At our Church one of the Sunday Electives that I have been participating in is called Dare to Ask. The premise is dealing with questions people within our Church want to have answered . So far we have dealt with the Bible , Evolution , is the God of the Old Testament the same as the New Testament and yesterday we began to look at Islam .
This has been a great class so far and one that I truly believe is desperately needed. As our culture becomes more hostile and openly so against Christianity , those of us that are disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ need to be able and capable to defend the faith in which we have placed our eternal hope in. With so many conflicting and competing world views as well , the Church must not bunker down and hide within our walls , hoping that the big bad world would just go away.
A good soldier should never be thrown into a combat zone or situation without the proper training and knowledge to fight well . But in many cases those who have been in Church and called themselves Christian , cannot even give a basic defence or a description of the gospel. I believe there faith is sincere , that they truly want to serve the Lord but are lacking in real depth. My Nan , on my mothers side , was a clear example of this. She read her Bible , attended Church , prayed , did all the right things but I recall having conversations with her over very basic things like the gospel , hell , evil etc.. and she was weak in understanding any of those doctrines . It left her in despair at times and she truly suffered for it .
Who is to blame for her and many others just like her ? The blame needs to be laid at the feet of those who have been called to shepherd the flock . They are called to protect , to serve , to teach , to preach , to exhort , to rebuke and defend . Is is not the job for a wimp . But from what I have observed in many situations within my area , the shepherding of Jesus sheep has been performed by hirelings more than men of God who are true shepherds . There have been true Pastors no question , but by and large this has not been the case.
That is why I love helping with the class at my local Church. Over all I hold we have a good group of Pastors who truly want to see the flock grow in depth and knowledge . The whole idea with the electives is to bring a deeper understanding in what they believe and why they believe it. To supplement and help people grow, planting deep roots in the faith .
We need to labour and teach each other so we can stand and defend our Lord . Its not a call for the wimp or the compromiser but one who will take up their cross and follow Jesus daily. Nuff said.
1 comment:
I am truly pleased that our Church has started these classes. I know a person, and regular Church attendee, who had no idea who Martin Luther or John Calvin were. This person is a Protestant and had never heard of the 95 theses. I'm good with not being able to name all 95 but a basic understanding of why this happened and what they were would be good. Keep up the good work. Love you, Mrs Reg
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