What is involved in spiritual training, spiritual maturity, spiritual formation? Mr. Tkach asks in this month's Personal.
A large part of it is prayer and Bible study. We must be in constant communication with our Lord. This takes time, planning, self-discipline and patience.
We admire the works of faith done by Jesus. We are awed by the decisions he made to serve others, most notably his willingness to sacrifice himself to ransom humanity. And we want to be like Jesus.
It is a mistake to try to imitate the heroic moments of Jesus without also trying to imitate the life-style that laid the foundations for those moments--a life-style that included much prayer and a willingness to be alone with God. Page 7.
The dedicated, selfless service of our nonsalaried pastors is an inspiration to all of us, writes Gerald Schnarrenberger of Church Administration.
They are doing a commendable job leading their flocks, preaching the gospel and being a light to their communities. We thank them for their service and examples.
The church first considered nonsalaried (volunteer) pastors for the smaller congregations in 1996.
We felt that each congregation should have its own resident pastor rather than being pastored from afar. The combination of full-time employed pastors and volunteer pastors seemed like the answer to providing the most stable leadership for our churches, and it was.
We are planning a class to train new pastor candidates the third week of July. The tentative roster for the class is beginning to be filled, but we have several more openings. We plan to have another class later this year.
An application form is available with the article. Page 8.
For some months Church Administration has been working on a code of ethics for elders, writes Ron Kelly, manager of Pastoral Development. The project is complete, and we want to share this code with members.
Most professions have a code of ethics that defines the standards the public can expect of that profession. The ministry should be no exception. While the WCG has always striven to maintain high standards for the ministry, we have never formalized a code of ethics. This new code fills that void.
Denominational headquarters feels sharing this code in the WN will inform members of the ethical conduct that they can expect from their pastors. Pages 10 and 11.
Randal Dick shares with church members an incredible journey of 3,100 miles that Cassien Sindaye Rwanka and Wenceslas Bandyatuyaga took to escape warfare in the Congo.
Cassien wrote: The essence of this trial I ve just come out of, its best and finest part, is that I kept my most precious gift: my life. In fact, I gained everything, thinking I was losing everything. War left me with what I need to gain one hundred times what I lost. Pages 12 and 13.
Early indications are that many of you are responding to Mr. Tkach s member letter with prayers and a financial commitment.
The church s income increased in March to a daily average of $115,715, but did not completely reverse the shortfall begun in the first two months, writes treasurer Bernie Schnippert. Page 28.
May WN page 2
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