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Discipleship Ministries of the PCA

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Growing Up Christian: Have You Taken Ownership of Your Relationship With God?

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I have found a “kindred spirit” in Karl Graustein. To see the beauty, privilege and blessing of growing up in the church yet also see the subtle and sometimes obvious dangers of being raised in the “community of the saints” is a strong balance that every pastor, youth worker, parent, adolescent and child needs to have. Karl Graustein sends a vital message to people of every generation to not take for granted the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ in giving us the church.

What strikes me about this work is that it is the first I know of its kind. Written to Christian students to remind them of the glorious privilege of being “fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household” (Eph. 2:19) and also point out many of the challenges of growing up in a place where salvation and the Lordship of Christ Jesus is taken so seriously. The fact that this book has been written from a very strong reformed perspective is an added blessing and a cause of rejoicing in my soul. What the Lord has led Karl Graustein to write the Lord has also led me to share in similar ways for several years. I am thrilled that Karl has put into print what so many, many students in reformed families need to hear (as well as parents, youth workers, teachers and pastors).

Graustein states the purpose of this book in the opening chapter: “This book is for individuals who have grown up in Christian homes who want to take their faith to the next level. It is for young adults who realize their responsibility to take a hold of their personal relationship with God. It is a book that describes the unique perspective and tendencies of church kids. It is filled with warnings as well as practical suggestions for growth in godliness.” The book is set up in three sections that first show some of the dangers in growing up in the church, such as having a very small view of our sins as well as a small view of our Redeemer. Also taking for granted all that Christ is for us and having a shallow appreciation for Him are also examined.

The second section stresses the solid importance of thinking biblically and continuing to think and learn from a biblical perspective. As Graustein says, “We’ll realize that thinking biblically is the first step toward living biblically.” The final section of the book is very proactive in showing how to properly respond to the truths of God’s Word and what we are to do as His “chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God.” (1 Peter 2:9) A strong emphasis is made on joyfully and passionately practicing the spiritual disciplines and living to please and honor Christ in our lives in response to His awesome grace and mercy powerfully shown in our lives.

I highly recommend this book for students as well as parents, teachers, pastors and youth workers. It is something that has needed to be in print for a long time. I thank the Lord that He has led Karl Graustein to write it.

Grandpa’s Box: Retelling the Biblical Story of Redemption

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I do not know of another book I could recommend as a great book for young readers, an unmatched teaching tool for children’s Bible teachers, and the perfect family devotional book all in one. Grandpa’s Box is all of these and is the best children’s book I have read in years.

An elementary-aged reader will have a difficult time putting this book down. Each of Grandpa’s stories is a “war story” symbolized by some small object from his box. In the first chapter Grandpa tells his grandchildren, Marc and Amy, that he is in the middle of a war. “It’s a great and terrible war I’m in. It’s not the kind in which people shoot and stab and blow each other up. Oh, no, it’s much more serious than that…But the great thing about this war is that even though it’s so hard and long and even though the enemy is very powerful, the war is already won.” From Genesis 3 through Revelations, each chapter is a biblically accurate revelation of God in Christ Jesus our conquering King.

I train Sunday school teachers and I will recommend this book to every one of them. The teaching of the Word in the context of spiritual warfare is important as we point the next generation to Christ. Starr Meade never compromises any of the biblical context and is faithful in every chapter to tell the story of redemption. She understands that the Bible is a revelation of God, not a book of stories directing us to some moral or principle for living.

As in her first book, Training Hearts, Teaching Minds, Meade provides a wonderful family devotion guide based on the Shorter Catechism. This book should be read in a family setting, also, so that parents can discuss what each story shows us about God. P&R Publishing’s website (www.prpbooks.com/grandpasbox) has a few discussion questions for each chapter to aid in this book’s use as a family devotional. I own this book. I will use it often as a teacher, but I anticipate wearing off the covers as I read it to my grandchildren.

The Value of Church History

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By Don Clements

I went to the doctor’s office the other day to seek treatment for a sinus infection. I get them every winter and all I needed was a prescription for an antibiotic.

My regular family practice doctor was in Africa on a mission’s trip. So I had to see a fresh-caught Physicians Assistant. She walked into the room, and as far as she was concerned, I was a blank page. She didn’t know me from the man in the moon. After making some small talk, during which she determined I’d been a patient at this particular group practice for over 10 years, she turned on the computer in the examining room. A few clicks and – Voila’! – she had my medical history for the past 10 years. See? There is a lot of value in history – I got my antibiotic!!

The website of Tulane University’s History Department has a very good description of the value of history. You can read the full definition at http://history.tulane.edu/

In our search for meaning, we examine the meanings that others found. In our contemplation of the historical record, we encounter a broader spectrum of human behavior and values than that which we encounter in our own everyday lives. In doing so, we may develop a wiser understanding of who we are, of what potential we have, of what dangers threaten individuals, families, communities, and nations, and finally what we see as the meaning of life.


But our topic is Church history. We can’t just turn on the computer and learn 10 or 100 or 1000 years of church history, can we? Well, yes we can – but I’m not sure how much of it is of great value to us. Certainly ministers of the Word who attend seminary have to take Church history classes. But not everyone needs that much. Besides, who’s got the time?

One facet of Church history that I have found very useful for my needs was that, immediately upon arrival at a new church, I would dig out all the old Session minutes and read them, at least those for the past thirty years. Amazing what you can learn about a church just from reading all those dusty old Session record books.

But there are aspects of Church history that are of value to just about every church member, at least to those in leadership and teaching positions. One of my favorite pastimes over the years has been reading biographies. Lot’s of people like reading biographies and never realize that they are reading history books. Particularly in the past few years when I have not been preaching regularly and had more time for things of interest, I have made it a practice to try to have at least one biography on my reading table at all times.

But what about Church history in general? Does it matter if I know all that stuff about Martin Luther and John Knox? Does it matter if I know what has happened in the PCA for the past 30 plus years? All I really care about is my own local church and my own personal ministry – and I just don’t have time to worry about all that other stuff. Let me suggest that “all that other stuff” is part and parcel of what ultimately produced your local church, and for that matter, most likely your individual ministry.

Suppose you are a Sunday school teacher? Do you even know who invented Sunday school? And what its original purpose was supposed to be? Perhaps you could better evaluate your ministry by studying the history of John and Charles Wesley and the Methodist movement from which our modern Sunday school design has evolved over the years.

Let’s stick with the Sunday school teacher illustration for a while. What about your curriculum? Where did it come from? Why is it set up the way it is? Why does it teach the specific things it teaches? The lessons here could greatly affect your teaching. To learn the early history of GCP materials, if that is what you are using, and to learn the battles that the men and women who originally formed the Orthodox Presbyterian Church had to go through when they left the liberal Northern Presbyterian Church in the 1930’s and their immediate need to find Biblically based Christian Education materials, you would be thrilled.

Or have you ever heard how GCP went through years of financial struggle and was near to closing their doors when they approached the PCA to ask us to join in a cooperative agreement to keep the presses running?

How about your local church? Does it have a history? Does that history have any effect on you and your family? How has your church history shaped the way it deals with members, on what the preaching from the pulpit is like, how the church is organized, and dozens of other things affecting the church in so many ways that many of us never see? Your church did not just appear one day. It became the way it is today because of events that happened in the past. And those events are what we call church history.

Every individual church has a history. Many of them are written down. Check around and see if you can find yours. If not, check with the PCA Historian at http://www.pcahistory.org/.

And every Presbyterian church has a broader history. The PCA is less than 35 years old, so our history is pretty short. But we will be celebrating the Tri-Centennial of the founding of the first Presbytery in the colonies that became the “good ole US of A”. Wow, a lot of history there. And perhaps a lot of it won’t apply to your particular church. But there are certainly parts of all that history that are important. Where did your church come from? Was it from the old Southern Presbyterian Church or the old Northern Presbyterian Church or from some other small group of Presbyterians? In that history you’ll find a lot of answers to that list of questions I just asked a bit ago.

Perhaps you are part of a much younger congregation formed after the PCA was founded. What was the history of its founding? Why did the leadership back then decide to unite with the PCA? That history will also answer a lot of those questions. You see, past decisions and past events in your church have developed into a story all their own, a history of your church. Likewise, past decisions and past events in the PCA have developed a history of the denomination.

When I was a student at Covenant Seminary, Dr. Will Barker became our Dean of faculty and Professor of Church History. I was in his classroom on his first day of teaching. As he went around the room that first day, he asked each of us to introduce ourselves briefly, especially telling a bit about our background and studies in the field of history.

When it came to my turn, I said something like this: “I have had 3 hours of Western Civ and 3 hours of History of the Old South and they were probably the two most useless classes I ever had as an undergrad!” With that pleasant, comforting smile that is invariably on Will’s face, he said something like, “Well, Mr. Clements, I’ll consider that a challenge to make this one of the most important classes you will have!”

And, wouldn’t you know it, I can honestly say it may have been exactly that – the most important class of my seminary education. It certainly was one of the prime factors that led me to understand the Reformed Faith. You see, learning a little Church history, gives you perspective, from which you can even better understand your church’s doctrine and beliefs.

Enlarging Worlds: Hunstville Southwood PCA “Adopts” Strapped Elementary School – and It’s Families

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Editor’s Note: Amy L. Sherman serves as Editorial Director for the FASTEN initiative and has been active in the MNA’s Urban and Mercy Steering Committee. She is a member of Trinity Presbyterian in Charlottesville, Virginia, and the founder and former Executive Director of Charlottesville Abundant Life Ministries. Sherman has authored many books and has been a regular faculty member for the CE&P and MNA’s bi-annual mercy ministry conference. She writes about one PCA congregation that has grabbed an opportunity to make a difference in their community.


The members of Southwood Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, Alabama, are heavenly minded–and earthly good. The most visible example of this is the giant replica of the solar system they’ve constructed for Lincoln Elementary School, where 94 percent of attending children are poor enough to qualify for the government’s free lunch program. Bright stars and six foot planets bedazzle the eye as they stretch across the 2000-foot black-painted ceiling of the school’s old gym, now remodeled as a giant science laboratory complete with a salt-water aquarium and terrarium. “The whole idea was to study sea, space, and earth,” enthuses Southwood’s Director of Mercy Ministries Mark Stearns. “We wanted the kids dreaming.”

The science lab’s not the only new thing at Lincoln. With help from Southwood and other churches, the school now boasts a refurbished library with a state-of-the-art computer lab and scores of new books. And in a renovated greenhouse attached to the school, Lincoln students are now busy taking horticulture classes.

These kinds of facilities may be standard fare at private, suburban schools, but they are a rarity in the school districts serving Alabama’s low-income kids. As Lincoln Elementary principal Christy Jensen says, “I don’t believe there is any other elementary, middle or high school in the Huntsville City School District that has anything like this connection” with a congregation like Southwood.

The most important service Southwood PCA has offered to Lincoln, though, hasn’t been money or things. It’s people. Over half of Lincoln’s 212 students now enjoy personal, one-on-one mentor-tutors, thanks to volunteers from Southwood and other congregations, like Cove United Methodist, that Southwood leaders have recruited.

The Ministry of Overhead Projectors

Southwood’s collaboration with Lincoln Elementary won the church $5000 in a ten-state competition sponsored by FASTEN (Faith and Service Technical Education Network), a capacity building initiative of the Pew Charitable Trusts. Southwood beat out 33 other Alabama entrants for FASTEN’s “Partners in Transformation” award. The award honors faith-based organizations that operate a successful social program in collaboration with some organization outside the faith sector. The mercy ministries department of MNA promoted the contest and at the most recent Mercy Ministries conference, I had the opportunity of talking about the need for PCA churches to engage in non-traditional partnerships to transform their communities. Southwood is a great example of putting this concept into action.

The partnership began when Mark Stearns became acquainted with the low-income neighborhood surrounding Lincoln Elementary, the community a mere eight minute drive from the church. One day in 2002, he walked into principal Jensen’s office and asked her what needs she had that the church might assist with. Taken aback – and somewhat skeptical – Jensen thought for a while. Then she proposed that some new overhead projectors would be a boon to the teachers. A few days later, five projectors arrived. “I’d wondered,” Jensen admits, “whether this guy was for real. I didn’t know if I’d ever see him again.” With the credibility of five overhead projectors behind him, Stearns shared his heart for the community with Jensen, emphasizing that the church really wanted to help. Now, three years later, Jensen reports she and her teachers have been “overwhelmed” by the support. “I’ve been in the education business for a long time,” Jensen says, “and I’ve never seen anything like this. It is very unique.”

When asked whether she is concerned about church-state issues, Jensen says no, because the church volunteers know “what’s allowed and what’s not allowed between 8:00 and 2:30.” In fact, she wishes that more collaboration between the faith community and needy public schools were occurring. “In the U.S., in schools when people say they’re coming from a church, sometimes people get fearful. [But] there’s not anything to fear-it’s a help.”

Poured Out Like A Drink Offering

The collaboration has been a new experience for church members, too. “Southwood was great at equipping people and taking care of its own folks,” Shari Jones, assistant mercy ministries director, notes. “But as far as really getting out into the community and serving-golly, not much. It was more [about] having comfortable settings to bring people in, instead of really getting out.”

With a largely affluent membership, Mark Stearns knew it would be a stretch getting Southwood’s congregants hands-on engaged in the distressed Lincoln neighborhood. He knew he’d need support from the pulpit. So he took Senior Pastor Mike Honeycutt on a home visit to one of the families from Lincoln. The house “reminded me of something from a third world country,” Stearns recalls, noting that the plumbing was broken and the stench was pungent. A few minutes into the visit, it became clear to Stearns that Honeycutt was bothered by the odor. “I remember praying that he would suffer,” Stearns chuckles. “And he did. It was hard. It was difficult to see [the conditions]; difficult to be there.” After they concluded the visit and walked outside, Honeycutt turned to Stearns and declared, “This is where the Kingdom of God needs to be.”

Honeycutt began challenging Southwood to be “poured out like a drink offering” for the Lincoln Village community. Congregational response has been tremendous. “Out of 1100 members, I bet half have done something over there,” Shari Jones reports. “We have people who are falling in love with the kids, taking them with them on their vacations,” Stearns adds. “It’s definitely a really important part of what our Body does now.”

In addition to the tutoring program, several businesspersons from Southwood have launched the Lincoln Village Preservation Corporation. Their aim is to attack the problem of indecent housing in the Lincoln neighborhood. So far, the Corporation has purchased 25 properties to refurbish. Many church members are also active in the neighborhood food pantry, connecting with Lincoln residents as they meet practical needs for food.

Impact


Studies by the U.S. Department of Education indicate that effective tutoring programs tend to have the positive impact, on average, of increasing reading comprehension by half a grade level. Principal Jensen says that reading and math scores are gradually climbing at Lincoln. In the first years of the collaboration, tutors especially focused on the kids’ writing skills. Aggregate scores in this area were in the “red zone,” well below expected state standards, when Jensen first arrived four years ago. Now, students’ writing assessment test scores have quadrupled.

Kids aren’t the only ones being touched through this ministry. Church volunteers are slowly forging relationships with the students’ parents as well. Jensen is thrilled with one effect of that: PTA attendance has skyrocketed from about a half a dozen participants to over 100 at the most recent meeting. “We pack out the place usually now,” she exults. “And I think that part of that is that [the tutors] have helped the parents see the importance of parent involvement.”

Shari Jones is quick to add that the transformation occurring is mutual: “I feel like I have every bit as much to learn as I do to give,” she stresses. “I look at the culture in Lincoln and think, ‘You know, it’s probably better to sit on our porches more like the folks there do, because they’re not so busy with so many activities. So,” she sums up, “I feel like it’s an exchange, more than a ‘we have so many answers we want to share with you.'”

Enlarging Worlds


Asked to describe what the partnership with Lincoln has meant to Southwood parishioners, Jones talks about tutor Cliff Ibsen. Recently retired from Boeing, Jones says Ibsen is the type to take notice of things. He discovered dyslexia in his first “tutee” and encouraged the school to do some additional testing. Now he’s paired with De Angelo, a third grader at Lincoln. One of ten kids from a single-parent home, DeAngelo is “bright,” “responsive,” and “eager to please.” In addition to the weekly tutoring session, Ibsen has helped DeAngelo and his brother obtain needed dental work and treated them to visits to the beach, the theater, and the Botanical Gardens. It’s about enlarging the kids’ worlds, Jones explains. A long-time member of the board of directors for the Community Ballet Association, she laments that poor kids in under-resourced schools like Lincoln “are almost cut off from the arts community as a whole.” Last year, she facilitated a whole-school field trip to attend The Nutcracker. Three children from Lincoln have also earned scholarships to the ballet school.

These kinds of opportunities expand the kids’ horizons. As Jones puts it, DeAngelo is “more broad in his thinking [now]; more open to possibilities.”

She adds, “When I first went out there and asked the kids what they wanted to be when they grew up, it was professional football player or hairdresser. That was pretty much the range. DeAngelo’s one who will consider other possibilities now.”

The Kingdom Focused Leader: Seeing God At Work, In You, Through You, and Around You

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As we talk about and emphasize the sovereignty of God over all of life, it is important to remember that while the church needs godly dedicated leaders, so does the world. Many Christians have not understood that when the Bible talks about leadership, it not only refers to church, it also refers to the broader kingdom as well. The kingdom is broader than the church and Christ is the king over all.

Miller challenges the reader to see the importance of having a right focus and priorities by aligning their agenda to God’s. That is the only way to advance the kingdom of God. A kingdom disciple understands that kingdom living is far more inclusive than being a church member. It means that in “all things Christ preeminent” -whether we eat or drink or whatever we do, we are to do it in the name of the Lord Jesus. One does not have to work full time in the church or be a missionary to serve Christ.

Michael Miller is the director of Church Relations for LifeWay Christian Resources. He is correct in stating that most Christians do not appreciate the value of their influence in the marketplace. Many are tempted to embrace a dualistic way of life that separates life into the sacred and secular realms. Understanding the kingdom will keep a Christian from that trap of dualism. He also writes “regardless of your place of service, I want to encourage you to develop a kingdom focus.” That is the theme of CEP, as well. A clear understanding of the kingdom of God will encourage a kingdom focus in all of life. Miller reminds us that Jesus Christ is king who directs the affairs of his eternal kingdom. He wants us to be “kingdom focused leaders” who understand that Jesus Christ is king of the kingdom with all authority.

Miller reveals three dimensions of God’s Kingdom: height, depth and width, meaning God working in us, through us and around us. This three-fold dimensional paradigm becomes the kingdom focused leader’s primary focus. As we realize this more and more, we will also know that we are to represent God in all that we do. This requires obedience to God’s calling to us. It also requires developing a Christ-like character. It involves living a balanced life with the godly characteristics of a kingdom focused leader.

“Kingdom focused leaders look for opportunities to use their gifts and resources to help people become united with God through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Sometimes these opportunities come as they meet needs in the lives of others.”

This book will be a good primer or refresher to all Christians in places of leadership or who aspire to be kingdom focused leaders.