Something significant has happened

Something significant has happened.  The ruling of the Supreme Court of the United States last Friday has forever changed the way in which our government views marriage.  In a 5-4 split the top court of our land has ignored thousands of years of historical precedent, the will of the people AND the Biblical teaching regarding marriage as it voted to require all fifty states to sanction same-sex Marriage.  This change has only made “official” what has been a long, steady, yet seismic shift in our culture over the understanding of marriage.  No doubt this change has been unsettling to most of us and a cause of more than a little concern.  I have been profoundly disappointed in our government with this decision and since I am sure I am not the only one who feels this way, I felt the need to form a response.

As a man who takes Romans 13 seriously, I believe in respecting and submitting to those in authority insofar as I am not called upon to violate the Laws of God.  Sadly, this is becoming an increasing conflict within me.  Let me assure you of this.  At Washington Street we still believe in God’s ideal for marriage expressed numerous times in Scripture- one man and one woman for life (Gen. 2:24; Matt. 19:5; Eph. 5:31).  The fact that the SCOTUS thinks one way about “marriage” does not change the Christian’s thinking of marriage.  It is a holy union, a covenant between one man, one woman and their God.  We cannot redefine what God has determined.  Further we understand that the practice of homosexuality is a sin in the eyes of God.

That being said, let me also say this.  Our posture towards all people and the homosexual community in particular remains one of loving compassion with arms outstretched , eager to share with them the good news of God’s redeeming love.  Indeed I believe that “love wins” and only the love of God can overcome any of the sins of which we are all guilty.  The love of God is too strong to leave us in the sinful state He finds each of us in, but calls all of us to repent of our sin, to come to Him and because of His love, He will make us new.  To my friends who struggle with the temptation of same-sex attraction, I want to re-affirm God’s love for you, but I also want to remind you of the way our enemy, the devil,  deceives and holds us captive to sin.  He wants nothing more than the destruction of our souls.

For Christians who are disheartened by the decision of the court, I am reminded of the book of 1 Peter.  Peter writes at a time in which it was not easy to be a Christian.  Yet Peter calls on his hearers to live in hope, gentleness, and love among the nations.  We know that the imperial Roman culture was saturated with absolutely non-Christian values, practices and traditions (homosexuality just one of them.)  These shaped every aspect of their culture- education, entertainment and even their civic government.  Christ-followers could not escape the realities of living as “foreigners” and “aliens” in this kind of culture.  Yet, Peter called on believers to be a people saturated with goodness and hope.

12 Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.  1 Peter 2:12  NIV

Jesus, himself, called on his followers to be people of salt and light.  As I reflect on that statement in Matt. 5:14, I realize that light shines brightest in the darkness.  Perhaps this is an opportunity to let our lights shine even more brightly.   Church, do not be discouraged.  Do not lose heart.  Do not react out of fear or out of anger.  Our citizenship is in heaven and we eagerly await our Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ!  So keep shining!

Waking a Sleeping Giant

The church needs

a wake up call.  That is not just my opinion but the conclusion drawn from mountains of research and empirical evidence over the course of years from just about every denomination.  The world, it seems, continues to move farther and farther away from God and His desire for His creation.  Our country, the greatest country in the world, founded upon principles of freedom and individual liberty given by God continues to move farther and farther away from the moral foundations laid out in His Word.  The church has seen decline… a steady decline for more than thirty years.  Despite greater efforts at youth ministry and stronger priorities being placed upon teaching our children, young people continue to leave the church… and every indication is that they are not coming back.  Worse… the church is asleep!  Like Eutychus who fell asleep while the apostle Paul was preaching (Acts 20:9) the church is “asleep in the window” and on the verge of teetering out.

I am not one of those “prophets of doom and gloom” always talking about the end of the church or the demise of the Christian era like some.  Rather, I prefer to think God has more up his sleeve and a plan to restore, refresh and revive His people!  Yet, I would be remiss if I did not heed the warnings of Scripture (i.e. Revelation 3) and the insight of history and take up the call for a new awakening of God’s people in our time to rise, see what is happening and to invite God once more to “turn the world upside down!” (Acts 17:6)

That is what “Waking Eutychus” is about… not just another sermon series… but a call for our congregation- our small expression of the Lord’s church which meets at the corner of Washington Street and Franklin- to wake up and invite God to use us in a mighty way to bring our “village” of Fayetteville to a greater knowledge of the Lord.  Who knows but that we might have the same impact as that Samaritan woman Jesus met at a well in John chapter four… who went home to her village and told people about Jesus and the result was “many” came to faith?  Could God do that again?  Could he bring 3,000 to Him in a day like he did in Acts 2?  Join us Sunday as we seek for ways that we can put ourselves in the position to be used by God in those ways… as we seek to wake up and to be about the business of the Lord.  Eternity really does depend upon it.

-Jim

Generation Next… What they are telling US about the faith we are passing down to them

On Sunday we kicked off a new and very important series of studies on the faith of the next generation.  During the course of the next few weeks I will be sharing information from various studies which have been done on the thought patterns and the faith of the next generation… particularly those born between 1980 and 2000.  Known as “Millennials” they are America’s largest generation EVER… and what we are learning is that they are a generation in crisis!  Here are some of the stats I shared yesterday…

Major Findings of the National Study on Youth & Religion (www.youthandreligion.org)

1. Most American teenagers have religious beliefs (that’s good)
2. Organized religion doesn’t matter to most teenagers  (not so good)
3. For a significant minority of teens, faith DOES matter.  They are referred to as “highly devoted” (great!)
4. Adolescents are incredibly inarticulate about their faith (not so great)
5. Religious vitality differs by tradition (denomination)—Mormons ranked to be among the most highly devoted.
6. Highly religious teenagers fare better in other areas of life than less religious teens. (not news to us)
7. Teenagers- by and large- mimic the religious devotion of their parents. (ouch!)

Further Findings…

• A decline in the number of adolescents reporting affiliation with a traditional
• A decline in certainty in beliefs about God, judgment, angels or the afterlife
• Decline in attendance in Sunday School, in bible reading & prayer
• Increase in the proportion of adolescents who believed in demons, evil spirits, reincarnation & astrology
• Increase in teens reporting to be “more religious”

Kenda Creasy Dean in her recent book of the same title calls this kind of faith, “Almost Christian.”  Yet, to be “almost Christian” is really to be nothing at all.  What’s more… the study suggests that we are responsible!  This is the faith we are passing on to the next generation.  Ouch!  This week we will delve more deeply into this idea and take a look at just what it is we are passing on and how we can make much-needed change now before it is too late in order to reclaim the next generation for Christ!  You will want to be a part of these important lessons!

Generation Next- Reaching Tomorrow's Generation Today

I am about to begin a new sermon series on Sunday, "Generation Next: Reaching Tomorrow's Generation Today" and we will be exploring the church's mission to reach our young people for Christ.  I thought that I'd provide a list of references that I have used throughout this study which I would recommend for anyone to read... especially those of us who are parents of teenagers.  Please let me know if you know of other good material that we might add!

Altrock, Chris.  Preaching to Pluralists: How to Proclaim Christ in a Postmodern Age.  St. Louis: Chalice, 2004.

Clark, Chap.  Hurt 2.0  Grand Rapids: Baker, 2011.

Dean, Kenda Creasy.  Almost Christian: What the Faith of our Teenagers is Telling the American Church.  New York: Oxford, 2010.

Kinnaman, David and Gabe Lyons.  Unchristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks About Christianity.  Grand Rapids: Baker, 2007.

Kinnaman, David.  You Lost Me: Why Young Christians are Leaving Church and Rethinking Faith.  Grand Rapids: Baker, 2012.

Nash, Robert.  An 8-track Church in a CD World.  Macon: Smyth & Helwys, 2001.

Rainer, Thom S.  The Bridger Generation.  Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 2006.

Rainer, Thom S. and Jess W.  The Millennials: America's Largest Generation.  Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 2011.

Smith, Christian.  The National Study on Youth and Religion.  www.youthandreligion.org

Yeakley, Flavil R. Jr.,  Why They Left: Listening to Those Who Have Left Churches of Christ.  Nashville: Gospel Advocate, 2012

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

I cannot believe that this time has rolled around once again… time for our annual “Christmas Letter” to all of you.  This final bulletin before Christmas always sneaks up on me, but I SO appreciate the opportunity to write up a little “end-of-the-year” note.

This year has been an incredibly blessed one at Washington Street!  We ended 2012 with an emotional “note-burning” dinner as this congregation made final payment on our building which had consumed so much of our time, attention and financial resources throughout the previous seven years.  With that behind us, we faced 2013 with a renewed focus and a new energy to take on whatever God wanted for us!  I truly believed… as I continue to believe that “Greater Things are Yet to Come!”

In May our prayers were answered and we welcomed Wes and Stephanie Collum to our church family.  Wes got off to an incredible start as our new Youth & Family Minister… hitting the ground running with a jam-packed schedule that kept our young people busy with camps, retreats and, most importantly, service opportunities.  He and Stephanie have been a tremendous blessing to Washington Street and they are a joy to work alongside in the ministry here.  Our church family has grown as we welcomed twenty seven new members place membership and witnessed what will be seven baptisms this year!

As I look back and reflect over this past year, I think of so many who have left us.  This year we have seen the passing of many beloved church family members here at Washington Street.  My heart goes out to each and every one of you who have lost a dear loved one this year.  Their absence is felt especially at this time of year.

At our house, things are busy as usual.  Andy and David are playing on the Middle School Basketball team for Riverside Christian Academy and having a great season.  Michael is about to start his basketball season in RCA’s “Jr. Pro” program.  They are 13, 11 and 9 respectively… which still blows my mind!  Daniel, our precocious 3 year old, runs the household giving orders to his brothers (which they usually follow) and is full of life… and energy!  This year marks the twelfth anniversary of our coming to Washington Street (December 2^nd of 2001 was my first Sunday here!) … and we celebrated 18 years of marriage AND ministry in July!  I thank Celeste profusely for hanging in there!

One change that has affected both our family and our church family has been Celeste taking on additional responsibilities here at church as our new Children’s program director.  She coordinated a Children’s Christmas party on Sunday that was a great success and she is looking forward to greatly expanding this incredible ministry to the kids of the congregation.  This means our schedule and daily routine have changed just a bit and we are still getting used to it and figuring things out.

We continue to be so blessed to be a part of this church family.  There is no way that we could send every one of you, our family, the traditional “Christmas Card” so let me take this opportunity to say to every one reading these words, “Merry Christmas and a very happy New Year!”  We sincerely pray that the holidays will be filled with joy and laughter… with good times and great memories!  May God bless you.

-Jim, Celeste, Andy, David, Michael & Daniel

Is America a "Christian Nation"?

Nobody can speak as much as I do on a weekly basis and not say something every now and then that bears further explanation.   On Sunday, as I was discussing the Apostle Paul’s preaching of the gospel throughout the pagan world of the first century, I offhandedly made a comment that several have asked me about.  I referred to our own country, the United States, and commented on how similar it is to the world of Paul’s day.  I remarked that it has never been a “Christian nation” as some have supposed.  Here is what I meant by that.

A “Christian” is one who has submitted himself or herself to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.  By definition, a Christian is an individual, not a group or a nation.  In that technical sense a nation can be neither “Christian” nor “non-Christian” since a nation is made up of all kinds of people with all kinds of different beliefs.  America is a “Christian nation” only insofar as its citizens are Christians.  While many Americans have a background in “Christianity” that is not the same thing as personally submitting oneself to His Lordship.

In fact, our founding fathers ensured that the government of our nation could not be “Christian” in the principle of the separation of church and state implicit in the Constitution.  While that principle may have been misunderstood and even misapplied today, the idea very clearly is that the government is to stay out of the affairs of religion.  Therefore it cannot properly be called “Christian” can it?

This is a great thing, as it allows for the free exercise of my faith!  I love my country, not because it endorses Christian teaching, but because it allows me the freedom to actively pursue my Christian teaching!  I suppose England is “officially” a “Christian” nation with the Church of England as its national religion.  Early Americans fled that country because of the abuses inherent in that system.  Surely no one wants a state religion in the United States today.

I understand, though, that when many of us use the term “a Christian nation” we are referring to our background and heritage.  It is very true to say that our founding fathers came from a very similar Judeo-Christian background and that the values and principles they held dear were written into our founding documents.  Certainly, most of them were believers and unashamedly acknowledged God even in those documents.  I am very grateful for that and wish today’s leaders shared those same convictions.   However that does not make our nation “Christian” today.  The fact that my parents were Christians does not mean that I am.  I must have my own faith.  I must own my own relationship with Jesus in order to properly be called a “Christian.”  Just because our founding fathers were “Christians” doesn’t make our present government “Christian” does it?  What would it look like if they were?

When I look around our country,  I do see so much good and I see God’s people at work in so many ways, yet there is also much fallenness.  Our people laud and applaud what was once called evil and sin.  Our culture glamourizes infidelity and adultery and mocks purity and uprightness.  I can’t turn on the television without hearing the Lord’s name used in vain or seeing people treated as objects of someone’s sexual fantasies.  If you look at ancient Israel in the books of Joshua, Judges and the Kings… you find much the same thing.  Israel was supposed to be a “Godly nation.”  In fact, it was supposed to BE “God’s nation.”  Yet, it was unfaithful to that call and experienced the consequences of its unfaithfulness.  God was harsh enough to allow those consequences and even used other nations around them to bring His judgment on them.

So, when I say that America (the country that I love) is not and never has been a “Christian” nation, that is what I mean.  I pray for the day when all of its citizens will bow on their knees and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord… but until that day, it is my job as a Christian to faithfully witness to those around me that day is coming.

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

What an incredibly busy time of year this is! In some ways this past year has just flown by and I cannot believe that it is time once again to sit down and write my annual “Christmas Note” for our bulletin. In other ways, it has been a long and difficult year for many. As I look back and reflect over this past year, I think of so many who have left us. This year we have seen the passing of many beloved church family members here at Washington Street. My heart goes out to each and every one of you who have lost a dear loved one this year. Their absence is felt especially at this time of year. Our hearts are also heavy this week with the news of the tragic shootings in Newtown, Connecticut. Words cannot express the heartache that everyone feels over these events and especially parents.

Perhaps it is fitting that as we reflect, we are also turned to the wonder of the story in the Scriptures… the story of the Christ-child, born to humble parents in a small town called Bethlehem all those years ago… laid in an animal’s feeding trough and visited by curious shepherds. It seems like such a simple story. Children are born every day, many of them into circumstances even more difficult than that. Yet this wasn’t just any child. This was Jesus. This was Immanuel… “God with us.” This was God in the flesh, come to set things right. He was born at night, into the darkness. Max Lucado reminds us, “The shepherds were nightshift workers. The Wise Men followed a star. [Jesus’] first cries were heard in the shadows. To see [his] face, Mary and Joseph needed a candle flame. It was dark. Dark with Herod’s jealousy. Dark with Roman oppression. Dark with poverty. Dark with violence. “

Yet it was into our dark world that Jesus came and brought light! The apostle John would write, “The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.” (John 1:9) Indeed, even amidst the darkness of recent days our world is brighter as we turn our eyes upon Jesus.

This December my family began our twelfth year as a part of this church family and we continue to be so blessed. This year, more than others, we have felt the love and the prayers of dear brothers and sisters and we are so thankful for you all! God has truly blessed us through you. There is no way that we could send every one of you, our friends and family members the traditional “Christmas Card” so let me take this opportunity to say to every one reading these words, “Merry Christmas and a very happy New Year!” We sincerely pray that the holidays will be filled with joy and laughter… with good times and great memories! May God bless you.

-Jim, Celeste, Andy, David, Michael & Daniel