Blessed To Be A Blessing

Ready, Waiting and Welcoming!

What a great time this past Monday, September 25.  Christ Covenant was able to provide a “Welcome Back Continental Breakfast” for the faculty and staff of both Salem Elementary School and Harrison Rd Elementary School on their first day back for the new school year.

We put on a spread for the 160 people in these two schools who work each day with the children near our church building.  I’m thankful to Principles Harold Morton and Deborah Frazier for the opportunity to serve those who serve the kids of our community.  

In particular, it was great to see the committment Mr. Morton and Mrs. Frazier have to their students and their families, to their staff and to our community.  We are blessed to have two leaders with such committment and faith in the positions that they are in.  I got to observe how they set the pace for an entire school.  You can believe I pray for them specifically as I pray for our community.

Christ Covenant has families who send their kids to public schools, private schools and who do home-schooling.  Mary Lynn and I used those three options as well as a charter school to get our three kids ready for college.  How you educate your children is a family decision based on the needs, resources and convictions of the family.

But praying and working for the wholeness of the community where God has placed us is an expression of our faith. 

Relief for ALL the People of Northern Iraq

Christ Covenant will be joining with the other congregations of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church to provide relief for all the people affected by the atrocities of ISIS in Northern Iraq.  Click Here to learn more or become involved.

By “all,” I mean “all:” the Christians, the Yazidi, the Kurds and even the Shiite Muslims and Sunni Muslims who suffer when standing up to ISIS.  Let me explain why.

Life Together: Confession Together

Several times over the past few months, our worship has included a more structured time of corporate confession, confession of faith and corporate prayer. It is a more “liturgical” practice than has been typical of churches in our evangelical and Reformed family. The conversations I’ve had with folks afterward have all been interesting, and mostly positive.

These “experiments in our corporate worship” grow primarily out of my concern for the lack of deep roots - deep in the Spirit, Scripture, thinking and community - that seems to be the experience of many American believers. I look around and see a very “make it up and figure it out as you go” sort of individualistic faith. Take our rightful emphasis on a “personal relationship with Jesus” place it in a consumer focused culture and slim it down with hectic, overcrowded lives and what is left seems very different than the faith that turned the world upside down as recorded in the Book of Acts.

Missional Ministry Presentations from Presbytery of the Mid-Atlantic

Several times each year pastors and elders and interested parties from EPC church in North and South Carolina as well as West Virginia and Virginia gather to meet.  It’s a great time of fellowship, business, worship, planning, prayer and training.  I have always looked forward to this get-together, even when it means travel and expense.

At our September meeting at Trinity EPC in Florence, SC we had a particularly outstanding training time.  Not one, but TWO outstanding presentations that gave me so much inspiration, instruction and good things to ponder, that I want to make them available through my blog to all comers.  Here they are:

Healthy Numbers For A Sunday of Ministry

When I go to the Doctor, they always take my pulse and blood pressure.  These are two quick measures that relate to my health.  So what are the measures of church health?  What are the “metrics of ministry?”

Most people look quickly to attendance and giving because they are pretty straightforward to measure and do say something about church health.  But everyone agrees that by themselves, “noses and nickels” are ineffective and incomplete measures of what real health is for the Body of Christ.

Southern Baptists were famous for counting Sunday School attendance rather than membership or worship attendance.  This gets closer to a measure of health, because Sunday School classes typically have a stronger relationship component than the worship service.

If I could get an accurate measure of two things, I would be most interested in each person’s depth of “Interactive Relationship with God” and “Living by Gospel Grace.”  I’m not sure I can aptly measure that in my own life – beware of self-deception – much less the life of anyone else, but you get my picture.  If those two roots are healthy, I’m thinking that a number of other “fruit” – prayer, Bible reading, giving, service, evangelism – would flow from them.

So, I’m not sure I’m closer to an adequate measure of church health for Christ Covenant, but I’ll tell you three numbers that I am celebrating from yesterday, August 18: 3, 29 and 115.

Cloud Of Witnesses: Growing Deep In Christ

When I came to faith as a high school student – many, many years ago – I thought that our Youth Group was living the next chapter of Acts to be written.  I’m thankful for the sense of close connection to New Testament life which that represented.  I’m embarrassed by the sophomoric self-righteousness that caused me to think that we had the best handle on God and His Kingdom in the nineteen centuries between the Book of Acts and me.

The Father has been at work extending the Gospel of grace to all nations across those centuries.  That history and accumulated wisdom becomes a rich resource for better understanding and serving Jesus in my own day and setting.  I now look at the church across history as fellow believers who have much to teach me.

Beginning this February, I will be leading a group designed to dig into that rich understanding of Christ and His Kingdom.  Our Steering Committee will be using the Leadership Training Material developed by the Evangelical Presbyterian Church for Elder training and would like to open the opportunity to everyone interested.  Here’s how it will work.

The Erosion of Freedom of Religion in American Life

Make no mistake about it, there is a seismic shift going on in our country with regard to Freedom of Religion.  Let me put a spotlight on two issues that demonstrate it.  I will summarize them and then provide links to lengthier articles that provide more information, background and analysis.

A Sad Summer For Denominational Assemblies

From where I sit, it appears to be a tough summer for denominational assemblies.

That certainly was not the case for me with regard to our own General Assembly of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.  It was inspiring, missional and theologically solid as I have posted earlier.  You can get the detail by clicking here.

My experience there seems to stand in stark contrast with what I read elsewhere regarding other denominations – particularly the Presbyterian ones.  For those who are new to this, be aware that there are about eight separate and distinct denominations in the US that consider themselves Presbyterian – so there is no single, all-inclusive group that can be called “the Presbyterian Church” in the US.  While I am always glad to inform and comment on matters in my own denomination, I typically avoid throwing stones at other groups.  Even when I might have disagreements, I can be fine with “live and let live” for those groups that I am not connected with.  For this instance though, it seems that there is something worth noticing by looking at the big picture across several denominations.  Or just scroll down to the "So What's The Point?" section if you want to skip to my conclusions.

Thankful Beyond Words – Reflections on the 2012 EPC General Assembly

Mary Lynn and I are just returning from the annual General Assembly of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Baton Rouge, LA.  Christ Covenant is a mission church of the EPC, and I’ve been a pastor in this body for over 25 years.  As I am always quick to point out, there are 8 different Presbyterian denominations in the United States that are – for better or for worse – separate and distinct from one another.  I’ll comment briefly on some of those others in a different post, but let me say for now:  I am thankful beyond words to be serving the LORD in the fellowship of the EPC.

Let me list some aspects of this year’s General Assembly that show why:

EPC General Assembly - 2011

I was unable to attend the General Assembly of the EPC this year, but am happy to pass along the following information about it, written by Dana Cadman, Director of Communications for the EPC.  It was originally posted at this link to the Aquila Report.

Why Plant Churches?

I heard a number of startling facts and figures last week at the meeting of the EPC Presbytery of the Mid-Atlantic - my regional accountability structure and "church planting support group."  For instance: There is an annual net loss of churches in the United States of about 2000.  Click here for more.

Let's put aside for a moment all the issues related to making statements like these: the challenge of counting churches, determining what are the churches you want to count, etc. etc. etc.  Even as difficult as it is to ascertain the particulars of the data, the conclusion is one that most people would affirm, even intuitively.  Fewer people in the United States today have a meaningful relationship with Jesus and His community than in years not too far past.