Teachers/Disciplers

The Task of Christian Education

December 2, 2011 by Editor

Editor’s Note: This past summer the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, with whom we partner in our Great Commission Publication venture, celebrated its 75th anniversary. The OPC and the PCA formed the partnership in 1975. The following comments are from the oldest living OPC Minister and a former member of the GCP Board. With the permission of New Horizons, we have excerpted a portion of an address Dr. John Galbraith delivered at that assembly on the topic of Christian Education.

…One thing that was very important to that first Assembly (OPC) was the preaching and teaching of the Word of God. And to do it, the assembly immediately set up three committees to help the congregations as then existed and those that would be formed. Those committees were the Committees on Home and Foreign Missions and Christian Education. The Committees on Home and Foreign Missions had one message. They were obeying Jesus Christ, who said specifically what we were to do. He said in Acts 1, “Ye shall be my witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” In Matthew 28, he said, “All authority is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach.” That was not just a missionary goal. That teaching included the Bible, the entire content of the Word of God. We came to think of that then, and to call it the Reformed Faith, after the Reformation.

Now, there is a difference between the two missions committees and the Committee on Christian Education that should be noted. Those two missions committees do their work and carry on their ministries outside the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. They preach to those who are without. The Committee on Christian Education, however, teaches and preaches to those of us who are within. This is a monumental task because it means the Committee on Christian Education teaches those who are to teach. It is a committee to teach teachers.

Read entire issue of Equip to Disciple, 4th Quarter 2011 (Acrobat Reader required).

But, a lot more than that, it is a committee that goes from the cradle to the grave. It picks up through the ministry of Great Commission Publications. It picks up through children who haven’t yet gone to school and it leads congregations to teach the scripture to those little, tiny tots. It teaches the scripture itself, and what we believe the Scriptures teach, in the Catechisms…

…I say to you that the work of the Committee on Christian Education is the basic agency of the General Assembly. It is not more important than missions, not at all. How could you beat the importance of those words of Jesus, “Go and teach”? Those are not just important; those are essential, and we must not give them up. But what I am saying is that the Committee on Christian Education has helped our churches to teach those people who go out as missionaries and teach the Word.

We should be thankful on this occasion of the seventy-fifth anniversary of our church. God has been good. We have missed many times in our aims. We have sinned. Let’s not forget that. We cannot boast that we are the perfect church. We are so far from it. But there is one thing for which we can give God thanks: for moving us to desire, seek, and be faithful, as far as we are able, to God’s Word.

God has given us a promise in Isaiah and in Habakkuk that the knowledge of the Lord will fill the earth as the water covers the sea. The hymn writer picks up that thought. He changes the venue a bit. He says, “Jesus shall reign where’er the sun does his successive journeys run.” We believe that. We sing that. God has called upon us to maintain a faithful and energetic Committee on Christian Education….

…I say to you, “Keep standing fast.” That doesn’t need any exegesis. You know exactly what it means. Stand fast in the faith once delivered to the saints. Stand fast on the Word of God, and then get going on the things that God has given us to do. Teach our people well. Teach them to do their job, and to do it well. And to that I think I can say only my own amen and say also, to God be the glory…

2,000 Participants Gather in Atlanta for the Amazing Grace 360 Conference

October 14, 2011 by Editor

AG360 2,000 participants came together at the Cobb Galleria, Atlanta, Ga., Friday, Saturday and Sunday, in Atlanta, for the PCA’s 5^th Christian Education and Publications Women’s ministry conference, Amazing Grace 360 emphasizing the whole Gospel for the whole life and whole world. Older women and younger women came from across the PCA with representatives from several countries where PCA ministry is realized. 200 of the participants were under 20 years of age and 200 were over 66 years of age.

With the confusion abroad about “grace” the conference sought to present a program that would encourage and enable the participants to understand the “it is all about God” who is a God of grace and mercy. That theme was carried throughout the conference with Nancy Guthrie leading the plenary sessions unfolding the whole story of: creation, the fall, redemption, and consummation (covered by Brian Habig mentioned below). Her messages were clear and set the stage for the more than 30 seminars on different aspects of the whole story.

500 of the participants came for the pre-conference events which featured Lydia Brownback as the plenary speaker and breakout seminars for that “pre-con” event. Kevin Twit and the Indelible Grace effectively led the conference in the worship sessions. Kevin Twit is a PCA teaching elder and has assisted CEP and the women’s conferences on previous occasions. One of the highlights of the conference, along with the good solid teaching and warm fellowship of the participants, was a Friday night concert, featuring Laura Story an accomplished singer and songwriter and winner of the prestigious Dove Award for her album Great God Who Saves and who serves on the worship leadership team at the Perimeter PCA Church in Duluth, Ga., and a Saturday night concert featuring Kevin Twit and the Indelible Grace.

The Indelible Grace has produced a number of CD’s especially featuring some of the great hymns often set to new music. Kevin is a graduate of Covenant Theological Seminary. He is also known as a RUF (Reformed University Fellowship) campus minister at Belmont University in Nashville, Tn.

Another highlight of the conference, following the Saturday night dinner, came as

PCA women from across the church and from more than eight countries were introduced who then brought greetings from such respective locations: North America, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Germany, Ukraine. Etc. The evening session was narrated and led by Barbara Thompson of Zachary, La., and Susan Phyllis of Hendersonville. North Carolina. The theme for the evening was appropriately called, “faces of grace.” During that evening session the wives of PCA military chaplains, especially those serving in Afghanistan and Iraq, were asked to stand to an auditorium filled with a standing ovation for their families’ service to God and our country’s security.

Laura Story Joni Erickson Tada addressed the conference via video and brought encouraging words to those who have known suffering and the Lord’s faithfulness in sustaining them through difficult times. Nancy Guthrie who had experienced the pain of losing two children was able to meet with many of the mothers present with similar experiences. A fitting climax of the Saturday evening event was remembering Georgia Settle, now with the Lord, who served as the first coordinator of women’s ministry with CEP and the PCA. Her husband Paul, a former coordinator of CEP, was welcomed. He brought a brief message and prayer for the conference.

Brian Habig concluded the conference in the Sunday morning worship with a message from Romans 8 entitled “Home.” The morning message drew together the “consummation perspective,” in a most effective way, the theme and the variations on that theme throughout the conference. Brain, a former RUF minister, presently serves as pastor of the Downtown Presbyterian church in Greenville, South Carolina

One of the highlights of the conference was giving the participants an opportunity to see the more that 50 exhibits some featuring a variety of ministries in the church and to see the many training resources and study materials available from CEP. One the participants remarked, “I have never seen so many good resources that relate to women’s ministry in one place.”

CEP Coordinator Charles Dunahoo said before the conference, “We have carefully designed the entire conference around the theme Amazing Grace 360-focusing on God’s grace, not from an “easy believism” concept of grace, but from a biblically historical redemptive focus on Christ and his sufficiency that will highlight, “The whole Gospel, the Whole life, and the Whole World.” As the conference ended he said “God allowed us to experience that purpose in even greater measures than anticipated.”

Jane Patete, CEP’s women’s ministry coordinator said, “Our prayer was for the Triune God to be lifted before the conference in teaching, fellowship, prayer, and singing the songs of the Kingdom, and that we all would be reminded of his redeeming grace and equipped to live and serve as the citizens of the his Kingdom.” “God answered our prayer,” she said as the conference closed. “To him be the glory.”

DVD’s of Nancy Guthrie’s session, along with audios of the entire conference are available from the CEP Bookstore.

You Were Made to Last Forever

August 17, 2011 by Editor

Download the You Last Forever postcard that can be used as a bulletin insert, visitor followup, and many other things.

You Were Made to Last Forever is an effective method for sharing the Faith with people. PCA Teaching Elder Dick Fisher has developed a number of resources that you can access easily and effectively. This program is being used effectively in a number of different settings. It is a useable resource that will enable you to better present the Gospel.

Click here to visit the website

Watch the video below to learn more about You were Made to Last Forever:

The Kingdom Misunderstood, Part 1

August 15, 2011 by Charles

Editor’s Note: This is the first of a two part article dealing with the misperceptions many Christians have of the kingdom of God. What is ther ole of believers in the kingdom, how are they to impact the broader kingdom? Are there really two kingdoms?

Introduction

I begin by introducing you to Bill and Mary Wright. Bill is a 34 year old husband and father of two children, Terry 10 and Susan 7. Mary is a stay at home mom and has home schooled her children for a couple years, though they are presently attending a Christian school that meets in their church. Bill and Mary are active church members and clearly demonstrate a love for the Lord that is obvious to others.

Bill is a member of a successful law firm. He teaches a young adult Sunday school class in his church and is very active in civic events. He is on the church’s board of officers. You might call the Wright’s the quintessential Christian family.

Bill majored in political science in college and later entered law school. Presently, he is an active member of the bar. For several years Bill has had a desire to become more involved in politics. His friends have suggested that on a number of occasions, so has his wife Mary. He represents the more conservative line of political thinking and is certainly an advocate for rule of law in our country.

Read entire Equip 3rd Quarter, 2011 (Acrobat Reader required).

But as Bill thinks about this, he wrestles with a dilemma. He is a Christian and believes in church and state separation; therefore he wonders how he can be a good Christian and involved in politics at the same time. He has been taught by the system to think of religion as belonging to the private area of his life, including family and church, but politics is more for the public arena. He does not want to compromise his Christian faith by involving himself in an area that would require him to keep his religious beliefs, his Christian faith, to himself.

Bill’s situation reminds me of another occasion when I was teaching a seminar to leaders from several churches. The topic for the day was making kingdom disciples. I spent some time developing the point that there is actually more involved in making disciples than is often reflected and practiced by many today. I was explaining how being a Christian involved more than merely having a personal relationship with the Lord, than reading the Bible, praying, and witnessing. My point was that Christianity is a way of life, a total way of life, which many Christians fail to understand, especially today.

Christianity is a way of life, a total way of life

In trying to be as clear as possible, I said there is a sense in which you are no more spiritual when teaching a teenage Sunday school class on John 3:16, than you are teaching an eleventh grade mathematics class. The Bible teaches God’s special truth in what we would call the spiritual realm and the mathematics class teaches God’s truth in that broader realm. I continued–the only way you can know what John 3:16 means is for God to teach it to you and the only way that you can know that 2 plus 2 is 4 is because God is the author of all truth. Both are true because they come from God, as the God of all truth. Jesus commanded us to “make disciples” and we do that according to him, by teaching to observe all things whatsoever he has commanded, and by necessary inference, he has taught us. (Matthew 28:19 & 20).

If we see God’s truth wholistically, we are to be spiritual in everything that we do, 24/7 both in an out of the church. I am aware in saying this, many Christians do not understand this discipleship process. Their paradigm has been based on a wrong view of the church and kingdom, as well as discipleship itself. We will show this later, but for now, some see the church and kingdom as two separate entities while others see them as one and the same. While we believe neither of those are representative of the Bible’s teaching on the church of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God, it is so important to understand what the two are and how they are related, especially as they impact our worship and service of God.

On another occasion I was speaking at an annual convention of Christian school leaders. On the program was a young man who had also been influenced by the teachings of Francis Schaeffer. At that time he was serving in a staff position in Washington, D. C. He said in his address, that we would be pleased and amazed at how many of our members of Congress attend regular Bible studies. (This was several years ago). But then he said, you would be disappointed to see some of those same people move into the legislative hall and fail to incorporate those biblical truths into the issues with which they were dealing.

There is a false scenario that has penetrated our western world, including many of our churches, and it has caused people to see life from a dualistic, even fragmented perspective, thus creating Bill’s dilemma and keeping that 11th grade math teacher from seeing himself as a disciple maker in teaching math.

My purpose in this series of articles is to understand and evaluate the fallacy of Bill and Mary’s thinking about politics, and their misunderstanding of the church and Christianity, the false dichotomy reflected in the math class, and the failure of those politicians in Washington to know how to apply biblical truth to their civil responsibilities.

I want us to consider how the above examples have grown out of a wrong paradigm regarding education, especially Christian education and disciple-making but especially a wrong paradigm of the church and the kingdom of God (“The Lord has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all” Psalm 103:19; “Your Kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures throughout all generations.” Psalm 145:13).

How We Teach and How They Learn, Part 10 – Learning Styles and Denominations

August 15, 2011 by Editor

Last time we looked at how learning styles are affected by culture. Here we will look at how they help form denominations.

If you have been following the growth of Christianity around the world you have seen it is the more charismatic type of churches experiencing the greatest increases. Combine this information with what we looked at last time, and you will notice that this phenomenon is taking place in cultures that fit two of the learning styles – Imaginative and Dynamic.

The PCA is a very cerebral denomination – we love facts and details, and we make sure that every jot and tittle of even the Book of Church Order is examined. That is not a criticism, it is just who we are. We are a hard and fast analytic group by nature. Most of our pastors will test out as either Analytic or Common Sense men.

Read entire issue of Equip 3rd Quarter, 2011 (Acrobat Reader required).

There are other denominations like us: Methodists, Anglicans, Lutherans, and even most Baptists.

On the other hand, there are denominations like the Pentecostal, the Assemblies of God, Church of God (certain ones), etc. These are not known for doctrinal teaching. Rather, their emphasis is on the emotional and experiential side of life. These groups are made up of people who are Imaginative and Dynamic learners. Remember, these are the learners who thrive on interpersonal contact over against those who are more concerned with details.

It is important to understand that God was the one who created people with these different learning styles, therefore, one style is not right and the other wrong. Nor can one be judged as better than another. We saw in Part 8 how each of the learning styles works together in a perfect flow. In the teaching and preaching settings, it is only when all four are addressed that the whole congregation or class is ministered to. So, instead of dividing from each other, there needs to be better communication across the boundaries.

Take the “worship wars” that are dividing so many churches. Those that are Imaginative and Dynamic are more likely to want lively and movement-allowing worship. The typical PCA type person wants to stand still and listen to the details of the sermon yet to come. When I have been invited to preach in a Pentecostal church I feel very free to raise my hands in worship. The problem for me is that when I do this my mind leaves the God I am there to worship and it focuses on my hands. Therefore, for me, as an Analytic, I prefer to stand still while singing, with my hands at my sides.

There are factors in these “worship wars” that are serious, but much of the war could end if we understood the different ways God has created us. Will we ever try to learn how to work together and stop seeing the “other side” as being the enemy? Only by His grace!
How We Teach and How They Learn

Jack Scott, January 2, 1928 – June 13, 2011

June 14, 2011 by Charles

Jack Brown Scott, former CEP Staff Writer and Teacher, January 2, 1928-June 13, 2011

While attending the 39^th General Assembly of the PCA last week in Virginia Beach, I received word along with a request for prayer from John Thomas Scott that his dad Jack was near death. We requested prayer from the General Assembly and Jack Scott revived a bit; however, Monday afternoon 12:45 pm, Jack was called home to be with the Lord.

I need not remind those who knew him, Jack Scott was an amazing man of God. I have had the privilege of knowing him for many years and then the special privilege and honor of having him on our CEP staff of over seven years. When I began serving the PCA as the Coordinator of CEP, Jack Scott was on that committee. At that time he was professor of Old Testament at Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, Mississippi. (Jack was one of the founding professors of RTS). We had been together on several previous occasions, Bible conferences, various committee meetings, etc.

Part of my desire from the beginning was to develop an adult Bible study series that would help people in the church to better know the English Bible from a Reformed perspective. As I shared my vision at that first CEP Committee meeting in January of 1977, Dr. Scott expressed his appreciation. My response was “Jack, I really need someone to help me actualize that. Would you consider being that man?” To my surprise his response gave me encouragement.

After a period of prayer over the next couple of weeks, we continued to talk and early 1977 Jack left RTS and joined our CEP staff. He shared both the concern and vision for such a curriculum. He and his precious wife Eleanor Caslick Scott joined us.

At that point he began writing a 26 volume curriculum for studying the English Bible, including two outstanding surveys of the Old and New Testament. Over the next six years Jack wrote that curriculum with great diligence. Of course when I say English Bible, he was a brilliant linguist, having mastered the Hebrew language for which he soon received his PhD. Among his many writings, I would have to call the Adult Biblical Education Series (ABES) his magnum opus. The first volume appeared in late 1977 and since that time we have continued to print and reprint those studies. (I had the privilege and responsibility of writing the early leader’s guides which required reading each one. What a spiritual education and blessing!).

Jack Scott was an exemplary husband and father, a faithful brother in Christ, an outstanding Bible scholar, and a servant leader with an obvious pastor’s heart. Jack loved his family, his friends, as well as his Lord, and that was reflected in every aspect of Jack’s life.

His love and care for Eleanor, his children, Edward, Caroline, John Thomas, and Ann modeled a real covenant family for all of us.

Having begun as a missionary in Korea where he met and married Eleanor, to pastoring churches in Kentucky and Mississippi, to the faculty of RTS, and then CEP. Jack demonstrated his commitment to Christian education as the fulfillment of God’s great commission.

His love and counsel sustained me through many hard and frustrating times in our ministry together. Jack modeled a consistency in his Christian life that has been a challenge to us all. Kennedy Smartt, a former classmate of Jack’s at Davidson College, prior to serving together later in the PCA, said to me this morning, “my fondest memory of Jack is teaching himself Hebrew while in college.”

We continue to reprint many of his writings, especially the ABES series which PCA churches have been using now for over 25 years. Though Jack did not like for me to say it, I had to because it was true, namely, “when you read Jack Scott’s material, you have read the best of biblical scholarship.” It was my privilege to write a chapter in a book honoring Dr. Jack B. Scott three years ago, Interpreting and Teaching the Word of Hope, Essays in Honor of Jack Brown Scott on His Seventy-Seventh Birthday.”

Jack was a gifted man of God and his life has blessed us in so many ways.

We join with Eleanor, and the family in remembering Jack Scott and we do so with the confidence of the Apostle Paul’s words, “…To depart and be with Christ, for that is far better,” Phil. 1:23 “And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: “Blessed are the dead, who die in the Lord from now on.” “Blessed indeed,” says the Sprit, “That they may rest from their labors, for this deeds follow him,” Rev. 14:13.

Charles Dunahoo, CEP Coordinator.