebrate. Come on in. Don't bring anything. Everything is provided."

It's still about grace

By now, some Christians are very angry with me. "You are taking this grace thing too far," they are thinking. "God wants a changed life, not just some easy believism. God is not going to just let in anybody who believes. These sinners have got to prove the genuineness of their belief by living right."

They mean, of course, prove it by living right to the satisfaction of the "godly" people in the church, namely them, because sinners certainly have nothing to prove to God. Jesus died for sinners while they were still sinners. He knows what sinners we are, and he also knows what sinners the "you're taking this grace thing too far" people are. That is why we all need grace. It is why the Son of God died for us, and it is why salvation comes by grace.

Regardless of our neurotic need to vindicate ourselves, we are sinners, and left to ourselves, we have no hope. Even if salvation were based on performance, which it isn't, our little doodle-bug mound of righteousness could never begin to measure up to our Himalayan mountain range of sinfulness.

Still, we don't like to admit that we are dead to sin. We desperately look for ways to feel that we are not quite as bad as we really are.

After all, we don't blow up at our family every day. We don't look at pornography all the time. We don't gossip in every conversation.

We aren't really bad persons, we just slipped up under pressure. We aren't really liars, we just shaded the truth a little. We only envy certain people. We are only greedy about some things. We are only inconsiderate, or selfish, or rude, or arrogant, or mean, or callous or pigheaded (et cetera ad infinitum on and on) sometimes.

But when it comes to the sins of others, now that's a different matter entirely. There are some sins that we holy righteous folk just cannot and will not abide. Today it is especially vogue not to abide "those people" who get abortions, "those" homosexuals and "those" fornicators. Well, on second thought, it seems we can abide the fornicators a whole lot better than we can abide the homosexuals.

Of course, our holy intolerance for certain kinds of sinners whom we find more disgusting than ourselves extends to most anybody who does most anything that we don't like.

We want rules for others, to keep them in line, and we even want rules for ourselves, to keep us in line (as long as we can keep secret our breaking of them). We feel we have got to find a way not to be as bad as we suspect we might be, and keeping some rules and doing some good deeds are great ways to make ourselves feel that we are not as big a sinner as we really are.

We have such a hard time accepting and admitting that we are hopeless sinners who could never climb out of the sin pit in a million years. We are dead to sin, pure and simple, but we keep telling ourselves, to placate our consciences, that we can somehow, someday, actually put all this sin out of our lives.

It ain't gonna happen, neighbor. Work at it all you want, as hard as you want, and you will still be in the sin pit on the day you die. The only thing that will get you out of it is being raised with Christ, and that has already happened (John 5:25; Colossians 1:13-14; 3:1; Romans 6:11). But you can't live like it and enjoy the fruit of it if you refuse to believe it.

The only thing that matters is trusting God that his word is true--for Christ's sake he has erased all sin, including yours, and removed every record of your guilt forever. He has officially declared you not guilty, free to go, and he has closed the courthouse.

You can believe that, you can trust him, you can lay down your burden and take your rest in him (Matthew 11:28-30).

Or, of course, if you are hell-bent on it, you can go right on trying to prove yourself worth saving by striving in all the typical ways to make yourself a better person. (That makes it easier for you to condemn others, too.)

If you like that kind of life, you can have it. God will grieve for you, but he gives you the freedom to choose to be a fool, if you want it.

Faith is not a work

At this point there is something important that we need to say about faith, too. You are not saved by faith, but by God's grace. That means God is not even measuring the quality and quantity of your faith. You are not saved by trusting in your faith; you are saved by God for Jesus' sake. You are saved because God loves you and because he is good, not because you have faith. Faith comes in so that you can actually believe that what God says is true and actually enjoy the gift you have already been given.

There is no earning, no merit, in your trust. Don't think faith is the price tag of salvation. It is not. Faith is simply trusting God that his gift to you, which is still invisible in the tangible world, is in fact more real than anything you can physically touch or see and is really yours just because he says so.

You can receive it or refuse it; either way, it is no less real, and it is no less a free gift. Faith simply enables you to enjoy the gift he has given you.

You don't have to have some certain kind of faith. You don't have to have some emotional experience. You don't have to feel an overwhelmingly deep love, or intense remorse, a surge of power or a wave of peace. You don't need anything at all. Just trust God. Just believe him.

Faith means belief. It doesn't mean breathless, tearful, supercommitment. It just means believe God and quit worrying about whether you are going to "make it into the kingdom"--you already have (Romans 5:1). Christ has qualified us (Colossians 1:12).

Receiving the gift

No analogy is perfect, but let's pretend for a minute that someone you have heard is trustworthy walks up to you and hands you a check for a million dollars. He tells you that it is a gift, no strings attached, and that it is all yours.

Now, you can either believe the benefactor and take the check straight to the bank and deposit it in your account, or you can figure he is a nut and throw the check in the trash. I suppose you could even decide that you'd rather make your own money and haughtily refuse to take his charity.

You could even spit in his eye if you felt especially offended by his generosity, especially if his gift offended your sense of personal dignity by making it look like you were a loser who actually needed the money.

But to get to the point, when your benefactor hands you the check with your name on it, you don't have to dance a jig to make it actually become yours. You don't have to go to his house and wash his windows. You don't have to start pleading with him to forgive all the financial mistakes you have made in your life and shed tears. You don't have to do anything.

A hearty thank you would be nice, but you already have the check. It is yours. All that is left to do is to believe that the benefactor wasn't lying and that the check is good, and in that belief, take it to the bank and deposit it in your account.

God has forgiven your sins and given you a ticket to his kingdom. If he were to wait to see if you would believe before he decided to give you the gift, then it would no longer be a gift; it would be a reward for the act of believing. But that is not how God works it.

Our faith does not affect one way or the other whether God gives us the gift. He has already given it. The only thing faith affects is whether we can enjoy the gift we have already been given. We can let it sit unused and unenjoyed, or we can pick it up and embrace it and kiss it and laugh and enjoy it to the hilt, praising and thanking him forever. Either way, it is still ours, given to us by God absolutely free with no strings attached and no requirements at all.

Once and for all

We do not have to ride the never-ending merry-go-round of trying to strain up enough faith or work up enough good deeds, or overcome enough sins in order to induce the God of our nightmares to finally say "Yes" to us in the judgment. We couldn't pay for this gift if we lived a million lifetimes. It is a gift.

Imagine a man thinking that he can make the Pacific Ocean wetter by adding a thimbleful of water to it and you have a small idea of how realistic it is to think we could actually bring anything to the table to sweeten the deal. (Actually, on second thought, it might be more like adding a thimbleful of arsenic to the Pacific Ocean, but let's not quibble over the relative quality of our good deeds.)

The Father of Jesus is not the God of the rumor mill, the God of our nightmares, who makes his list and checks it twice to see if we've been naughty or nice. The Father of Jesus is the God of pure grace. He is the One who dealt with all human sin, once and for all, through the Messiah Jesus who redeemed Israel and the whole world from sin through his own death and resurrection. "Believe in me and live," he says. "Get off the merry-go-round. It's not getting you anywhere but deeper in the hole."

"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God--not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life" (Ephesians 2:8-10).

New in Christ

You can't get salvation by works. We all at least give lip service to that. So why do we keep acting like we can? Why do we keep worrying we may have lost salvation every time we sin?

Salvation does not come by works. It comes purely by grace, and we can pick it up and drink it down and enjoy it forever if we simply trust God, who justifies, guess who, the ungodly (Romans 4:5).

He has made us righteous his way, in Christ, not our way, by our latest set of good deeds. The good works we are created for? They are good works in Jesus Christ. They are not our good works. We are what he has made us. He has made us something we were not before--he has made us new creatures in Christ.

We are strengthened in our inner being with power through his Spirit (Ephesians 3:16). Christ dwells in our hearts through faith (v. 17), not in ways that are open and obvious. He himself works within us to do anything and everything of worth and value (v. 20). He makes us what we really are in him, God's own children, and that in spite of ourselves. Remember, he justifies the ungodly, and ungodly is all we would ever be without him.

Confident about the judgment

John writes about having confidence in the judgment (1 John 4:17). So, what do we need to do to be confident about the judgment? Only to believe the promise of God (5:1, 5)! Only to trust the Lord both to save us and to give us his righteousness in Christ (Romans 3:21-26). Only to give him our fears and anxieties and rest in his sure word. Peter wrote: "Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you" (1 Peter 5:7).

And care for us he does. Paul described in Romans 8:32-35 the unshakable faithfulness God has for us: "He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?

"Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died--more than that, who was raised to life--is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?"

"If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9). When we confess our sins we are acknowledging that we are sinners in need of Christ's righteousness. Why confess such a need unless we trust him to forgive and cleanse, unless we believe him, unless we joyfully accept his free grace?

Confession itself merits us nothing, of course. It is merely a means of expressing trust in God who has already freely forgiven sinners for the sake of his Son. It is the means by which we actually pick up the free gift of forgiveness and take it home with us.

It is like the tax collector and the Pharisee in the parable who went into the temple to pray (Luke 18:10). The Pharisee prayed about all the good things he was doing, but the tax collector said, "Father be merciful to me, a sinner." Jesus said the tax-collecting sinner went away clean.

Do you see what is happening? The law- abiding Pharisee was seeking purity in the things he could do. But there is only one who is pure--Jesus Christ.

The only way to be pure is to be in Christ, and to be in Christ is God's gift, freely given to anybody who trusts him for it.

The tax collector trusted God for mercy and got it. The Pharisee didn't need to trust God for mercy, he figured, because his deeds were, he believed, already pure. He did not, he figured, need to stand in the beggars' line for mercy with the likes of the tax collector. So, he wouldn't receive from God what God has, through Christ, already done for him.

We cannot be pure by acting pure. We cannot be pure by acting impure. We can be pure only by trusting in God who saves sinners. The only thing a person has to be to get into the kingdom of God is a sinner (and everybody is a sinner) who trusts God to wipe the record clean.

God says he has already done that in Christ (1 John 2:2). God says cleansed sinners have Christ's righteousness attributed to them. God says, "Trust me. It's taken care of. You don't need to justify yourself. You don't need to punish yourself. You don't need to qualify. You don't need to clean up your act. Just trust me. I have taken care of everything. Trust me."

Righteousness does not come by trying to be good (you are not and cannot be good by trying). Righteousness comes by believing the word of God, which declares you righteous for the sake of Christ, who became sin for us all, so that sin could be defeated and our wickedness fixed.

Whatever Jesus takes upon himself gets sanctified, cleansed and saved. He took our sinful wicked minds on himself. That is how we get fixed--not by trying real hard to be good.

We can believe it and begin living in the joy of the light, or we can scoff at it and keep right on being miserable sourpusses wallowing in the dark.

Either way, it has been done for us without our help. The heart that has some inkling of how desperate is its need is the heart that is inclined to seize the truth. The gospel is not good news for good, decent folks; it is good news for wretched sinners.

People who consider themselves good, decent folks are not inclined to stand in the soup line for free salvation next to rag-tag spiritual underachievers. They prefer the special entrance for the spiritually well-to-do who have properly purchased tickets in the special VIP section. Only one problem: Their tickets are frauds, and at this banquet, everybody sits in the VIP section.

God at work

Believe it or not, we can trust God to transform us into the image of Christ. It is the Holy Spirit who does the sanctifying work of chiseling off the lifetime of sinful habits and attitudes and thinking, not us. It is the Spirit who transforms us from the inside out (Romans 8:11). Some of that is painful and hard, but it is also liberating and joyous and exciting, because through it we come to know and love Christ more intimately and look forward to his appearing with greater anticipation and hope.

It is Christ who brings our lives into harmony with the reason we were created, to bring glory to God, to love him and, in him, to love the fellow humans he created.

In case you haven't noticed, even after we come to faith in Christ, we still struggle with sin. But what the gospel declares to us is that we do not ever have to fear that we "might not make it." There is no need to worry that we don't "measure up." We can rely on the Word of God. We can believe the promise.

We can accept God's love and rest in his Word with the assurance that we are saved from our sins, that we belong to him and that he won't lose us (Romans 8:1). We can rest in his promise that in Christ we stand with God right now, and that we will continue to stand with him when Christ comes.

We can rest securely in his love, knowing that we are forgiven, and that even though we still often lose our struggles with sin, our saved condition in Christ with God is never in jeopardy, because Christ and Christ alone is both the Author and the Finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2).

That is why Jesus, who knows all about such things, calls this stuff good news. Because it is. And that is why this cannot be said enough: Don't let anyone deceive you into thinking that the gospel spells doom for you because you haven't cleaned up your act. They haven't cleaned up theirs either, but that's not the point. The point is this: Jesus Christ came to save sinners, and Sinners R Us. Believe it; it's the gospel truth.

One more thing

There is one more thing we need to discuss. You have probably heard someone say something like this: Jesus died for your past sins, not for your future sins. Wrong! Jesus died for all sins--past, present and future. Remember, when you are in Christ, God does not even count your sins against you (Romans 4:6-8; 8:1).

Now does that sound so antinomian, so law-doing-away-with, that you can't swallow it? Does such talk make you afraid that people might run out and sin all they can and not worry about their salvation? If it does, you are not alone.

The notion of such powerful and absolute grace as God declares he gives to everyone who trusts him simply scares us silly. It runs so counter to all our notions about just desserts and fairness and plain old common decency that we just can't bear to see it in all its naked glory. We feel we just have to tone it down a little or it will get completely out of hand.

Two things must be said. First, this unvarnished, raw and universal grace is real; it is God's own grace; and it is already a fait accompli. So whether it bugs the daylights out of you or not, you might as well get used to it, because there is no other ball game in town.

Second, you really don't need to worry that people who simply trust God for pure and complete pardon for sins past, sins present and sins future will run out and sin all they can, because it simply does not work like that. (We will have more to say about the subject of repentance next issue.)

Consider this: Does knowing that God has forgiven your sins through the blood of Jesus make you want to run out and sin all you can? I doubt it. When you are in Christ, you hate sin, and even though you still do it, you hate the fact that you still do it. The last thing on your mind is to "sin all you can."

In fact, when you are feeling close intimacy with God, you cannot even fathom the idea of sinning at all, much less running out and sinning all you can.

Of course, we do not often feel such close intimacy with God, and sin still deceives us and slays us, as Paul put it, but even so, we do not view God's grace as license to sin--that simply is not how it works.

Sin is a disaster. It creates havoc and ruin. It hurts and destroys. And when we sin, to one degree or another, we and those around us suffer the physical and emotional consequences of our sins. But, by the grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord, we do not and will not lose the gift of salvation because of our sins.

Through Christ, the Son of God become human for our sakes, slain from the foundation of the world, God has dealt completely with all human sin, taking it upon himself and destroying it forever through his birth, life, death and resurrection.

God did not save us so that we can continue to sin, but he is not an old fool. He knows we still sin. He does not condone sin. Sin amounts to a betrayal of his love, and he is grieved by our sins.

Still, he loves us so much that he sent his Son to save us from sin and death, and indeed, he saves us absolutely and completely. So even though sin is still present, it does not have the upper hand; we will not die in our sins, we will live forever through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Faith not sight

Christ said everything has been taken care of. But it doesn't take much looking around to see that things don't look very taken care of just yet, not in our lives, not in the church, and not in the world. That is why we live by faith, and not by sight.

We trust God that he has indeed taken care of our sins, even though we still grind through them, and that he has indeed taken care of every bad thing in the world, every injustice, every wrong, every hatred, every pain, fear, terror and trauma--even though these things still exert real influence in the world for the time being.

In Christ's death and resurrection, all things, all things, are fixed, made right, cleansed, purified and reconciled. We still suffer the consequences of sin, our own and those of others. Yet, in faith, taking God at his word, we know two things: 1) Because we are in Christ, our salvation is never in jeopardy; and 2) We are completely safe and secure in God's hands.

He is always with us, in good times and bad, in our successes and in our pain, in our failures and in our tragedies. Nothing, not even our sins, can ever separate us from God.

So when we walk through our dark times, whether times of stress, pain, sorrow, tragedy, grief or just plain guilt of sin, remember that our crucified and risen Savior walks with us.

He feels our pain and grieves with us, and he will never leave us; he will never forsake us. Everything is indeed all right, even though our night is awfully dark and cold right now. But the eternal dawn will come, and when it does, and we at last see all things as they really are in Christ, our joy and peace in the Truth of God, the consummation of all our hope, will overflow forever like a thousand Niagaras.

Window on the World

The problem of
dying mothers

Remember for a moment the horrible surge of fear we experienced when we were children and got lost. Who would care for us? Would we ever again snuggle under the warmth of the covers, protected by mom and dad?

What about the feeling we experience as parents when our kids wander off in the mall? When we miss them, there is that momentary dread that someone has snatched them. There are few things more dreadful to consider than a child left alone.

Yet, according to a report released by the United Nations, more than 100 million children are growing up alone.

An Associated Press story dated Feb. 24 quoted the report: "Poverty has imposed a heavy price on children, leaving babies behind without mothers, forcing children onto the streets to work and depriving millions of others of the security of a family.... Childhood itself is denied to them or, at least, badly damaged. `Whether they are orphaned, unaccompanied, living on the street or working in servitude, their aloneness is at the heart of their predicament,' the report says."

Stop and soak up the horror of that for a minute. When flying into Los Angeles you can see the city lights stretch for more than 50 miles. Yet, those 50 miles of lights illuminate only about 11 million people. In other words, if you were to gather all the children in this world who are alone, it would take nine cities the size of Los Angeles to contain them.

How does God see it?

God is sensitive to the suffering of each little one who cries alone in the night. Yet, what he sees is not only 100 million physical children growing up without a parent, but also 4.2 billion precious children of all ages, trying to make it on their own spiritually without the support of a spiritual Mother.

This breaks his heart. It also should help us grasp the magnitude of Jesus' sacrifice. God hears the cries of his children and feels their pain as the earth spins through morning to night.

He sees the suffering that being cut off from him has caused his children. It was to end this spiritual holocaust that Jesus came. It is because of the orphans, both physical and spiritual, that he will return.

Dying mothers

The Associated Press article goes on to say that one reason the number of children left on their own is increasing is because their mothers are dying at a greatly increased rate.

"War in the 1990s has separated one million children from their families, the report said. `We started out the 20th century where the victims of war were the military,' UNICEF executive director Carol Bellamy told a news conference in London. `We've ended up the 20th century where the victims of war are women and children.' "

Dying `spiritual' mothers

Spiritually speaking we also have a problem of dying spiritual mothers (church congregations).

According to Peter Brierley of the Christian Research Institute, more than 500 churches in the United Kingdom ceased to exist last year. Consider, too, the findings of George Barna, whose research indicates that in the United States from 50 to 70 churches cease to exist every week. That is a high mortality rate.

The sheer magnitude and accelerated rate of congregational mortality in the West point to an underlying health problem. It is essential that we, of the WCG, recognize the symptoms of disease to avoid becoming a casualty.

For example, do we care more about where we meet than whether the truly spiritually needy are able to meet with us? Too many spiritual mothers today spend more of their energy maintaining their own well being than they do ending the problem of their Husband's (Jesus Christ) children growing up alone.

It is one of the most common sins of Christianity, both historic and present, that we interpret the church to be only for our benefit. We desire a stable and pleasant environment where we can go to worship and be encouraged. We desire fellowship only with friends of like mind.

Healthy mothers (large or small)

It is a fundamental truth that just as churches are born, and mature to become spiritual mothers, so spiritual mothers get sick and sometimes die.

It is also a fact in the Western world that we are in a time when spiritual mothers are dying at an unprecedented rate--and the indications are that the death rate of spiritual mothers will rise dramatically in the coming decade.

According to Eddie Gibbs, professor of church growth at Fuller Theological Seminary, all spiritual mothers (churches) have a charge from Christ to rescue, nurture and educate his lost children.

Whenever a church deviates from this prime directive, or ceases to give Christ's imperative top priority, the church has nowhere to go but into a downward spiral of (probably well-intentioned) self-absorption.

They begin to make evangelism one of the ministries instead of one of the primary reasons for their existence. They only look forward to coming to church on weekends instead of being the church all week.

This process Dr. Gibbs describes leads to spiritual malnutrition, eventual sickness and death of the congregation.

I must admit, I have visited congregations where I went away heavy hearted, fearing that the congregation was so unhealthy that it may constitute a dying mother.

The good news is that in recent months I have seen and heard many more individuals and groups, especially in the WCG, who seem to have awakened to the knowledge of their calling. They are determined to recover and live. They are once again expressing the motherly instincts--determined that with God's help, the lost children around them will not continue to walk alone.

2. This young man (center) is a spiritual orphan. He wandered for hours looking lost and alone, watching life pass him by. He would probably tell you that he is spiritually alone.

3. Some of the 100 million orphaned children, grouping together, trying to survive.

4. These men group together too. They may not look poor or lonely, but they may be spiritual orphans whose needs are great.

Church under
tree says thanks

In August the Worldwide News ran an article about the church that meets under a tree in Lotin-Gbebjehouin in the West African nation of Benin.

The article mentioned that the congregation wanted to build a simple hall in a field and that $350 was needed to fund the project. A number of you sent in donations toward that cost, and the money was forwarded to our pastor in Benin, Arthur Adjibodou.

James Henderson, African regional director, received the following letter of appreciation.

We would like to thank you and the generous donors and let you know that we have received the $350.

We join in the joy with our Benin brethren in expressing their gratitude to the members in the United States, and wish our brothers and sisters there peace and blessings from God.

Regional Snapshot

Field of dreams
and challenges:
working in Asia

BURLEIGH HEADS, Australia--Asia (even excluding the Middle East) is a continent of nearly 30 countries that embraces nearly as many cultures and numerous religions.

Its people are as diverse as can be imagined. Their traditional beliefs, although grouped under a few well-recognized religions, are not uniform in either dogma or practice. It is a most challenging area for Christians to live in, let alone be dedicated to fulfilling their part in the commission Jesus gave his church.

If brought up in a household filled with religious fervor, it is hard to be confronted with questions that challenge your accepted beliefs. In the area where most of the work of our fellowship is focused, most people are born into families subscribing to one of the religions outlined in the box on page 17.

In some countries the national religion is a hurdle that must be overcome to introduce someone to their Savior in a life-changing way.

So the big question facing our brethren is how to represent this wonderful relationship they have with our Creator to their non-Christian neighbors.

As the church has matured and listened more accurately to the word of God, we have learned the following:

* Lessons and examples from one culture do not necessarily have a similar effect in another.

* Becoming a Christian does not include an automatic promise of elevation to the higher standards of living existing on earth.

A better understanding of the core of the Christian message and the above lessons have changed how we go about spreading the gospel in Asia.

India

Indians have an ongoing debate that Christianity buys its converts or lures them with promises of physical improvements. Unfortunately, Christians have a bad name in some areas because they are perceived to use strong-armed tactics or physical inducements to increase their numbers.

Our brethren have to not only live down what are often misperceptions about Christianity (although occasionally the examples the detractors quote are too real), but set a track record of being different. If they are to be sensitive in their Christian love, they must let their lights shine rather than let their voices be heard.

They have to be available, caring, willing to forgive offenses, praying for the enemies of the Lord and generally doing (rather than preaching) what Jesus said in Matthew 5-7.

In Secunderabad, where the church's national office is located, the church hall is also used as a base for a community counseling center. Qualified members and the pastor make their services available for a couple of hours a week to help anyone in the surrounding community in daily needs such as career counseling, marriage and parenting, medical advice, interpersonal relationship issues and religious matters.

Sri Lanka

In the Colombo suburb of Wattala, the Worldwide Educational Institute continues to provide a valuable education to youths in business studies, English language proficiency and life development skills. In this last subject, moral values and ethics from a biblical basis are taught in addition to principles that promote success as an individual and as a contributing member of society.

WEI's graduates (now more than 1,200) have established a reputation for personal excellence. The Buddhist parents of students are seeing the fruits of this way of life, and so our light is shining. A number of students attend our church services on occasions, and over the years several have become members.

Thailand

In Chiang Mai, Chogait and Fong Garmolgomut, members of our fellowship, founded and continue to run a school that specializes in teaching the English language. But it is their personal example that speaks the loudest. They and their two children reflect a happiness and love for others that stands out in the Thai community.

As a result many people are compelled to ask why, and this leads to opportunities to explain sensitively more about the Christian way of life they live. In the last year four baptisms have resulted from their personal example.

Indonesia

We have come in contact with another congregation established many years ago but previously unknown to us that is using our name and publications. We are in a getting-to-know-you phase of a potentially beneficial relationship.

Persecution of Christians in Indonesia has caused a suspension of some of the regular visits from Malaysia by pastor Yong Chin Gee. As the volatility of the situation decreases, we hope to reestablish the routine later in the year.

Vanuatu

At the annual festival last October, conducted on the island of Malekula, pastor Rex Morgan baptized seven people and performed a wedding ceremony for five couples.

The Australian and New Zealand brethren contributed toward purchasing a television set and video player for the group so they can view sermon tapes and offer movie nights in the community both as a fund-raiser and evangelistic outreach activity.

Most of this group speaks French as their second language rather than English, so sermons are provided on occasion by Francophone congregations in other regions.

Papua New Guinea

A number of brethren are undertaking basic Christian leadership training by correspondence, and we pray that from this we may be able to ascertain who could be considered for further full-time study at a seminary in Papua New Guinea to provide our brethren with indigenous trained leaders.

Malaysia

The Klang congregation was host for a congregational leadership training seminar last year, and with the brethren in Singapore, they support the circulation of our Living Today magazine in those two countries as well as provide financial and material help for pastoring our scattered brethren in Myanmar and other remote parts of Asia.

Religions of Asia

Buddhism: A rejection of the caste system of Hinduism and its rigid inequality; a movement away from the ritualism and mysticism of Hinduism.

* Suffering is caused by selfish desire and by the quest for private fulfillment.

In an ideal form, this means no one can kill, lie, be unchaste or drink intoxicants.

The goal: to reach a state of nirvana (extinction) in which every fragment of desire disappears and the person is released from the endless cycle of birth and death.

Hinduism: Presents gods who combine a mystical merger of the infinite and finite as well as the impersonal--in contrast with the personal yet infinite God revealed in the Bible.

One god--Brahman, the Absolute, who is manifested in an elaborate pantheon of 330 million gods and goddesses.

a) the law of karma--the universal law of cause and effect that whatever happens in this life was predetermined by something from a previous life

Islam: Islam means "submission." It is a monotheistic religion. Muhammad rejected Christianity as polytheistic because the concept of Trinity implied to him the worship of three gods. Muhammad was illiterate, but Muslims traditionally believe he was inspired to write the Koran.

Islam has no place for reincarnation or esoteric concepts. Every person has an individual soul that must be placed in the hands of Allah. Every man is responsible for his own deeds and will stand in judgment before Allah to receive his due reward or punishment.

To eternally escape the punishment of hell, the devout Muslim tries to live his life according to the five pillars (the spiritual guideline that forms the heart of Islam).

* A creed that says, "There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is his prophet." To say this and believe makes one a Muslim.

* Jihad--"striving for god." Sometimes this is called "holy war" because of the promise in the Koran of heaven for anyone who dies while defending the faith.

The Christian Gospel: In contrast to the religions of the world, the Bible teaches that the one Creator God is the source, ground and being of all things, and that he reveals himself to us as the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. God loves his creation, and has personally dealt once and for all with the problem of evil, pain, suffering and human sin by redeeming humanity and the entire creation through the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is the Son incarnate.

By trusting in Jesus Christ, and thereby sharing in his death and resurrection, humans enter into the joy and freedom of the kingdom of God in union with Christ and experience God's free and unmerited grace demonstrated and made effective through Jesus Christ. This good news of eternal redemption by the grace of God through faith in Christ is called the gospel.

San Antonio teens
take part in
30 Hour Famine

SAN ANTONIO, Texas--For the third time, the New Beginnings WCG teens participated in World Vision's annual 30 Hour Famine Feb. 11 and 12. The event allows teens and others to experience what it is like to live in a third world country with little food. For 30 hours the participants drink only juice and water.

Nearly 30 teens and adults participated this year. They slept overnight in the church hall, played games and had Bible studies and praise and worship activities all related to the World Vision program.

The teens collected more than $600 from the community to aid World Vision. At the conclusion of the fast a celebration meal was served to all who participated.

Sayre, Oklahoma,
teens have sleepover

SAYRE, Oklahoma--The Sayre house church teen class HANDS (Hands Answering Needs Doing Service) had a sleepover Feb. 19.

Earlier they had decorated the walls of their classroom with hands and their names. That evening, with a little artistry and lots of laughter, they decorated the floor with hands, feet and their names.

Other activities included watching movies, playing video games, pillow fights and eating pizza and cake.

Those enjoying the evening were Marla and Valarie McMurty, Chanda Abla, Toni Frieze, Tara Barnes, James and Shawn Long and chaperons Ben and Shirley West. Shirley West.

Greensboro,
North Carolina,
youths reach out
to elderly

GREENSBORO, North Carolina--Since February 1998, Greensboro youths have been serving residents of the Greensboro Retirement Center.

The first Saturday of each February, the youths have served as hosts for an Ambassador Dinner to honor the residents of the home.

Gwin Merriman, activity director for the home and a WCG member in Greensboro, started the program. The idea is to get the residents dressed up for a photo session and then to give them a dining experience complete with a waiter at each table, candlelight and music.

Pastor Joel Irusta sets up the dining room, and Martha Yow cooks the food. The youths and about as many adults help in each of the areas. Mrs. Merriman trains the youths in their jobs and updates them on each resident. Boyd Merriman.

Iowa members
minister in prison

NEWTON, Iowa--Several WCG members participated in the Iowa InnerChange Freedom Initiative dedication Saturday, Dec. 4.

Guest speaker Chuck Colson said: "You can't scare people out of crime. Something has to happen in the human heart."

Several members from Chariton and Des Moines are learning the meaning of pure religion (James 1:27) as volunteers and counselors at a state correction center, in Newton, 35 miles east of Des Moines.

Iowa is the second state to participate in InnerChange Freedom Initiative (IFI), a part of Prison Fellowship Ministries founded by Mr. Colson. This program began in Texas two years ago.

The goal of InnerChange is to change the hearts of offenders, thus their values and lives, through Jesus Christ. The 135 voluntary participants (soon to be 180) are housed in a separate building. Their days are spent immersed in Christian living as they worship, study the Bible, go to school, receive counseling, interact with one another and work.

"It's obvious that God is working in these men's hearts," said Carla Reinagel, wife of pastor Karl Reinagel. "Their building is a place of hope in a system where our world tries to lock up and forget the evil that is in man's heart. Jesus has pardoned these men and his peace shines about them."

The WCG initially became involved with IFI through the prayers and persistence of member Mickey Pope, who says, "I am a witness to God's saving grace as a transformed ex-felon."

Mickey served two years in the women's penitentiary in Virginia in the early '90s after being convicted of check fraud. She met Mr. Colson there in Virginia on a seminar and was empowered by God to join him in his vision.

"By God's grace and glory I have been clean of drugs and alcohol for eight years!"

Mickey is now employed at the Newton facility as spiritual counselor to one third of the men in the IFI program. Ten other WCG members have been cleared by the Department of Corrections to volunteer in Newton.

Several times a week, members are at the prison helping in some way. Carol and Cindy Gillaspie and Terry Pope (Mickey's husband) are volunteers helping with tutoring, computer skills, Bible studies and family counseling and visitations.

Keith and Lindy Gardner teach a Bible-based substance abuse class Wednesday evenings. Mickey is the program's substance abuse certifier.

Cal and Nona DeVries and Tom Langman assist with transporting families to the prison to visit husbands or fathers. Manfred Scheiding is training to serve as a mentor when that phase of IFI begins in May.

The first Sunday of each month WCG volunteers conduct a worship service with IFI members, "which is a real encouragement to the volunteers as well as the IFI participants," Mrs. Reinagel said. Lindy Gardner leads worship, often with the assistance of the IFI choir.

The sermon is usually given by pastor Karl Reinagel, though Cal DeVries and Keith Gardner preach on occasion. The other WCG volunteers attend to support, encourage and pray with the prisoners.

Members pray for the participants and their families. They don't know where God will ultimately lead in their involvement in IFI, but they feel privileged to have a part in what he is doing in prisons today, Mrs. Reinagel said.

In the Master's Hands

Registration Information

$_______ To assist women who require financial assistance to attend and for other conference expenses.

Make your hotel reservations directly with the Westin South Coast Plaza Hotel by calling 1-714-540-2500. Mention you are with the Women's International Conference.

Cost is $85 (plus 7.045 per cent tax) per room per night. This rate is guaranteed only until April 27.

Please return this completed form with your $90 (in U.S. dollars) registration fee

Cambridge, Ohio,
women's retreat

The second Ohio Valley Women Who Follow the Master conference will be Aug. 25 to 27 in the hills of southeastern Ohio. Guest speakers will be Tammy Tkach, Sheila Graham, Roberta Lashua and Jackie Thomas.

The cost for the retreat is as follows: four people in a room, $75; three people in a room, $80; two people in a room, $85. The facility has no one-person rooms. The price includes five meals and two nights lodging.

If you wish to room with someone please include their registration form with yours.

Bible Study

The Perfect Results of Christ

A Study of Hebrews 10:1-18

The book of Hebrews explains that Jesus Christ is the perfect priest and the perfect sacrifice. Chapter 10 discusses the perfect results of Jesus' priestly work.

The law was not effective

Verse 1 begins with a conclusion: "The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming--not the realities themselves." Chapter 9 had sketched the Levitical rituals and said that Jesus did far better, offering a perfect sacrifice (himself) in a perfect place (heaven). The Levitical rituals had to be repeated again and again, but Jesus' sacrifice was completely effective.

Just as the tabernacle was a copy of the holy place in heaven (8:5), so also the rituals were copies or shadows of the real sacrifice, Jesus Christ. The tabernacle and rituals (included in the word law) represented good things, but could not bring them about. The law talked about cleansing and forgiveness, but could not cleanse or forgive.

Christ is the "high priest of the good things that are already here" (9:11). Forgiveness, cleansing and relationship with God are already possible through Jesus Christ. The law is only a shadow, not the reality. "For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship" (10:1). No matter how many animals were killed, the law could never achieve the forgiveness that the new covenant now offers.

The new covenant does not make us morally perfect, but it makes us ritually perfect--completely forgiven, perfectly qualified to approach God and have a relationship with him. Our sins are removed (v. 4) and our guilt is eliminated (v. 2). The law could not do this.

If the sacrifices could achieve what they pictured, "would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins" (v. 2). The logic is this: If the sacrifices really prepared people for relationship with God, then further sacrifices would not be needed. Moreover, now that Jesus has completely qualified us, sacrifices should be stopped.

The new covenant gives what the old could not: a cleansed conscience. Through faith in the effectiveness of Christ's sacrifice, we feel forgiven, cleansed and accepted by God. We are invited into the holy place.

The author then clinches the argument against the old covenant: The sacrifices, instead of cleansing people, "are an annual reminder of sins, because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins" (vs. 3-4). A physical substance such as blood cannot remove a spiritual stain. The old covenant was designed to picture forgiveness, but not to bring it.

The Old Testament saints were forgiven their sins, of course, but it was done on the basis of faith and grace, not because of killed animals.

Christ is the answer

The author begins verse 5 with the word therefore, meaning "because of what I have just said." In this case, it means, "Because the old covenant could not bring forgiveness, Christ came into the world and said...," and then follows a quote from the Greek version of Psalm 40:6-8: "Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased. Then I said, `Here I am--it is written about me in the scroll--I have come to do your will, O God'" (Heb. 10:5-7).

This psalm is one of several Old Testament passages that foreshadow the end of the sacrificial system. Our author quotes it and then rephrases it, giving the label "first" to a point that he will come back to shortly: "First he said, `Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them.' "

He adds this comment: "Although the law required them to be made" (v. 8). What the law required is not what God ultimately wanted. (Jeremiah 7:22-23 has a similar contrast.) God gave the law not as a permanent goal, but as a temporary system that would prepare the way for Christ.

What did God want? Verse 9 says, "Here I am, I have come to do your will." God wanted the people to obey him--but only Christ did it perfectly. Jesus fulfilled the words of this psalm in a way that no one else could.

Then comes a conclusion: "He sets aside the first to establish the second" (v. 9). What is the "first"? The sacrifices and offerings--but Hebrews also uses the word first to refer to the Sinai covenant. It and its sacrifices and rituals have been set aside.

And what has been established? God's will. The word second was also used for the new covenant (8:7). Our author is using Psalm 40 as a miniature picture of the change in covenants.

Because the old covenant could not bring forgiveness, Christ said, Out with the old, and in with the new! The new covenant has been established by the obedience of Jesus Christ. He is the answer to the deficiencies of the old covenant.

It is by God's will that "we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all" (v. 10). This is another way of describing the results of the new covenant. Our sins are removed, our conscience is cleared and we are made holy, so we can approach God to worship. How is all this done? Through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. We do God's will when we accept him as our means of sanctification.

Jesus bridges the gap between heaven and earth, between spirit and matter. His flesh was ordinary flesh, but his sacrifice was effective for us because he did God's will perfectly--a spiritual quality. A physical body had to be given, because the spiritual sacrifice had to be expressed in the physical world. He willingly gave himself for us, and his sacrifice was fully effective, once for all time.

Perfect forever

Our acceptance by God does not depend on the performance of rituals--it depends on something Christ has already done, and it is therefore guaranteed.

This is contrasted with the ineffective work of the old covenant priests: "Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins" (v. 11).

"But when this priest [Christ] had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God" (v. 12). The Levitical priests stood while they worked; Christ is able to sit (figuratively speaking) because his work is now done.

"By one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy" (v. 14). Christ is working in our lives, and the work is based on the sacrifice he did once for all time. He has completely cleansed us, made us qualified to be in God's presence.

Jeremiah 31:33 is then quoted: "This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds" (Heb. 10:16). This is the work being done as we "are being made holy."

Then our author skips down to the last part of Jeremiah 31:34: "Then he adds: `Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more' " (Heb. 10:17). And he draws this conclusion: "And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin" (v. 18).

This is the grand finale of the argument: Our sins are forgiven, so sin sacrifices are not necessary. To us, this might look like an anticlimax, something we take for granted. But to our author, this is a major point, the point he has been hammering away at for four chapters. The sacrificial system is not needed any more. The old covenant has been set aside. It never was effective, and Christ has set us free from it.

Why did our author stress this point so much? Apparently the audience of Hebrews found the sacrificial system attractive. It was a God-given pattern of worship, and even if God allowed other forms of worship, wouldn't it be better to stick to the original plan? Wouldn't this assure us that we were doing something that God likes?

No, our author is explaining. God is not pleased by those worship rules, even though he commanded them. He didn't like it in Jeremiah's day, or when Psalm 40 was written. The law was appointed for a time, but its time is past.

In the early church, when Jewish people first believed in Jesus as the Messiah, many of them continued to participate in the temple rituals, either in person or through offerings given in the synagogues. At first this seemed harmless, and the people were allowed to continue their customs.

However, as time went on, it became evident that the rituals were a competitor to Christ. People were looking to the rituals for assurance, rather than to Christ. In their minds, their relationship with God was based partly on their participation in the rituals. They may have thought, Even if these laws are optional, wouldn't it be better to continue them?

So our author argues, chapter after chapter, that the rituals are obsolete imitations. This is not the better way--this is the inferior way. Throughout the book, Christ is compared to various aspects of the old covenant, and Christ is always better. Old covenant rituals are inferior. They do not achieve anything. Our standing with God is based on what Christ has done, and he has set aside the old covenant.

Does our author want his people to participate in the sacrifices and rituals? No. Does he command them to quit? No, not directly, but he probably wants them to come to that decision themselves.

What he commands them is, Look to Jesus. Old covenant rituals are ineffective shadows. Jesus is the reality, and he is fully effective. There is no need for obsolete rituals. They are not a badge of better Christianity--they are an unnecessary burden that can block our view of Christ.

A longer version of this article, including comments on verses 19-25, may be found at www.wcg.org/lit/ bible/heb10.htm

Update from Finance & Planning

February donations
on target but
total income down

Donations (income from members and regular contributions) were only one percent under our budget estimates for the year to date. Total income, which includes such things as income from estates willed to the church, was down 15 percent.

We appreciate the steady donation pattern so many of you use to fund the work of the church. As we have said, regular and steady donations make the work of financial management much less complicated.

We don't have any significant trends to report, so perhaps I can explain some of our financial calculations. We basically divide our income into major categories: donation income, festival offerings, PTM donations and product sales, and estate donations. We also receive contributions to the building fund, assistance to needy members, Summer Education Program and festival registration donations.

When we report total income, we mean all of the above. In the past we have primarily reported donation income, our largest single kind of contributions, on a daily banking day average.

This month our daily average donations were $85,580. That's just over $1.7 million for the month. But as noted above, our total income was more than $1.8 million. That's because we received about $70,000 from other types of contributions (such as from estates and the like).

For the most part, these daily income averages no longer have the same significance they did in the past. So we won't clutter the financial charts with this kind of information. That's why you may have noticed that we have simplified our chart showing income and expenses.

We feel it is best to simply note the monthly income and the monthly expenses. Of course that will show the effect on our already minimal reserve funds.

Unfortunately, for the past several years, expenses have exceeded income. This happens, of course, not because of extravagant spending (we have diligently cut expenses) but because income has gone down even faster than we have been able to cut.

We have kept financially stable by terminating many church projects such as the World Tomorrow telecast and Ambassador University. In addition we have downsized our employee base and have sold a number of corporate assets.

These measures have made it possible to maintain almost all of our congregations. About 270 of our U.S. congregations are served by a full-time pastor, and 180 additional congregations have pastoral care provided by a bivocational pastor.

But we have come to the point where we can no longer effectively downsize operations without, regrettably, downsizing field personnel, even though that is a last resort.

We don't have additional assets to sell, that is, of course, besides the two major properties in Texas and California. Both of these properties are in the process of being sold. So, we all pray that our total income remains strong enough that further cutting of any type doesn't have to occur.

We cannot thank all of you enough for your support during these years of transition. Your prayerful support has made it possible to maintain a sound, albeit much smaller, financial footing.

In future issues of the WN, we will normally report only the basic figures of income and expenses. From time to time we can give a more detailed accounting.

If you can attend one of our regional conferences, which are open to ministers and members alike, you will be able to participate in a thorough discussion about what we envision for our financial structure.

Statement of Income and Expenses for WCG and PTM combined for February 2000

European festival sites

BOREHAMWOOD, England--The European Office announced the following sites for the festival, Oct. 14 to 21.

A little more information on all the sites is contained in a European festival brochure, which can be obtained by writing to Dorcas Taylor, Worldwide Church of God, Festival Office, Pasadena, California, 91123, or by or e-mail at dorcas_taylor@wcg.org

Tallinn, Estonia

Contact: Leo Kaagjarv, Tamme pst 82A-6, 50417 Tartu, Estonia. E-mail: lkgjrv@ut.ee. Telephone and fax: 011 (372) 747 6164 until June, then from July onward, contact: Carl Aas, telephone 011 (47) 64 86 93 30; e-mail: carl_aas@wcg.org

St. Luce, Martinique

The festival site includes a private beach and playground for children. Services will be in French, but English translations can be provided if necessary.

Contact: Jack and Betty Brunet, 69 Rocade du bel Horizon, Ravine Vilaine, 97200, Fort-de-France, Martinique. Telephone and fax: (596) 79 64 20. E-mail: Jack.Brunet@wanadoo.fr

Bonndorf, Germany

This site will feature a number of seminars including a full-day marriage and family workshop led by Thomas Schirrmacher, pastor and author. Manfred Beutel, pastor and church planter, will present a seminar on congregational development.

Contact: Stiftung Weltweite Kirche Gottes, Postfach 1129, 5300 Bonn, Germany. Telephone 011 (49) 228 66 89 10; fax: 011 (49) 228 987 6827. E-mail: wkg53bonn@aol.com

Lido di Jesolo, Italy

The site this year will again be Lido di Jesolo, on the Adriatic Sea, east of Venice.

Languages spoken at the festival site will be Italian, German, English and French. Translations will be provided in all of these languages. We are planning to have worship services (at least one or more in each language), prayer meetings, workshops and seminars on various topics.

Contact (as soon as possible): Worldwide Church of God, Casella Postale 67, 24030 Brembate di Sopra (BG), Italy. Telephone: 011 (39) 035 21 78 08. Fax: 011 (39) 035 21 77 53. E-mail: italywcg@wcg.org

Malta

Services, in English, will be at the Topaz Hotel, Bugibba, Malta. The island has ancient temples, a Roman villa and a harbor.

Contact: David Stirk, 42 Richmond Court, Lisburn, Co Antrim, Ireland. BT27 4QU. Telephone 011 (44) 01846 605020. E-mail: david_stirk@wcg.org

Middelburg, Netherlands

Middelburg is a historic city in Zeeland close to beaches, the North Sea and Lake Veere.

Contact: The Dutch Office, P.O. Box 20, 4170 AA Herwijnen, Netherlands. Telephone 011 (31) 418 584 055. Fax: 011 (31) 418 584 119. E-mail: wcg.Lifeline@wxs.nl

Sines, Portugal

Sines, birthplace of explorer Vasco da Gama, has 2,000 years of history. Services will be in Portuguese and English. Nearly all the Portuguese brethren speak English, and translation from Portuguese will be available during services.

Contact: Jose Ribeiro, telephone 01 (351) 96 703 6288. E-mail: Jose.S.Ribeiro@mail.telepac.pt

Palma, Majorca, Spain

The vacation village has three types of accommodations: bungalow superior for two or three people, bungalow standard for three or four people, and family rooms for three or four people. All rooms have bathroom, telephone and terrace.

Contact: Pedro Rufian Mesa, Real 26, 28610 Villamanta, (Madrid), Spain. Telephone 011 (34) 918 136 705. E-mail: pedro_rufian@wcg.org

London, England

Contact: Olivier Carion, 1 Mount Pleasant Lane, Bricket Wood, St. Albans, Herts., AL2 3UX, England. Telephone: 011 (44) 01923 680392. E-mail: olivier_carion@wcg.org

Paignton, England

Contact: Harry Sullivan, The Round House, Mill Lane, Hulcote, Milton Keynes, MK17 8BP, England. Telephone 011 (44) 01908 582222. E-mail: harry_sullivan@wcg.org

Bridlington, England

Yorkshire in northeast England is the setting for the festival at the seaside town of Bridlington.

Contact: Robert Harrison, 8 Mallinson Way, Harrogate, North Yorkshire, HG2 9HL, England. Telephone 011 (44) 01423 872 885.

Oban, Scotland

Oban has been home to Scottish Christianity since St. Columba stepped ashore in A.D. 538. Queen Victoria called it "one of the finest spots we have seen." Meetings will be in the Corran Halls, The Esplanade.

Contact: Hamish Dougall, Beechmount, Kingscavil, Linlithgow, West Lothian, Scotland. Telephone 011 (44) 01506 845 725. E-mail: hamish_dougall@wcg.org

Kenmare, Ireland

Kenmare is replete with history, from ancient stone circles to 18th century churches. Services will be in the Kenmare Bay Hotel.

Contact: David Stirk, 42 Richmond Court, Lisburn, Co Antrim, BT27 4QU, Northern Ireland. Telephone 011 ( 44) 01846 605020. E-mail: david_stirk@wcg.org

Celebrations Oct. 28 to Nov. 4

Evian-les-Bains, France

The French festival will be Oct. 28 to Nov. 4 at Evian-Les-Bains. This will enable French members to meet without having to take their children out of school, which in France is against the law.

Evian-Les-Bains is on the south bank of Lake Leman, facing Switzerland, at the foot of the Chablais Alps. Nearby Geneva is the city of John Calvin, a leader of the Reformation. The French Riviera, Nice and Monaco are five hours away by car.

Contact: Donat Picard; e-mail: donat_j_picard@wcg.org or Marie-Angelique Alcindor, Eglise Universelle de Dieu, B.P. 64 - 75662, Paris cedex 14, France. Telephone: 011 33.1.43.22.60.84; fax: 011 33.1.43. 35.05.52; mobile: 011 33.6.81.14. 83.22; e-mail: dpi@club-internet.fr

Deshaies, Guadeloupe

The festival site is on the Caribbean coast of Basse-Terre island.

Contact: Guy and Liliane Colombo, Fontarabie, 97170, Petit Bourg, Guadeloupe. Telephone and fax: (590) 95 12 09. E-mail Jack and Betty Brunet at Jack.Brunet@wanadoo.fr

Canada-New England
festival cruise almost full

If you would like to participate, contact Travel Gallery immediately, since by the time you read this the only space that is available may be the group space Travel Gallery is holding. When this space is gone they will not be able to do any new bookings.

You can get complete details of any of the programs by contacting John Siston at 1-800-858-6999 or by e-mail at john@travelgallery.com

European Office
offers two
bus tours of
Great Britain

BOREHAMWOOD, England--The European Office has planned bus tours to give you a good view of our history and our countryside.

We have planned a Celtic Tour to visit two local festival sites, and the Britain Tour to visit one and possibly two sites, so you will get to meet many of the members. We will also have services every day, and your tour guides will be WCG ministers in England.

Because the United Kingdom and Ireland are small but densely populated, historical sites are close together. With 2,000 years of history it is not unusual to find early British, Roman, Viking, Norman, medieval and early industrial sites close enough to visit in the same day.

Robin Jones will lead the Britain tour, and Anthony Goudie will lead the Ireland tour. The tour leader for Scotland has not been named.

You can get complete details of any of the programs by contacting John Siston at Travel Gallery at 1-800-858-6999 or by e-mail at john@travel gallery.com)

Update: News of people, places and events

Legacy announces plans for headquarters property

PASADENA--Legacy Partners, buyers of the headquarters property, informed members of the Pasadena City Council and administrative staff that a Pasadena-based high-tech corporation may buy and develop the property east of the freeway as its corporate headquarters.

The announcement was made during a walking tour of the property March 6. Legacy explained that any such use was at this stage only a proposal, albeit a serious one, and subject to the approval of a development plan from the city, according to church treasurer Bernie Schnippert.

According to controller Ron Kelly, Legacy pointed out that plans to develop a hotel are being dropped because no hotel operators have expressed sufficient interest. Legacy is continuing to develop plans for houses, apartments and condominiums, and possibly some senior housing, mostly on the west side. Development of office buildings on the west side is also less likely in favor of additional housing units.

One proposal Legacy has discussed for the Ambassador Auditorium is creating a bond financing plan that would allow the city to take possession of the auditorium. Other private financing options are also being discussed.

Legacy is still on track to complete escrow by their target of late 2000, according to Mr. Kelly.

Relational evangelism bears fruit in Penticton congregation

PENTICTON, British Columbia--The Penticton congregation had its first baptism in years Jan. 15, according to pastor Bob Morton.

The congregation averages 20 or 25 each week in attendance, and consists primarily of senior citizens.

"I have been encouraging the members to see the need for local evangelism based on personal relationships," Mr. Morton said.

A member asked him to talk to her friend about baptism. Until 10 years ago she had fellowshipped with the Jehovah's Witnesses. Our member was able to gently, but effectively, over a period of two years, help her unravel some misunderstanding by giving her scriptures to read.

The member involved is disabled and lives on a meager disability pension. Yet she is the one God used to bring this new member to Christ, Mr. Morton said.

Baptist pastor addresses Pasadena congregation

PASADENA--Lucious Smith, pastor of Pasadena's Friendship Baptist Church, spoke to the Pasadena A.M. congregation Feb. 26 in the Ambassador Auditorium.

Friendship Baptist is the oldest African-American church in Pasadena, and is adjacent to the headquarters facility.

While its facilities were being restored, the church met in the former Imperial School gymnasium.

"I just wanted to express to all of you the love and the thankfulness that the people of Friendship had," Pastor Smith said. "You helped us when we could not help ourselves. You were there for us at a time when we were in the greatest of need. And so, as the pastor, on behalf of the members of Friendship Baptist Church, we just extend our love to you and may God richly bless you in that which he has in store for you."

Philippine church planted in Bucay Abra

BUCAY ABRA, Philippines--The church in the Philippines planted a new congregation Feb. 13 in Bucay Abra, about a nine hour drive north of Manila.

We already have 34 baptized members there and more coming along, according to regional director Bill Sidney.

"They have been meeting under a tree, so when it rains we have to cancel church," Mr. Sidney said. "We are in the process of purchasing a hectare of land there and will construct a modest church that will also serve as a simple community center."

Mr. Sidney conducted a commissioning ceremony for Rey Torres, who works with a pastoral team, and had a ground-breaking ceremony for a church building. Preteens and teens did special music numbers.

The church will provide the materials, and the members will build the building of local materials with a thatched roof.

"The brethren there are poor, but they are enthusiastic," Mr. Sidney said, "and it is amazing to have a

Tkach attends annual evangelical conference

WASHINGTON, D.C.--Pastor General Joseph Tkach attended the board meeting for the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), as well as their annual conference March 6 to 8 in Washington.

The NAE annual conference was combined with the annual conference of the Alianza de Ministerios Evangelicos Nacionales (AMEN), the Spanish language equivalent to the NAE.

"It was again clear that other denominations are dealing with the same problems that we are, and in some cases they are dealing with problems that we don+t have to contend with," Mr. Tkach said. "Many denominational leaders expressed to me their joy in our courage and commitment to the gospel, and told me that they are praying for us."

The NAE is moving its headquarters from Chicago, Illinois, to Glendora, California. The World Relief Corp. of the NAE will remain in Chicago, and the governmental affairs office for NAE will remain in Washington.

World Relief Corp. works with churches around the world to provide services to help the poor. In the United States they partner with congregations to provide refugee ministries (addressing resettlement needs, citizenship classes and English language training) and urban ministries. You can view their website at www.worldrelief.org.

Everett members seek to stop pornography in libraries

EVERETT, Washington--After hearing a Christian radio program about children accessing hard core pornography in libraries through Internet terminals, members Don and Carol Tuttle of Everett joined in picketing the Bellevue Public Library.

Carl Ulsky, another Everett member, was invited to appear on a radio station to address the main issues of this topic.

With the encouragement of pastor Bill Miller, several members attended library board meetings to express their concerns.

The American Library Association is trying to influence the nation's libraries that "all material must be made available to all persons regardless of their age or the content of material."

Many victories have already been accomplished. About 1,000 libraries are now filtering their Internet sites.

Young adults gather for retreat in North Carolina

WHITE LAKE, North Carolina--More than 30 young adults gathered at White Lake Feb. 5 and 6 for a retreat.

Jonathan Stepp, assistant pastor of the Fayetteville, North Carolina, congregation, kicked off the weekend with a talk on a method of combining the spiritual disciplines of study, prayer and meditation.