BEACON. The Importance of Christian Education. August to encourage...to inspire...to inform...

Transcription

1 S A F E H A R B O R P R E S B Y T E R I A N C H U R C H August 2015 BEACON to encourage...to inspire...to inform... The Importance of Christian Education He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers to teach to their children, that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments. Ps. 78:5-7 I once led a middle-school youth group in which one boy made very clear at each meeting that he was a devout atheist and didn t believe any of this Bible stuff. After two or three youth groups, I remember asking him to tell me about the God he didn t believe in. After spouting a couple of common, but false, clichés, I asked him if he would refrain from his atheism until we had first investigated what the God of the Bible is really like by looking at the Bible; that way, if he were to remain an atheist, he could at least say he was denying the God of the Bible and not a figment of his imagination! After studying God s Word together throughout the year, this young man, by God s converting grace, acknowledged his sin before God and trusted in Christ for salvation. As a result of his changed heart, I often heard confessions that were sometimes tough to hear, but evidence of the Spirit working conviction and repentance in his heart. I am struck by the power of God s word to transform hearts, minds, and lives to the glory of God! The prophet Amos spoke these words to the rebellious northern kingdom of Israel many centuries ago: Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord God, when I will send a famine on the land not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord [Amos 8:11]. In our generation, it isn t merely the unbelieving kids from broken homes who don t know the Word, but a lack of Gospelformation has become endemic today even among many self-described Christians. In 2005, the University of Notre Dame sociologist, Christian Smith (with Melinda Lundquist Denton), published the findings of the most ambitious national study of the religious and spiritual lives of American teenagers in a book titled, Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005). These findings shed light, not only on the de facto religion of teenagers, but also on the beliefs of their parents in uncovering what is essentially the new American civil religion: something Smith has called Moralistic, Therapeutic Deism (hereafter MTD ). Despite the unwieldy terminology, Smith lays out the spiritual beliefs of American teenagers as follows: A God exists who created and orders the world and watches over human life on earth. God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and by most world religions. The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself. God does not need to be particularly involved in one s life except when God is needed to resolve a problem. Good people go to heaven when they die [pp ]. Notice the nature of god here: a generic being who doesn t get too involved in one s life, but is available to bail us out of problems. Moralism shows up in the central place niceness plays in this system, which leads adherents to downplay the role of sound doctrine and objective truth, since truth is only true for you and true for me. And far from being a God-centered religion of repentance of sin and faith in Christ, MTD is about attaining subjective well-being, being able to resolve problems, and getting along amiably with other people [p. 164]. In short, according to Smith, God is something like a combination Divine Butler and Cosmic Therapist: he is always on call, takes care of any problems that arise, professionally helps his people to feel better about themselves, and does not become too personally involved in the process [p. 165.]

2 Sound familiar? Having served in youth ministry in the past, I can well attest to the truth of Smith s findings; yet even more tragically, Smith s findings reflect not merely American youth culture, but American culture in general. The late Dallas Willard said, Everyone receives spiritual formation, just as everyone gets an education. The only question. is whether it is a good one or a bad one. We need to take a conscious, intentional hand in the developmental process. [See Willard s The Great Omission (San Francisco: Harper- Collins, 2006)] Spiritual formation is as unavoidable as it is inevitable: will you and I be formed into the image of Christ or de-formed in sin, destruction, and ultimately, death? Will you, and your family, be discipled by the culture or by the church? Our culture is an extraordinarily powerful shaper of our hearts, and it will take a sovereign move of God in making His church a supernatural alternative community of counter-formation into the image of Christ. Will you join me in prayer toward this end, for the sake of your family, Kent Island, and ultimately for the glory of Christ? The Christian education leadership here at Safe Harbor is at work prayerfully preparing to launch a Christ-centered, biblically-grounded, comprehensive Christian education program starting this Fall! A few items of note: We have a mission statement for this ministry: The purpose of Safe Harbor s Christian Education ministry is to provide Christ-centered, biblically-based, and well-rounded instruction toward the goal of the grounding and growth of individuals and families in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. We have selected curriculum that we are very excited about that fits our mission statement as we seek to ground and form our families in the Gospel. Our new Christian education ministry, starting this Fall, will operate on a quarterly system, which helps us provide a much more comprehensive, structured program that addresses all major areas of Christian formation in the Gospel. My hope and prayer is that each child and student will be given the opportunity to grow into a fervent and faithful follower of the Lord Jesus and become an active and passionate member of Christ s church! Biblical faith in Christ, like many of the best things in life, is something of an acquired taste. Will we invest the time and patience needed to prayerful and intentionally seek the Lord in developing our taste, and our families, for the unmatched richness and beauty of Christ and the Gospel? And we haven t forgotten about adult continuing education! Leadership is still in process, as we prayerfully seek the Lord on how best to move forward in equipping our adult members more deeply in the Gospel. I look forward to communicating any adjustments in the near future. Will you join us as we grow in grace together through Christian education, following our Lord as He forms and shapes us into His alternative community of the Gospel to His glory? And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. Col. 1:9-10 Tony Lombardo Note: This article was originally printed in our July edition, but not in its entirety. Safe Harbors Annual Family PICNIC Sunday, August 30th, 1:00-5:00pm Hamburgers, Hot Dogs, and Lemonade provided by the church. Please bring either a side dish, salad or dessert to share based on your last name: A-M Salad or Side N-Z Dessert We will have the canoes to use, volleyball, and plenty of fellowship. Bring a lawn chair as seating is limited. If anyone would like to help out with the planning, please contact Carla Thomas. SAFE HARBOR WEBSITE: If you would like to have a church related ministry, activity, or announcement placed on the church website ( please sent the text and documents to: jackperdue@gmail.com. Begin the subject line with "Safe Harbor" so that it will be directed properly. Questions and constructive suggestions regarding the website are always welcomed.

3 Summer Sunday Seminar series update. We are off to a good start with the summer series. James Catoe has been teaching from the John Piper book, Risk is Right on a study entitled, Reckless Abandonment to Joy. John Frahm has led two informative sessions based on the Martyn Lloyd Jones video series, Logic on Fire. We also had a very informative Q&A this past Sunday. Pick up a flyer on the Welcome Center to see what else is coming up this summer. Join Safe Harbor's sailing Crew and come aboard with Summer Seaquest, a high seas VBS voyage to meet the God who saves! Dates are: August 3rd-7th from 8:45-noon it s not too late to register!! "Sea Explorers" ages 5 through 5th grade (completed) are encouraged to attend. Contact Kelli Dutton/ /bk.dutton@yahoo.com or Jen Boehm/ /jb12374@hotmail.com with questions. Registration forms are available on-line at our website, or at the church. Ham Walker Memorial Golf Blue Heron golf course Saturday, September 19th Start forming your team and practicing your swing!! Registration starts this month We need hole sponsors, so if you can help with that, call George Graff or Carla Thomas.

4 Bountiful Blessings Update: ~ The Chesapeake and Chesterwye picnics were a big hit. Christian and his youth group were great as usual, interacting with our friends at the centers. Royal Oak United Methodist Community Church joined us again this year for the Chesapeake Center picnic and they provided volunteers along with cole slaw, for the picnic. Thanks to everyone who helped with the picnics and to those that provided pasta salads for the picnics. ~ Back to school supplies are needed for the Christian Community Center. Tom Holman, who runs the center, does his best to provide the supplies from the donations given to them. There are about 50 children that depend on the center for their school supplies thoughout the year so it is an important mission outreach. A list of the supplies that are needed can be picked up at our table in the narthex or from the office. ~ Haven Ministries recently had a Bingo night, and many thanks to everyone that help make it a success. Our next event will be a Paint night on August 13 th to be held at the Harris restaurant. Watch for more information on this. ~Run 4 Shelter Half Marathon 10k &5k: If you would like be part of Safe Harbor s power team this year, call our team captain Laura Pyle or stop by our Faith With Feet table in the narthex for more details. We still have openings for anyone that would like to sponsor a youth from the Christian Community Center. This year our goal is to have twelve kids from the center joining our team Amazing Gracers. We will be having a dinner the night before the race for our team members, and we need volunteers to help stuff the bags for the runners. There are many other volunteer opportunities for the race, so visit our table to sign up or call Sandi Wiscott at ~Foodlink is one of the many areas served by Faith with Feet, an outreach ministry of Safe Harbor serving the growing needs of many on the shore and beyond. A multi-organizational effort, Foodlink gleans the excess food from the Island s grocery stores and gets it to local food banks. If you have an hour to spare on Fridays or Saturdays, we could use your help just once a month. Please contact Charlotte Taylor at ~Bountiful Blessing has really grown, but we could always use more volunteers to sign up. If you would like to make donations to this outreach, or help out with this ministry for those that have fallen on hard times, please call Stacie McGinnes at ~Haven Ministries Emergency Food Pantry - held here at Safe Harbor the third Saturday each month. There are many opportunities to serve at the pantry. First and foremost please pray that we have good weather. If you would like to volunteer to set up and/or break down, call Sandi Wiscott Donations are always welcomed! Our next meeting will be on Tuesday August 11 th at 6pm at the church. If you feel led to serve, come join us and pick the outreach that you d like to help with. I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the lease of these brothers of mine, you did for me. Matthew 25:40 School Supplies for Baltimore Christian Community Center. If you can help donate basic supplies for our mission outreach in Baltimore, look for the insert this Sunday for what is needed. All donations can be dropped off at the Faith with Feet table. Thank you!!

5 Dear Friends, The Kirklands in Greece The conference in Frankfurt was a great time of learning and connecting. We are moving forward with ideas about how to adapt better to the intercultural situation we find in Athens these days. The director of the conference has now scheduled a trip to come see us here in Athens to give us more direct input, so we are looking forward to that this fall as well. Regarding the euro crisis, we are drafting an update that will go out tomorrow, but here is the basic situation. Things here have been increasingly difficult, but we are all fine. The banks closed Monday and will remain closed all week with capital controls on ATM withdrawals. Since we do not have a Greek bank account, we are in a more stable situation financially. Still, we have been busy the last few weeks making preparations in case things should get worse. We wanted especially to have dry goods, water, cash, and petrol on hand in case public services and the supply of goods is interrupted temporarily. We hope that by being extra cautious we will be in a better position to help others along the way. People here are very anxious but not panicked. The government has announced that Sunday there will be a referendum and the public will vote about whether to remain in the Euro and accept continued austerity (which has been pretty crippling the last 6 years) or leave the EU entirely. Neither are great options, and it is unclear where either result might actually take the country. Please pray for God s mercy on this nation and wisdom for its leaders. Pray for God s peace to be on His people here in our church and city. Pray that we would be faithful in holding out the Hope we have in Christ to people who are hurting. We will be working to keep everyone updated as the situation unfolds and appreciate your prayers! Blessings, Philip Are you looking for a ministry to get involved in? Do you love to work with young children and babies? If you answered yes to both of these questions, why not try helping out in the nursery one Sunday a month. With the fall season fast approaching, and the return of the 2 service format, we are in need of more volunteers to help out with our little ones. Contact Karen in the church office if this sounds like a good ministry fit for you.

6 If you are going into 6th grade in the fall you are now eligible to come to middle school youth group!! (FINALLY!!!) If you are going into 9th grade you are eligible to attend the middle school AND the high school youth group!!! Summer is not over yet, so join us at youth group where you will get to hang out with your friends all summer, have a ton of fun and glorify God!! At Safe Harbor we love God and we especially love our kids!!! Click the link below to sign up to receive s with all the information and events happening in Safe Harbor Youth Group! Sign up to receive s about Safe Harbor Youth Group Also we are now sending reminders and information via text: *to receive text messages about Middle School Youth Group to * to receive messages about High School Youth Group to * to receive messages about College Youth Group to 81010