CDM Archive

Discipleship Ministries of the PCA

Church Leadership

Ho! Ho! What?

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By Mike Rasmussen, taken from the December, 1991 issue of The Messenger.

Nick and Nelda (not their real names) resigned from Christmas. It had become, to them, a materialistic rodent race. No more decoration. No more buying or giving presents. What’s more, any presents sent to them will be sent back. Nick and Nelda have the right to dropkick Christmas traditions, God has not commanded us to observe Christmas. But, if we do, how should we observe it?

God likes events that help people to focus on Him. We learn this from the Old Testament. God commanded His people to observe three religious festi

What Americans Consider Important

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What’s important to Americans-time or money? Family or friends? Health or career? In a national survey of adults, over 1,000 people were asked what is important in their life. The study, conducted by the Barna Research Group, tested the importance of ten different areas of life. The most important? Family.

Ninety-four percent of all Americans said family is very important to them personally. Another five percent called fami

Vacations: A Gift of Grace

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By Glen Van Andel. In his well-known play Our Town, Thornton Wilder describes how Emily, a woman who died in childbirth, is allowed to return to earth to spend one day with her family. She chooses to do so on her twelfth birthday, fully expecting it to be a day filled with rich memories and happy experiences.

But as the play unfolds, Emily becomes more and more frustrated with her family’s lack of interest in and sensitivity to the impor

Biblical Fun: Holy Laughter

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By Emmett Cooper. Part of the perceived problem about fun among Christians in general, and the local church in particular, is the tension often felt between “holy” and “laughter.” Holiness and laughter, like sacred and the profane, seem to be in direct opposition to one another. As Christians, does God expect us to laugh in a holy sort of way, or perhaps to become holy in a laughable kind of way? What does the Bible say about loving God and having fun?

The word fun is not specifically mentioned in Scripture. But it is implied throughout. A biblical word, however, that is in the same family of meaning is “enjoy.”

Paul explicitly declares that God has given us all things to enjoy. As defined by Webster, enjoy means to feel good, have a good time, delight in good fun.

Enjoyment is God’s idea. Deep capacities for fun are woven into the very fiber of our being. It’s part of bear

Tattered Tom Versus Snow White: Two Gospels

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By James Sauer. In the latter half of the 19th Century, the American Unitarian cleric and author, Horatio Alger, penned over 120 books for boys. The various series-Ragged Dick, Luck and Pluck, and Tattered Tom-were optimistic sagas of young bootblacks and newspaper boys whose virtues and gumption allowed them to rise from their humble ori