The Advent of Time for Self-Examination: Abiding in God's Renewing Presence through the Now and the Not Yet

The season of Advent gives us pause for reflection in preparation to wait on the Lord in the presence of the Holy Spirit among us....

December 14 — When early Christianity spoke of the return of the Lord Jesus, they thought of a great day of judgment. Even though this thought may appear to us to be so unlike Christmas, it is original Christianity and to be taken extremely seriously. When we hear Jesus knocking, our conscience first of all pricks us: Are we rightly prepared? Is our heart capable of becoming God’s dwelling place? Thus Advent becomes a time of self-examination. — Dietrich Bonhoeffer

http://www.pcusa.org/pastorselders/dailyquote.htm#december14

For Such A Time As This.... Why Stay in the PC(USA)? -- PFR Article Two: Is There a Witness in the Church? [excerpt(s)/ed]

[It] is important for us to realize at this moment in our history.... among members [in] the Presbyterian Church (USA) there has never been a better time to be a true evangelical—a bearer of the Great News of the gospel.

The Presbyterian Church (USA) is not a lost cause. It is not a fraternity of faithless people or a hotbed of heresy. It is merely a reflection of our own spiritual neediness and our own Great Commission complacency.

...the Acts of the Apostles, and the dynamic witness of the contemporary Church throughout the developing world should remind us that the power of the Holy Spirit, unleashed in lives obedient to Christ, can redeem cities, and nations, and even denominations without breaking a sweat.

Read more... "Why Stay?" Article Two: "Is There a Witness in the Church?"

Written by Paul Detterman

Friday, 15 June 2007

Toward accurate interpretation of the PCUSA's positions, central convictions

FYI - In the interest of providing material(s) toward assisting those seeking to interpret accurately particular positions from central convictions of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in matters of faith and life, the Office of Theology and Worship has made the following resource available.

The Church’s One Foundation is Jesus Christ Her Lord

Prepared by the Office of Theology and Worship, General Assembly Council

The New Wineskins Association of Churches has raised significant questions about the faith and mission of the church that every Presbyterian should take seriously. NWAC has presented its case in "A Time for Every Purpose Under Heaven: Report of the Strategy Team of the New Wineskins Association of Churches." Unfortunately, in advancing their case New Wineskins has presented the positions of the PC(USA) inaccurately. As they consider the analysis of NWAC, all Presbyterians deserve to know the defined positions of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Download this report.

http://www.pcusa.org/theologyandworship

http://www.pcusa.org/mgbconnect/pubs/wineskins-letter-brief.pdf

Reasons to Stay in the PC(USA)

"Why Stay? Twelve Reasons"

Written by PFR Issues Ministry

Monday, 23 April 2007

“All power in heaven and earth is given to Jesus Christ by Almighty God. Christ calls the Church into being, giving it all that is necessary for mission in the world….for the establishment and extension of his Kingdom.” “In affirming with the earliest Christians that Jesus is Lord, the Church confesses that he is its hope and that the Church, as Christ’s body, is bound to his authority and thus free to live in the lively, joyous reality of the grace of God.” These words are from the opening page of our Book of Order—unaffected by the will of any dissident or the action of any General Assembly. This is who we are ordained to be as members of the Body of Christ within the PC(USA). Some are questioning staying in the PC(USA). We do not minimize the problems in the denomination, and therefore we understand why some consider leaving for “greener pastures.” Even so, PFR finds compelling reasons to continue gospel ministry within the PC(USA) based on Scripture, present reality, and our hope in Jesus Christ. Twelve of these reasons are offered here. No attempt has been made to list them in order of importance. We invite you to weigh these before the Lord. God has placed an evangelical witness within our denomination. If you are considering leaving, remember there are many like-minded and evangelical people with you still in the PC(USA). If you leave, you are abandoning them and weakening the evangelical witness that remains. This is a good time to be an evangelical in the PC(USA). The Peace, Unity, and Purity Task Force report invites and provokes an evangelical witness through intentional presbytery participation, careful and thorough examination of candidates, and the exercise of the Bible’s call to speak the truth in love. We are not here by accident. We need to faithfully labor where we’ve been called and sent. In many different ways, God has called each of us to be part of the PC(USA). Is God now calling you to leave? Do you have God’s permission to leave your present post and go to another? Only you can answer this through fellowship with Christ in prayer. Theological and moral problems are not new. See the Apostle Paul’s letters and Revelation 2-3. Yet, I Corinthians, as an example, is addressed, “To the church of God that is in Corinth.” Though Paul urges the exercise of discipline, he never suggests that some should leave a flawed church. Church history instructs us that some of the greatest and most important controversies over theological and moral issues took time to be resolved. We are called to maintain our convictions with patience and with hopeful endurance, trusting God to bring resolution in his time. Sessions still control all finances of the local congregation (including per capita) and are free under our constitution to exercise faithful stewardship. The PC(USA) affirms and encourages women in leadership and in all forms of ministry, affirming this as nothing less than God’s intent for the growth and well-being of the church and our witness to the whole gospel. Networks of support and nurture for smaller congregations are a reality in the PC(USA). Further, there are many opportunities for smaller congregations to work together in mission and witness, and God is using these for renewal. The PC(USA) is itself a mission field, and the fields are ripe for harvest. When our eyes are on Jesus Christ and our lives are focused on proclaiming him, there is excitement in being on the front line for the Kingdom of God. Why would we leave a mission field, especially one we know quite well? A fresh missional focus is growing in the PC(USA) as can be seen in the Presbyterian Global Fellowship, in the work of PC(USA) mission organizations, and in thriving congregations which reach out locally and globally. God is at work in our midst and there is excitement in being part of that work! Fresh winds are blowing in our seminaries, including new models of training offered by evangelical scholars, pastors, and congregations. These hold great promise for the future, both immediate and long-range. We remain free to preach and teach Jesus Christ, his atoning sacrifice, the reality of the Resurrection, and the truth and authority of the whole Word of God. On that first Easter morning, some of the disciples, forgetting the teachings of Jesus, left Jerusalem in despair too soon. (Luke 24:13ff.) But all was not lost. Their greatest hope was about to be fulfilled beyond their wildest dreams! We pray that no one will leave the PC(USA) too soon. If you are considering leaving the PC(USA) now, please consider these questions: Through prayer and discernment, do you sense God calling you to leave? Are you being restricted from preaching Jesus Christ and fulfilling the ministry the Lord has given you? Will you experience greater gospel freedom through different affiliation? Why? Can you envision that God wants to use you in the redemptive and transforming work of Jesus Christ in the PC(USA)? It is our hope that these reflections will help you as you prayerfully consider the way forward in God’s call and in God’s love. Our website (www.pfrenewal.org) will carry further elaborations of these and related issues throughout the coming weeks and months. The PFR Issues Ministry Elder Jim Cahalan (Edmond, OK), Rev. Paul Detterman (Louisville, KY), Rev. Kevin Ford (Cambridge, MA) Rev. Henry Greene (Merced, CA), Rev. Hurmon Hamilton (Roxbury, MA )Rev. James Harper (Houston, TX), Elder Camille Josey (Atlanta, GA), Rev. Mike Loudon (Lakeland, FL), Elder Nancy Maffett (Colorado Springs, CO), Rev. Donna Marsh (Bethesda, MD), Elder Nabeel Saoud (Canoga Park., CA), Rev. Tracie Stewart (Statesville, NC), Rev. Bill Teng (Alexandria, VA), Rev. Chris Yim (Germantown, MD) Presbyterians for Renewal w 8134 New LaGrange Rd., #227 w Louisville, KY 40222 w 502.425.4630 w www.pfrenewal.org

Ministering with Children and Families in Postmodern Culture

Pastoral Perspective—On Spiritual Formation for Children and Families: Mission and Ministry within Postmodern Generations

Listen my people,
mark each word.
I begin with a story,
I speak of mysteries
welling up from ancient depths,
heard and known from our elders.
We must not hide
this story from our children
but tell the mighty works
and all the wonders of God.[1]
—Psalm 78:1-4

In the introduction to her book, Postmodern Children’s Ministry, Dr. Ivy Beckwith asks questions such as the following:

In what ways does the children’s ministry of the church need to change in order to meet the needs of the emerging culture of the 21st century? What does it mean for a community of faith to take seriously its responsibility to spiritually nurture… children and families?[2]

Are we relying on programs and curriculum to introduce [our] children to God? Or are we instead called to equip and empower families to introduce children to God? Are we more concerned about attracting folks to go to church, or being the church that goes out to be with and come alongside them in mission and ministry with children and families?
These are questions we must wrestle with if we are to be faithful as a missional people of God in the new millennial context of our culture. Dr. Beckwith continues on with her evolving observations in research and analyses in conversations with others in her field of Christian Education and Children’s Ministry….

The church’s ministry to children is broken. …it’s broken when the church tells parents that its programs can spiritually nurture their children better than they can, [thereby allowing] them to abdicate their responsibility to spiritually form their children. A church program can’t spiritually form a child, but a family living in [the context of] an intergenerational community of faith can.[3]

As the Psalmist goes on to say….

Let future generations learn
and let them grow up
to teach their young
to trust in God.[4]
—Psalm 78:6-7a

May the Lord enable us to abound in good works of grace for such as the littlest of these in God’s family.

Pastor Rex


[1] The Psalter (Chicago: Liturgy Training Publications, 1995).
[2] Ivy Beckwith, Postmodern Children’s Ministry, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2004), p. 12.
[3] Ivy Beckwith, Postmodern Children’s Ministry, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2004), p. 13-14.
[4] The Psalter (Chicago: Liturgy Training Publications, 1995).


Ivy Beckwith: Postmodern Children's Ministry: Ministry to Children in the 21st Century Church

Called to Worship

Whatever else God calls us to, we are called to worship, to do so together,and to do so in the promised company of Jesus Christ. It is in worship that our lives are expressed before God and informed and converted by God’s Word. It is in worship that through song, prayer, and preaching, our theology is formed, our discipleship encouraged, and our spirits nourished. In worship we reach out to touch the hem of Christ’s garment and find that, instead of touching the hem, we are being offered the grace of God by word of mouth and gift of hand.

From the Book of Common Order of the Church of Scotland, St. Andrew Press, Edinburgh, 1994, p. ix.

Growing in global Christianity

As the church approaches and observes Holy Week, it is appropriate to join with others in remembering the passion of the Christ and take thought to meditate upon the reason for His suffering and sacrifice as He was crucified on Calvary’s cross. We are given a broadening sense of God’s purpose for us in Christ after the resurrection. Jesus says in Acts (1:8), that when the Holy Spirit comes, “…you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” This same dynamic progression of spreading the good news of the Gospel continues to this day.

Last summer I attended a Global Fellowship conference held in Atlanta at the largest congregation in my denomination. Since then I have been experiencing God transforming my outlook as a follower of Christ. I have begun to see in a whole new way, as if with new eyes and depth of insight, what it means to be and do that which Jesus calls and tells us to in God’s Word in the Bible. Upon getting acquainted again with concepts from my studies at seminary in missional theology, I am sensing in myself a renewed passion for ministry and mission in our community. The following modified excerpts of material from the conference I attended and the added reflection in this article provide for us some challenges from a distinctly global Christian perspective.

When the Board of Foreign Mission of the denomination I currently serve in was established in 1837, 80% of the world’s Christians lived in Europe and North America. Today, a rapidly growing global church and a declining church in the West have turned that sharply around.

As Philip Jenkins explains in his book, The Next Christendom, the largest populations of Christians on the planet are in Africa and Latin America – and they continue to grow at phenomenal rates. Jenkins writes, “In its variety and vitality, in its global reach, in its association with the world's fastest-growing societies . . . it is Christianity that will leave the deepest mark on the twenty-first century."

In 1900, Africa had 10 million Christians, or about 9% of its population. Today that continent is home to 360 million Christians out of 784 million people, or 46%. Latin America has 480 million Christians and Asia another 313 million. Many now rightly refer to the churches outside of Europe and North America as the “majority church.” What does it mean for us in the U.S. to be global Christians in the face of these shifts?

Many congregants in mainline denominations are aware that our global partners regularly express concern about how Western churches are moving away from what most in the majority church view to be biblical understandings of marriage, human sexuality and ordination. If our denominations move away from the clear teaching of the Bible, we will find ourselves out of step with the vast majority of Christians around the world.

But the concerns of the majority church are much broader. Several years ago, the daughter of a church leader in Congo attended a youth gathering of a mainline congregation in the USA. She was confused by what she saw and heard, and she went home expressing her astonishment that the young people were just like those who weren’t in the church. From her observation, they were just as caught up in our nation’s secular values.

David Zac Niringiye, assistant bishop of Kampala in the Church of Uganda, gets at some of the majority church’s concerns in a Christianity Today interview. In it, he addresses the question: “How can followers of Christ be a counterculture for the common good?”
(http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2006/007/31.32.html)
In this provocative interview Dr. Niringiye observes, “One of the gravest threats to the North American church is the deception of power—the deception of being at the center.” He goes on to describe how in the gospels and in the early mission of the church it was often at the periphery, away from the centers of control and power, where God was most powerfully at work. Dr. Niringye explores getting lost in the culture, learning to read the Bible differently, the difficulties of cross-cultural honesty, and the blessedness of relinquishing control. It is a powerful interview worth reading for further consideration.

In the new global church whose demographic center and mission vitality is no longer in the West, what forms might our relationships with the global church properly take? Mission is no longer from the West to the rest. In fact, there are many gifts that we need to receive from members of the Body of Christ in other parts of the world. In the new millennium, missionaries are being sent to the increasingly secularized Western cultures of Europe and North America from regions, sometimes referred to as part of the two-thirds world, in Africa, and from countries such as Brazil and Korea where Christianity is expanding. What does it mean for people like us here in the United States to be good partners in mission? Might it encompass the salvation, healing, deliverance, and reconciliation we so very much need in our own community? Would God have us find the answer of Jesus through the mission and ministry of our sisters and brothers in Christ from abroad?

Those initiating the call for a missional fellowship of Christians worldwide believe that Christ is calling us to move beyond confidence in our own capacity to a fresh openness to the witness of the global church. We must learn from their faith and faithfulness together. Christians from other countries and cultures can help us to discern well what it means to gather around God’s mission. As we enter into what many regard as the most holy of weeks, let us consider anew what the apostle Paul referred to in his letter to the Philippians (3:10) concerning the power of Christ’s resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings. Having the same Spirit’s power that raised Jesus from the dead, I believe the body of Christ in Henry County, Indiana in the U.S. of A. is being prepared by the Lord for a new day in God’s better future. We are, in a sense, poised to experience the resurrection of our community for the glory of God in Christ. I am, along with others, prayerfully looking forward to the Lord renewing us in our own day and time, as we see ourselves growing in knowing Christ, and making Christ known for this world that God so loves. This week, I invite you to join with others around you in prayer and worship of the Holy One Who loves us with a love and life that goes beyond the grave.

Adapted from the » e-Newsletter August 8, 2006 - A Copernican-like Revolution issue of the Presbyterian Global Fellowship

http://PresbyterianGlobalFellowship.org/eNewsletters.aspx