March 2002 Contents

This is our March cover.

In this issue

Conference

More than 220 ministers, district superintendents and members gathered in Pomona, California, for the Southwest district conference Jan. 19 to 21, writes Pastor Neil Earle.

A centerpiece of this conference and those to follow this year is the presentation of the new decentralized model of church finances. Page 3.

Personal

Christianity is based largely on trust, writes Pastor General Joseph Tkach in this month’s Personal.

We have been given exceedingly great and precious promises, but for the most part they remain as promises. Page 6.

Disciplemaking

After spending a year examining the biblical core values that define the body of Christ, the Dayton and Tipp City, Ohio, congregations, pastored by Jim Valekis and his wife, Becky, were reborn as Crossroads Christian Fellowship.

They celebrated their resurrection to new life and new ministry Easter Sunday 2001. Page 8.

Evangelism Explosion

Fourteen members of the Los Angeles and Pasadena NewLife Fellowship congregations studied Evangelism Explosion in October, November and December.

Henrietta Maninang, a certified Evangelism Explosion trainer, conducted the course, which equips lay members to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with their neighbors, co-workers and loved ones. Page 9.

Creation

The first chapter of the Bible tells us that God made heaven and earth and every living thing in six days, writes Michael Morrison in his article "Genesis 1: The Six-Day War."

Are those six "days" to be understood literally, as six 24-hour days, or are they symbolic—figures of speech? Bible-believing Christians disagree on this topic. Page 10.

Take the leap

When we rest in Christ we get out of the business of measuring righteousness, writes J. Michael Feazell in "Take the Leap." Now we can be completely honest and uninhibited in freely confessing our sins to him. Page 15.

SEP

Now is the time to apply for the Summer Educational Program, writes Jeb Egbert, SEP director.

Six camps in the United States will be offered this summer. Page 18.

Bible Study

Paul’s letter to the church at Philippi says more about joy than any other New Testament book, writes Michael Morrison in his Bible Study: "Joy in Jesus Christ."

Even though Paul is under arrest and in chains, he rejoices because of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Page 27.

Financial Report

As we close the books on January, we have received just more than $910,000 in donations, writes controller Ron Kelly.

We have also received about $252,000 from all other sources, making a monthly total of more than $1.15 million. Page 29.

Pomona conference
stresses harvest theme

By Neil Earle

REACHING OUT—Dan Rogers, with the help
of humorous video clips, helps attendees understand
how evangelism can be part of their lives. [Photos by Ron Grove]

TAKING A BREAK—Joseph Tkach gets
better acquainted with one of our newest
members, Noah Albrecht, son of Charles
Albrecht of Church Administration,
and his wife, Susi.

POMONA, California—More than 220 ministers, district superintendents, members and church leaders gathered at the Sheraton Center in Pomona, Jan. 19 to 21, for the Southwest district conference.

A centerpiece was the presentation of the new decentralized model of church finances. Church pastors, treasurers, financial secretaries and head ushers received updates on a Financial Management Manual prepared before the sessions began.

Pastor General Joseph Tkach spoke on leadership, emphasizing that "all Christians are leaders because the Leader of the universe lives inside us." He added: "If Jesus Christ is living actively in us then he has a work for us to do."

Dan Rogers, superintendent of U.S. ministers, amplified these themes in sessions titled "How the Holy Spirit Grows the Church" and a two-part series on discipleship titled "Fulfilling the Everyday Commission."

Mr. Rogers emphasized: "All activities of a church should flow toward the central task of making disciples. The main purpose of our lives is to make disciples who will then go out and disciple others."

On Sunday afternoon, Jan. 20, Ronald Kelly, church controller; Charles Albrecht, Church Administration budget manager; and Robert Meade, director of the Church’s Computer Information Systems department, walked local church financial officials through the steps aimed at completing the church transition from a centralized, media-based ministry to ministries delivered in and through member congregations.

Other sessions addressed men’s and women’s ministry issues, praise and worship, and youth subjects.

"I wish everyone in the church could have heard the discipleship talks," commented Alberta Ecker of the Inland Empire churches in California. "It tied together the whole conference theme of accountability and moving toward a higher level in our Christian walk."

Following are the presenters and a synopsis of the presentations they will make in future conferences.

Be Who You Are in Ministry: Jesus wants us to be alert to the possibilities we have to bless others by what we say and do. Come explore how ministry happens by building relationships that make it possible for Jesus to extend his love through us!

Computer Information Management: This overview session introduces pastors and treasurers to the new computer systems for local accounting, donation processing and membership maintenance. At selected conferences, live software will be available in a one-on-one setting.

Fulfilling the Everyday Commission: This seminar teaches Christians and local churches how to live out the Great Commission (make disciples) in their everyday lives. It gives a practical framework and process for preparing congregations to evangelize and add new disciples to their church.

A workbook will be provided that will help you follow the discussion and remember the key points. This seminar will equip you for winning new people to the church and for building up the church members in Christ.

Got Leadership?: Many useful things are taught about leadership in seminars and university programs, yet, among all the data, research and discussion there is a distinct difference between secular leadership and godly leadership.

There are similarities, but there are important differences. Leadership isn’t just what we do, it’s something that we are, which then drives what we do. Genuine leadership comes from within. In this session, we review how and why godly leadership is different.

Local Financial Management: Our session uses the new financial manual to focus on implementation of a new financial model.

We discuss the background and philosophy behind the changes we plan for local church finances and the value to each congregation to take financial ownership for the welfare and future stability of the congregation.

Where Are We Now in Prophecy?: "Time is running out! Christ is about to return!" the prophecy watchers warn us. Are they right? What does Bible prophecy really say to our modern generation?

Effective corporate worship: The purpose of this session is to emphasize the importance of effective corporate worship. Deficient worship can limit or weaken our evangelistic outreach. We will discuss planning a thematic blended service.

This is helpful for members who want to better understand the principles of biblical worship. This presentation will be followed by communion.

Disciplemaking Principles for Children’s Ministry: Children are important to God and to us as a denomination. How can we use the disciplemaking principles Jesus taught to help them be disciples who make disciples? We’ll also look at several curriculum options.

Developing a Vision for Your Congregation: This seminar is designed to help the pastor and his leadership team recognize the vision God has for their local congregation.

Implementing the Vision for Your Congregation: This seminar will show the pastor and his leadership team how to implement the God-given vision for their local congregation.

You folks at headquarters are my lifeline, as I am too far away to attend services in Medford, Oregon, which is 106 miles or about three hours from Happy Camp on the Klamath River, where I live.

I came here last June at the invitation of my sister, expecting to live in a tent camper for the summers and instead find myself in a doublewide house year round and becoming a member of the community.

Because of the distance and the fact that I don’t own a vehicle, also, at 74 years, a six-hour drive is out of the question. I am attending a little Pentecostal church here. They are an enthusiastic and friendly group, and I’m thankful. However, after 27 years in the WCG, I find it difficult to let go. Impossible is closer, I think. Nevertheless, I feel that God has a purpose in bringing me here.

Verna A. Hibbard

Happy Camp, Oregon

The February WN arrived in today’s mail and I have gone through the various articles. I especially appreciated reading Michael Morrison’s "Basic Christian Beliefs" section on "The End."

The article was a good summary of the balanced Christian perspective on prophecy. A noteworthy quotation: "The misery index goes up and down throughout history, and this will probably continue." Amen.

The article stated, regarding Matthew 24: "Most of what [Jesus] predicted in Matthew 24 was fulfilled in the siege of Jerusalem, A.D. 70. Jesus was warning his disciples about events that they would live to see, and that people in Judea would need to flee to the mountains."

My local congregations, Columbia, South Carolina, and Augusta, Georgia, are trying to focus more on the Persecuted Church. Sam Elisha lives here in Columbia, and has conducted an annual Conference on the Persecuted Church, which has proved informative.

In addition, we have had him speak to our congregations several times and it has helped us get our minds off ourselves and onto our suffering brothers and sisters in Christ (though we may not know them).

I subscribe to the Intercessors for America weekly prayer bulletin as well as to Tim and Darcie Gill of the Voice of the Martyrs. It unsettles me to realize how oblivious I have been over the years to the ongoing persecution of many in the body of Christ (in truth, I did not even recognize those people as Christians—rather they were "Christians in name only"—may God forgive me).

John Moskel

Lexington, South Carolina

Holli: Touched by an Angel

PASADENA—Holli, age 9, who attends Pasadena NewLife Fellowship, will appear on television’s T ouched By an Angel, tentatively scheduled for March 2, in a lead guest-starring role. Holli started acting when she was 4. Her biggest role to date was as the lead child in the Paramount film B less the Child with Kim B asinger. She has done more than a dozen commercials and more than a dozen theatrical roles, including appearances on Judging Amy and Dr. Quinn: Medicine Woman. She will be on ER sometime in March.

Last spring Holli was flown to Bulgaria with her mother, Doris, to film a movie, Run for the M oney, with Christian Slater, Val Kilmer and Daryl Hannah.

B less the Child came out in Bulgaria the day before Holli arrived there, and as a result, she was a recognized star during her two-month stay. She was on the cover of a national magazine, was host for a children’s national one-hour television program, was interviewed by the television news and was in the newspapers and was host for a children’s English school graduation.

In each case the family was asked what they believed about God. Holli's mother said that it was a thrilling experience for them to share their faith and experience of a living, loving God with people who were oppressed by communism for 45 years and were eager to hear that God is and that he loves them.

Holli started going to the Worldwide Church of God when she was in the first grade, and Kassie, a WCG member, was in her class. Kassie kept asking Holli to go with her to Sonlight Club, but her parents, thought the WCG was a cult. They kept turning Kassie down with various excuses.

Then on Valentine’s Day, the teacher had a class gathering of the parents and students, and each student read a paper he or she had written. Kassie got up and read about how she wanted so badly for Holli to be able to go to Sonlight Club with her. Holli’s parents melted in their shoes and looked at each other and nodded. After the class, they said Holli could go with her the next meeting. Later they told Holli they were going to go along, too, so they could help her understand what was taught and what their family believed and didn’t believe.

The day finally came, and the family apprehensively went to Sonlight Club with Holli. As soon as they saw the materials and met the people there, they knew God had steered them there. It was exactly what they’d been looking for, and praying for, for Holli—an extracurricular group that would teach her the Bible and Bible verses and Christian values like Holli’s mom had been taught at that age. Holli has been going ever since, and loves every minute of it.

TAKING A BREAK—From left,
executive producer Jon Anderson,
Roma Downey and Holli.

FILMING—Holli (center) with Roma Downey (left)
filming Touched By an Angel in Salt Lake City, Utah, in
December. [Photos by Holli's mother]

Personal from Joseph Tkach

In Christ we trust

Christianity is based largely on trust. We have been given exceedingly great and precious promises, but for the most part they remain as promises. We have eternal life, we are told, but we still die. We will be raised incorruptible, but in this life our bodies still degenerate. We have fellowship with the Father, we are assured, but sometimes he seems terribly distant.

How can we be sure it is all true? Although we have evidence in nature and in Scripture, we must still have a large component of trust. We have to take God’s word for it, to trust him to be faithful. We have no other choice.

All beliefs require faith. Atheism requires that certain ideas be believed. Agnosticism involves beliefs that have no proof. Hinduism, Buddhism, animism and all other isms involve belief in ideas that cannot be proven. Our decision, then, is not whether to have faith but what to have faith in. Christians have faith in Jesus Christ.

Faith in Christ means much more than merely believing that he exists, as if we are saved by our knowledge. Faith means more than agreeing that he is our Savior, that he died for our sins. That is important, but faith involves more than that.

If we really believe that Jesus died for our sins, then we also believe that we sinned, and that our sins deserved death. We believe that we could not pay for our own sins, and if Jesus had not died for us, then we would be condemned, excluded from the kingdom of heaven. If we accept Christ as our Savior, then we admit that we cannot save ourselves. We don’t just trust in God—we trust in Christ as our only means of being in fellowship with God, our only means of being saved.

If we stand before the judgment seat of Christ and he asks us why we should go into eternal life rather than eternal punishment (Matt. 25:46), we cannot talk about ourselves. There’s no point in mentioning all the good things we did, all the laws we kept, all the Bible study we did.

The central issue is not what we did, but what has been done about our sins. Everyone has done a mixture of good and bad, righteousness and sin. The question is, What has been done about the sin?

The answer is, Jesus died for our sins. That is the only way our sins can be removed from the record, the only way we can be counted as righteous. It does not matter how many sins we have—Jesus died for them.

Even if we have only one little sin and millions of good deeds, the only way we can be counted as perfectly righteous is to accept the death of Christ as covering our transgression. And even if we have millions of sins and very little good in our life, Jesus died for all our sins, no matter how many there are.

We don’t have any physical evidence of that, do we? We can see historical evidence that Jesus died, but historians can never prove that his death covers our sins. For that, we just have to trust him, to take his word for it. We can see evidence that he was resurrected, vindicated by God, and that the apostles proclaimed forgiveness in his name, and we have reason to trust him, but it still boils down to trust. We have his word, and we have to trust him. We have no other hope. If there is no God, we are doomed, and if there is no Jesus, we are doomed.

So when it comes to eternal life, where do we stand? Do we stand on our good deeds, or do we stand on the promises of Jesus Christ? When we accept Jesus as our Savior, it means that we stand on him.

We trust that in his death, he did everything that is needed for our salvation. We do not trust in ourselves, but in him, for eternal life. Titus 3:5 makes it very clear: "He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy."

No one can boast in what they have done. No one can say, "I think I’ll make it into the kingdom because I’ve done this or that." No one gets into the kingdom with a self-made ticket. All we can say is: "I will be saved only because Jesus died for all my sins, even though they were many. I can be here only because I was invited, and he paid for my ticket."

When we stop discussing the righteous deeds we have done and focus instead on Jesus’ grace, then we have accepted Jesus as our Savior. If we try to claim some credit, even a little bit, then we are not fully trusting in Christ.

"But that’s not fair," some people say. "A person who does good is locked out because she rejected the gospel, and a criminal is welcomed because he did? Where is the logic in that?"

The logic is that everybody has done a mixture of good and evil. The question is not whether one has done more good than sin, but whether the sin has been taken care of.

A person who insists on doing things her own way, even if she usually does good, cannot be trusted. A person who rejects the grace of God is stuck in pride. A person who believes herself to be good enough for God on her own righteousness, is a fool who woefully underestimates the goodness of God.

On the other hand, a person who admits her sins, even if they are many, is on the road to recovery. A person who admits that she doesn’t have a chance, except for the grace of God, is willing to accept God’s help—and that is the only way that eternal life will be enjoyable. We have to admit that we aren’t God, that we can’t work our way into being perfect.

"Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

"But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner’ " (Luke 18:10-13).

Jesus’ point is that we must recognize our need for mercy. If we think we are OK because of what we have done, we are not OK, no matter how much good we have done.

We have misunderstood what "good" is. We have neglected the most important duty in the universe: to worship God. We have turned our backs on our Creator, trying to be independent of him, refusing to believe him when he says that there is no way we can be good on our own, and that we need his mercy and help.

For spiritual life, we must recognize that we are dependent on God, not just for physical life but also for spiritual life and well-being.

When we understand grace, we become grateful to God for his mercy. We know that we fall way short of his glory, but he loves us anyway. This does not cause us to despise him, but to love him. We are moved to worship him even more as we see more clearly the endless depths of his love and patience.

As Titus 2:12 says, God’s grace teaches us to despise sin, and to seek righteousness while we wait for Christ to complete the process he has begun in our lives.

In Christ, we have confidence! He has demonstrated his commitment to us, in setting aside his glory to become a human to give his life for us. We can be sure that he will complete the job.

His resurrection is evidence that God approves of his sacrifice for us, that it was accepted, that it was an effective atonement. His miracles, his resurrection and his ongoing help in our lives all testify that he can and will do what he has promised. He is the God-man mediator, uniquely qualified to give us fellowship with God.

But we do not yet see what we shall be. We still see sin in ourselves, we see struggle, we see ourselves falling short time and time again. Yet we do not despair, for we are assured that Jesus’ death covers all sins, even ours. Our failures do not depress us, but cause us to be more thankful for God’s mercy. Our confidence is in Christ, not in our performance, not in our fallible efforts to please him. We cannot lean on ourselves, but must lean completely on Christ. Only he is trustworthy.

We are like the patriarchs, who believed in things they could not see (Hebrews 11:1). The patriarchs had plenty of sin, and they had moments of doubt, but they ended up trusting in God. They received some of the promises, but for the really big promises, they died without having received what was promised (verse 13).

Abraham was promised an eternal city, a heavenly home, but he died without it. Our only real evidence is faith. We have no tangible proof that Abraham will get what he believed; we have no tangible proof that we will get the salvation that we look for.

What we have are promises. Jesus says: "Yes, you are forgiven. Yes, you have the Holy Spirit living in you. Yes, you have eternal life. Yes, you are qualified for the kingdom. Yes, I will see to it."

We do not have proof—we have promises, and we have to trust in him. Yes, he has paid for all our sins. Yes, salvation is by grace, a free gift even to the worst of sinners. Yes, he has done what we need. We can trust in him. We can trust him for eternal salvation; we can also trust him in day-to-day life.

Birth of a
disciplemaking
congregation

By Becky Valekis
Discipleship Ministry coordinator

DAYTON, Ohio—After spending a year examining the biblical core values that define the body of Christ, the Dayton and Tipp City, Ohio, congregations, pastored by my husband, Jim Valekis, were reborn as Crossroads Christian Fellowship, a congregation of the Worldwide Church of God.

We appropriately celebrated our resurrection to new life and new ministry when we met for the first time on Easter Sunday 2001. As we explored our core values, our mission as a congregation became much clearer. We are to follow Jesus. We saw how Jesus spent his 3¹/2 year ministry calling, training and eventually sending out disciples into the world to make more disciples.

Throughout the summer of 2001 many of us spent time in prayer and fasting as we desired to be shown how to obey Jesus’ command to make disciples and how God’s plan for our congregation could be lived out in each Christian’s everyday life. We focused our prayers seeking how we could best serve others outside our fellowship, how to help each other grow, and how to be part of spreading the gospel with the end result of making new disciples.

As a result of this time of seeking God’s will, what is commonly known as the Great Commission of Matthew 28 became our marching orders. We clearly heard Jesus’ call and now, because all authority has been given to Jesus, as we are going, we will make disciples and teach them all things HE has commanded us. We will not become discouraged because we know he will be with us, "even to the end of the age."

Being disciples and preparing ourselves to become disciplemakers involved most of the congregation. Some volunteered their time and services for ministry opportunities to help the local fellowship function smoothly and to prepare to take care of any new babes Jesus would send our way.

Children’s and teen discipleship classes were organized and offered at weekly services even when there were no or only two to five children present. Six months later the average attendance is 20 or 21 children weekly in these classes.

We organized a hospitality ministry. Some became involved in the building ministry to modify and beautify our meeting hall; others in women’s ministry to help serve the congregation. Some were motivated to serve in a communications ministry, developing a monthly bulletin and a weekly e-mail encouragement newsletter called the Crossroads Update written by the pastor.

Our Internet website was updated to list meeting times and places, and our core values. The website also offers streaming audio sermons and pictures of church activities.

The weekly worship service continued to be refined and revamped by those who lead worship to make our weekly worship a time of praise and adoration of our Lord and Savior Jesus. Worship now includes music of several types and styles, young and older worship leaders, skits and drama, prayers, the inclusion of a weekly offering, and more frequent Lord’s Suppers.

My husband asked me to coordinate the formation of discipleship training "classes" that would meet twice monthly. These are designed to help train members to become disciples who disciple others. Our main objective is for each person to become firmly rooted in Christ and to become established, mature, reproducing Christians. Two groups are using The New 2:7 Series by NavPress, and the other two groups are using Discipleship Essentials by Greg Ogden.

Three discipleship training groups began meeting in September, and one for young adults began in December. These training sessions prepare each person not only to become a disciple of Jesus but also to become someone who can disciple others. Each disciple-in-training signed a Discipleship Group Agreement. A disciple commits to putting a high priority on attendance at each session, to call if they can’t attend or will be late, to complete all assignments ahead of time, to memorize selected Bible verses to the best of their ability, and to consider becoming a leader of a new discipleship group.

One group of seven meets in our home, two (one group of 12 and one group of three) meet at the church hall, and the group of 10 to 12 young adults meets in the home of one of the young adults, Jason Franz. Presently my husband, Jim, leads all the groups and meets with two or three individuals, one to one, who can’t come to any of the regularly scheduled groups.

Each two-hour session is devoted to instruction to sharpen each disciple’s personal spiritual life in Christ, specifically through Bible study, prayer and scripture memory. We are learning that as we experience and enjoy a stable and consistent Christian walk, it enables us to develop into Christians who have an impact on people in our personal spheres of influence.

In coming months, we will learn how to engage others in conversations on spiritual topics, tell our personal faith story, how to follow up on a new convert to help ground them in the basics of the Christian faith and connect them to other Christians, and to know how to assimilate new believers into the church so they will also want to become disciples who make disciples.

The fruits of these groups are already beginning to grow. Gary Weldon of Tipp City related: "A co-worker who I had been praying for over a few years approached me and was looking for help. His life had hit bottom, as he worded it. I told him that the first thing to do was to take care of the most important thing first, getting right with God.

"In the following days I shared with him openly the gospel of Jesus, and he accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior. We have since met four times for one-to-one Bible study and I do my best to encourage him when we are at work."

Another member of the discipleship class, Jay Ritchie from Dayton, reported: "One evening several weeks ago, I was eating dinner rather late, so I stopped by a pub for a hamburger and fries. While I was sitting there, I introduced myself to the gentleman sitting next to me. He spoke about his life and all of the troubles he had gone through to get to where he was in life.

"I probed him about the completeness of his life and found him to be scared and alone. I told him of the love and power of God and of his desire for this man to turn to him for his needs.

"Before I left that evening, he told me that he believed that God sent me there that very evening to tell him these things. He also indicated that he was going to go to his stepson’s house and see if they would welcome him into their family, as they had been saved a few years ago. Praises be to God."

Other members have found themselves answering questions about Jesus and the Christian faith by using their memorized scripture verses or explaining their personal relationship with Jesus to co-workers and family members.

The group that meets in our home sponsored a holiday gathering in December. We all made an effort to begin building bridges of friendship with those who came from our neighborhood. We are purposely getting used to putting ourselves and our faith in Jesus in more public view.

The classes will run about 18 months. At the end of this first round, we are expecting to have 20 to 25 percent of our congregation trained to go out into the harvest and to help in training others who also desire to become disciples.

We have found that the members of our congregation truly want to become self-feeding, fruit-bearing disciples of Jesus, who, themselves, become disciplemakers. The fruit of this past year has produced an exciting, growing momentum for our congregation and for many of our individual members.

Los Angeles,
Pasadena NewLife members 
in Evangelism Explosion

By John Zaprzala

PASADENA—Fourteen members of the Los Angeles and Pasadena NewLife Fellowship churches studied Evangelism Explosion in October, November and December.

Henrietta Maninang, a certified Evangelism Explosion trainer, and sister of Pastor Bermie Dizon, flew in from the Philippines to conduct the course, which equips lay members to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with their neighbors, co-workers and loved ones.

Evangelism Explosion originated with D. James Kennedy, pastor of the Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale Florida, using the biblical concept that every member is an evangelist. Evangelism Explosion outlines how a whole congregation can be motivated to perform this task of evangelism.

This method of evangelizing is used successfully in the Philippines. The Antipolo church, pastored by Henrietta’s husband, Medardo, has doubled in the past three years, and more than 70 percent of its members have gone through the course.

This course gives members training and resources to present the gospel step by step and lead an individual to Jesus Christ.

For more information contact Mr. Dizon at bermie_dizon@wcg.org or Evangelism Explosion International at P.O. Box 23820, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, 33307; phone 1-954-491-6100; e-mail info@eeinternational. org; or visit their website at www.eeinternational.org

NEWLIFE—Front row, from left: Janet Morrison, Mercy Figueroa, trainer Henrietta Maninang, Judy Myada and Linda Miller. Back row: Pastor Bermie Dizon, John Zaprzala, Willie Jacinto and Mervin Walton.

LOS ANGELES—From left: Sandra Plummer, Ron Greene, Gloria Williams, Steven Brooks and Ed Green. Not pictured: Clifton Tracy [Photos by Ben Dizon]

Genesis 1
The Six-Day War
Are the six days of creation literal or figurative?

By Michael Morrison

The first chapter of the Bible tells us that God made heaven and earth and every living thing in six days.

Are those six "days" to be understood literally, as six 24-hour days, or are they symbolic—figures of speech? Bible-believing Christians disagree on this topic, often with great emotion, sometimes condemning all who do not understand Genesis 1 in the same way as they do.

The literal view is simple: Genesis 1 is telling us that God created everything in six evenings and six mornings—ordinary-length days. The literal view says, Believe it because that is what is written.

But is that really what is written? Let us look at the evidence in Scripture. We can start with day four as an example: On the fourth day, God commanded that there be lights in the sky to separate day and night. He made the sun, moon and stars to separate light from darkness (Gen. 1:14-18). But we are told in verse 4 that God had separated light from darkness on the first day; and "evening and morning" shows that there was already a separation between night and day. So what really happened on the fourth day of creation?

One conservative suggestion observes that the Hebrew word for "made" could mean "had made"— God may have made the sun, moon and stars billions of years earlier, and God caused them to be visible on the fourth day of (re)creation. The creation account is written from an earthly perspective. Also, since half of earth is in darkness when the other side is in day, the terms evening and morning indicate a perspective not only limited to earth in general, but to a specific point on earth.

However, if we say that the account is written from a limited perspective, we admit that the account is not abstract truth. When God called for light, he meant light on earth, not light in general, because light already existed in outer space.

When verse 14 says, Let there be sun and moon, it really means, Let those on earth be able to see the sun and moon, or perhaps, Let the sky be clear.

When we understand the Bible this way, we are not interpreting it literally. Perhaps the creation story was not meant to be interpreted literally.

Genesis 1 does not describe how God created. It does not give us the physics of how he separated land and sea; it is not designed to tell us whether he created aquatic insects and land-dwelling insects on the same day. It does not tell us whether the stars existed before verse 16, or whether they simply became visible. Although we are told that God rested on day 7, we are not told that he was tired.

God began the creation by calling for light, and there is no other way for light to appear than instantly. Either it exists or it doesn’t. Therefore we might conclude that creation would have begun with morning. But what did God do in the afternoon? Did he continue to create more light, or did he rest? Did he rest in the evening, like he did on the seventh day?

Even an ancient Israelite could have wondered. However, such questions try to squeeze precision out of an account that wasn’t designed for it.

God then separated light from darkness (verse 4). The literary sequence implies that darkness was separated only some time after light existed, but light is always separated from darkness; they are distinct by definition.

Perhaps verse 4 is not intended to be sequentially precise. Or perhaps it means that, at the assumed point of observation, darkness finally came. Either way, this is not what the text says literally.

In verse 6 (day 2) God separated the waters. Where did this water come from? Genesis does not tell us. Verse 10 tells us that "earth" (same Hebrew word as in verse 1) is dry land; verse 8 tells us that space between waters is "heaven" (same Hebrew word as in verse 1). But it does not tell us when water was created. It is mentioned in verse 2 as simply existing. So here we see something else incomplete about the sequence.

On day 3, God separated land and water (verse 9). We might imagine continents rising out of the ocean, but consider the hydrological problem that would exist if an entire continent rose in one 24-hour day.

The Nile River is more than 4,000 miles long. Water would have to flow more than 150 miles an hour in order for Africa to appear in one day.

Erosion would have been catastrophic unless God miraculously removed the water, or unless much smaller units of land were involved. The account gives a general picture, not a geological and hydrological description.

Also on the third day, land produced plants with seeds and fruits. Perhaps fully grown trees with mature fruits were created instantly—nothing is impossible for God—but perhaps this isn’t supposed to be read so literally. Perhaps all it means is that God created fruit-bearing trees—trees capable of bearing fruit.

On the fourth day, God called for the sun and moon to separate day and night—something seemingly unnecessary, for day and night already existed. And God commanded that the sun and moon "give light on the earth"—another thing that had already been done on day one. Part of the stated purpose is puzzling if we interpret the account literally. The questions about sequence exist no matter how long the "days" were (see box).

"God made two great lights," we are told in verse 16. Since Hebrew does not have a past perfect tense, this phrase could mean that God had, at some unspecified time before, made the sun and moon (just as verse 2 could mean the earth had become formless and empty).

This grammatical solution works well in English, but it wouldn’t impress the original Hebrew readers, who would simply see a series of similar verb forms: He did this, he did that, he did the next thing, etc.

What a word could mean is not what it means literally. Literally, the verb tense is not specific, and if we try to be more specific, we are not interpreting literally.

When we discuss past perfect tenses and unspecified prior times, we are implying that this list of God’s creative activities cannot be taken at face value as a chronological sequence. We are attempting to clarify something that was not intended to be precise.

One more observation about day 4: The sun, moon and stars were set "in the expanse of the sky" (verses 14, 15 and 17). Verses 6 to 8 inform us that the expanse of the sky was formed by separating water under the expanse from water above the expanse.

We are told three times not just that the stars are visible in the sky, but that they are in the expanse. Genesis 1 therefore describes a layer of water above the stars. However, there is no evidence for a layer of water above the stars, nor can we imagine how there might be. Yet this is what Genesis 1 says if we take it literally. The passage is simply not a scientific description, and the text itself forces us to allow figurative interpretations.

On day 6, God created animals, and then humans, both male and female (verses 26-27). However, chapter 2 gives us a longer story. "When the Lord God made the earth and the heavens—and no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth.... God formed the man from the dust of the ground" (Genesis 2:4-7). Could it be that God created Adam before the shrubs? Either this sequence is wrong, or the sequence in Genesis 1 is wrong. Or could it be that neither story is meant to be sequentially precise?

After creating all animals and creating Adam, "God planted a garden in ... Eden" (Genesis 2:8). And he "made all kind of trees grow out of the ground" (verse 9). The word planted (rather than "created") implies time. Grow implies time, too—a long time, for trees.

God told Adam what he should do and what he could eat (verses 15-17). God then had him give names to "all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air" (verse 19). This taxonomic job must have taken a lot of time, for if the names were to be meaningful, they would have to describe something about the animal, which means that Adam would have had to observe the animal and think about each one.

Then God created Eve (verses 21-22). Adam named her, and expressed delight at his new companion (verse 23). His delight implies that he was aware of being lonely, which also implies passage of time.

Did all this happen in one 24-hour day? Ancient readers, if they thought about it, might conclude that creation was not as simple as Genesis 1 presents it. Perhaps Eve wasn’t really created on the same day as Adam, or perhaps Genesis 1 isn’t supposed to be a newspaper report. Perhaps it has a different purpose, and if we use it for chronology, we are misusing it.

We see a hint of that in a word-for-word literal translation of Genesis 2:4, which uses "day" in a nonliteral way: "in the day that the Lord God made earth and heaven" (New American Standard). This implies that God created everything in one day. (The NIV leaves yom untranslated in this verse, but it’s the same Hebrew word used in chapter 1 for "day.")

Day has a broad range of meaning, and can be used in a general sense to mean a span of time. Genesis 2:4a, just like 1:1, uses the word bara’, "created." Are 1:1 and 2:4a referring to the same time period? Is that time different than the verses between them? Does the literal meaning involve great jumps in time? This again suggests that the chapter is not intended to be an exact chronology. We cannot insist on precision if we are faithful to an account that was not meant to be precise.

But doesn’t Exodus 20 clearly tell us that God created everything in six days, and because of that the Israelites should work six days and rest the seventh?

Yes, but the analogy works no matter how long the "days" of creation were, or even if they were of different lengths. The analogy applies to years, too, because Israelites were told to keep an agricultural sabbath every seven years.

The analogy does not depend on chronological precision. God structured the Israelite work week, but we cannot assume that his creative week was the same length as one of ours. His perspective on time is different.

Many conservative commentators believe that the Bible should be read literally unless demonstrated otherwise. Many of them have been convinced on literary and theological grounds that Genesis 1 should probably be read otherwise.

One such commentator is Gleason L. Archer Jr., who writes: "Belief in the inerrancy of Scripture involves neither a literal nor a figurative rule of interpretation. What it does re- quire is a belief in whatever the biblical author (human and divine) actually meant by the words he used" (Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties, Zondervan, 1982, page 59).

We have seen evidence that the creation account cannot be interpreted literally all the way through. God did not actually create the sun and moon on the fourth day. Nor were the creative acts of the fourth day for the purpose of separating night from day or giving light on earth. At least some of the account is poetic (for lack of a better term) rather than precise.

In how many aspects is the account nonliteral? Opinions vary. If some parts of the account are not meant literally, what about the days?

Has the account been designed to form a symbolic pattern? Some parts of the account don’t fit literally, since creation began with light, not with evening. Other events, such as the separation of land from water and the growth of plants, also suggest spans of time longer than 24 hours. And even if the "days" are longer than 24 hours, the sequential questions still suggest that the chapter is not meant to be a chronological report.

Archer comments, "Genesis 1 was never intended to teach that the sixth creative day, when Adam and Eve were both created, lasted a mere twenty-four hours." He says it is unlikely that "Adam’s experiences in Genesis 2:15-22 could have been crowded into the last hour or two of a literal twenty-four-hour day."

Genesis 1 does not give scientific facts. What then is it for? Primarily, it reveals God as Creator. The things that other people worshiped are not gods. Rather, they were created by the true God, who rules over the chaos "god," who has power to command the ocean "god." God is above the powers of nature; he is supernatural.

Each day of creation dismisses more deities—light and darkness, earth and sky, land and water, sun and moon and stars, fish and birds, animals and even man. They are all created, having no power except that appointed by the Creator God.

Archer writes: "The purpose of Genesis 1 is not to tell how fast God performed His work of creation (though, of course, some of His acts, such as the creation of light on the first day, must have been instantaneous).

"Rather, its true purpose was to reveal that the Lord God who had revealed Himself to the Hebrew race and entered into personal covenant relationship with them was indeed the only true God, the Creator of all things that are."

It is also possible that some of the described events, especially those in day 4 (which we have already admitted) and in 2:4-7, are out of their original order. This is also within biblical literary style.

Bruce K. Waltke writes: "As so often happens in Scripture, historical events have been dischronologized and reconstructed for theological reasons. For example, the nations listed in Genesis 10 came into existence after the confusion of languages at Babylon recounted in Genesis 11, but the writer has dischronologized events in order to put the nations under Noah’s blessing, not under the Babylon’s curse.

"According to Genesis 35:16-18, Benjamin was born in Canaan, but less than 10 verses later it lists Benjamin among Jacob’s sons born in Paddan-Aram, presumably to represent the youngest patriarch as taking part in the return of all Israel from the exile in Paddan-Aram. Biblical writers display a freedom in representing historical events for theological reasons." ("The Literary Genre of Genesis, Chapter One," Crux, December 1991, volume 27, number 4, page 7).

There is also a schematic arrangement. In the first group of three days, God organized motionless spaces by separating one from another; in the second group of three days, God formed things to fill and rule over those spaces.

The sun and moon and stars occupy and govern the light and darkness; the fish and birds fill and rule the water and air; the animals fill the land, and man rules all.

Another theological reason for the six days of creation is the Sabbath. A one-day creation could demonstrate God’s power over all other powers, but we are given a pattern of six days and a day of rest. The Sabbath commemorates God as Creator, as having all power. It does not matter whether creation was actually done in six days. What matters is that the week is assigned to correspond to creation. Using that pattern, God told the Israelites to take a break from their occupations on the Sabbath, a break from their concerns with created things, so they can remember the Creator.

None of the interpretations of Genesis 1 has explained everything. But it is clear that we cannot require a strictly literal reading. The difficulties involved in literalism show that the account is not intended strictly literally. It is right to allow exploration and to suggest some possible nonliteral explanations.

Dogma is appropriate for some matters of faith, such as "God is the Creator," but not for a 144-hour interpretation of Genesis 1. That is not necessary for salvation, Christian living or Christian unity. Nor is it essential to understanding God’s creative power or his inspiration of the Bible.

Faith does not require us to ignore all facts and stick to our own conclusions. When God asks us to believe something, he gives us evidence. He asks us to believe that Jesus is the Son of God, the Messiah, and he gives us evidence by resurrecting him from the dead. Jesus appeared to hundreds of people and gave visible and tangible evidence. Those witnesses gave reports that are evidence for us.

But God has not given us tangible evidence of a six-day creation. Actually, he has given us a lot of evidence to the contrary. The sun and stars appear to be old; the earth appears to be old. It is not wrong to believe this tangible, God-given evidence.

We appreciate the faith of all who believe in a six-day creation. We appreciate their desire to defend biblical authority and validity. But God does not require his people to believe the literal interpretation of Genesis 1. God has given us evidence, in the text and in creation, that Genesis 1 is not intended as a literal description.

Salvation does not require belief in a six-day creation. Faith in God and in his Word does not require us to reject visible facts.

The Bible is not meant to be a scientific textbook. Nor is it designed to reveal secrets about primordial history that have no relevance to salvation.

The Bible does not answer the questions that science asks. Nor does science address all the issues the creation account does. The two approaches are different tools for different jobs, and if people perceive conflicts between the two, it is because they are trying to force a tool to do a job it wasn’t designed to do.

However, many people think that science and Christianity conflict. They think they have to choose between science on one hand and belief in a six-day creation on the other. This is unfortunate, because there shouldn’t be any conflict. We can have faith in God and believe facts.

Faith should be built on the correct foundation, not on an overly specific interpretation when other interpretations make better sense. Belief in God can legitimately be combined with a nonliteral view of Genesis 1. Christians do not need to feel that faith requires a 6,000-year-old-earth theory, a six-day creation theory, a "gap" theory or any other theory that attempts to squeeze scientific precision out of the biblical creation account. Such theories may, in the long run, do faith more harm than good, if they cause people to reject the Bible.

Many people have abandoned faith in God because they thought they had to choose between God and a 144-hour creation on one hand, and fossils and an evolutionary explanation on the other. It is a false dichotomy, a choice that doesn’t have to be made. Belief in God can legitimately be combined with a nonliteral view of Genesis 1, and atheism is not the only possible explanation of the changes we see in the fossil records.

As more Christians learn about geology and the development of life, it is important that facts do not contradict faith in God. There need be no conflict. Faith should be built on the correct biblical foundation, not on one particular interpretation of the Bible when other interpretations are also possible. We do not want to equate faith in God with faith in a 144-hour interpretation. One is a solid foundation; the other may be mistaken.

A flexible view of Genesis 1, one that makes fewer specific claims, is better because it is true to the text and is able to accommodate more facts without any challenge to faith.

Was creation done in six literal days or not? Sincere Christians hold one view; equally sincere Christians hold the opposite. But the true spirit of Christianity is love for others. We may disagree, but we should not be disagreeable. The debate should not be a war about orthodoxy and heresy. Rather, those who hold each view should present the evidence as clearly as they can and point out weaknesses of different views—without attacking other people.

We cannot decide which view is true based on how many people believe this or that, or on who believes it. Each Christian needs to decide what to believe based on the biblical and geological evidence, as guided by the Holy Spirit. And each Christian should be charitable to those who make a different decision.

A third view

Some scholars believe that Genesis 1 presents 24-hour days. Others believe that the account is figurative not only in the length of days but also the sequence of events. Some scholars take a "middle" view—that the sequence is correct, but the days are longer than 24 hours.

The Jewish scholar Gerald Schroeder, for example, argues that Genesis presents creation in terms of "cosmic time," in which time is relative to the expansion of the universe after the big bang.

In this way he argues that creation day one was 24 hours long by the cosmic clock, but eight billion years long as we count time today. Day 2 would have been four billion years, and day three only two billion years. Day 6 would have been only 250 million years long.

With mathematics correlating physics and the Bible, Schroeder has persuaded many. However, he does not solve the sequential problems that are evident in Genesis 1.

Other scholars, such as Karl Barth, say that the days of Genesis 1 are 24-hour days but deny that the chapter gives a literal picture of the actual creation.

 

For further reading

For further reading, see Three Views on Creation and Evolution, edited by J.P. Moreland and John Mark Reynolds, published by Zondervan in 1999, and Creation and Time, by Hugh Ross, published by NavPress in 1994. Hugh Ross also contributed to The Genesis Debate: Three Views on the Days of Creation (Crux Press, 2001).

Take the leap

By J. Michael Feazell

Jesus once told an allegory (OK, a parable) about two kinds of people who went to the temple to pray. One of them was a Pharisee, and the other was a tax collector (Luke 18:9-14). Now, these days, 2,000 years after Jesus told the story, we might be tempted to nod knowingly and say, "Yes, of course, the Pharisees were the self-righteous hypocrites, right?" Well, maybe, but let’s put that assessment aside for the moment and consider what Jesus’ listeners would have been thinking.

First, Pharisees were not thought of as hypocritical bad guys, as we 2,000-years-down-the-road-Christians tend to think of them. Pharisees were, as a matter of fact, the devoted, careful, faithful religious minority of the Jews who were standing heartily in the breach against the growing tide of liberalism, compromise and syncretism with the Roman world and its pagan Greek culture. They called the people back to the law and committed themselves to faithfulness in obedience.

When the Pharisee in the story prayed, "God, I thank you that I am not like other people," he was not just whistling Dixie. It was true. His respect for the law was impeccable, and he and the Pharisee minority devoted themselves to keeping it in a world where its importance had become seriously eroded. He was not like other men, and he was not even taking the credit for that—he was thanking God that it was so.

Tax collectors, on the other hand, were notorious crooks—Jews who worked for the Roman occupation forces collecting tax revenues from their own people, and worse, men of few scruples who routinely inflated the bills for their own profit (compare Matthew 5:46). Those listening to Jesus’ story would have instantly pegged the Pharisee as a man of God—the white hat—and the tax collector as the archetypal wicked man—the black hat.

But Jesus, as usual, was making an entirely unexpected point: God isn’t helped or hampered by who you are or what you’ve been up to; he forgives anybody, even the worst sinners, who simply trust him to forgive them. And equally as shocking, people who think they are more righteous than others (even with ample physical evidence of it) are still in their sins, not because God won’t forgive them, but because they won’t receive what they don’t believe they need.

The gospel is for sinners, not for righteous people. Righteous people just don’t get into the gospel as it really is, because they have the notion that they don’t need that kind of gospel. To righteous people, the gospel is the good news that God is on their side.

They feel confident in God because they know they are behaving in a godlier manner than the overt sinners in the world around them. They give a good deal of attention to the terribleness of the sins of others, and they are glad that they are close to God and not living like the adulterers, murderers and thieves whom they see on the streets and in the news.

To righteous people, the gospel is a trumpet of condemnation toward the sinners of the world, a warning message that sinners should stop sinning and begin living like they, the righteous people, do.

But that is not the gospel. The gospel is good news for sinners. It declares that God has already forgiven their sins and given them a new life in Jesus Christ. It’s a message that causes sinners who are sick of sin’s cruel tyranny over them to sit up and take notice. It means that God, the God of righteousness, whom they thought was against them (since he has every reason to be), is really for them and in fact loves them.

It means that God is not holding their sins against them, but has already in Jesus Christ paid for their sins and broken sin’s death-grip on them. It means they don’t have to live another day in fear, doubt or guilt. It means they can trust God to be for them in Jesus Christ everything he says he is—forgiver, redeemer, savior, advocate, provider, friend.

The good news is, Jesus Christ is not just another religious figure. He is not a cow-eyed weakling with a nice, but in the end unrealistic, idea about the power of human kindheartedness. Nor is he just another great moral teacher who stirred human hearts to rise to a higher level of social responsibility.

No, when we talk about Jesus Christ we are talking about the eternal source of all things (Hebrews 1:2-3), and more than that, he is also the redeemer, the purifier, the fixer of all things, who by dying and rising reconciled to God the whole out-of-kilter universe (Colossians 1:20).

Jesus Christ is the one who made everything that is, who keeps it all in existence every moment, and who takes all its sin on himself to completely redeem it—including you and me. He came to us as one of us to make us into what he created us to be.

Jesus is not just another religious figure, and the gospel is not just another religion. The gospel is not a new and improved set of rules, formulas and guidelines to get us in good with an otherwise bilious, ill-tempered Supreme Being; it is the end of religion. Religion is bad news; it tells us that the gods (or God) are hopping mad and if we do this, that and the other thing just right, then they (or he) will change their minds and smile on us.

But the gospel is not religion: it is God’s own good news to humanity. It declares all sin forgiven and every man, woman and child God’s friend. It is a golden invitation on a silver platter to anybody and everybody who has sense enough to believe it and accept it (compare 1 John 2:2).

"But there’s no such thing as a free lunch," you say. Well, actually, there is, and this is it. It’s not only a free lunch, it’s a free banquet, and it lasts forever. You don’t need anything to get in but trust in the One who is throwing the party.

God hates sin for one reason only—because it destroys us and everything around us. You see, God is not out to destroy us because we’re sinners; he’s out to save us from the sin that destroys us. And the good news is—he’s done it. He did it in Jesus Christ.

Sin is evil because it cuts us off from God. It makes us afraid of him. It keeps us from seeing reality as it really is. It saps our joy, scrambles our priorities and turns what ought to be serenity, peace and satisfaction into chaos, anxiety and fear. It makes us despair of life, and never more thoroughly than when we actually achieve and possess everything we think we want and need.

God hates sin because it destroys us—but he doesn’t hate us. He loves us. That’s why he has done something about sin. And what God has done about sin is forgive it—he has taken away the sins of the world (John 1:29)—and he has done it through Jesus Christ (1 Timothy 2:6).

The fact that we are sinners doesn’t mean God turns up his nose at us, contrary to what you may have heard; it means that as sinners, we don’t want to be around him. Yet without him, we are nothing—our very being, all that we are, depends on him.

The treacherous blade of sin cuts both ways: On one side, it compels us out of fear or mistrust or both to turn our backs on God and his love for us, and on the other side it leaves us starving for that very love. (Parents of teens understand this very well.)

Maybe during your childhood you got the idea from the grownups around you that God is a sort of stern judge, holding your every action in the balances, ready to blast you with a curse if you blow it, or to let you into heaven if you measure up. But the gospel gives us the good news that God is not a stern judge at all; he is Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ, the Bible tells us, is the perfect representation to us humans of exactly what God is like (Hebrews 1:3). In other words, when God stoops low to come to us as one of us to show us exactly what he is like—how he thinks, how he acts, who he hangs out with and why—he is Jesus Christ.

Yes, God made Jesus judge of the whole world, but he is anything but a stern judge. He forgives sinners; he doesn’t condemn them (John 3:17). Sinners get condemned only if they refuse to come to him for forgiveness (v. 18). This is a judge who pays everybody’s penalties out of his own pocket (1 John 2:1-2), declares all charges dropped against everybody forever (Colossians 1:19-20) and then invites the whole world to the greatest celebration in history.

We can sit on our duffs and debate all we want about who will or who won’t believe him and accept his mercy and come to his party, or we can leave all that to him (he can handle it), jump to our feet and scramble on down to the party ourselves, spreading the good word to and praying for whoever crosses our paths along the way.

The gospel, the good news, tells us: You already belong to Christ —receive it. Enjoy it. Trust him with your life. Enjoy his peace. Open your eyes to the beauty, the love, the peace, the joy in the world that can be seen only by those who are at rest in Christ’s love. In Christ, we are free to face and admit our sinfulness. Because we trust him, we are not afraid to confess our sins and unload them on his shoulders. He is on our side.

"Come to me," Jesus said, "all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light" (Matthew 11:28-30).

When we rest in Christ, we get out of the business of measuring righteousness; now we can be completely honest and uninhibited in freely confessing to him our sins. In Jesus’ parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector (Luke 18:9-14), it was the sinning tax collector, who freely admitted his sinfulness and wanted God’s mercy, who was made righteous. The Pharisee, who was devoted to righteous living and kept track of his holy successes, had no clear view of his sinfulness and his correspondingly acute need for forgiveness and mercy, so he would not reach out and receive the righteousness that comes only from God (Romans 1:17; 3:21; Philippians 3:9). His very success in "holy living" became the blinding fog that prevented him from seeing how badly he needed God’s mercy.

Christ meets us with grace in the very midst of our deepest sinfulness and ungodliness (Romans 5:6, 8). It is precisely there, in our blackest unrighteousness, that he, the Sun of righteousness, arises for us with healing in his wings (Malachi 4:2).

Only when we can see ourselves as we really are in our real need, as did that extortionist tax collector in the parable, only when our daily prayer can be, "God, have mercy on me, the sinner," are we able to allow ourselves to rest peacefully in the warmth of his healing embrace.

We don’t have anything to prove to God. He knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows our sinfulness and he knows our need for mercy. He has already done for us everything that needed to be done to secure our everlasting friendship with him. We can rest in his love. We can trust in his word of forgiveness. We don’t have to measure up; we only have to believe him and trust him. God wants us to be his friends, not his electronic toys or his tin soldiers. He is looking for love, not cowering or preprogrammed servitude.

Good relationships are based on trust, faithful commitment, allegiance, and above all, love. They are not based on mere obedience (Romans 3:28; 4:1-8). Obedience has its place, but it is, we ought to understand, a side effect of the relationship, not the cause of it.

If you allow obedience to be the ground of your relationship with God, you will sink either into sticky pride, like the Pharisee in the parable, or into fear and frustration, depending on how honest you are with yourself about your true reading on the perfection scale.

As C.S. Lewis wrote in Mere Christianity, "There would be no sense in saying you trusted a person if you would not take his advice."

When you trust Christ, you will listen to his advice and do your very best to live by it. But when you are in Christ, when you trust him, you will do your best without fear of rejection when you fail, as we all so often do. Fail, that is.

When we rest in Christ, our striving to overcome our sinful habits and thoughts becomes a commitment rooted in the faithfulness of God in forgiving us and saving us. He has not thrown us into the middle of some never-ending battle to measure up (Galatians 2:16).

Quite the contrary, he is bringing us with him on a journey of faith in which we learn to stop dragging around the chains of slavery and pain from which he has already freed us (Romans 6:5-7). We are not doomed to an impossible uphill struggle to prove ourselves worthy; instead, we are given the grace of a new life in which the Holy Spirit teaches us how to enjoy the new us created in righteousness and hidden with Christ in God (Ephesians 4:24; Colossians 3:2-3).

Christ already did the hard part—dying for us; how much more will he do the easy part—bringing us home (Romans 5:8-10)?

Faith, we are told in Hebrews 11:1, is our assurance of the things that we, the beloved of Christ, hope for. Faith is the only reality we currently sense of those good things God has promised—things that remain, as yet, quite invisible to our five senses.

In other words, we see with the eyes of faith, as though it were already here, that wonderful new world in which voices are kind, hands are gentle, there is plenty to eat, and no one is an outsider. Things for which we have in this present evil world no tangible, physical evidence.

But the faith generated by the Holy Spirit, who enflames in us this hope of salvation and the redemption of the whole creation (Romans 8:23-25), is the gift of God (Ephesians 2:8-9), and in it we are swaddled in his peace, his rest and his joy by the incomprehensible assurance of his overflowing love.

Have you taken the leap of faith? In a culture of acid stomachs and high blood pressure, the Holy Spirit urges us toward the path of serenity and peace in the arms of Jesus Christ. More than that, in a world of shocking poverty, disease, starvation and brutal injustice and war, God bids us (and enables us) to open our eyes of faith to the light of his word, which promises the end of pain, tears, tyranny and death, and the creation of a new world in which righteousness will be at home (2 Peter 3:13).

"Trust me," Jesus tells us. "Despite what you see, I am making everything new—even you. Quit worrying, and trust me to be for you, for your loved ones and for the whole world exactly who I told you I am. Quit worrying, and trust me to do for you, for your loved ones and for the whole world everything I have told you I will."

We can trust him. We can give him our burdens—our burdens of sin, our burdens of fear, our burdens of pain, disappointment, confusion and even doubt. He will carry them, just as he carries us, even before we ever knew it.

Apply now for SEP

By Jeb Egbert

FRISCO, Texas—Now is the time to apply for the Summer Educational Program (SEP). Six camps in the United States are offered (see box).

These camps will run about one week and cost less than half of what the national camp in Orr, Minnesota, cost. But one thing that will be retained from the national camp is the explicit emphasis on Jesus.

An additional benefit of these regional camps will be that you can meet many new friends. While most of those attending a particular camp will be from that geographic region, the national office is already receiving applications from those who wish to travel across the country to attend a regional SEP in a location far from home.

And adults, we need staff as well. What a tremendous impact you can have on younger spiritual brothers and sisters by taking a week out and applying to serve at SEP.

Whether you are interested in applying for a staff or camper position, you may apply in one of two ways. The easiest way is to apply through the WCG’s Youth Ministry website. You can access that site by going to www.sepcamp.com or by going to www.wcg.org and clicking on the Youth Ministry button. Online applications are routed to the national SEP Office. You should hear within 30 days of sending your application if you have been accepted.

The second way to apply is to call or write the national office at SEP Office, P.O. Box 2211, Frisco, Texas, 75034, phone 1-972-712-5737. An application will be mailed to you.

For more than 30 years, young people have said that SEP has made a difference in their lives. The summer of 2002 will not be an exception. Get your application in today!

Regional camps will take place at
these locations next summer.

Camp Wyldewood, Searcy, Arkansas: Sunday, June 30, to Friday, July 5. Tuition $280.

Camp Eaton, California: Sunday, July 7, to Saturday, July 13. Tuition $250.

Plymouth, Connecticut: Sunday, Aug. 18, to Saturday, Aug. 24. Tuition $175.

Campbell University, Buies Creek, North Carolina: Sunday, July 21, to Friday, July 26. Tuition $300.

Camp Cotubic, Bellefontaine, Ohio: Sunday, July 14, to Friday, July 19. Tuition $275.

Camp Hicks, Lacey, Washington, Monday, July 8, to Saturday, July 13, Tuition $250.

To apply, see the Youth Ministry section at www.wcg.org, go to www.sep camp.com or write to the SEP Office, P.O. Box 2211, Frisco, Texas, 75034. Staff applications are available too.

WCG: Youth Resource Center

In an effort to increase denominational attention on our youths, the WCG has established a National Youth Resource Center.

This center serves as an extension of Church Administration and is chartered with identifying and sharing the best practices in youth ministry.

The center is staffed by Jeb and Barb Egbert, and is located in Frisco, Texas. The Egberts will work together with district superintendents and district youth coordinators to identify ways to more intentionally serve WCG youths.

"We used to have something called Youth Opportunities United (YOU)," said Dr. Egbert. "YOU was a wonderful means of keeping our young people connected and active within the denomination, and many young people loved that. We hope to work together with those who are gifted and focused on youth ministry to offer even more than YOU offered, in that our focus is going to be Christ-centered.

"So while we would like to find creative ways to support congregations and districts in getting together and having activities, we want to ensure an explicit tie to Christ in all that we do."

Eventually, the Egberts see their role as pointing toward age appropriate resources for budding youth ministries at the congregational level. "We hope to create a network in the denomination to tap into youth ministries that are going well so we can share what those who are guiding those ministries have learned."

In a further effort to emphasize youth ministry, each district will name a district youth coordinator as well as a district youth ministry advisory team. They will assist the district superintendent in coordinating and growing youth ministry at the district and congregational level.

Minnesotans host
for Winterblast 2001

MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota—Young people and adults gathered in Minnesota for a winter fun weekend given by the Minneapolis North congregation Dec. 29 to 31.

Participants came from Minnesota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Florida, Arizona, Canada, Japan, Indonesia and Togo. Represented in the diverse mix were a Buddhist, Muslims and Christians (including 17 former WCG members).

The weekend began Saturday afternoon, Dec. 29, with a worship service (contemporary teen Christian music only, led by Jon Arnold, young adult member and student at Northwestern College), followed by a potluck and games.

Sunday morning a number of participants attended services at Central Lutheran in Elk River, Minnesota. The invitation was given to our group through Jeff Skrove, one of our members, who works in Central Lutheran’s maintenance department.

Sunday afternoon a potluck took place at the home of Todd and Donna Gjesvold. Sunday afternoon and evening activities included a bonfire and hayride at the home of Duane and Sharon Skrove. Marshmallows and hot apple cider were provided.

After a leisurely Monday morning getting acquainted with host families, the group met at Powder Ridge Ski area about 50 miles northwest of the Twin Cities. The New Year’s Eve skiing continued until 11 p.m., when outdoor lights were turned off and everyone was treated to a fireworks display to ring in the New Year.

Event coordinators were Jeff and Sarah Skrove. Doug Johannsen.

HAYRIDE—Winterblast activity at home of
Duane and Sharon Skrove. [Photo by Doug Johannsen]

Pennsylvania churches
hosts for YOU reunion

The Harrisburg, Lancaster and Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania, congregations will be hosts for a reunion for former members of Youth Opportunities United (YOU), the church’s former youth group, over Memorial Day weekend in May.

Any former YOU members and their families are invited to come and reconnect with old friends, teammates and coaches. For more information, please contact either Marva Mitchell at 1-717- 545-5267 or MJM_AM@worldnet.att.net or Lisa Gipe at 1-717-432-9309 or lweik@pheaa.org Please contact them as soon as possible so they can get a head count for planning purposes. Further details will appear in a future WN.

PRESCOTT, Arizona—A Discovery-Discipleship Weekend will take place in Prescott April 19 to 21.

Attendees will gather as fellow believers to learn more about what it means to be a follower of Christ. The target age group is 8 to 24 (families and all ages are welcome). Age appropriate activities will be available to accommodate all who come.

The cost is $85 per person, $61 for individuals ages 2 to 8, $206 for couples, and $260 for families of three or more.

For more information call Jason or Teresa Haas at 1-480-807-2669; write to them at 6133 E. Sierra Morena St., Mesa, Arizona, 85215; or send e-mail to them at treeandj4jc@juno.com

'The Big Fish':
New Zealand youth camp

LAKE KARAPIRO, New Zealand—More than 60 people participated in "The Big Fish" youth camp at Camp Epworth on Lake Karapiro Dec. 27 to Jan. 2.

The emphasis of this year’s activities, which were directed by Nathan Duxfield and Quentin Copland, was on team building. Campers and staff were formed into four tribes—Red Army, Yellow Terror, G-Force (Green) and Jabuluba (Blue). Various strategy games were used to develop communication, support and trust within the tribes.

Activities included soccer, water polo, swimming, volleyball, theatre sports, dancing and triathlon.

Each day began with a vigorous early morning physical training session. Worship services every evening included lively music provided by a band led by Cindy Wells. Myk Habets, a lecturer from the Bible College of New Zealand, gave a series of messages on "Who Is Jesus Christ?"

The kitchen was run by Carolyn Robinson, and as usual produced three superb meals every day.

A memorable aspect of camp was the overnight adventure program. Each tribe made its own raft, using bamboo, tires and rope. The campers went through a series of challenges, including orienteering, hiking and abseiling (rapelling). After building a fire and making dinner, they slept overnight in the bivouacs they constructed. Rex Morgan.

Joy in Jesus Christ:
a study of Philippians 1

By Michael Morrison

Paul’s letter to the church in Philippi says more about joy than any other New Testament book. Even though Paul is under arrest and in chains, he rejoices because of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He writes to thank the Philippian Christians for the help they gave him and to encourage them to face their own trials with "joy in Christ Jesus."

Paul follows first-century custom by first saying who he was, then the people he was writing to: "Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons" (1:1).

In some letters, Paul introduces himself as an apostle. But since the Philippians already accept his authority, here he introduces himself simply as a servant of Christ Jesus. He views his chains, his mission and his entire life in the context of doing Christ’s work. He writes to "the saints"—the holy ones, those who are set apart for God.

First-century Greek letters often began with chairein, "greeting." Paul modifies this to charis, "grace." Grace is part of his identity, and he begins writing with a prayer for grace and peace "from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ" (v. 2).

He then praises the Philippians—not directly, but by thanking God for them (v. 3). Not only is this giving credit where it is due, it reminds and encourages the Philippians that God is working in their lives.

"In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy," Paul writes, "because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now..." (vv. 4-5). The Philippians supported Paul’s missionary work, and had sent him help (4:15; also see 1 Cor. 8:1-5). Paul rejoices that these people have such a zeal for the gospel, and this letter shows them his gratitude that God is using them in this way.

Paul’s joy is rooted in God’s faithfulness: "being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus" (v. 6). Since the Philippians had begun so well, Paul is confident that they will persevere in the faith—not on their own strength, but because God will continue to work in them. "All of you share in God’s grace with me" (v. 7).

God knows how much I care for you, Paul writes—I care for you as much as Jesus himself does (v. 8). The Philippians are concerned about Paul, but here, the man in prison expresses compassion for them. As we will shortly see, they faced some trials of their own.

Then Paul tells them what he prays for: "that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God" (vv. 9-11).

The Philippians already love. Paul wants their love to grow into wisdom and good behavior, and this letter will help them do that. As they grow in knowledge, they will have a better foundation on which to make decisions, and their behavior will come not from their own righteousness, but from Jesus Christ working within them. And the praise will go to God, because he is the source of the righteousness.

Paul then begins to address their concern for him. They had heard of his arrest and imprisonment, and he reassures them "that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel" (v. 12). The gospel is what is important, he implies, not my comfort. So what looks like misfortune for Paul is really turning out quite well. Since he could talk to his guards, "it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ" (v. 13).

Instead of other Christians being frightened by Paul’s arrest, they became encouraged by Paul’s boldness in captivity. "Because of my chains, most of the brothers in the Lord have been encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly" (v. 14). Paul could be restrained, but the gospel spread even more.

Some people were trying to take advantage of Paul’s restrictions, but Paul does not worry about them. He judges everything by one standard: the gospel. "It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. The latter do so in love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel.

"The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached" (vv. 15-18). Paul is encouraged by those who preach out of love, but he sees good even in what the others are doing, because more people are learning about Christ.

"And because of this," Paul writes, "I rejoice." His joy was in the gospel, not in his own advantage.

Paul has reason to be confident, because his confidence is in Christ. "I will continue to rejoice," he writes, "for I know that through your prayers and the help given by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance" (v. 19). Paul knows that he will be released, but in the meantime, the gospel is going to more people. So he is happy.

Paul does not know whether he will be released alive, or released by death. No matter which, he is sure that Christ will give him strength to be faithful. "I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death" (v. 20). If Paul escapes alive, he will praise Christ. If he is killed for his faith, that will also be a witness for Christ.

"To live is Christ and to die is gain" (v. 21). Death can be "gain" for Paul only because he knows he will get more after death than he has in this life. He trusts his Savior for eternal life, so he uses this mortal life to serve his Savior. If he dies, he will be assured of a reward. If he lives, he can preach the gospel. Because his life is in Christ, and Christ is his priority, both possibilities are good. No wonder he rejoices!

"If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body" (vv. 22-23). If it were just for himself, Paul would rather die, escape his troubles and enjoy life with Christ. But he has an assignment to preach and teach, and he is convinced that he is not yet finished.

"Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, so that through my being with you again your joy in Christ Jesus will overflow on account of me" (vv. 25-26). His work among the saints is to help them experience joy in their faith. His release from prison and his ministry among them will help the Philippians focus on Christ as their source of joy.

Paul then hints at troubles the Philippians themselves are facing. This may be why he mentioned the possibility of death, why he set an example of viewing death as gain, why he encouraged them to view everything through the lens of Christ. Whether in life or in death, their goal should also be to exalt Christ, to bring glory to him, to demonstrate that he is worthy of their trust.

"Whatever happens," he writes, "conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ" (v. 27). Their behavior should show that they trust in Christ even when threatened. "Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel" (v. 27). Imitate me, he seems to be saying. Face your trials just as I am facing mine—rejoicing in Christ, holding fast to the faith. And he urges unity, a point he will address again in later chapters.

Stand firm, he says, "without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved—and that by God" (v. 28). If the Philippian Christians keep their faith even when threatened with death, it will be evidence that they are thoroughly convinced of a glorious afterlife with Christ. This will exalt Christ, and might convince some people that they need the salvation that these saints so strongly believe in.

Paul then writes about a surprising gift: "For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him, since you are going through the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have" (vv. 29-30).

Yes, they are to view their sufferings as a gift, as part of their faith in a crucified Savior. Just as the Philippians share grace with Paul (v. 7), they also share in persecutions. Yet they are to rejoice, for the sufferings are part of joining Jesus in his journey to glory, and these sufferings exalt Christ, showing him to be more valuable than all earthly comforts, more valuable than life itself. Whether they live or die, they have reason to rejoice, for they have Christ!

Update from Finance & Planning

Off to a start of another year

By Ronald Kelly

But what kind of start? You have all heard of those good news bad news scenarios?

Well, reporting income for January is one of those. The good news was that our income for December was relatively good—almost equal to the same month in 2000. But, I think you also realize, that to keep our expenses at a manageable level, we have had to minimize the personnel in our mail processing area.

Thus it took more than half of January to tabulate, bank and receipt all the mail for December. In January, we also had to close out our year-end books, prepare W-2s and do a number of other accounting and banking functions.

Of course that’s not bad in itself, but that caused us to fall behind in the January mail processing. In other words, what I have to report this month does not really reflect the final financial picture for January. However, we have editorial deadlines to meet, so I’ll bring you up to date with what has been tabulated at the moment of writing this month’s update.

As we close the books on January, we have received just more than $901,000 in donations. We have also received about $252,000 from all other sources, making a monthly total of $1.153 million.

The bad news is comparing statistics with last year. When we do, total income is down a significant 28 percent. However, keeping in mind that we will be processing much of the January donations in February, our overall picture should improve as we catch up. In fact, some of our other staff members are training to process the mail so we can do a little better during our heavy workload weeks.

As I mentioned last month, we closed the books on 2001 on an upbeat note. That kept our reserve funds at a satisfactory level. So even though we were unable to process in January all the mail that we received in January, we feel good about the start of a new year.

I wish we could predict when escrow will close on the Pasadena property, but that remains an elusive date. City hearings and public input continue on a regular basis. But it seems each expressed concern delays the project. At any rate, we don’t hold out much hope to close escrow before summer. And it could stretch out even longer. So please hang in there with us.

As we prepare to implement a new financial model for local church finances, we have enrolled six congregations in a pilot program to work out any bugs we might find before fully bringing all our 450 U.S. congregations into the new model.

So far, our pilot congregations are excited about how smoothly their work has gone. Working off Internet-based software, local member lists and donation records are inputted by the local church treasurer or financial secretary. Church budgets are prepared and maintained using Quicken software.

After an initial learning curve, pilot churches tell us it takes only a short time each week to process local contributions. Having this pilot program will help us have an even smoother implementation process when we reorganize our financial procedures after the property sells.

In the meantime, if you would like to know more about how the new financial model will function, I suggest you plan to attend your district conference when it comes your way. Our staff has a three-hour presentation on local church finances that we think will not only help you understand how the new model will work, but will also excite you about the possibilities for the future of your congregation.

The next conferences will be in Portland, Oregon, April 26 to 28; Lexington, Kentucky, May 17 to 19 and in Denver, Colorado, June 7 to 9. We hope to see many of you there. And we hope our February report will find us caught up with our mail processing.

Statement of Income and Expenses for WCG and PTM combined for January 2002

                                                                    For the Month         For the Year-to-Date

Income

 

    Mail Income                                             $ 901,000                 $ 901,000

    Other income                                                252,000                     252,000

        Total income                                            1,153,000                 1,153,000

Expenses                         &nb