When I was first involved in an evangelical youth group, I was excited to be connected with young people who encouraged my newfound faith.  Our youth group was sizable and was divided into three smaller sub-groups, each led by an adult leader and a teen helper.  The sub-group I joined was led by a quiet boy just a bit older than I.  I really liked him, but I was much more outgoing than he was.  I ...  Read More

 “Why would you, as a Christian, want to prevent abortion?  If people can’t abort an unwanted fetus, that baby will be an unwanted child.  It is cruel and un-Christian to force that kind of life on a child.”Ironically enough, the person who recently raised this question claims to be a Christian and is involved in helping kids whose parents neglect them while pursuing lives characterized by irrespo...  Read More

Choosing between competing, clashing goods is usually a more difficult dilemma than choosing between good and evil.  Making such choices requires wisdom.  You must be able to choose the right option at the right time with the right object in mind, doing good toward the right people with the right motive in the right manner.Take, for example, the immigration problem the United States is having at t...  Read More

When I was a child, I saw the world in black and white.  Things were either good or evil and the battle was always to choose good and avoid evil.  That is the right way to teach children to think morally.  It is simple and straightforward and builds a solid foundation for a child’s heart and mind.  But that is only the starting place, not the finish line.  As we mature, we find that the world is m...  Read More

I rarely speak or write about giving.  Many are thankful for that.  In some churches that’s all you hear about every week.  Others believe that if I spoke more about giving, people would give more, and we could do more.  Both sides have a point, but I believe what is most important to recognize is that there are two ways to look at money, budgeting, and giving.Some people budget the maximum they c...  Read More

And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth… (2 Timothy 2.24-25)While I was preparing for ministry in Bible college this passage struck me.  Well, parts of it struck me.  I read it with lots of editing, as follows:And t...  Read More

There is a movement today in progressive Christianity called “Open and Affirming”.  According to its website:A congregation becomes Open and Affirming when it affirms a public covenant that “lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people (LGBT)” (or people of all “sexual orientations, gender identities and expressions”) are welcome in the full life and ministry of the congregation (e.g. membership,...  Read More

We believe that Satan is the adversary of Christ and the people of God, and that his destiny is everlasting conscious punishment.Here we are at Halloween and I have arrived, unintentionally and perhaps providentially and appropriately, at the last point of our statement of faith – what we believe about Satan!If I remember correctly, we retained this statement when we updated the statement of faith...  Read More

We believe in the bodily resurrection of the dead;of the believer to everlasting blessedness and joy with the Lord,of the unbeliever to judgment and everlasting conscious punishment.Christianity is built on the resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15.1-19).  If Christ was raised, then God is able to raise the dead – and that means He is able to raise any or all of us – and we have a certain...  Read More

We believe in the personal and bodily return of Jesus Christ to this earth…Conservative Christians who believe in the veracity of the Bible often disagree on details of the end times.  We have differing opinions of the tribulation, of the timing of the rapture, of the identity of the antichrist, and of the nature and timing of the ‘millennium’, the thousand-year reign of Revelation 20.  But all co...  Read More

Our church has two “ordinances”, i.e. ordered or appointed rituals:  baptism and the Lord’s Supper or communion.  (A few Mennonite and Brethren groups add a third, foot-washing.)We believe in ‘believer’s baptism’ as opposed to infant baptism.  We believe baptism is something you choose to do, not something others choose to do to you.  We see baptism as an external symbol of one’s internal professi...  Read More

So those who received [Peter’s] word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. (Acts 2.41)This passage describes the first day that Peter preached the good news of the risen Christ.  He called upon the people who had called for Jesus to be crucified to repent of their sins and recognize that same Jesus as the risen Lord and the appointed King of heaven.Three thousand...  Read More