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February 2001
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This is our February cover
PersonalSince it is true that every Christian has the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit teaches each one of us, is there any need for leadership within the church? asks Mr. Tkach in this month's Personal.
Wouldn't it be more Christian to view ourselves as a group of equals, as every person capable of every role? Pages 6 to 8.
Financial
ReportMail income for December came in near our projections at about $2.3 million, writes controller Ronald Kelly.
Estate donations, bequests and foundation giving provided a much-needed boost. Festival or seasonal offerings were up more than projections. Page 9.
The suffering GodWhy does God stand by and let such horrible things happen as go on in this world when he could stop them if he wanted to? Doesn't God care? Mike Feazell addresses these questions in The Suffering God. Pages 10 to 13.
Window on the WorldRandal Dick concludes his account of a November trip to visit members in Bangladesh. Mr. Dick reports on the fruits of member efforts, directed by John Biswas, to aid the preaching of the gospel there. Pages 14 & 15.
Women's ministryIn our women's ministry section we report on a conference in Cambridge, Ohio, in which Tammy Tkach and Sheila Graham spoke, and outreach efforts by the women in San Leandro, California, and Sherwood, Arkansas. Page 16.
Teen ministryIn our teen ministry section we report on teen weekends sponsored by the Summer Educational Program (SEP) that are taking place throughout the United States.
Teens gather to worship and dedicate their lives to Jesus Christ. The weekends are coordinated by Jeb Egbert, SEP director, and his wife, Barb. Pages 17 to 19.
Eugene Guzon reports that an independent Christian minister, his family and the few members who used to attend with him have joined our fellowship.
This will help the church reach the Japanese people themselves and brings a new sense of excitement among the brethren in Japan. Page 20.
Bible StudyWhat? Doesn't the apostle Paul have the right to do what he wants? asks Mike Morrison in his Bible Study. Why should his freedom be limited by other people's immaturity? Pages 25 & 26.
Church
buildingIt's a catchy phrase to talk about building our church, but what does it mean? How do we do it? asks Geoff Pittman, who serves as a pastoral intern in the Lexington, Kentucky, church. Pages 28 & 29.
By Sonny Parsons
SAN ANTONIO, Texas--Max Lucado is a fellow minister and friend in San Antonio.
In his book, The Great House of God, he tells of the "consuming fire" he had as a young man to preach. My burning desire is to share the good news of Jesus Christ with our congregations as to what begins to happen when we learn that evangelism is not something to be feared.
As we begin to let go and let God within our lives and look upon the great commission as the heartbeat of the church, things begin to happen.
We have now spoken in nearly 40 WCG congregations from San Antonio to Atlanta, Georgia, sharing what we have experienced through evangelism. We use Proverbs 3:5-6 as a guide ("Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight").
It has been encouraging to see the results as little fires begin to be lit in many of the people's minds regarding how to share the good news of Jesus Christ.
I feel most of our congregations want to know more. Excellent information is available showing how to do this without fear. Evangelism is not always an in your face kind of experience. We daily have the opportunity to witness and evangelize through our example and words. Some of our members in Texas have assisted in leading more than 8,000 prisoners to accept Christ.
In some areas, since speaking to them, they are fishing for the lost, providing church in nursing homes, reaching out to school groups, serving in homeless shelters and community activities, volunteering in missions and meeting with national leaders of groups training in evangelism, where they had been hesitant to do so before.
We have seen more than 120 visitors in one year come to visit some of our congregations accepting our invitation to "come and see!" We have seen groups of 40 and 50 people in neighborhoods come to evangelistic outreaches at our home to see that we do care for them and have something to share. We have seen congregations winning awards in community activities as they are letting the light of Jesus Christ shine.
As John Maxwell says, "Many are now coming out of the holy huddles and are participating in the co-mission with Christ and the Holy Spirit in reaping the harvest."
Part of the message we share is in regard to our congregations developing local mission statements and using local congregational names. In those areas where we see these things beginning to take place we find the people more receptive to sharing the good news and seeing the need to fulfill the great commandments and the great commission. Sometimes we have to be challenged into asking how far we are willing to go to show love to our neighbor.
Our New Beginnings congregation was host for the youth pastors of San Antonio in October. Our members wore their New Beginnings T-shirts, prepared the meals and served this group known as Harvest Hands.
The director told our members and the pastors: "I don't know if you WCG people realize how special you are! There is something special about you and how we see in this congregation different races and cultures working in unity together and that the love and care we see is what the youths of the city need."
In October, the International Conference on Reconciliation was conducted here. One committee leader said that if any group should be represented on the overall planning ICR committee it should be the WCG because "they represent true reconciliation within the body of Christ."
We were then asked to serve as a representative on the committee. The co-chairman told the leaders that our congregation was recognized in the city as a group that showed tremendous hospitality and service. As a part of this committee we met with Mayor Howard Peak.
John Dawson, founder of the Reconciliation Coalition, was one of the speakers. After his presentation I introduced myself to him as a WCG pastor. He smiled and said, "I love you guys!" and asked me to sit down and talk with him, even though he had been called to a photo session.
Campus Life/Youth for Christ asked our church to be trained to assist in youth outreach evangelism in a 1,200 student middle school. The city head of Campus Life conducted an all-day session for 16 of our people.
Campus Crusade offered an evangelism training seminar here. Soapy Dollar, city coordinator for Campus Crusade, presented the class. When I explained to him about my sharing evangelism with our congregations he said we could use any of their material and put our churches' names on it, and he would be willing to team with me to speak on evangelism in any of our congregations.
As a follow-up we are offering a course titled, "Reaching Your World Through Witnessing Without Fear" by Bill Bright. Its approach is one that fits most of our congregations. It is on how to share your faith with confidence. Members have also attended World Missions evangelism training and met the founder of March for Jesus.
God is giving the WCG an opportunity to have a New Beginning.
This is a letter that I felt I must get off my chest. All my life, from the age of 6 years, was spent resenting a God who went around stealing little kids' parents and calling himself love.
As I grew older (much older), I began to feel that there was some possible reason for the things I as a human must experience, and then at 46 years, I found that God just wasn't interfering with humankind's affairs, yet. He was waiting until the time was just right.
I contacted the WCG in Pasadena and a year later was baptized by Dan Rogers. The next few years were spent trying to follow all the rules and regulations so that I could be in the kingdom. Each year at Passover, I was shown that I was fighting a losing battle, but I kept on trying.
Then the WCG started changing and while at first I dragged my heels, slowly God started opening my eyes and it all started to make sense and was provable. This past year has been electrifying! Suddenly I'm not responsible for saving my now grown children or anyone else and can look forward to seeing all my beloved relatives and friends down through history and knowing that Jesus has already paid the price for them as well as me.
Now I am truly learning what is meant by "joy unspeakable and full of glory." Sometimes (often), I find myself skipping around the house like a kid. I'm 73. Thank you Joseph Tkach, Dan Rogers, Mike Feazell, Mike Morrison, Carn Catherwood and so many others who have taught us over the years by word and example the true meaning of love and joy.
Please don't ever stop letting our Lord fill you with his love, joy, peace and all the fruits of his Holy Spirit. I can only speak for myself, but I've starved for too many years. I'm hungry!
Verna A. Hibbard
Gansevoort, New York
I have finished going through J. Michael Feazell's two-part "No Other Name" article in the December and January WN. This material is just simply excellent. It expresses what I have suspected to be true for so long. It is truly great news and I have enthusiastically recommended the two-part article to others.
Thank you for these encouraging articles, which I am sure will bring relief to many concerned about deceased loved ones who had not professed acceptance of Christ's sacrifice before their death.
John McDonnell
Chelsea, Massachusetts
What a wonderful concept for men and women: Be Jesus to your spouse (January Personal).
This from Joseph Tkach is the most positive and balanced approach to the husband-wife relationship I have ever read or heard. Short, sweet and to the point. Thank you!
Donna Tucker
Round Rock, Texas
Conceptually, all Christians represent the body of Christ. The interrelatedness of the parts of the body are necessary in functioning efficiently and effectually. Every part of the body is essential in its own unique, God-given manner.
The apostle Paul said: "So that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it" (1 Cor. 12:25-27).
I was raised in the Worldwide Church of God. As a teenager, I chose a criminal path that consequently landed me in prison. Despite my choices and environment, 15 years later I still remain in prison, with a purpose, divine.
Instrumentally, the WCG and others have been a continuum of agape love, illustrating that there are no Christians without purpose in the body of Christ. I received a most welcomed visit from Steven and Elizabeth Gill of the Toledo, Ohio, congregation. I must admit I was in a state of euphoria, adding to my existing joy that the body of Christ has no boundaries.
Despite my physical confinement, God has blessed me in many areas. I'm reminded that when one part suffers, all suffer. In addition, when one part is honored, all rejoice. Steven and Elizabeth, and all others who have touched my life epitomize Paul's theme: we are one body, with many parts.
Thanks be to our Lord for the loving touch of his children in each of our lives.
Karl M. Klett
Marion, Ohio
Amy Arnold
Biblical studies
Jacksonville, North Carolina
Charles Horton
Music education
Los Angeles, California
Preston Rentz
Theology
San Antonio, Texas
By Bob Persky
JEKYLL ISLAND, Georgia--Nearly 600 WCG members attended the first regional conference of the new year Friday, Jan. 12, to Sunday, Jan. 14.
Meetings took place in the Jekyll Convention Center. This year's conference offered worship, instruction and time for fellowship. Many renewed old acquaintances and made new friends during the weekend.
The conference started Friday at 2 p.m. with a session for pastors and wives from the three districts, Florida (Bob Persky, superintendent), Mid-Atlantic (Keith Brittain) and Southeast (Al Barr).
The conference was filled with inspiring praise and worship throughout the weekend. Presentations were given by Dan Rogers, superintendent of ministers, on disciple-making, stewardship and the meaning of communion, along with open forums and a presentation by Pastor General Joseph Tkach titled "Do You See What I See?"
Saturday breakout sessions included youth ministry, women in ministry and conflict resolution.
On Sunday, Carn Catherwood and Curtis May spoke on reconciliation.
The conference concluded with a worship service and nearly 500 taking communion.
Bob & Kay Persky
Keith & Marian Brittain
Al & Edna Barr
Personal from Joseph TkachLet's talk about leadership in the church, and within the Worldwide Church of God in particular. Since it is true that every Christian has the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit teaches each one of us, is there any need for leadership within the church? Wouldn't it be more Christian to view ourselves as a group of equals, as every person capable of every role?
Various verses in the Bible, such as 1 John 2:27, may seem to support this idea--but only if they are taken out of context. For example, when John wrote that Christians did not need anyone to teach them, did he mean they didn't need to be taught by him? Did he say, don't pay any attention to what I write, because you don't need me or anyone else to teach you? Of course, this is not what he meant.
John wrote the letter because those people did need to be taught. He was warning his readers against Gnosticism, against the idea that salvation is found in secret teachings. He was saying that the truths of Christianity were already known in the church. Believers did not need any secret "knowledge" beyond what the Holy Spirit had already given the community.
John was not saying that Christians do not need leaders and teachers.
Each Christian has individual responsibilities. Each person must believe, make decisions about how to live and decide what to believe. But the New Testament is clear that we are not merely individuals--we are part of a body. The church is optional in the same sense that responsibility is optional--God lets us choose what to do, but that does not mean that all choices are equally helpful for us, or that all are equally within God's will.
Do Christians need teachers? The entire New Testament is evidence that we do. The church at Antioch had "teachers" as one of their leadership roles (Acts 13:1).
Teachers are one of the gifts the Holy Spirit gives to the church (1 Cor. 12:28; Eph. 4:11). Paul called himself a teacher (1 Tim. 2:7; Titus 1:11). Even after many years in the faith, believers needed teachers (Heb. 5:12). James warned against the idea that everybody is a teacher (James 3:1), but his comments still indicate that the church normally had people who taught.
Christians have a great need for sound teaching, for truths of the faith. God knows that we grow at different speeds and have strengths in different areas. He knows, because he is the one who gives us those strengths in the first place, and he does not give the same gifts to everyone (1 Cor. 12). Rather, he distributes them so that we will work together for the common good, helping each other, rather than each going off and doing our own thing (verse 7).
Some Christians are gifted with more ability for compassion, some for discernment, some for physical service, some for exhortation, some for coordination and some for teaching. All Christians are equal in value, but equality does not mean being identical. We are given different abilities, and although all are important, all are not the same. As children of God, as heirs of salvation, we are equal, but we do not all have the same role in the church. God puts people and distributes his gifts as he sees fit, not according to human expectations.
So God puts teachers into the church--people who are able to help others learn. Now, I admit that we as a human organization do not always select the most gifted people, and I admit that the teachers sometimes make mistakes. But this does not invalidate the clear witness of the New Testament that God's church does have teachers, that this is a role that we should expect to see in communities of believers.
Although we do not have a specific office named "teacher," we do expect teachers to exist within the church, and we expect our pastors to be able to teach (1 Tim. 3:2; 2 Tim. 2:2). In Ephesians 4:11, Paul groups pastors and teachers together, structuring them grammatically as if this role were a dual responsibility, to shepherd and to teach.
The New Testament does not prescribe any particular hierarchy for the church. The Jerusalem church had apostles and elders. The church in Antioch had prophets and teachers (Acts 15:1; 13:1). Some New Testament passages call the leaders elders; others call them overseers or bishops; some just call them leaders (Acts 14:23; Titus 1:6-7; Phil. 1:1; 1 Tim. 3:2; Heb. 13:17). These seem to be different words for the same role.
The New Testament does not describe an elaborate hierarchy of apostles over prophets over evangelists over pastors over elders over deacons over lay members. The word over may not be the best to use, anyway, for all of these are service roles, designed to help the church. But the New Testament does tell people to obey the leaders in the church, to cooperate with their leadership (Heb. 13:17). Blind obedience is not appropriate, nor is extreme skepticism or resistance.
Paul describes a simple hierarchy when he tells Timothy to appoint elders in churches. As apostle, church planter and mentor, Paul had authority over Timothy, and Timothy had authority to decide who would be elders and deacons. But this is a description of Ephesus, not a prescription for all future organization of the church. We do not see any attempt to tie every church to Jerusalem, or to Antioch, or to Rome. That would not have been practical in the first century, anyway.
So what can we say for the church today? We can say that God does expect the church to have leaders, but he does not specify what those leaders are to be called or how they are to be structured. He has left those details to be worked out in the changing circumstances that the church will find itself in. We should have leaders in local churches, but it does not matter so much what they are called: Pastor Pierce, Elder Ed, Minister Matson or Servant Sam might be equally acceptable.
In the Worldwide Church of God, we use what can be called an episcopal model (the word episcopal is based on the Greek word for overseer--episkopos, sometimes translated as bishop) because of the circumstances we find ourselves in. We believe this is the best way for our churches to have doctrinal soundness and stability. Our episcopal model has its problems, but so do other models, for they all involve fallible humans. We believe that in our historical and geographical circumstances, our episcopal style of organization can serve our members better than a congregational or a presbyterian model can.
(Keep in mind that all models of church government, whether congregational, presbyterian or episcopal, can take a variety of forms. Our form of the episcopal model is radically different from that of the Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, Episcopal, Roman Catholic or Lutheran churches. For example, we do not have priests, vestments or a standard liturgical service.)
The head of the church is Jesus Christ, and all leaders within the church should seek his will in all things, in their own lives as well as in the functioning of the congregations. The leaders are to be Christlike in their leadership, which means that they must seek to help others, not to benefit themselves. The local church is not a work crew to help the pastor get his work done. Rather, the pastor is a facilitator, to help the members get their work done--the work of the gospel, the work Jesus Christ wants them to do.
Paul compares the church to a body with many different parts. Its unity is not in uniformity, but in working together for a common Lord and for a common purpose. Different members have different strengths, and we are to use these for the common good (1 Cor. 12:7).
As part of the diversity within the church, we ordain elders, deacons, and deaconesses, and appoint ministry leaders. We do not have precise definitions of these roles. Some elders speak; others do not. Some elders are good at organizing people; others are not. Some serve more in wisdom than in work. Some deacons speak; most do not. Some work in visible ways; some work behind the scenes. This is true for deaconesses, too. Each serves according to ability, all under the supervision of the pastor (the overseer, or episkopos of the congregation).
Ministry leaders come in even greater diversity, each serving (we hope) according to ability, each according to the needs of the congregation. The pastor may appoint these for temporary assignments, or for indefinite periods.
What is the difference between "ordain" and "appoint"? In general, an ordination is more public and more permanent; an appointment may be done privately as well as in public, and may be revoked easily.
Ordinations are approved by denominational leaders, and are valid in all congregations. That is, a woman ordained as deaconess in one congregation will be considered a deaconess even if she moves and attends a different congregation. But ministry appointments are not automatically transferable. Reappointment will be necessary if the person moves, and it is of course based on the needs of the new congregation and the decision of the pastor.
An ordination may be revoked also, but this is done only in exceptional circumstances.
The pastor must be the primary teacher, and must lead the congregation toward Christ. The pastor has authority over the speaking schedule, the church calendar, the organizational structure and the local ministries.
Each congregation should also have an advisory committee and a budget committee to provide counsel and feedback to the pastor and help him build consensus in decision-making, but we do not formalize the way in which each council should be chosen or how it should function. We do say that congregations should be informed on (at least) a quarterly basis about local church finances--income, expenses and balances.
Since we have encouraged more members to become involved in ministry, we have many more local leadership positions than we used to. We have small group facilitators, worship music leaders, community service leaders and others. Many of these are doing considerable work, and with considerable enthusiasm.
Many of them exhibit dedication and spiritual maturity equal to deacons and elders. But we do not always choose to ordain these people, and there is considerable inconsistency from one congregation to another as to what level of service leads to what level of recognition and appointment. These inconsistencies trouble some people, but I do not see any way to avoid them. We want to honor people who deserve honor, but I also hope that no one is serving for the purpose of being honored. As someone famous once said, your reward is in heaven.
In short, local church structure is flexible; we do not impose a particular structure on all churches no matter what the size and situation. We do appoint a pastor (or pastoral team) for each congregation, but most other structural details are flexible. In rare cases, the person serving as pastor is not ordained. Some churches have no elders; others have an excess. Some churches have many deacons; others have none. Some have more deaconesses than deacons; others do not. There is a lot of variety, because our congregations exist in a variety of circumstances, having diverse gifts.
Pastors serve somewhat like orchestra conductors. They cannot force anyone to play on cue, but they can provide guidance and coordination, and the group as a whole will work much better when the players take the cues they are given. In the Worldwide Church of God, members cannot fire their pastor. Instead, pastors are chosen and dismissed at the regional level, which in the United States means Church Administration in coordination with district superintendents.
What if a member believes a pastor is incompetent, or is leading the sheep astray? That's where the episcopal structure comes in. Problems of doctrine or leadership style should be discussed with the pastor first, of course, and then with the district superintendent (the overseer, or episkopos, of the pastors in the district). By the way, don't send such complaints to me--I can't supervise all 900 of our congregations--I can only forward them to Church Administration, which will forward them to the appropriate superintendent.
Denominational headquarters serves as supervisor of the supervisors (the overseer, or episkopos, of the superintendents). Just as congregations need local leaders and teachers, the pastors also need leaders and teachers. That is why we believe that WCG headquarters has an important role in serving our congregations. We strive to be a source of training, of ideas, of encouragement, of supervision, of cooperation. We are certainly not perfect, but that is the calling we see set before us, and that is what we will strive to do.
Brothers and sisters, thank you for your labors in the Lord. We've had a rough ride the last 10 years, and I thank you for hanging in there. Although there will be a few bumps yet ahead of us, our eyes need to be focused on Jesus. He has work for us to do, and much work is already being done. Praise him for his patience, for his gifts, and for the work that helps us grow.
By Joanna
Mitchell
PALMDALE, California--I stumbled across a women's organization nearly five years ago that, in my opinion, was a gem waiting to be discovered.
The organization is Christian Women's Club. It has been around for more than 60 years and has chapters all over the world. Christian Women's Clubs are located in more than 2,000 cities in the United States, Canada and a few other international areas.
I discovered this group from an ad in my local newspaper. It looked intriguing since I was looking for new friends after relocating to a new area. I attended the club's monthly luncheon and found out what they are all about. Each month's meeting has a theme and generally an area business is represented as sort of a light feature. I've seen everything from fashions to flowers, artwork and crafts, cooking themes and even eye dog trainers. A lunch is served and you get acquainted with others at your table.
The main event is dedicated to a Christian woman speaker who shares her testimony. At the end of her talk she will lead new believers in a sinners prayer.
When I first attended, I was moved by the speaker's openness and her relationship with Christ. Within a few months, I was helping with decorations. Later, I was asked to coordinate the business feature. After about three years, I was asked to be the chairman and coordinate every luncheon, which attracts 80 to 90 people each month. What a challenge! I never considered myself an evangelist, yet I was asked to orchestrate an evangelistic event each month.
Christian Women's Club not only offers luncheons, but also monthly prayer coffees to pray for the needs of the country, the organization, the local club and personal needs. It also offers in-home Bible studies. For women who work outside the home, After 5 Christian Women's Clubs are available. I've witnessed many women coming to Christ and I've made many friends through this club.
For a club in your city, contact Stonecroft Ministries at 1-816-763-7800 or write to Stonecroft Ministries at P.O. Box 9609, Kansas City, Missouri, 64134-0609. They can also be reached by e-mail at Connections@Stonecroft.org or on the web at gospelcom.net/stone croft/. Or contact me at mcottage1@prodigy.net
By Ronald Kelly
To the millennial purists, the second millennium came to a close Dec. 31, 2000.
Of course the popular interpretation of the millennium changeover occurred one year earlier. However, how we count the end or beginning of a new millennium makes no difference to church finances. We simply close the books on one year and start all over again on a new year.
And so 2000 has come to a close. Mail income for December came in near our projections at about $2.3 million for the month. Mail income for December 1999 was $2.6 million, so we had about an 11 percent decrease in regular donation income.
Of all our income trends, this remains the one we have the most concern about--regular donations. If the trend continues to drop by 10 or 11 percent each year, you can easily see that dramatic expense reductions would have to take place in the next year or two. So please pray with us that in 2001 we will see a leveling off of member donations and a dependable, steady amount contributed each month.
On the other hand, as we have been reporting in the WN each month, other sources of income have held up well. The amount of estate donations, bequests and foundation giving provided a much-needed boost. Also our festival or seasonal offerings were up more than we had projected.
What that all means is that we only had to take $3 million from the church reserve fund this year. Please notice I put the word only in italics. When we began the year, we projected we might have to impact the reserve fund by as much as $6 million. So by comparison $3 million doesn't appear so bad.
The flip side of that coin, however, is that we sadly had expenses that exceeded income by $3 million.
Total income for the year, including festival offerings, estate donations and mail income, as you see on the accompanying chart, was about $31 million, while total expenses were about $34 million--thus the $3 million deficit I mentioned above.
As we plan our budget for 2001, we realize we will continue to spend at a deficit until we complete the sale of the Pasadena property. We are doing all we can to keep that deficit at a minimum, so there is a lot of belt tightening as we plan our budgets.
I won't go into a lot of detail here, but once again we encourage as many of you who can to attend one of our district conferences. At these conferences, usually on Friday afternoon, I will be thoroughly discussing the exciting projections we have for local congregation funding and budgeting.
We hope to begin implementation of a new budgeting process later this year, transition to new financial models during 2002 and have full implementation during 2003. I think you'll find the plans exciting.
If you are not able to attend one of the district conferences, I'm sure your pastor will bring you up to date after he returns from his district conference. But as you know we welcome all of you to the conference nearest where you live.
This column brings you up to date through the end of 2000. Next month we'll see what kind of a start we will have for the new year.
For the Month For the Year-to-Date
Income
Mail Income $ 2,266,812 $ 20,430,056
Festival offerings 972,509 4,678,452
Other income 782,928 6,091,074
Total income 4,022,249 31,199,582
Expenses 3,502,540 34,181,427
Net gain (loss) to bank reserves $519,709 $(2,981,845)
By J. Michael
Feazell
"I don't get it. Why does God just stand by and let such horrible things happen as go on in this world when he could stop them if he wanted to? Doesn't God care?"
Yes, God cares. But I doubt anybody can give an entirely satisfying answer to that question. Here is what we do know: The way we best understand God and our suffering is to look at Jesus Christ. You see, Jesus Christ is God. Jesus is human too. God became human, without ceasing to be God, for our sakes. That is what we mean when we say Christ was fully God and fully man.
When we say Jesus Christ is the Son of God, we do not mean that he is something less than God, or someone else in addition to God. We mean he is God, and as God, he took on the human condition for us.
"I don't see what this has to do with our suffering. And I don't see how Jesus can be God and the Son of God at the same time. And I don't get this whole Trinity thing anyway. But it seems like you are just changing the subject. I want to know why God doesn't stop horrible suffering if he is so almighty and good."
Fair enough. And that is just why we need to talk about Jesus Christ. Because it is in understanding Jesus Christ that we can begin to understand something about why God allows human suffering.
Jesus Christ is God in the flesh. You'll notice I said is, not was. Jesus was, is, is to come, and always will be God in the flesh. When the Son of God assumed humanity, he took the human condition into himself, that is, into God. And in doing that, he purified humanity, redeemed it, and gave it eternal communion, or right fellowship, with God the Father. As a human, he took all human sin and corruption on himself, and through his crucifixion and death, all human sin and corruption found its end.
But death could not hold the Son of God made flesh. He was resurrected, not as a spirit or as the fleshless Son of God, but as the very same man Jesus Christ who died for us, only glorified. That is what we Christians mean when we say we believe in the "bodily resurrection." We mean Jesus himself was raised, the same fully God and fully human Jesus Christ who hung on the cross for us. He was raised with a glorified human body. We are told that when we are raised from the dead, we will have a glorified body like that of Jesus--like the body Jesus still has (Philippians 3:21).
When we are raised, we will be fully human, not fully God and fully human like Jesus. But in our raised humanity, we will be like the captain of our salvation, Jesus Christ the crucified and raised Son of God, is in his humanity. He is fully human.
When we say "fully human," we do not mean as opposed to partly human. We mean "fully" in the sense of "everything humanity was intended to be." We mean undistorted, uncorrupted, unbroken, untarnished. We mean, as it were, straight off the showroom floor--perfect, no dents, no rust, no stains, no rips, no tread wear, shiny, tuned, lubed, fueled, washed and ready to roll as we were meant to roll. Without Christ, being fully human would be impossible for us.
It would be impossible because we started right out, every one of us, in the junkyard. We were beat up old clunkers, gas hogs, leaking like sieves, with bald unmatched tires, scratched up, faded paint and torn upholstery, dented, dirty, rusted, backfiring heaps stuck in second gear. That is because of sinfulness, a condition we share with Father Adam and Mother Eve as we chug merrily along in the choking exhaust of their distrust of God.
When personalities turn against God, whether they are human or spirit personalities, the result is evil. Evil can be defined as anything that is not in communion with God, that opposes God. It is this evil, this senseless distrust of God, this usurping by humanity of God's faithful and loving divine fatherhood over us, that corrupts and attempts to destroy everything God originally made to be good.
Can God stop bad things from happening? Yes, he can. So why doesn't he? Consider this: Bad things happen because people are free to do bad things.
Sometimes, people are careless, inconsiderate or selfish, which results in creating situations and circumstances that can and usually do bring harm to others. Sometimes they are lazy, greedy or cowardly, and because of it, people get hurt. Sometimes, people are even hateful, wicked and cruel.
What would happen if God were to stop all consequences of human choices and actions? For one thing, it would make human choices and actions meaningless. If God were to always stop us before we do bad things, then he would also be taking away our freedom to make our own choices. If God removed our freedom to think for ourselves and make our own choices, then there would be no possibility for us humans of a freely chosen love relationship with God.
God gave humans freedom, real freedom--a freedom upheld by and in God's own freedom of course, not a freedom independent of God (there is no such thing as freedom totally independent of God). But in Adam, humans have abused that freedom by choosing against God, which is choosing against themselves, because only in God are humans able to be what they really are.
That rebellion has rendered humanity less than it was created to be--completely in the dark about who God is and its utter dependence on him. In the midst of this blindness, humans no longer have the communion with God that Adam and Eve once enjoyed. Instead, the best they can do is grope for God in the dark in the hope that they might find him (Acts 17:27).
As surely as humanity fell into sin and corruption, however, the Word of God who speaks all creation into being (Colossians 1:16) has also spoken the new word of redemption (verse 20)--the new creation, which is nothing other than the gracious redemption of all things (Ephesians 1:9-10). By God's grace, as they are held by God in Christ, humans can choose to trust in their Lord. On their own, they could never do that.
For one thing, their corruption would prevent it. For another, the creature is incapable of finding the Creator under its own steam; such finding is possible only by God's own gracious gift of himself. In this God-given freedom, humans can trust God or not trust God. They can accept or reject his sovereignty over them. Even if they do reject God, of course, God is no less God, and they are no less dependent on him for existence, even though they may refuse to believe it.
But life is more than mere existence. God wants his human children to be what he made them to be: fully human, not the broken- down shells sin has made of them. To make humans what he made them to be, God took broken-down humanity into himself and fixed it. He became flesh, God in the flesh, God Incarnate. He came as one of us for no other reason but to reconcile humanity to himself.
But let us not get the false impression that this reconciliation is some kind of divine chemotherapy that God finally injected into a terminally sick world to save a few of those who would live after Jesus in chronological time. No, this reconciliation is something that the Son of God, who is the eternal Word of God who speaks everything into being (John 1:1-3), has done, and has been doing, from the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8).
In other words, in some sense we do not understand, God has always (in every sense that we can understand always) had something of humanity in himself: God reconciled us to himself in Christ before the foundation of the world. He is for us, and he is for us eternally.
The One through whom all things continually exist (Hebrews 1:3), who as the divine Word continually speaks all things into being, is also the very same One who continually reconciles all things to the Father. His word of reconciliation for us restores us to the Father as surely as his word of creation gives us being in the first place. He is both Creator and Reconciler, and always has been. He is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
How, exactly, did Jesus do it? He came in what the Bible calls the "fullness of time" (Galatians 4:4; Ephesians 1:10), or exactly when the time was right. To repeat: Don't think Jesus' atonement is good only for those who came after him in time; that would be to forget just who he is and would miss the point by a million miles. He came at the right time for all humanity, both before and after him. He came as a self-offering of God to us, that is, in Jesus Christ God gave us nothing other than himself. He also gave himself, the perfect, sinless human, as a self-offering of perfect humanity to God. Only Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, could do both.
How did Jesus give this self-offering of perfect humanity to the Father in a way that reconciles all humanity to God?
He did it by taking all the sins of humanity upon himself (John 1:29; 1 John 2:2), becoming in himself sinning humanity estranged and alienated from God (2 Corinthians 5:21; Matthew 27:46), and suffering death for us in our place (Romans 5:8).
He could do that because as God, he is the one against whom sin has been committed and the one who has been rejected and despised by us in our sinfulness, and as one of us, he is the perfect representative of all of us. He as Son of man can take our sins on himself and bear the brunt of our collusion with the powers of evil; as the Son of God he can forgive our sins and restore our broken communion with God.
Wait a minute. You say Christ died for us, in our place. But in case you haven't noticed, Sherlock, we all still die anyway. How does that work?
You're getting ahead of the story, but it's too good a question to put off. Yes, we still die. But because of Jesus, death is the very thing that is overcome by resurrection. Because Jesus has taken up death into himself and thereby defeated it, when we die, we are drawn into none other than Jesus' death.
When Jesus died, because of who he is, death itself could not contain him; death itself was swallowed up in victory.
Because the Son of God, the Lord of Life, took on death for us, every human death is a participation in the death of Jesus (John 12:32). And entry into the death of Jesus cannot end except in our resurrection into the resurrection of Jesus. Just as death cannot contain Christ, so death, because Christ died for us, cannot contain us either, precisely because we are, by God's grace, in Christ.
So everybody gets resurrected, even Hitler and Stalin?
Yes, everybody who dies gets resurrected (Revelation 20:12). Because the Son of God became human for humanity, and died and was raised for humanity, all humans die in Christ's death and are raised in his resurrection. There is no other resurrection into which humans can be resurrected but that of Jesus. If Jesus had not died and been raised for us, no human at all would be raised. But he did, and he did it because the holy and almighty Triune God is full of grace and mercy and free to be who he wants to be with us.
But if Hitler and Stalin get resurrected, how is that fair?
Good question. The answer is that it isn't fair at all. But then it isn't fair that you and I get resurrected either. The Bible tells us that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).
None of us humans deserves anything but death. We've all opened our own God-business with ourselves as "God" even though we can't create a pot, much less keep ourselves alive.
Now I know what you are dying to say next. You want to say that some people are far worse than others, and that it's only fair that people get repaid in kind. But we've already covered that in a previous article.
I will say one more thing about the resurrection, though. The fact that everybody gets resurrected does not mean that everybody is saved. Although in Christ everyone is reconciled to God, only people who put their trust in Christ are saved, and as we have already seen, for most people, that blessing does not come before death.
I'm not sure I understand what you mean. How can someone be reconciled, but not be saved?
For God to become human is to reconcile humanity to God. You see, whatever God is cannot help but be reconciled to God, because God is always and ever reconciled to himself. God is faithful to his humanity in Christ, and he has established our humanity in Christ, to whom he is faithful.
That's probably still confusing. Let me try saying it this way: God--Father, Son and Holy Spirit--are one God, the Holy Trinity, perfect in union, and in perfect communion. The Father wills eternally that the Son be human for our sakes, and the Holy Spirit makes it so. Because Christ is God in the flesh, the perfect human for our sakes and in our place, that is, perfect humanity for humanity, and the Holy Spirit binds us with the Son in perfect unity, we are, because we are human in Christ only (there is no other way to be human because Christ is human for us), reconciled to God in Christ.
You think that is clearer?
Let's try this: Christ reconciled the whole world to God by becoming human for us. He is one with God, so that makes us one with God, and it is true simply because God says so. Is that better?
I get that part now. But how is it then that some are not saved?
The thing that keeps a reconciled person from being saved is unbelief. They don't trust God. It's that simple. Whoever will not trust God is not saved. That is because even though God says Yes to every person because of Christ, if people say No to God's Yes, that is, will not trust him, then they cannot enjoy the fruit of God's Yes for them.
It is not, mind you, that their No is louder than God's Yes or that their No negates God's Yes. God's Yes is still Yes and ever will be. But that very Yes of God for them is refused in their No, which is crazy, to be sure, but nevertheless tolerated by God because his Yes includes our freedom to say No.
To say No to God is to say No to God's love, to God's grace, to God's mercy, to God's authority, to God's wisdom, to God's power. It is to sit starving and diseased in the dark alone with nothing, thinking one is entirely self-sufficient, and to prefer that state to the joy and freedom of God's eternal banquet. To say No to God is to set oneself up as God (a birthday candle might as well set itself up as the sun).
So there is hope for everybody?
Because Christ lives, there is hope for everybody.
But hasn't God already decided who will be saved and who will not beforehand?
In one way, yes, but in another way, it is not played out until he plays it out with us in time and space in Christ. Yes, because God intends that everyone be saved; humanity itself is elect or chosen for salvation in Christ, the Elect for humanity and the One in whom all humanity is elect. But, no, because God not only purposes human salvation in Christ, he also fulfills his purpose in Christ, and that fulfillment takes place concretely in the space and time of history, a history that has been redeemed in Christ.
All humanity is chosen, or predestined by God to be elect in Christ, and God works out his purpose in Christ in all humanity throughout all history. So in one sense, God knows, but in another sense, God is working out in time and space with us in Christ what he knows is his will for humanity, and he knows it because he is working it out according to his own purpose which he wills in Christ, who is the Elect for us.
Yes and no. Yes, in the sense that God predestines all humanity for salvation, and he works out that salvation with us in Christ freely and concretely in time and space. No, in the sense that God has not predetermined before all time and creation who will be damned and who will be saved. Rather, he actively works out his purposes with us in the real created freedom of time and space and history.
So our choices matter?
Yes, our choices do matter. They matter because they are choices made in Christ, in whom we live and move and have our being. In other words, we matter and our choices and decisions matter because God, in his uncreated freedom to be who he is with us, has graciously reconciled us to himself in Christ who became human for us.
By God's grace, our right choices are Christ's choices, and our wrong choices are redeemed in Christ and made his choices if we deny ourselves and trust him to be our Savior, Lord and God--that is, if we repent and believe the gospel.
And further, our repentance (turning to God as sinners in need of mercy) and our faith (trusting God to be who he is and do what he has promised for our salvation) are originated, prompted and carried out in Christ through the Holy Spirit according to the Father's will for us. This means that we can even trust Christ to 1) plead our pitiful cause and 2) to have for us the faith we need to be saved.
Now, we went through that so we could come to this: Our corrupt choices produce corrupt results, and humanity suffers because of it. But Jesus Christ, the perfect Human in whom God has established our humanity, also suffered with us and for us, so even though life on this earth stinks because of sin, it is redeemed in Christ, and therefore the life we hope for will be realized when we join him in his resurrection, and that is true not only for us, but for all suffering humans everywhere through all history whose agonies and tortured cries join in the cosmic groans of the whole creation (Romans 8:18-25; Revelation 21:3-4).
We don't know why God allows babies to suffer. Or why some people must endure mental and physical handicaps. Or why many starve to death, endure hideous diseases or undergo unspeakable suffering in any of the uncountable ways humans have and continue to suffer.
But we do know this: God himself suffered in Christ for every suffering human being, and he did it to end all suffering, and when the whole world sits down to eat at the Lamb's eternal banquet, the cries of joy that will rise up will forever eclipse the groans of misery from which they emerged.
This hope is why we are Christians. Human suffering, evil as it is, is not in vain, but is given everlasting meaning in the suffering of our Creator who loves us so much in spite of ourselves that he is glad to suffer with us and for us so that in him every tear can at last be wiped away.
The final chapter of the tragic life stories of the teeming masses of humanity has been written precisely in the death and resurrection of the Son of God, into whose eternal joy all of humanity is drawn continually by the unremitting power of his love (John 12:32).
Window on the World From Randal Dick
Superintendent of missions
Part 2
After a refreshing sleep we loaded into a van and headed for Sathsimulia, the first place the church became involved in Bangladesh and location of the largest congregation.
We drove for a couple of hours on roads that became progressively narrower until our driver stopped at a dirt path. John Biswas, who directs the church's efforts in Bangladesh, explained that we had to go about three miles along the dirt path before we came to Sathsimulia.
Rod Matthews, regional director, and I were game for the walk, but John had arranged for bicycle rickshaws to transport us. The drivers had been waiting for us and were anticipating income from this job that would be more than they might otherwise make in a week, so they were not about to allow us to walk.
When we finally arrived I could see the training center through the trees. As we approached the building I saw several hundred people, about half of them children, all dressed in their best, sitting waiting patiently for us.
I had asked John earlier who would be present when we arrived. He said that the group would be a mixture of baptized members, their children, interested people who were studying and learning from our gospel workers and some curious members of the community.
I could not differentiate between the various groups. I realized I was seeing something important here. The unbelievers seemed to feel at home, coming and going in and around the building, and participating in the activities as much as anyone else. The gospel had no barriers--no legalistic behavioral patterns, dress patterns or vocabularies that caused the unbeliever to perceive that he or she was an outsider.
I was seeing one of the important factors that accounted for the marked increase in baptisms in the area in the last two years. It might also partly explain why a group of fundamentalist Moslems who came to burn that building down were stopped by residents, who told them to "leave that building alone--those people are doing no harm."
I was impressed with the size and quality of the training center the Canadian brethren provided for the Bangladesh church a few years ago. It is not pretentious but it is well built and is put to excellent use as an elementary school during the week, a ministerial training center and worship center on weekends and, in the flooding about 18 months ago, it became a life-saving shelter.
The building became home and lifeboat for about 100 people for about three weeks. More than 100,000 people died in those floods, and no doubt some of the people who stayed in our building would have died had they not had access to the shelter we provided. I found myself thinking that the building cost a little more than $20,000. It helped save about 100 lives--that's $200 dollars per life--quite worthwhile.
Having seen the tremendous contribution that building makes to the gospel efforts of our Bangladeshi brethren, I want to thank the Canadian members for their foresight and generosity. It is truly a sacrifice that God has multiplied many times over in value.
We decided to visit one of the nearest beneficiaries of the goat project that John started earlier in the year. We walked nearly a mile farther into the countryside. A runner went ahead and soon returned accompanied by a woman who was obviously poor. Her sari was clean, but old and tattered. Distress showed in the woman's eyes. John spoke quietly to the woman, who left and returned leading a feisty little goat on a leash.
John explained to us later that even one little goat gave a family such as this woman's a great deal of self-respect as well as respect in their community. It was almost equivalent in our context of being a homeless person who is given a home.
We walked a short distance farther to the woman's home where she was joined by her husband. Both expressed their thanks for the church's generosity.
The woman and her husband wanted to express their thanks by sharing some refreshment with us. We wanted to be gracious, but John explained to them that we had to get back into Barisol before it became dangerous.
Rod and I were secretly relieved because well meaning as the couple may be, cholera and tuberculosis are widespread, and sanitation could not be assured.
We had walked about a half mile when the woman came running out of breath with three coconuts that she gave us, kneeled and touched her forehead and the toe of our shoes in a sign of respect. I was overwhelmed that she was so full of gratitude for that little goat that she had run all that way to catch us.
I was even more amazed and greatly humbled later in the evening when John explained that the woman and her husband had given us a gift that was worth nearly two days wages.
At that point, I realized that these goats were accomplishing much more than just helping poor people have a little better standard of living. In the case of this couple they had relieved the oppression of their poverty to the point where they could possibly receive the gospel. Furthermore, the couple had a profound regard for those who showed them such love, opening the door for them to hear the message of life that could transform their present and their eternity. I want to thank everyone who donated to the goat program. I can assure you that it has been $40 well spent.
On the way down the path we passed an old man lying on a thin mat on a mud floor about six feet wide and eight feet long. The raised floor was made of packed mud, with no walls, just four bamboo posts with a woven grass roof. I thought this was some kind of outdoor relaxing area.
John talked with the man who, at the end of their conversation, bowed and touched John's shoes and his forehead. As we walked farther down the road toward the vans, John said that what we had seen was the man's only home--where he lived in sun, rain, heat or chill. We saw cows with better shelters than this old man.
John had told him that the church was saving its money and that as soon as they could, the members would buy some tin sheets and help the man enlarge his house a little and put a permanent weatherproof roof over his head. Moslem unbelievers are seeing the love of Christ manifest among them.
We made our way back to Barisal, stopping briefly while John described a few smaller projects that had been started. The next morning we met our mission pilot friends at the airport and flew uneventfully back to Dhaka.
On the next day, we paid a call to the offices of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh, where we had a tentative appointment with one of the senior justices. It turned out that we met and visited three of the justices. As we were leaving, our host asked us to detour to the office of the second-most senior justice. We were graciously received and spent 15 minutes or so getting acquainted.
Rod and I appreciated the fact that they were gracious to us, and we hoped that we had represented the WCG well, and that being known might make it easier for the church's application to the government for recognition to be approved.
We had no other expectations. So we were somewhat amused when John told us that as we left he had invited the two most senior justices to join us for dinner that evening. I think I laughed out loud. You don't just meet a high government official in a courtesy call, and casually invite him to dinner.
I asked John if he thought they would come. He said no, but it was good to make the overture. He said that both men mentioned that they had appointments that evening, but thanked him for the invitation.
That evening we did gather at a restaurant with John, his brother and sister-in-law, and a few other friends. We had just received our first course when we heard a commotion in the front of the restaurant. The manager came bustling up to our table escorting none other than two Supreme Court justices.
One justice and his wife sat where he could talk to John. The other stood behind Rod and me and said: "You must move so I can sit between you. We must talk." We had a wonderful visit that evening. I gained a new perspective on Bangladesh and a respect for the sacrifices these two men make for their country, and I hope that the WCG has been given two more friends in the government.
The next day I said good-bye to Rod Matthews and John Biswas, who was staying a couple of weeks to minister and teach. I was glad to get home, and although tired, I was overflowing with joy at having made contact and fellowshipping with the new brethren in Bangladesh.
REFUGE FROM FLOOD--More than 100 found
refuge in the church's training center during severe flooding
that took more than 100,000 lives.
GOAT PROJECT--Grateful recipient
with goat given to her by church.
[Photo by John Biswas]
SHARING THE WORD--Rod Matthews speaks to schoolchildren,
members, gospel workers and members of the community.
[Photo by John Biswas]
CAMBRIDGE, Ohio--The Cambridge women's ministry had its second women's conference Aug. 25 to 27. The theme was "He Lights My Path Through the Jungle With Truth and Love."
A get-acquainted sing-along and reception for the women took place Friday evening, Aug. 25.
Saturday morning began with praise and worship. Then Tammy Tkach addressed the group. After lunch, the women heard from Sheila Graham. After dinner they watched an outdoor drama presentation on the life of Jesus Christ titled The Living Word.
Roberta Lashua was guest speaker Sunday morning. The event closed with a rededication, communion and lunch.
The next retreat is planned for June 22 to 24. For more information contact Lyn Mills, 5254 Skyline Dr., Cambridge, Ohio, 43725; phone, 1-740-439-7037; e-mail, sherrymills brooklyn@yahoo.com
Tammy Tkach
Sheila Graham
By Jeanette Sherron
SAN LEANDRO, California--The San Leandro Women's Ministry has been involved in various outreach projects.
Hazel Roberts coordinated a service to Union City's Pregnancy Choices Clinic, a service group that offers alternatives to abortion, along with counseling to women with unwanted pregnancies. The women contributed gifts for an Oct. 8 baby shower to provide items these young mothers will require for their new babies.
Jeanette Sherron headed San Leandro's donation to Operation Christmas Child, sponsored by Samaritan's Purse, an international charity chaired by Franklin Graham that distributes shoebox gifts to impoverished children in various countries. The women had a work party Nov. 12 to assemble 98 gift boxes to go along with those contributed by members from the four Bay Area churches.
A number of churches in the Fremont Tri-Cities area combined efforts in Newark Nov. 11 to provide personnel for the Convoy of Hope, a national program that combines meeting physical and spiritual needs of the impoverished. Five women on the women's ministry team participated in this carnival-type program.
Not only were free groceries and other job and health services distributed to more than 2,700 homeless and low-income families, each family also heard the gospel. A pastoral team from Church of the Fremont Tri-Cities presented the message of hope about Jesus Christ. Nearly 500 people made decisions to involve Jesus in their lives.
SHERWOOD, Arkansas--Women's ministry members from the Fellowship Christian Center (WCG congregation in Sherwood) arrived at Westlake Retirement Center Dec. 16, loaded with gaily wrapped packages for each of the 88 elderly residents. The shoe boxes had been filled and wrapped by the women and several members of the congregation.
After piling the gifts around the tree in the lobby, the women joined the residents in the dining room and performed a program of music and Christmas hymns. The gifts were then handed out, bringing grateful smiles to the faces of the elderly, who asked if the women could come again soon for another program of music and song. Ann Evans.
By Jeb Egbert
FRISCO, Texas--As announced in the December WN, for the first time in history, the Summer Educational Program in Orr, Minnesota, will offer a one-week program for adults, with target ages being 20 through 40.
Called Higher Ground II, this program will emphasize discipleship and growing in our relationship with Jesus. In addition, seminar sessions will focus on fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith, how to share your faith and ways to build your congregation.
This will occur in the middle of recreational activities that have been the staple for SEP for decades. Softball, basketball, volleyball, archery, riflery, sailing and the challenge course will be on the agenda.
Higher Ground II will run concurrently with the Higher Ground I program, which targets ages 15 through 20. This will enable both groups to come together for chapels, fellowship, dances, meals and other campwide sessions.
An optional three-day canoe trip will be offered during the week after the session ends. This program will be staffed by SEP's seasoned canoe staff, and will take participants into wilderness areas in the boundary waters separating Minnesota and Canada. The three-day trip will cost an additional $150 per person.
Those coming to Higher Ground II need to plan to arrive in Orr by midnight Friday, July 20, or at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport by 7 p.m. the same evening. The kickoff orientation session will take place Saturday morning, July 21.
The cost for this eight-day program will be $350 per single and $575 for married couples. Couples will be staying in separate lodging, as women will be housed in the traditional camper housing on girls point, and men will be on boys point.
Applications can be obtained by writing to the SEP Office at P.O. Box 2211, Frisco, Texas, 75034. Or you can apply online at www.sepcamp.com For more information, contact camp director Jeb Egbert at jeb_egbert@wcg.org
Plan now to be part of this inaugural session of Higher Ground II. Fewer than 100 spots are available for this program, and applications are being snapped up.
LEWISVILLE, Texas--Teens from four states came together at Camp Summit Dec. 8 to 10 to worship and dedicate themselves to God in the first of a series of regional Discovery Weekends sponsored by the Summer Educational Program (SEP) throughout the United States.
The camp-out, in which the Frisco, Texas, church was host, provided about 120 people from Arkansas, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas with a spiritually energizing and engaging experience. In two activity-filled days structured similar to SEP, campers went through various scheduled activities such as Christ-centered chapels, praise and worship, discussions, games, a dance and a banquet.
Friday night, Dec. 8, started out with praise and worship led by the Nuclear Family band (SEP director Jeb Egbert and family) and a message by Dr. Egbert. The group then headed outside the lodge for fellowship around a bonfire.
The next day, campers attended a pre-breakfast Bible study, church services with praise and worship led by the 316 Praise Team from Oklahoma and a message by Mike Rasmussen, pastor of the Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, church. After lunch, the dorms went through several stations for team-building games.
Back in the lodge after the games, campers were asked to divide into groups of threes. Each group was commissioned to help rebuild the Worldwide Church of God by committing to a project they can make a difference on, starting with their local churches.
Afterward, it was time for Capture the Flag. The dorms were divided into four teams, with two games running simultaneously and the winning teams playing each other in the second round. After the game, the group headed back to the lodge to view a video of last year's SEP.
While the campers dressed for dinner, the staff transformed the lodge into a banquet hall for a dinner and dance. After the dance, the group assembled to watch a video to reminisce on their activities the past 30 hours.
The last half-day of the camp-out was spent in another pre-breakfast Bible study, praise and worship and a message from Randy Bloom, superintendent of the Central district.
For information about future Discovery Weekends, call 1-972-712-5737 or visit the website at www.sepcamp.com Ken Madrid.
BLOWING ROCK, North Carolina--The Mid-Atlantic District was host for a winter youth retreat in Blowing Rock for 90 teens, 25 young adults and 25 parents Dec. 21 to 23.
Paul David Kurts, pastor of the Hickory and Boone, North Carolina, churches, was host.
The teens showed a noticeable desire to deepen their relationship with Jesus and to be more active in serving him. As a consequence, seminar presentations were given on the topics of Christianity makes sense, improving your love life with God through prayer, and practical ways of building the local church. Seminar presenters were ministry leaders ages 19 to 22.
Since the young adults ministered to the teens, the parents were free to attend a seminar designed for them. Greg Williams, district youth coordinator, presented a three-part series titled Turning the Hearts of the Parents to the Children. Parents shared stories of triumph and struggle.
We laughed, cried and prayed together, but most of all we allowed the Holy Spirit to move in us to share in ways that we haven't been able to before.
Activities included swing dancing and snowboarding.
The climax of the retreat came in the final service. P.D. and his brother Michael Shane shared a story of how their lives reflected the parable of the prodigal son and his older brother. Michael Shane spoke of his decade-long struggle with drug addiction, and P.D. shared his struggle of loving and forgiving his brother.
The entire camp came forward for prayer. Some came forward out of their need to be reconciled to loved ones, eight young people came forward for the first time to confess Jesus as Lord and Savior, and some came forward out of supportive love for a friend.
We are going into our fourth year of Discovery Weekends in the Mid-Atlantic District, and I must testify to how God has used these events to reach our young people. Greg Williams.
By Lamont Curtis
MONTVALE, New Jersey--Last summer, at the close of the Higher Ground session of the Summer Educational Program (SEP), the teens and young adults were given a challenge, to not let SEP end but to take it back home to their families, jobs, schools and churches.
Hundreds of youths committed to doing just that, and I had the privilege of seeing that challenge fulfilled when I went to the Montvale and Middletown Mission Possible youth service and weekend Oct. 28 and 29.
The goal of the Mission Possible weekend was to remind our church, and our youths especially, that God's got an incredible love for them, can completely redeem them and has a unique purpose and plan for each of their lives if they would just heed the call.
In emphasizing that point, two heartfelt testimonies were given by teens. Affinity, a Long Island, New York, band, led worship. Two band members also shared experiences of how God brought them together, beginning primarily with asking for his intervention during a 40-day prayer vigil the year before. Praise and worship continued that evening, followed by a heart-to-heart group discussion between the teens and adult leaders about what we can do to help our church grow in size and spirit.
The service was an awesome step in the right direction for unity and evangelism in our church. I left, more than anything, reassured of God's incredible love and faithfulness, and only too eager to see where he takes us in the coming seasons.
Jon Gross commented that the event changed him in ways he did not expect. "My future is taking form before my eyes, and I see a path laid out for me by which to glorify God," he said.
"The weekend also served to heal friendships that were somewhat broken, or had just been drifting apart," he said. "I also had experiences that brought me infinitely closer to people I was not friends with. God's presence was beautiful throughout the weekend."
"God is doing amazing things in our church, and one can be only encouraged when one has the opportunity to observe his hand in us as a body."
ESTES PARK, Colorado--A Discovery Weekend will take place in Estes Park Feb. 16 to 19.
The purpose of the event is to provide young people with a place and opportunity to meet or enhance their relationships with Jesus.
Check-in begins at 6 p.m., Feb. 16. The weekend will include games, activities, chapels, praise and worship and skiing.
For more information call Sarah Samuels at 1-303-369-0243 or send e-mail to her at ssamuels@activelinkcom.net
Fourteen teens from five area churches spent a weekend together Oct. 7 and 8, beginning with an evening of food, devotional time and games at the new home of Mark and Rebekah Kasmerski.
After a sleepover they assembled with seven adults to begin three hours of exploring southern Pennsylvania's Laurel Caverns. Amid climbing, crawling and hiking through narrow passages, they ultimately descended 45 stories below the surface. Jon Kurnik.
WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA TEEN WEEKEND PARTICIPANTS [Photo by Jon Kurnik]
CORNING, California--Justin King, 18, a 2000 honors graduate of Corning Union High School, participated in the national rodeo finals in Springfield, Illinois, July 22 to 29.
He rated 26th out of 180 in the United States. The ranking also included Australia and Canada. He earned a membership in the California Professional Cowboy Rodeo Association.
Justin, who has been interested in rodeo riding since age 14, has tried bull riding, bareback and saddle bronk. Each weekend before Sunday rides, he would attend cowboy church services with a friend. He excelled in bareback, winning many trophies, including nine gold and silver buckles, a pair of spurs, shirts and jeans from Wrangler for being on the All Star Rodeo Team for two years, several hundred dollars and the Butch Trimm Memorial Scholarship Award for college.
He came in third in the California State Finals in Red Bluff in bareback and seventh in the saddle bronk class. This qualified him for the national finals. Alys Carrick.
Justin King
Eighteen teens from the Sayre, Oklahoma, WCG Circle of Love Fellowship and the Lawton, Oklahoma, congregation met Dec. 16 for a Teens 4 Christ Christmas night.
They joined My Father's House of Prayer church for a night filled with caroling and entertainment to a nursing home and residential shut-ins.
Afterward the teens enjoyed a spaghetti dinner, a praise and worship service and a message that encouraged them to protect their hearts and minds from the pollutions of the world. Emphasis was placed on the love Jesus Christ has for each one of them. They were encouraged to make their relationship with Christ personal and to trust him to lead their lives. Joe Tollison.
By Martin J. Koenig
NIAGARA FALLS, New York--Twelve teens from Buffalo, New York, were among 6,000 who attended the Niagara 2000 teen evangelism conference at the Niagara Falls Convention Center Dec. 27 to 30.
The theme of Niagara 2000 "Here Am I" was taken from Isaiah 6:8. Teens were admonished to know the Lord, have a pure heart, lead a pure life and become missionaries on their school campuses. When the Lord asks, "Who will go for us?" our students need to respond, "Here Am I. Send Me!"
Worship, prayer, and enthusiasm for Jesus Christ dominated the conference as speakers, including Reggie Dabbs, Pam Stenzel, Sherri McCready and others, prepared teens to share their faith in their schools and their communities through evangelism training.
Joining the speakers were Christian artists Rebecca St. James, David Parker, LaRue and many others to encourage all to sing and praise God. Christian living workshops and seminars, inspirational drama, testimonies and multimedia presentations illuminated how Jesus can work in the lives of teens and how they can make a difference in the lives of others by sharing their faith.
A service that took teens through the Old Testament tabernacle showed them that through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ we no longer need rituals to come before God.
Hundreds of teens gave their lives to Jesus or recommitted their lives to him. Many experienced a healing and spiritual growth throughout the conference as teens learned how to use what they experienced at the conference and to make a difference in the lives of their friends, classmates, family, church and neighbors.
Niagara 2001 is planned for Dec. 27-30. For more information see the Internet web site at www.Niagara TheEvent.org or by calling the Buffalo/Western New York Youth for Christ at 1-888-415-KIDS. You can also e-mail the WCG Buffalo youth group at mjkoenig@juno.com
NIAGARA 2000--From left bottom: Martin and Beth Koenig, Andrea Ferguson, Diane
Solberg, Kim Thompson, Erin Hershey, Jonathan Holdsworth, Sarah Knaack, Christina
Holdsworth, Garret Hussak, Matthew Knaack and Garrett Ferguson. (Not pictured: Kristen
Thompson)
In his first letter to the Corinthian church, Paul deals with a number of questions the Corinthian Christians had. Some of them felt free to eat meat in pagan temples; others thought that would be sinful.
Paul explains that Christian liberty must be voluntarily limited, and in this case the "free" Christians should stay out of pagan temples so they would not hurt the faith of weak Christians. He illustrates his conclusion by saying that he would not eat meat at all, if eating would cause someone to fall into sin (8:13).
What? Doesn't Paul have the right to do what he wants? Why should his freedom be limited by other people's immaturity?
Paul explains that love requires self-sacrifice, and he gives an example from his own ministry. In this example, the Corinthian church is "weak," and Paul is giving up his rights to avoid offending them. Though he is free, he chooses to be a slave for the sake of the gospel.
"Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not the result of my work in the Lord? Even though I may not be an apostle to others, surely I am to you! For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord" (9:1-2).
Apparently some people in the Corinthian church did not respect Paul, did not accept him as a genuine apostle and were refusing to give him any support. Paul replies that he has full apostolic credentials, but even by a lesser definition, they should accept him as an apostle because he is the one who brought the gospel to them. And because of that, he has certain rights.
"This is my defense to those who sit in judgment on me. Don't we have the right to food and drink? Don't we have the right to take a believing wife along with us, as do the other apostles and the Lord's brothers and Cephas? Or is it only I and Barnabas who must work for a living?" (9:3-6).
Other apostles are being given support--enough to support their wives, too. The Corinthians apparently agree that those apostles have a right to financial support, but they deny it for Paul. (The other apostles were conveniently far away, barely aware of the Corinthians and unlikely to ask them for support.)
This is not fair, says Paul. Barnabas and I are doing the same kind of work, and we should be able to have the same kind of support. Paul gives some examples from secular society: "Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its grapes? Who tends a flock and does not drink of the milk?" (9:7).
"Do I say this merely from a human point of view? Doesn't the Law say the same thing? For it is written in the Law of Moses: `Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain' " (9:8, quoting from Deut. 25:4).
This law is not simply about animals, Paul says. It is a principle that applies to people, too. "Is it about oxen that God is concerned? Surely he says this for us, doesn't he? Yes, this was written for us, because when the plowman plows and the thresher threshes, they ought to do so in the hope of sharing in the harvest" (9:9-10). Yes, people should be paid for the work they do.
Paul then applies the principle to his own situation: "If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much if we reap a material harvest from you? If others have this right of support from you, shouldn't we have it all the more?" (9:11-12) In other words: If I have given you the gospel, you should be willing to support me as I preach the gospel. If I have given you something of eternal value, surely you should be willing to give me things of temporary value.
We have this right, Paul says, "but we did not use this right. On the contrary, we put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ" (9:12). Paul is willing to set aside his rights--the gospel is more important to him than his own privileges. Paul's example is relevant for many modern situations, and his comments challenge those who receive money as well as those who should give. All sides are called to self-sacrifice for the sake of the gospel.
This is common sense, Paul seems to say. The principle is true for oxen, soldiers, farmers and shepherds. If the work is worth doing, it is worth supporting, and this is true in religion, too: "Don't you know that those who work in the temple get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in what is offered on the altar?" (9:13).
To clinch the argument, Paul quotes Jesus: "In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel" (9:14, perhaps alluding to Luke 10:7). But then Paul again notes, "I have not used any of these rights" (9:15).
Paul clearly calls this a command of the Lord, and just as clearly says he does not obey the command. He makes his living by making tents--he understands the Lord's command more as a command for giving than for receiving. The focus is on the responsibility of believers to support the work of the gospel.
The priority for Paul is not money, but the gospel. He willingly sets aside his right to financial support so that people will not think his message is just a speech designed to get money. Some Greek orators made their living by traveling and entertaining audiences with speeches. Others formed schools and charged students for lectures. Paul does not want anyone to think his message is motivated by selfish concerns.
But Paul's willingness to support himself does not change the Lord's command. Ministers of the gospel have a right to financial support, and believers have an obligation to provide support. But Paul is not asking for his own support. "I am not writing this in the hope that you will do such things for me. I would rather die than have anyone deprive me of this boast" (9:15).
Even in this letter, Paul is not asking the Corinthians to support him. His request may have been for the collection he was coordinating for the believers in Jerusalem (16:1-4). He wants to make it clear that he does not preach for his own benefit. Rather, he preaches because the Lord commanded him to preach. The gospel is his priority: "When I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, for I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! If I preach voluntarily, I have a reward; if not voluntarily, I am simply discharging the trust committed to me" (9:16-17). Paul feels compelled, not quite sure whether he is a volunteer or a slave. As he does his duty, he also feels rewarded.
"What then is my reward? Just this: that in preaching the gospel I may offer it free of charge, and so not make use of my rights in preaching it" (9:18). Paul felt good in being able to preach without asking for money. That approach may be good when preaching to unbelievers, but eventually the time comes, as it has here for Paul, when believers must be taught about the Lord's command. Those who accept the gospel of grace must become gracious.
Paul again uses himself as an illustration of how believers should respond to the gospel with self-sacrifice: "Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible" (9:19). His goal is the gospel, not himself. He sets aside his rights, gives up his freedom, to do the work Jesus has given him.
"To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law" (9:20). Jesus, as a Jew, was born "under the law" (Gal. 4:4). Jews were under the law, and Paul obeyed the law when he was with Jews. Why? To win the Jews, to help them accept the gospel.
But Paul also notes that he is not under the law. Rather, he is free to live like a gentile (Gal. 2:14), to live as though he does not have the law, as we see in verse 21: "To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those not having the law."
Paul's priority is to win people, to make the gospel attractive. He is obligated by the law of Christ to set aside his personal preferences so that he can serve others. He uses his freedom in Christ to be a slave, to adapt his behavior to the situation. His main goal is not to uphold tradition or to fight tradition, nor to side with one ethnic group or another, but to preach Christ.
"To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings" (9:22-23).
Paul does not want to disqualify himself (9:27) by living a self-centered life. He goes out of his way to serve others, to serve the gospel. His example is consistent with his message: the message that God loved the world so much that he sent Jesus to die for us. Although we were enemies, Jesus gave up his rights and gave up his life as a ransom for us.
The example Jesus set includes a command for all of us: Those who receive spiritual blessings must be willing to share material things.
Michael Morrison
The church has about 500 articles on our literature web site. Below are the titles about prophecy. To view the articles, direct your computer to www.wcg.org/lit/prophecy
Statement of belief about biblical prophecy
What about biblical prophecy?
The present and future kingdom of God
Are we living in the last days?
The prophetic meaning of Daniel 2 and 7
What Matthew 24 tells us about `the end'
What about the rapture?
Who is the antichrist?
Christ's ascension and his return
Will Christ return?
No one knows when
Revelation: a vision of victory
Revelation and apocalyptic writing
Revelation: a book of cosmic symbols
The six seals of Revelation 6
Who are the 144,000?
The two witnesses of Revelation 11
Jesus and the church in Revelation 12
The beasts of Revelation 13
Who is `Babylon'?
What is the `mark of the beast'?
What about the millennium?
Three views of the millennium
A balanced approach to the millennium
Are there three resurrections?
Salvation in the judgment? Only one name
The resurrection: our hope for the future
The resurrection of the body, and why it matters
What about the intermediate state?
Statement of belief about the intermediate state
Do we go to heaven when we die?
What is heaven?
Will humans become gods?
What does it mean to `perish' in hell?
The eternal rewards of following Christ
Position statement regarding the identity of the ten tribes of Israel
Study paper about the book United States and Britain in Prophecy
How Anglo-Israelism entered the churches of God
By Geoff
Pittman
It's a catchy phrase to talk about building our church, but what does it mean? How do we do it?
A construction company can have all of the materials, workers, plans and vision; but if nobody can take those materials and put them in the right places, nothing will happen. If you have bricks but don't know how to lay them right, the walls will exist only in your mind, or if they do start to rise, they'll quickly come falling down with no stable structure.
As builders we will first need some basics in how to build. Let's take this phrase apart and see what we're talking about when we say building our church.
To accomplish anything worthwhile we've got to start with ourselves. Michael Jackson made it plain when he sang about starting with the "Man in the Mirror." Change must always start with us first. So many times when we kneel to pray the Holy Spirit quickly shows us any sin we need to repent of first, before we can even start to pray for others.
We don't move on to pray for the nation, our families or our friends until we've first established that right connection between ourselves and God. Almost the same goes when we think of building our churches. Since we are part of this church and want to help build it, it only makes sense to start where we have the most influence.
Let's look at our own relationship with God. How are we doing on a day-to-day basis with our Jesus-life? Things to start with are daily prayer and Bible times; feeding time with sermons or books; and matching up our actions with our beliefs. That sends a big ouch to most of us, right? This is where we start though. We don't look at what others are doing or not doing. We don't see anything at first, except Jesus, and our need to be closer to him.
Also, when we say, our church, it shows ownership in the meaning. No longer are we talking about a church that we go to, as if it were something separate from ourselves. Now we are speaking of something that we are connected to, something we feel a part of and even some responsibility toward. To see the connection more clearly we've got to first find out just what a church is.
When we talk about church what's the first thing that comes to our minds? Is it the building we meet in? Is it the pastor, programs or pews? What is the church? If we take away the building do we still have a church? What if we take away the pastor, and then the choir, and the worship leaders, and children's workers, and ushers and elders? Do we still have a church?
We are the church. It's not the building, or structure, or programs or meetings. It's the believers like ourselves that are the church.
Knowing this, when we think of building the church we need to get out of the old mind-set of looking at the service and how good it is. We talk of being a church builder because we help out with the different programs, or we come up with good ideas of what to do next, or we see the need for a better worship and we make it happen.
What can end up happening is that well-meaning church builders go to their pastors with a long list of bad things that need a good fixin'. We come back from camp or another experience with all kinds of new ideas of what we need to do in our church.
We see the hymnals and suits of our congregation and remember the chorus and jeans of the other place and we start building. We remember the 50 programs and ministries of some other church we'd been to, and if only we had all of those, our church would be a fine house of God, so we start building. This usually doesn't result in churches that are now built, but instead pastors who are worn out, members who are frustrated, and churches with lots of stuff, but no substance.
It's only when we see the church as the people, that we can really start building. It's those people who need all of our effort, time and energy poured into them. It's those people who are the church waiting for us to start building.
"You ... like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house" (1 Peter 2:5).
We are those bricks that are stacked up to make this spiritual house. Want to build the church? We've got the foundation. The foundation to start building is in our personal relationship with God. He is the Rock that we build our house on (Matt. 7:24). After the foundation is laid, we start laying bricks. Where do we lay them, though? Just anywhere will not do.
Years ago when the walls of a building were being built, the cornerstone represented the starting place in the construction of a large and important building. Where the cornerstone was placed decided the angle of the other walls. If the cornerstone was no good, the entire building would be messed up.
A lot of times we try to build our churches using the wrong cornerstone. It might be because of social convenience, or immediate needs, or many other reasons. Some of those other cornerstones we build on might not even be terrible, but if any of them are born out of human effort and desire alone, they won't last. Those in the church will not be built as they should, the angles of the walls will be off balance, and when stormy weather comes, the whole building will shake and may even collapse. Our cornerstone, however, is not like that. Our cornerstone is Jesus.
Jesus is the perfect cornerstone--flawless, eternal and solid. He can withstand the storms of life, is strong enough and cut just right to hold us all up at the perfect angle. We must start by connecting the stones to him, then everything else will fall into place.
Our connection with all of the other stones is born out of the connection we all have with our cornerstone Jesus. Our relationships with others in our church are built first on our common relationships with Jesus, and it's from that relationship that we continue to build. To start building our church we base everything on Jesus, and bring everyone to a solid connection with him.
One brick by itself doesn't make a house. We aren't meant to walk this Christian life by ourselves. God's way is the way of community. He calls us his body. A body works together and does not try to do away with any of the parts. It's in our connection as bricks (or stones), which are in turn connected to the cornerstone, that we begin to build the church.
Here is the secret to building our church. It is done through relationships with each other. It's the investments of time, energy and heart into the lives of the other believers.
We are not builders by merely taking leadership with programs, starting activities and working to get things going. Those are good things, but they are merely decorations. It's the people involved that need to be built up. Minister to them, care for them, share the love of Jesus with them, and we will construct a fine building.
Think of people in our church we don't know. Most of them we see week-to-week, could probably tell their names and maybe even where they work, but do we know them?
Who from our church do we spend time with outside of the weekly service? Even a lunch or dinner after the service would be a good start. Then move it up a notch, imagine hanging out with some of the other people you see at church. We are all different and involved in different things. Do we love these people? Do we want to help build our church? Which of us will take the time and get our hands dirty as we invest in other people's lives?
We can bring our church to a closer relationship with Jesus by making a closer relationship with others and ourselves through the common bond of Jesus.
We don't know if we're any good at loving one another until we start to be around one another. In building up the people, we will in turn be building our church. In doing that, we'll earn our official certificate to be a licensed builder.
Let's start building!
Geoff Pittman is a pastoral intern in Lexington, Kentucky.
BUCAY, Philippines--Hawaiian members and elder George McIntosh and his wife, Carolyn, of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, donated $1,500 to the Bucay congregation for the purchase of farm equipment.
The Bucay congregation, which grew out of the evangelistic efforts of Pastor Jerry Ortiguero and the San Fernando La Union church in late 1999 was inaugurated by regional director Bill Sidney Feb. 13, 2000, with 34 baptized members.
Bucay is 10 hours by bus north of Manila.
Mr. Ortiguero, his wife, Gloria, and Pastor Rudy Salisipan visited the congregation Dec. 3. On Nov. 30, Mr. Ortiguero and three other servant leaders from Bucay and Laoag City including Reggie Torres, Bucay bivocational pastor, came over to Dagupan City to buy farm machinery and equipment for the Bucay church. These included a hand tractor with a Kubota diesel engine, water pump and sturdy trailer and accessories. Also in the purchase order were 20 monobloc chairs to be used for worship services and other meetings of the church. These were loaded into a Dagupan member's truck for delivery to Bucay that same day.
Elias and Meling Salibad, members in Hawaii (originally of the Baguio City, Philippines, church) had been in touch with Mr. Ortiguero for quite some time, and they broached the idea of the Hawaii church adopting the newly planted churches in Northern Luzon. Mr. Ortiguero recommended the Bucay church specifically and that the acquisition of farm machinery would do the most good.
Mr. Ortiguero got in touch with Pastor Gary Crowell of Hawaii, who gave his blessings to the project and organized a fund-raising activity involving the Hawaiian members. They sold chili con carne to their neighbors and to the community. By festival time, a sizable amount had been gathered and when this was announced during one of the worship services, Mr. and Mrs. McIntosh contributed 400 Canadian dollars.
The Bucay members are thankful to God for moving his people in Hawaii and Canada to make this donation. They promise to value these assets and to manage them responsibly as befitting stewards of God to provide the greatest good for the most number of people, not only in the church but in the community as well. They have been exhorted to remember that it was God who gave these assets to them and that they ultimately are responsible to God for the rightful and beneficial use of these assets. Rudy Salisipan.
BUCAY GIFT--Bucay members with farm machinery from Hawaiians and Canadians.
ENDLESS MOUNTAINS, Pennsylvania--More than 80 people attended a New Year's eve skate Dec. 31. They represented five churches: the WCG, East Canton Methodist, Sylvania Presbyterian, Troy Baptist and an independent church.
After about an hour of skating, Pastor Lou Tsiknas gave a devotional on God's love and purpose for each person there. A Presbyterian pastor then offered a prayer of blessing. Then the skating continued.
Afterward, Mr. Tsiknas went to the home of the Presbyterian pastor to discuss the evening's event. He is a successful youth pastor and runs an inter-denominational youth ministry in the school system. He said he would like to work with the WCG in the future toward other community events. Lou Tsiknas.
Lou Tsiknas
HARARE, Zimbabwe--Sixty people from Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe attended a regional leadership conference in Harare, Nov. 3 to 5.
The theme of this first of a two-part conference was Principles of Effective Ministry. Worship sessions were led by Kalengule Kaoma, district superintendent for the three countries. Presentations were conducted by guest speaker David Silcox, the U.K. ministerial director, and by James Henderson, regional director for Africa.
Topics included The Pastoral Model of Ministry, expounding how Psalm 23 develops a shepherding metaphor of the pastor; Parables for Pastors, a look at how some of Jesus' parables provide guidelines for those in ministry; Pauline models for ministry; and discussions on accountability levels within the WCG for worship leaders and preachers.
"We need more conferences like this," said Raymond Munengwa, chairman of the