Architects in Town

Today WCCC is having a visit from a church architectural team. We're going to show them around today and meet tonight to ask questions about the building process for a church like ours.

Hopefully after tonight, we'll have a much clearer idea about what a church our size in our circumstances can expect and how to go about it. It should be very informative.

We're keeping in mind, though, that the ministry we do is more important than the buildings we build and that the ministry should shape the buildings instead of the buildings dictating the ministries. So a ground breaking ceremony is still a several steps away.

But we'll be informed and ready to go when the Lord leads us there!

Revelation Links

Here's the link to the website I mentioned in Revelation class last week, the Apocalypse Project. I've not read every article yet, but it seems to be from an amillennial view, which is a rare treat in a church culture shaped by Tim LaHaye and Hal Lindsey.

Here's a good lecture from one of my professors, Mark Moore, on amillennialism.

Revelation Study Begins Tonight

We are beginning a study tonight on the final chapters of Revelation, The End of the End. Special emphasis will be placed on the study of millennial views and the the end of this world. I know this is an area of particular interest for many people and it should be very informative.

This five week study will continue on Wednesday nights until May 21.

Classroom 104/106, 7pm Wednesdays.

WFN Classes Before the Break

May 21 – Last night of classes, kids' programming, Wed. meals
May 28 – Church Cookout, 6pm
June 4 to July 30 – No WFN
August 6 – WFN Kickoff, 6pm
August 13 – Classes and programming resumes

Introduction to Bible Geography (room 104/106) ends April 16. My hope is to clean up the written materials produced for this class and make them available on the website as independent studies. I just need more time!

The End of the End (room 104/106) begins April 23 and runs through May 21. It will cover the last chapters of Revelation. The class is the conclusion to the Revelation class last year but will take a different approach and serve as a stand alone study.

Bible Reading Group (room 206) continues each week, reading Job and later Psalms (through the summer). We are reading one chapter a day and discussing it on Wednesdays and Sundays.

Notes on Baptism, Part 2

Here's a little more on that correspondence about baptism:

Yes, [John] McArthur gives the standard Reformation answer, of which I agree with about 95%. In principle we are on the same page, i.e. salvation is by grace and you can't do something to earn it. But the interpretation of baptism as ONLY an act of obedience (the meaningless hoop to jump through I referenced before) and not a part of what faith is, is just that, an interpretation. It's not what the Bible actually says, but rather it's a reaction to the wrong-headed teachings of the medieval Catholic church. The Catholic church had been pushing a works-based salvation, essentially turning baptism into a rite that earns God's favor. The Reformation, rightfully, got as far away from that as possible.

But I'm not sure they had to go quite as far as they did. If you're driving off the road, the correct course is to return to your lane, not go off the road on the other side. And perhaps we go too far too often, attempting to over-explain and classify things in simple categories that we may not fully understand. Dogma and specificity in Biblically vague areas always concern me just a little – that anyone can claim to understand how God works to that degree of detail – hmm, I'm not so sure.

As we attempt to figure these things out, we always try to run a self-analysis, asking: What currently shapes my views on theology? Where have I been spiritually and how does that influence me? Am I overly concerned or over-reacting to anything doctrinally? Am I calloused or deafened to anything doctrinally? Each of us have our own challenge to understanding God's truth and many of our differences are small and insignificant. But once in a while we start down a road we shouldn't and it spares us to be as self-aware as possible.

Notes on Baptism

Here's a portion of a conversation on the topic of baptism. This is my response to the question of "how can I be sure I'm getting it right?"

The challenge with baptism (and communion) is that, in terms of Biblical Christianity, we can't think of these things as just "ritual." They must be more than that, more personal, more spiritual, more significant, than mere works-based ritual (whether one was for or against such things in the first place). I say that because God so clearly speaks against the empty ritual of the pagans and even that of his own people ("I desire mercy rather than sacrifice").

By calling baptism an "act of obedience," which we Christians often do, we make the unhelpful insinuation that God has a meaningless but at some point necessary hoop for us to jump through. Why would God have this extra, superfluous errand for us to run? Isn't that more empty ritual that Christ criticized the Pharisees for?

Personally, I can only reconcile the teachings of the Bible about baptism and about grace by making baptism a part of faith and not a separate action. We are saved by grace through faith, so when we respond to grace (in prayer, repentance, Christian baptism, etc.) that must be, collectively, what we call faith.

So baptism must have a very real and important significance but not as a work to earn God's favor and certainly not as an empty ritual devoid of real meaning. That should match both the significance it is given in scripture and the doctrine of grace.