Christian Life
You may think that setting boundaries are an essential part of life and may be very good at it in your daily life. However, the boundaries might be a bit harder to manage in a Christian ministry context. Perhaps you are a Youth Minister/Leader, Pastor, Sunday School Teacher. Perhaps you are just Joe Pewsitter Layman. Even if you are not officially in a leadership position, you may be doing ministry. Let’s look at it this way. Joe is sitting in church, has his hymnal out, ready for the service to begin. He looks at the pew in front of him and sees a young mother (Mary) and her child. He has never seen them before. She looks a bit uncomfortable, that is she looks like she’s a first time visitor. Joe greets her and finding out she is goes ahead and gives her guidance so she can fully participate in the service. After the service, Joe makes an effort to make her feel welcome in the church, whether it be just a chat in the nave or a visit to a local coffee shop. Ask Joe if he is in ministry, he’d quickly respond no, he’s just being friendly. Yet, I’d disagree…for Mary he ministered for her needs to be welcomed and accepted into a church. Perhaps the quick greeting, welcoming moment they shared will develop into a relationship where Joe and Mary become friends, cementing Mary’s connection to the church where she can grow.
Continue reading about When is it OK to set boundaries in Christian ministry?
In reading the reading for today from my bible reading plan, I was drawn to Leviticus 19. I’ll admit that I usually skip reading this book, since it seems so foreign to us. That is one of the main reasons that I chose to do a bible reading plan. I am glad that I did.
We know that Exodus and Deuteronomy have the ten commandments, but what I had forgotten – for it has been a long time since I read Leviticus, is what is in chapter 19. Titled in my study bible as “A Call to Holiness”, it reminds me of the way God wants me to live my life. I am reminded of a number of things…
We live in a time of rationalization, a time where there are no moral absolutes, no transcendent universals in our society. Yet, Christ holds us to a higher standard, the standard of God’s word. Clearly, lying is prohibited by the ten commandments…after all, the 9th commandment (8th for Roman Catholic and Lutheran readers) clearly states that one should not bear false witness. But the question for today is whether it is ever appropriate to lie.
Continue reading about Is lying always a sin? Is it ok to lie under certain circumstances?
What is the Reformed Faith
Have you wondered what it means to be Reformed? The Reformed churches generally hold to those ideas held by Ulrich Zwingli and (especially) John Calvin. In contrast to the Episcopal Polity of electing a hierarchy of bishops (Greek: Episcopoi ) or holding a Congregational Polity to govern the church, Reformed churches usually elect elders (Greek: Presbyteroi ) to carry out this function. The elders work together as a group but are accountable to higher groups known as presbyteries, synods or 
assemblies. This form of government is called a Presbyterian Polity.
So I stole this picture from Pr. McCain’s blog. I really like the space on the desk, the wonderful desk pad, and room for the books. But what I like the most is some of the books CPH makes good books and, though I am not Lutheran, I do like their stuff.
I also like the Witness-Mercy-Life Together study. Of the Lutheran churches I went to, most didn’t do missions as well as they could. I think this study should help that.
We have learned a lot of the history of Reformed churches over the previous couple of days. Now we will take a look at one last group of the Reformed church traditions in the US…which is the Presbyterians. The Presbyterians continue the history of the Reformed tradition tracing their history to Switzerland and the ministry of Ulrich Zwingli. You may recall that we talked about Ulrich on Friday. Preeminence is still assigned to John Calvin and the church live that he established in 1530’s Geneva. Presbyterians represent the influence of Reformed traditions as expressed in the British Isles.
Continue reading about Distinctly Presbyterian, with a British accent
There are several active churches in America which bear the name Reformed. The first Reformed church in what today is the US (The Marble Collegiate Reformed Church) was organized in 1628 in New Amsterdam (you may know this as New York). As you can imagine from the name of the city, the church was part of the Dutch Reformed movement and was the beginning of what is now the Reformed Church in America (RCA).
Ok, is this weird in a sad sort of way or what? What Liberal churches do and why is always beyond my comprehension, but this is just plain sad.
Like the Lutheran church after the death of Luther, there was a period of conflict and controversy in the 
Reformed Church after Calvin’s death. The most definitive events which followed took place in the Netherlands, principally because it was there that the Reformed Church became a distinctive part of the struggle for independence against Spain. The controversy is one that was based on an idea affirmed by Luther and developed under Calvin – the idea of Predestination. Around the start of the 17th century, a Dutch theologian, Jacob Arminius, began to offer a different view of predestination – one that left a small yet significant role for human response to God’s grace. Now, recall that Calvinists believed that God’s will logically preceded, Arminius reversed that. For Arminius, humans were not totally depraved by sin – only partially depraved. That means that they retained enough of God’s original created imaged of man to be able to respond to the gospel. Thankfully, the majority of the leaders of the Reformed church rejected this view and called a special council, the Synod of Dordrecht (or Synod of Dort for short), to respond to this heresy. This council, held in 1618-1619, just ten years after Arminius died, provided the Church will an affirmation of what the Reformed believe. These five canons, known to Reformed believers today, are: