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•A Church That Doesn’t Play by the Rules •Can Evangelicals Regain Integrity? •Wedding Bloopers: Tales of Mistied Knots •Where, Oh Where, Does the Decimal Point Go? May 1988 DENOMINATIONAL OFFICIALS Board of Bishops Dr. C. Ray Miller (chairman) East District Dr. Wilber L. Sites, Jr. Central District Rev. Clarence A. Kopp, Jr. West D istrict Rev. Jerry F. Datema Overseas District Office Manager/Treasurer Mrs. Marda Hoffman Department of Education Dr. Eugene Habecker Director President, Huntington College Department of Missions Staff Rev. Harold Wust Associate Director Mrs. Hazel McCray Associate Director Executive Secretary, WMA Rev. Kyle McQuillen Associate Director Department of Church Services Staff Rev. Paul Hirschy Director Rev. Carlson Becker Associate Director Rev. Dennis R. Miller Associate Director Steve Dennie Editor Mrs. Jane Mason Archivist Volume 103 MAY 1988 No. 5 Editor Steve Dennie The United Brethren (USPS 619-760) is the official publication of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ. It is published monthly by the Department of Church Services. Second-class postage paid at Huntington, Ind., and other offices. Subscriptions: $10.00 per year Single copies: $1.00 © 1988 Department of Church Services Subscriptions, address changes, letters to the editor, news items, materials for publication, and other correspondence should be sent to: THE UNITED BRETHREN 302 Lake St. Huntington, Ind. 46750 (219) 356-2312 EVANGELICAL M E S S ASSOCIATION Random Pokes It’s a good thing Job wasn’t a racquetball player. His sufferings might have been far worse. I play racquetball once or twice a week with Denny Miller. That’s Rev. Dennis R. Miller, Associate Director of Church Services, but hey, we’re talking sports here, so let’s be informal. We go to the YMCA during the lunch hour and he humiliates me. Oh, I always win at least one game, maybe even two or three. But so far, I haven’t broken the 50-50 barrier. Repeat: so far. Racquetball, for those of you unfamiliar with the game, is played in a little room with one unmarked exit and no fire escape. To start a point, someone whacks a little blue rubber ball against one wall. Then the fun begins. The object is to run full-speed into as many walls as possible before the ball stops bouncing. While caroming around the room, you may accidentally come near the unpredictably bouncing ball. That is why you carry a sawed-off tennis racquet. You swing the racquet with all your might and smack the ball at your opponent, trying to imbed it in his ear or at least make a satisfying whop on a thigh. This can be difficult when playing experienced opponents, who wisely present a small target by cowering in the corner in fetal position. At the end of the hour, you divide the number of wall collisions by the number of welts on your body. The person with the highest score wins. Then you mop up the sweat on the floor, which after an hour usually lies about an inch deep, go home, and enter a coma. It’s a great game. The only problem is, I keep getting hurt. First, it was my lower back. Now, I’d had problems before, starting with a last-second three-quarter court shot in a church league basketball game about seven years ago. That put me in the hospital for a few days. I’ve had occasional minor back problems since, but nothing like last fall. I was in bad shape. I’d go to the chiropractor, feel better, play some racquetball, and hurt. Finally, I gave up racquetball for about six weeks, went sedentary, and got fat. I felt much better. In January, we took to the Field of Battle again. I promptly pulled a hamstring, which took a week to heal. Then I severely sprained my ankle during one especially artful wall collision (I won the point). That took a couple weeks. I pulled something in my left side, but played anyway, since Denny threatened to recruit a healthier opponent from a nursing home. Then, a couple weeks ago, I got whiplash. No kidding. Denny and I were playing three-way Cut Throat with Tim Becker, son of our coworker Carlson Becker. I served the ball to Tim and, like everyone with half a brain says you absolutely shouldn’t do, I turned around to follow the ball. Tim hit it straight 2 The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 at my face, and I jerked my head back. The ball struck the nob of my nose and continued on its merry way. No harm done. We kept playing. The next morning, I began feeling pain in my shoulder and neck, and it got worse as the day progressed. All the second day, I did my critically acclaimed Hunchback imitation. And on the third day, my chiropractor confirmed my amateur diagnosis: whiplash. She said she’d treated people suffering whiplash from major auto accidents who were in better shape than me. And all I did was get bumped on the nose with a rubber ball. How ridiculous. Actually, racquetball’s effect on my body is more good than bad. I’m in better shape than I’ve been for years, and I’m losing weight in the process. The tradeoff is that certain key areas cry out in torment now and then. At the moment, I am injury-free, knock knock. Oh, my ankle remains a bit weak, my back uses any excuse to gripe, I feel a little something in my neck, my left knee is thinking about going on strike, and I’ve got a minor case of Bubonic Plague. But in general, I ’m healthy. For now. By the time you read this, I ’m sure I will have discovered sundry other bodily parts to maim and brutalize. Charlotte Elliott, who wrote the hymn “Just As I Am,” began losing her health at age 30. I’m 31. She ended up a bed-ridden invalid for the rest of her life (she died at 82), writing “Just As I Am” amidst physical suffering and despair. The way things are going, I’ll be writing songs before too long. Maybe I should sign up for wheelchair lessons. Or guzzle Geritol. Or take up checkers. Or sue Denny. So why do I keep playing racquetball? I get hurt, and I lose—two good reasons to quit. Why? Because I love racquetball. I can limp off the court, having just lost 15-0, and say, “That was fun!” Maybe such thinking results from running head first into walls, I don’t know. But it is fun. But is it fa ir? No. I lose and get hurt. Denny not only wins and remains unhurt, but loses more weight than I do. It’s not fair, I tell you, it’s not fair! The editor concentrating hard on his work. But then, many things in life aren’t fair. •One person, after two years of piano lessons, plays like Dino. Another takes lessons for ten years, and still can’t find middle C. •A glutton never gains weight, while a disciplined, calorie-counting weight-watcher grows into blimp-hood. •Larry buys a shiny new car, and within a week, someone rear-ends him. Moe buys a beat-up 1967 Ford, and goes 100,000 miles without a scratch. •The 50-year-old anchor man is considered increasingly distinguished and credible as he ages. The 50-year-old anchor woman is coaxed into a producer slot. •A one-week Love Boat romance produces a marriage that lasts 40 years. While a bright couple who dated for two years, received extensive premarital counseling, and considered every contingency get divorced after a year. •A dim-witted editor has the skills and a forum for expressing his shallow views, while someone with profound thoughts lacks communications skills and a forum. I’m sure Job and his wife felt God wasn’t treating them fairly. They’d been so faithful to God, and such good stewards of all He had given them. Their reward? Being bulldozed flat. Jeremiah complained about unfairness when he said, “Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease?” The psalmist Asaph, in Psalm 73, echoed those sentiments. He pointed out to God that the wicked often get rich, enjoy good health, have no struggles, and live a carefree life. Along with Jeremiah and Asaph, I have some complaints. •Jesus arose early in the morning to pray, and we’re supposed to follow His example. So why didn’t God make us all morning people? What about us late-nighters, who can’t get to sleep before 1 a.m.? •Why does God heal some people and not others? Doesn’t fairness require consistency? •One person tithes and prospers, another tithes and doesn’t. Why? •Will Anderson prays for a Christian wife and gets Ann Kiemel. Other people start praying for a Christian spouse at age 16, and die single at 92. •An inspirational but shallow pastor sees his church grow, and his annual report impresses the bishop. While a deeply spiritual, disciplined, gifted, hard-working pastor crashes into barrier after barrier. And guess which one is asked to lead a church growth seminar? Is that fair? Parenting can seem highly unfair. James Dobson, in his “Turn Your Heart Toward Home” film series and his latest book Parenting Isn't For Cowards, discusses why kids from good homes go bad. It doesn’t seem fair. You do everything right as a parent, but your child becomes an alcoholic; while the child of nonChristians down the street becomes a missionary. Is that fair? Proverbs says, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it” (22:6). Christians quote that like it’s a promise. But the truth is, some well-trained children do depart. Is Scripture lying? Is God not playing by His own rules? The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 3 Part of the answer comes from understanding the nature of Proverbs. It consists of generalizations, statements that are usually true—not promises. That verse could more accurately be interpreted, “ . . . and when he is old, chances are pretty good he won’t depart from it.” But the other part of the answer remains hidden. There’s no guarantee when it comes to parenting. All you can do is train a child in the way; he may or may not choose to depart from it. That’s not fair, but it’s fact. Many superb parents have agonized for years, “What did I do wrong?” Dobson relieves their guilt by saying, “The same boiling water that softens the carrot also hardens the egg. Likewise, some individuals react positively to certain circumstances, and others negatively. We don’t know why.” We d o n ’t know why. The Christian life is filled with unanswered “Why’s?” In Matthew 20, Jesus tells a parable in which, at the end of the day, all of the workers in a vineyard received the same amount of money, even though some worked only one hour and others worked all day. The vineyard owner tells a grumbler, “I’m not being unfair to you. You agreed to work for a denarius, and that’s what you got. Besides, I can do whatever I want with my money.” If I had been listening to Jesus, I would have argued, “Sure, the owner has that right. But that doesn’t make it fa ir.” Jesus, however, didn’t deal with the apparent unfairness in His story. His approach seems to be, “Like it or not, tha t’s the way it is. Now, for my next parable . . . .” Christians often apply this parable to death-bed conversions. Now, I’m happy about death-bed conversions. But in some cases, something within me cries “Unfair!” A guy says “No” to Christ for decades, and then, feeling fire on his feet, says “Yes” at the last minute. So he avoids having to live the Christian life, and receives the same reward as Christians who did. My baser instincts insist, “T hat’s not fair! Give him a shack in the valley, but not a mansion on the hilltop!” Many people wonder, “What about the people in remote jungles who die without ever hearing about Christ? Will God send them to Hell? It doesn’t seem fair.” I ’ve told people, “I have no idea how God will treat them, and the Bible isn’t much help. All I know is that God will be fair. When we see how He handles it, we’ll remark, ‘Yeah, that’s the best way to do it.’ ” Take a Vacation with a Purpose in Knoxville, Tenn. You’ll be Glad You Did! I ’m sure that when I get to heaven, 111 totally agree with God’s policies concerning the heathen and death-bed converts. But my approval is irrelevant. He says, “Like it or not, th a t’s the way it is.” Is God unfair? No. Does He seem unfair? You bet He does. And we have-io live with it. I get the impression Asaph drew the same conclusion in Psalm 73, after complaining about the unfair rewards of wickedness. He basically said, “I don’t have God’s answers, but I do have God. As long as I’m close to Him, I’ll be content living with unanswered why’s.” Job, after all he endured, never got an explanation— even after a personal conversation with God. The last chapter mentions how God rewarded Job, and concludes, “And so he died, old and full of years. ” I wonder if it would be accurate to say, “And so he died, old and full of years, and still wondering, Why?" For life’s unanswerable Why’s, we like to say, “When I get to heaven, I’m going to ask God why . . . .” But we may be disappointed. The Bible doesn’t say anything about a heavenly Q & A session. I can see it now. When I get to heaven, one of the first items on my To Do list will be to ask God some questions—like what Christ wrote in the dirt, are there people on other planets, what really happened to the dinosaurs, and why I continuously get hurt and Denny doesn’t. I’ll approach the Throne and say, “When I was on earth, some things really had me puzzled. I saved up some questions for You. Number One—” God will interrupt, “You don’t need to know the answers.” “But I’ve waited so long! It’s not fair!” “Sure it is. Trust me.” On Yonder Pages The April “Random Pokes” discussed the Jimmy Swaggart scandal. I said it was risky writing something which wouldn’t appear in print for six weeks, since the situation and facts could change drastically. But I felt in my heart that the Swaggart scandal would yield much-needed examples of repentance, restoration, and accountability. Writing now, with the April issue due to hit mailboxes any day, I feel deeply disappointed. Maybe that will change by the time this column appears. After I sent the April issue to the printer, I heard Dr. Paul Fetters give a seminar on “Ministerial Integrity” at Central Conference Leadership Day. He gave me his manuscript, which is the basis for an article in this issue. I think you’ll appreciate his insights and directness. Following that Leadership Day, I went to Reynoldsburg, Ohio, where a new church is doing great. I’ve heard of UB churches doing non-traditional things. First Love UB takes the grand prize. I was thrilled hearing Pastor Dan Kopp describe their innovative approaches and goals. And the worship service Sunday morning—123 people crowded into a school cafeteria—was one of the most refreshing UB services I’ve ever experienced. Read all about it. Mark Your Calendars! 4 The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 For six years, a Prayer Calendar has graced the back cover. Last month, you probably noticed something different there—“UBBB—United Brethren Bulletin Board.” Most people seemed to use the Prayer Calendar more as a denominational calendar of events than as a prayer guide, so I decided to make that the emphasis. Each month, UBBB will convey information about upcoming conference and denominational events, seminars, retreats, local church activities, camp happenings, and who knows what else. I welcome submissions for items to include in UBBB. They can even be of a “classified ad” nature— something your church is selling that another UB church may be interested in, or something you’re looking for. Whatever. 1 can still say “No,” but you can at least try. Just keep in mind that 1 need items at least six weeks in advance. “But you’re eliminating prayer,” some may protest. Not at all. Nothing’s stopping you from using UBBB as a prayer guide. Besides, it mentions more things to pray about. So pray away. Now I’ll stop telling you about this issue and let you read it for yourself. Enjoy.—SD The February issue interested me for a number reasons, but especially because of the information about Mr. and Mrs. Oliver Hadley. I have enclosed a photo of Mrs. I. H. Wilson, who is Mary Hadley, the infant daughter the Hadleys left in Indiana when they went to Sierra Leone. Mrs. Wilson was a member of my home church in Dayton, Wash., which I pastored 1941-44. Her former husband had been the pastor in years past. She died, as I recall, while I was pastor there, and I had her funeral (I think). She gave me her father’s journal, from which I submitted some items for The Christian Conservator in the 1940’s. I gave the journal to Dr. Fleming when he was writing his books on the African mission. George M. Martin Detroit, Mich. I appreciated the March issue, especially since it was written primarily by United Brethren writers and about United Brethren issues and concerns. There are many good Christian magazines, but only one speaks specifically to and for United Brethren. Ralph Butzow Claytonville UB church Claytonville, III. Overall, I enthusiastically agreed with all that Rev. Philip Burkett said in the March “Sounding Board.” However, I must challenge his closing words. Asserting that unbelief is the only excuse for not singing may seem reasonable, and it may challenge those who are too lazy to sing, but it is not a fair generalization. Some people simply do not sing for any of many reasons. They gain spiritual enrichment from listening to and reading the words, while the rest of us sing. As they do so, they commit the words to their hearts, where they belong, often gaining more from the music than we who sing our lungs out. Music is just as much a part of congregational worship for those who do not vocalize as it is for those of us who do. Total participation can only be judged by our Father, who sees the heart, rather than by those of us who see only faces. Rev. Burkett promised to challenge us, and he has. For that, I thank him. Lynn Newbraugh Winchester UB church Winchester, Va. The 1988 Elderhostel program will again be offered by Huntington College. This year’s dates are June 20-24. The curriculum is specifically created for older adults. We welcome individuals 60 years of age or o lder, together with their spouses. Three interesting courses will be offered daily: 1. “Flying Friends and Feathers,” a course on bird-watching taught by Mr. and Mrs. Neil Case. 2. “The Wonders of Word Processing,” taught by HC professor Mrs. Sharon Custer. 3. “Turbulence, Thunderstorms, and Tornadoes,” a course on weather taught by government aerologist Paul Sell. Costs. For commuters and those who provide their own room and board: $25 per course, or $70 total. For fulltime Elderhostelers: $225. This includes room and board from Sunday evening, June 19, through Saturday morning, June 25. For further information: contact host/ coordinators Dr. and Mrs. E. D. Baker, Huntington College, Huntington, Ind. 46750. Home phone: 356-0781. The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 5 ELDERHOSTEL For Senior Citizens Letters Dr. Paul R. Fetters Having been discredited in the world’s eyes by highly-publicized scandals involving our own leaders, can we Christians regain our — Integrity Erma Bombeck’s book title The Grass is Always Greener Over the Septic Tank would fit some recent religious news stories. For years, we looked over the fence at the gospel giants rolling in the lush grass of luxury and success. Now we are wondering if maybe the grass isn’t so green, after all. A few years ago, we found a small hole in our backyard near the foundation of the house. After some investigation, I discovered that our beautiful yard was not what it appeared to be. Although the grass was greener over our septic tank, our septic tank wasn’t working right. We had to install a whole new sewer system. Likewise, things are not what they have appeared to be in the living color of the televangelists. And now the whole world knows it. Their grass looked so green that we didn’t notice anything wrong until the system malfunctioned. Jim Bakker, Jimmy Swaggart, and others have embarrassed the Christian world. I believe they all began with pure motives. If Jim and Jimmy had died five years ago, we would have made movies about their life stories, and thousands of viewers would have entered the Kingdom. We see parallels in some Bible characters. If death had come before the mid-life crisis, we wouldn’t have heard about Lot and the incest with his daughters, or David’s adultery with Bathsheba. Few peo- 6 The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 pie can handle prestige, position, possessions, and power. After attaining those sweet P ’s, they forget to be dependent. And they fall. The Loss of Integrity During the past year, the Christian church has suffered an enormous loss of integrity. But we didn’t lose integrity overnight. I see three elements which have contributed to it. Holy God, Loving God One reason we lost our integrity is that at some point, we exchanged a God of Holiness fo ra God of Love. We have become so enamored with the God of Love that we feel entitled to love ourselves. This is seen in the relational theologians—Robert Schuller, Bruce Larson, and others—who teach a God-of- Love and Man-is-Good theology. A Holy God is more demanding than a God of Love. In fact, my understanding is that God commands us to love, but he demands that we be holy. The problem is, we don’t want anyone to demand anything of us. We love ourselves and others, our objects and objectives, more than we love a God who says, “I am holy and jealous, and I will not share the supreme devotion in your life with any other.” In the past 25-30 years, we have smothered the earth with “God is love.” What would happen if, in the next 25 years, we blitzed the world with, “God is holy”? Exalting Pragmatism We also lost integrity by trading biblical principles for pragmatism. According to pragmatism, there is no absolute truth. If it works, it is right. The end justifies the means. Pragmatism is perhaps the only distinctively American philosophy. The last General Conference wrestled with a statement concerning the marriage relationship of preachers. I raised some questions, and was asked to write a statement over the noon hour. One fellow told me, “Don’t give us anything theological. Give us something that will work.” That is pragmatism! The Bible gives several examples of pragmatic expediency, where people thought the end justified the means. Abraham and Sarah were promised a son, but they didn’t think God could pull it off. So they devised their own pragmatic plan, and Ishmael was born to Hagar. Another example concerns Rebekah and Jacob. God had said the older brother would serve the younger, indicating that the birthright would go to Jacob instead of Esau. They thought, “Doesn’t God understand that in our culture, the birthright goes to the oldest?” They decided that since God promised the birthright to Jacob, it didn’t matter how he got it. So they tricked Esau out of his birthright. The end justified the means. I see pragmatism in some of our fundraising efforts. A few years ago, Oral Roberts thrust his 900-foot Jesus vision upon the public. This fundraising scheme promised peace of mind and a set of New Testament tapes to everyone who sent $20 a month. To sweeten the pot, God supposedly promised to give the City of Faith a cure for cancer if the public faithfully responded to the goal. In his latest pragmatic trick, Oral announced that God was holding him hostage and demanding $8 million ransom. People tell me, “You shouldn’t criticize Oral Few people can handle prestige, position, possessions, and power. After attaining those sweet P’s, they forget to be dependent. And they fall. Roberts. God is blessing his work.” To which I reply, “It isn’t payday yet. The day will come.” Such fundraising schemes reaffirm the pragmatic preference: if it works, it’s right. This reminds me of a comment made by Madeline Murray O’Hair, when asked about the cause of atheism in America: “It is going so well that if I were not an atheist, I would be inclined to say God is blessing.” Some people within the Church Growth movement exhibit a pragmatic preference. I cringe when I hear some people within the movement say that as a church grows, it cannot insist on doctrinal or denominational purity. Does this mean we can’t insist on the virgin birth? On the inerrancy of Scripture? On the depravity of man? Do I begin watering down my theology when I get 50 people, then back off a little more when I get 100, 200, 500, until eventually I have no theology—but everyone feels comfortable? That’s what I sense I’m hearing. And it frightens me. I continue to be amazed when I teach in the Third World. In America, pastors ask me, “Will it work? If it will work, we’ll throw some Scripture verses at it and force it to be biblical.” But in Africa, Honduras, and Jamaica, pastors Dr. Paul R. Fetters is dean o f the Huntington College Graduate School o f Christian Ministries, and a member o f the College Park UB church in Huntington, Ind. The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 7 ask me, “Is it biblicaP. If so, we will make it work. If it isn’t biblical, we don’t want anything to do with it. ” Adopting the World’s Methods Let me add one more reason we have lost integrity. We argue that the church is an organism which operates under the power of the Holy Spirit. However, we organize the church according to the world’s methods. Instead of following the Holy Spirit’s lead, we take our cues from our culture, the business world, or the latest hunch of our favorite pop psychologist. For instance, we condemn the nebulously defined enemy of secular humanism, yet simultaneously adopt their methods. If 1 adopt their methods, won’t I eventually adopt the premises on which those methods are based? We may be close to that now. Today, too many ministers are willing to trade the role of shepherd for the title of chief executive officer, and follow Peter Drucker’s manual of operations, The Effective Executive. The “team” is now the hero. Individual moral convictions have yielded to group goals and moral consensus. Movements have replaced men as leaders. No one loses, be he right or wrong, for we now have a model in which everybody wins. In the past 25-30 years, we have smothered the earth with “God is love.” What would happen if, in the next 25 years, we blitzed the world with, “God is holy”? Our newest managerial guru is Lee Iacocca. We study Chrysler’s success to find help in promoting our church’s success. But consider these words from his bestselling autobiography, Iacocca: “The Chrysler story was cooperation and democracy at their best. I’m not talking about a biblical lesson here. I’m talking about real life.” Holding UB Ministers Accountable A t Central Conference Leadership Day, Dr. Fetters presented a seminar on ministerial integrity. The two sidebars are based on his responses during a question-and-answer time following the seminar. How can we hold ministers accountable in the United Brethren church? We already have a system for holding ministers accountable. First, the local congregation decides whether or not you should enter the ministry. Then the annual conference decides whether or not to accept you into its membership. After you have met certain academic and service requirements, a committee decides whether or not to recommend you for ordination, and the annual conference votes on that. Every year after ordination, ministers appear before an auditing committee. At annual conference, the auditing committee says, “We have looked at the ministers on our ministerial role and find them morally acceptable and officially competent.” We have the system. The question is: will we make it work? One year at Central Annual Conference, I was the only person among over a hundred delegates who voted against accepting the report of the ordination committee. I got taken to task for it. “Do you know something we don’t know?” I said, “Do you know this and this and this?” “Yeah.” “Then you know everything I know. And you still voted yes.” Who says I can’t vote no? If I don’t feel someone is fit to be a United Brethren minister in my conference, then it’s my right and duty to vote no. I won’t passively look the other way. Historically, United Brethren pastors have been assigned to churches by the conference. But local churches are becoming increasingly involved in the selection process. Why? Perhaps because we send them incompetents. Local churches say, “If you won’t protect us by sending ministers who are administratively competent and morally acceptable for our church, then we’ll protect ourselves.” It’s time we began policing our own ranks. We need to either use the system of accountability established by our forefathers, or write policies which will more effectively protect our congregations. 8 The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 Do we really want to pattern our church after Chrysler? Do we really want to build our church upon the managerial practices, job descriptions, performance standards, and objectives of the business world? Do we really want the world, rather than the Bible, defining our standards and practices? Regaining Our Integrity How can we regain our integrity? I have three suggestions. A Personal Reformation First, we need to experience a personal reformation. By reformation, I mean we bow to the authority of God’s Word and obey it. We can either agree with the Word, or we can acquiesce to its authority. Agreement means you’ll do it willingly. Acquiescence is like the little girl who, when told to sit down, said, “I ’m seated, but inside, I ’m standing up.” We need to say, “If th a t’s what God demands, that’s what I’ll do, whether I like it or not.” Most of our revival services are reformation services. We come to the saints at revival time and say, “This is what you say you are. Why don’t you bring your life into agreement with your testimony?” We cannot be hypocrites, claiming to agree with God yet marching to a different drum. People must see that, whether on stage or off stage, we really do believe and practice what we preach. Church Renewal Secondly, we need to experience church renewal. By that, I mean leading the church back to its original purpose. I’m not sure we know why the church exists anymore. Why was the United Brethren church called into existence? To proclaim a soul-saving assurance of salvation to people that would free them from the sin nature and bring holiness and righteousness. The sermons recorded in old conference minutes emphasize our need to come to grips with this dual foci. I sometimes wonder: If we took a secret ballot in our churches today, how many people would say they really believe that the Bible is God’s Word and that man is sinful by nature? Many people graduate from public schools and secular colleges; much of what they read is shaped by the social sciences, which do not teach that man is evil by nature, nor that the Bible is the authoritative Word of God. In addition, I fear that ministers don’t preach it anymore. We do evangelism, make pastoral calls, conducts weddings and funerals, and teach our people things that won’t upset them. But we don’t probe the conscience and challenge the will, because we’re afraid of what might happen. Universal Revival Third, I think we need to experience a universal revival. Nobody can make this happen. Hype and organization won’t do it. It is sovereign. God brings it. We can only put ourselves in a position—through prayer, humility, and repentance—where God can send a revival. And wait. What should we tell our parishioners when they ask our opinion about the Bakker and Swaggart scandals? My students in the School of Christian Ministries have asked me that question frequently. I tell them, “You cannot ignore these situations. While you shouldn’t condemn or condone, you should at least comment.” Oral Roberts discredited himself. Jim Bakker did. And now Jimmy Swaggart. Some of our people are devastated by what has happened. We need to give them direction. How have these situations effected pastors in general? These leaders owe the Christian world— especially ministers—an apology. Their hypocrisy has brought shame, embarrassment, and derision to the whole profession of the ministry. Not only is our integrity being questioned. So is our reason to exist. People have watched the celebrity supersaints crash. Now they wonder, “What about our little amateur pastor who has never preached to more than a hundred people? Does he have some dark secrets? Is he a hypocrite, too? If it can happen to the biggies . . . .” I’ve seen pastors ask for trouble by flirting, or joking in such a way that people could make something of it. That has always been out-ofplace. Now, it is dangerous. Innocent encounters with church women can fuel destructive rumors. When I started out in the ministry, I never worried about visiting a woman if her husband wasn’t home. I was cautious, explaining why I came and leaving when done. But I didn’t avoid such visits. “The pastor dropped by today,” the wife says. “What did he want?” “He came to discuss Vacation Bible School.” “How long was he here?” A husband has every right to ask those questions. I’m sure they were asked when I was a pastor. Now, there will be more of that—“What did he want, and how long did he stay?” I warn my students, “No longer do people view ministers as above reproach. People will now make jokes at your expense. They will doubt your sincerity and the value of your work. You must work hard to protect your integrity, and avoid doing or saying anything which might jeopardize it.” The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 9 Living Under Suspicion The Church That Threw Away the Rulebook Above: Pastor Dan Kopp with some of his parishioners. Below: Sunday set-up time. Here’s something novel: a United Brethren church that’s not designed for Christians. In the heart of the Buckeye Belt, there exists a church which looks like this. •They meet in a school. •The Sunday morning service lasts one hour, with no Sunday school. •They do funny skits during the worship service. •The sanctuary includes two TVs hooked up to VCRs, on which they’ve shown the congregation clips from general-release movies. •They don’t take an offering. Which means . . . . •They don’t sing the Doxology. •No pastoral prayer, either. •No Sunday evening or midweek service. •Nearly everyone is less than 40 years old. •The congregation is alive and growing like crazy. Now answer this multiple choice question. Circle as many as apply. This church is: a. Probably a cult. b. Doing everything wrong. c. A carry-over from the Jesus People days. d. Definitely not United Brethren. e. Doomed to extinction. f. All of the above. g. None of the above. one of the above. The church is First Love Community, and yes, it is UB. It’s a Central Conference church extension project in Reynoldsburg, Ohio, a suburb of Columbus. Pastor Dan Kopp started the church several years ago as a “tentmaker,” simultaneously ministering fulltime with Campus Life. He has gradually reduced his Campus Life responsibilities, and hopes to go fulltime with First Love this fall. Dan didn’t want to plant First Love in a rut. So from the beginning, the church was designed to look far different from traditional churches. The typical unchurched person feels uncomfortable in God’s house. It’s alien terrain. The people act too nice. He doesn’t know when to stand up and when to sit down. People speak in strange words and phrases. He’s forced to sing unfamiliar songs. The special music is exceedingly dull, especially compared to the 10 The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 Steve Dennie Springsteen tape he listened to on the way to church. An offering plate is stuck under his nose, and all he has in his wallet is a twenty. Why does he feel discomfort? Because the service isn’t designed for him. It’s designed for the regulars. The First Lovers reverse that. They try to create a worship experience which puts the unchurched person at ease. And they’re succeeding. Too many growing churches specialize in sheep-stealing, filling the pews by luring the already-converted from other churches. Sure, some people at First Love transferred from other churches, but the focus is the unchurched. You can build an individual church by shuffling the deck. But if you want to build the Kingdom, you have to increase the size of the deck. That’s First Love’s goal. They’re searching sleeves and pockets for new cards. So far, Dan says, they’ve had 12-18 decision for Christ a year. “We’re most successful in reaching people with some church background who, at some point, drifted away from the church. Maybe they left as kids, or became disgruntled in a traditional church. We want to do a better job of reaching people with no church background.” The Sunday I was there—a regular Sunday in March, with nothing special happening— 123 people showed up. The average attendance for January and February had been 103. They met in a school cafeteria— a rather small one, as school cafeterias go, no bigger than the typical church fellowship hall. As soon as a basketball league ended, they would move back into the school gym. The “sanctuary” was arranged in sideways fashion, with the pulpit in the middle of one side. The two TVs, set atop high stands, flanked the pulpit. Five rows of plastic chairs angled around the platform area. Nobody sat far from the pulpit or the TV screens. “What time does the service start?” I had asked my overnight hosts. “About 9:45,” I was told. Dan started the service at 9:50, welcoming everyone and then telling a joke. We sang two songs from the Gaither hymnal, had a short period of silent prayer, and sang “His Name is Wonderful.” Then associate pastor Joe Leighton gave the announcements, kindly including a plug for The United Brethren. All this took 15 minutes. At 10:05, they showed videotaped promotional clips of the new Billy Graham film, “Caught.” Children came forward and sat on carpet samples scattered on the tile floor in front of one TV. After the promo, Dan gave a brief children’s message. Then the kids left for the rest of the service. At 10:20, Dan began his message— the conclusion of a series called “Habit Busters,” this one about making habits stick. He wore a lapel microphone, and spoke from 2 Chronicles 34 about Josiah. His message sparkled with numerous illustrations, amusing stories, humorous asides, general joviality—and solid content. Refreshing. The service ended just after 11:00. That was it. No Sunday school. Some people stayed for a regular talk-back session with the pastor, which focuses on applying the sermon, but most went home. They didn’t collect an offering. Did they forget? No. The bulletin said, “First Love is supported by its regular participants. We do not wish our guests to feel pressured to give. Thus, we allow those who wish to give to do so in the box by the door.” Again, they were looking out for the unchurched. “Churches only want your money,” some people assert. Not First Love. They want you. One thing glared at me: the disproportionate number of young people. There were so many teens and young couples! I noticed only a handful of people I figured were 50 or older. And they call this a United Brethren church? Yep. The difference is, First Love reaches people most UB churches only pray about. “As a denomination, we need to examine our effectiveness in reaching teenagers, young adults, and young marrieds,” Dan told me. “Our churches do a lot of things that don’t pay off. We need to allow for some creativity, flexibility, and change. The younger generations are more familiar with certain mediums, because they were brought up with them. So let’s use them. “People today, especially the younger generations, are programed mainly by television. And it’s usually short and sweet—30- second commercials with a thousand things happening all at once. We can’t present our message in a very non-stimulating, dry atmosphere. We need to creatively use mediums that make them think.” The medium First Love emphasizes is drama. Most Sundays, they use a skit of some kind to introduce the message or to get across a point of the message. They make dramas both humorous and insightful. “In the Habit Busters series, we did a funny skit about a guy who couldn’t manage his time. He kept breaking appointments, which hurt his relationships with everybody. It ended with the line, ‘You just can’t count on some people, can you?’ That brought us from the humorous to the serious, and set the stage for the sermon.” In another drama, a girl sat at a table saying the Lord’s Prayer. God—someone offstage with a microphone—interrupted her prayer and tried to talk with her. That caught her by surprise. “Wait a minute, Lord. I need to finish this prayer. Don’t talk to me about this guy I should forgive. I’m trying to pray.” On Valentines Day, Dan conducted a mock wedding. As the organist played the wedding march, a couple came down the aisle in tuxedo and gown. Dan started through the wedding ceremony. Then, at the vows, voices came over the speakers giving the thoughts of the bride and groom. It turns out the blissful couple weren’t so sure of their “for better or worse” commitment to each other, after all. Another time, they showed a short clip from the film “Ghost Busters.” Dan cautions, “I wouldn’t recommend showing that in most churches, but it worked in our situation, and went right along with the sermon.'” Besides, a high percentage of our people, especially the younger ones, had probably seen that movie and could relate to it. It was an effective way to get their attention and comThe UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 11 municate a point." They would like to use the medium of contemporary music. “How many people attend concerts or listen to albums that use only piano and organ? We have a vision for doing the type of music that really turns on the unchurched. “We want to work toward using a synthesizer, drums, guitar, bass, keyboard. You need a mix of gifts to do that, and it requires commitment from musicians. But God may be giving us enough tools to pull it off.” Creativity requires planning. You can’t throw a skit together an hour before the service begins. “We’re trying very hard to develop the message themes well in advance, so we can coordinate the various elements of the service—choruses, drama, special music, etc.—with the day’s theme.” Part of Dan’s job description, written by the church, is to spend one week this summer planning all the services through the end of 1988. He will isolate himself and concentrate on topics, texts, themes, outlines, the invitation to be offered that day, drama ideas, etc. Sunday morning is the only church service, partly because they still meet in a school. But can a church really thrive without a Sunday night service? Without a midweek service? Can such radical behavior succeed? “Sure,” Dan says. “Our cells meet all of those needs.” Cells are basically small groups with a purpose. They take many forms. Cells for young adults, for singles, for couples. Men’s and women’s cells. Men’s breakfasts. Challenge '88! The Hyatt Regency Monday—Thursday. A Church Leaders Clinic with Dr. John Maxwell. Friday—Sunday. A UB Convention—a denominational first. Up to 1000 people are expected. Over 40 seminars. A dynamic keynote speaker. The Murk Family Singers. Activities for children. Incredible worship experiences. And the best of fellowship among UBs from Maryland to Oregon, Jamaica to Ontario. It will be a high-quality convention at low cost. Registration is $10 for individuals, $25 for families. Lodging at the Hyatt Regency, where the meetings will be held, is just $49 per room per night. Up to four people can stay in a room, yet the price remains $49. People can also take advantage of nearby campsites. Church Leaders Clinic August 15-18 UB Convention August 18-21 The Hyatt Regency in Knoxville, Tenn. The Murk Family Singers 12 The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 Take a Vacation with a Purpose next summer in Knoxville, Tenn., with up to 1000 other UBs. A vacation to remember! Discipleship groups. Bible studies. A JOY—Just Older Youth—cell for senior adults. After church, I went to lunch with two families that eat together every Sunday. They call it their “fat cell." The Habit Busters series spawned a support group for people wanting to overcome alcoholism, cigarette smoking, or overeating. “People’s needs are better met in more intimate circles. We probably have a higher percentage of the congregation attending cells than you’ll find in the average Sunday evening service.” They also have some outstanding athletic teams, which are a type of cell. The basketball team won two different church leagues this year. The team is led by Brad Hoffman, who played starting guard for Dean Smith at North Carolina during the early 1970’s, and later toured with Campus Crusade’s Athletes in Action. Oh—the First Love softball team won its league championship, too. Not bad for an infant church that doesn’t even have it’s own building yet. third to First Love. This year, it’s reversed, which means he had to give up a big share of his Campus Life responsibilities. Dan still directs the local Campus Life ministry. His goal is to be fulltime with the church this fall, yet continue directing the Campus Life club as a volunteer. As you may guess, the name “First Love” comes from Revelation. Jesus said the church at Ephesus had lost it’s first love. The church at Reynoldsburg doesn’t want to be accused of that. 1 John 4:19, however, is their theme verse. They incorporated it into their purpose statement: “We love, because He first loved us. We demonstrate that love by celebrating life in Christ, cultivating personal growth in Christ, caring about one another in Christ, and communicating Christ to the world.” The church is not “First Love United Brethren Church.” Rather, it’s “First Love Community,” followed by the description “Church of the United Brethren in Christ.” A number of UB churches, especially newer ones, use the “Community” label. This practice, believe it or not, draws fire from some UBs—“What’s the matter? Are they ashamed to admit being United Brethren?” Dan addressed this. “We must deal realistically with the minds of the unchurched. In our situation, the ‘United Brethren’ name raises certain questions and connotations. Many people are turned off by denominationalism, or wonder, ‘What does that group believe?’ “We’re not one bit embarrassed about our heritage or doctrine. In fact, First Love exists only because a denomination cares. They nurtured me and helped me through school. They got this church off the ground, and even provided a core of families when we began in somebody’s basement. We exist because of the denomination. “But we prefer introducing people to Christ, and later telling them about our denomination. We want to be a community-minded, community-centered church—a group of believers who happen to be United Brethren.” Dan calls his Campus Life work and church planting “a great marriage of ministries.” How does he juggle the two? “A majority of the kids have no idea I’m a pastor, and I like it that way. For two reasons. One, I don’t have to deal with their preconceptions about preachers. They treat me as a person who cares about them and runs something they’re excited about. “Second, Campus Life is a para-church ministry. In that capacity, I represent the entire Body of Christ in the area, regardless of denomination. I’m not involved in Campus Life to feed my own church. “Sure, some kids we’ve won to Christ through Campus Life are involved at First Love. Most of them lack any kind of church background. But on the whole, I keep the church and Campus Life separate.” Dan’s written agreement with Campus Life mentions a five-year sliding plan, during which he gradually reduces his Campus Life involvement. Last year, Dan devoted himself two-thirds to Campus Life, one- Church planting is expensive. Typically, a conference or denomination totally funds a new church— pastor’s salary and other expenses— until the congregation is big enough to support itself. That can take many years. The high cost means we can start only so many churches. “T en t-m ak in g ”—sup p o rtin g yourself at least part-time while starting the church—cuts the cost significantly. Dan is a tentmaker under unique circumstances. He is planting a fulltime ministry while doing a fulltime ministry. As in other ministries, Campus Life staffers raise their own support. This usually comes from friends, church members, and relatives who pledge so much a month. “I recruited support not only for youth ministry, but for planting a church. In our monthly prayer letter, we report on both,” Dan explains. “The advantage is that our supporters won’t continue giving indefinitely. As the church grows, we need less outside support. A person might agree to give $400 the first year, $300 the second, $200 the third, $100 the fourth—and then they’re done. Their financial support is no longer needed, because a congregation is providing it.” Dan envisions using this approach in planting other churches. If a person feels burdened to plant a church, he could be instructed, “Find some people to support your needs over the next three years. The first year you need full support, the next year two-thirds, the third year a third, and the fourth year you won’t need anything.” It’s a method which has worked well at First Love. The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 13 A New Way to Make Tents Childhood Days with Grandpa I was privileged to have a grandfather who, as he put it, was “fond of young’uns.”To this day, Granddad still has a hold upon me and often times, I suppose, gently tugs on the reins that guide my footsteps. Granddad wasn’t too far removed from being a young’un himself. Like any young boy, he had a powerful sweet tooth. I can still see him devouring heaping bowls of rich, homemade ice cream topped with a liberal sprinkling of sugar. Yes, sugar. At meals, Granddad was never without his sugar bowl. He even sprinkled sugar on his nightly bowl of homemade bread, which had been soaked in a mixture of sweet cream and milk. Granddad was a big man, standing about six feet tall and probably weighing close to 200 pounds in his prime. He had fought in the Civil War at age 16. He went on to work as a sawmill operator, lumberjack, and teamster. But I remember him only as a farmer. When I came along, Granddad was farming 50 acres in southern Michigan, about two miles west of Blissfield. My father taught school about 20 miles away. The farm stood along a dirt road which, in summer, was hardly more than a couple of wagon tracks in the sand with a ribbon of grass running up the middle. In the spring, it became a quagmire of soupy mud. The land contained a little bit of everything in the way of soil. There was good, rich, black sandy loam, a sand hill, a small wood lot, and a patch of swamp. Granddad kept a team, a couple of milk cows, pigs, chickens, geese, and a fair sized collection of both usable and discarded farm machinery. Granddad dressed in the usual overalls and straw hat of the farmer. His ruddy face sported a big iron gray mustache which, during the winter, was often decorated with an icicle or two and hoary frost from his breath. He was a kindly man not easily aroused, but was known to “make the fur fly when he got his dander up.” He could hold his own with any mule skinner in the country when it came to scolding an ornery team of horses, with which he always seemed to be blessed. 14 The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 Robert Cory And he had an insatiable appetite for tinkerin’ and putterin ’ around machinery, whether a steam engine, threshing machine, or one of his early vintage cars. Grandma said he was happiest when elbow deep in grease. I don’t know just when Granddad got married. All that matters is that he did. Grandma was as kind a soul as ever a man could want for a wife. I know too that she was Granddad’s guiding light, for when she passed on in later years, he was like a man lost upon the desert and as restless as its shifting sands. Their reunion beyond our horizon must have been something fine. It was a Warm, spring day, and I was out “around the place” with Grandpa. Grandpa was fixing the land fence. I stood beside Grandpa as he worked, quietly absorbing the delicious smells, sights and sounds. The air bore the fragrance of blossoming clover, apple trees, wild flowers, and the tangy odor of freshly plowed ground. Many sounds punctuated the morning— the whisperings of countless insects, the steady low-pitched drone of bees, the tinkle of a cowbell floating from the woods, and the tink, tink, tink of Grandpa’s hammer driving staples into the cedar posts. Grandpa watched me with a twinkle in his eye. Finally, he took a deep breath, slowly and lovingly, seeming to caress every bit of air drawn into his lungs. Then he looked out across the fields. “Shore is nice, ain’t it, son?” he said softly. “Guess the Good Lord wouldn’t have needed no further excuse for puttin’ a nose on a man fer anything else than just enjoyin’ the smell of growin’ things.” We were startled out of our reverie by a halloo from the back stoop—Grandma calling us for dinner. Half the day had slipped away. Grandpa said he needed to start start plowin’ the west meader that afternoon, and if I was a mind to, I could follow behind in the furrow. So after dinner, we went to the barn to hitch up the team. This business of “hitching up” fascinated me—the smell of the leather mingled with the odor of the horses, the chink of the chain tugs, the struggle with strange straps and buckles that were too high for me to reach. I bustled around importantly, and Grandpa let me think I was a great help. When we were ready, Grandpa gave me the honor of driving the team to the field. How I strutted! We hitched the team to the plow. Then Grandpa lined up his first furrow, stuck the point of the plow into the ground, and clucked to the horses. They lurched forward. Like the bow wave of a ship, the earth rolled away from the plow in a long straight ribbon, lying black upon the green. I followed along behind, shoes off, toes digging into the cool, moist, freshly turned earth, the mellow sun beating upon my back and shoulders. I could smell the crushed clover and the sweat of the working team. I could hear the squeak of leather on leather, the chink of chain tugs, the blowing of the horses, and the pop, pop, pop of the big clover roots being cut. I can still see the field completely plowed, fitted, and planted. Within it lay sleeping life, waiting but for man and God’s hand to bring it forth. A s spring progresses, a field dons new garments. One day, the farmer sees nothing but the warm earth. The next day, he sees corn poking inquisitive sprouts out of the ground, reaching for the sun. The farmer carefully hoes and cultivates throughout the hot summer, keeping the earth loose and free of poaching weeds. The stalks grow, in time towering above him, heavy ears hanging down. As fall approaches and the nights get chilly, the color changes from green to delicate shades of yellow and brown. And the farmer looks upon the fruits of his labor with satisfaction. Grandpa reached down, picked up a handfull of the soil, and let it trickle slowly through his fingers— probably contemplating what fertilizer the soil needed. “You can’t always take; you’ve got to put, too,” Grandpa wisely stated. “Ground is just like yourself. If you want to get the most out of it, you’ve got to feed it and give it rest.” To Grandpa, soil wasn’t just dirt. Dirt came out of a smokestack, or blew off a city street into your face on a windy day. But soil—it was vibrant, alive. Soil was something to care for, to cherish; something to handle with the skill of an artist to achieve the best results. It was stable, an immovable rock upon which man could build life. Material things— even life itself—might come and go, but there would always be the soil. All that warm afternoon, a team of horses, a man, and a small boy trod back and forth across the west meadow, followed by a flock of noisy birds busily picking fat worms and bugs from the newly-turned furrows. Yes, even the birds look forward to the plowing. Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation.”...And it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fru it with seed in it, according to their kinds. A n d God saw that it was good. Bob Cory is a member o f Zion UB, Blissfield, Mich. I can still see the field completely plowed, fitted, and planted. Within it lay sleeping life, waiting but for man and God’s hand to bring it forth. The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 15 The Missed Kiss It amazes me that anyone survives the first dozen weddings a pastor performs. There is so much to remember, and so much that can go wrong. The whole blessed ceremony is printed right before you. Yet there are times when you have difficulty finding your own hands. Since I have a record of every wedding I have performed, I know it was the fourth one when I forgot to have the couple kiss, of all things. As everyone knows, that is the highlight of the whole event. I had written it IN CAPITAL LETTERS at the appropriate place in the ceremony, but that didn’t mean a thing. I forgot. The couple would not be denied, however. They took one step into the processional, stopped very unceremoniously, and proceeded to get what they came for. I am proud to say I have not forgotten it since. Maybe because I now write it at least three time IN CAPS across the page. The Runaway Ring The more hands an object passes through, the greater the chance gravity will grab it and wrestle it to the floor. Especially when all the hands are shaking and sweaty. Such is often the fate of wedding rings. Someone came up with the insidious idea that the ring becomes more sacred if the minister touches it during its perilous journey from the best man to the bride’s ring finger. The same genius probably invented the ringbearer’s pillow, with its foolproof bows that never are. To outsmart gravity and spare myself humiliation, I have always insisted that the best man lay the ring in the palm of my hand, rather than pass it fingertip to fingertip. So who knows why, at one wedding, I extended my hand with my middle and ring fingers separated. And who knows why the best man placed the ring between those two fingers instead of in my palm. I only know that gravity won that evening. And did you ever notice that rings don’t just fall flat and lay there? No, they roll, even on carpet. I am still working on a dignified way to walk from the platform to the front pew to retrieve a runaway ring. It sure would help if the best man and ushers didn’t act like a bunch of Keystone Kops as they chase after it. Two Wives, No Hubby Being a versatile person, I can make wedding bloopers on either side of the altar rail. Unquestionably, my most embarrassing blooper 16 The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 Tales of Mistied Knots Rev. Fred Johns Birmingham Church Extension Birmingham, Ala. occurred at my very own wedding. Bishop C. Ray Miller, then pastor of Prince Street church, was assisting. Mary and I had spent weeks memorizing our vows. We weren’t going to blandly repeat what some minister told us to say. We were going to express our commitment in words that we had mulled over in our minds and that came straight from our hearts. It was a beautiful Thanksgiving wedding. Everything moved along nicely, except that I forgot to bring money to pay the pastors (my best man bailed me out). Then came time for our vows. I very solemnly began, “I, Fred, take you, Mary, to be my wedded wife; and I do promise, before God and these witnesses, to be your loving and faithful wife . . . .” Then it hit me—I had just promised to my wife’s wife. I couldn’t believe it. Now what do I do? I looked at both pastors, but they weren’t any help. They just stood there grinning from ear-to-ear. After what seemed like an eternity, I corrected my mistake and went on to complete my vow without further incident. Ring Juggling While pastoring in Michigan, I conducted a wedding for a couple in their fifties, both of whom were widowed. They wanted a very simple wedding, with just a best man and maid of honor. The wedding proceeded fine until the exchanging of rings. I asked the groom, “What do you give in token of your pledge?” “This ring,” he said, placing the ring in my hand just like we had practiced. We went through the vows with no problems. The bride now wore a ring. Then I asked the bride, “What do you give as a token of your pledge?” “This ring,” she replied. She placed a tiny little ring in my hand. I looked at it and thought, That ring will never f i t on his hand. Then the bride removed the ring on her finger— a much bigger ring—and placed it in my hand, next to the little one. Next, she took the little ring, slipped it on her finger, and then picked up the larger ring and put it on his finger. And the wedding proceeded. The couple had simply gotten the rings switched. They taped the wedding, and crack up laughing every time they listen to it. There is a silent pause at that point. I must have worn an odd expression as I stood there with two rings in my hand, not knowing what to do. Revive Us Again In another wedding, I noticed the bride getting pale. “Are you okay?” I whispered. In response, she stiffened like a board and fell backwards into the arms of her parents and groom. Fortunately, they had included a hymn in the service. The congregation sang while the bride recovered. Hand Surgery I have never seen a perfect wedding. Even if a wedding rehearsal goes without a hitch—and it rarely does—the real thing will probably have at least a small slip-up. In at least two weddings, I was the slip-up. A few years ago, I led a wedding one beautiful Father’s Day afternoon. Everything went fine until we got to the ring ceremony. After explaining the significance of the ring, I told the bride, “You may put the finger on his hand.” I didn’t catch my blooper until afterwards, when one of the groomsmen—who was on the verge of cracking up the rest of the ceremony—told me what I had said. Going Down The other blooper happened during the wedding of my oldest brother one hot summer day in an un-air-conditioned country church. Near the beginning of the wedding I, a groomsman, decided to take the quick way out. I fainted! Nerves (it was my first wedding), heat, and locked knees provided just the right combination for me to pass out. Fortunately, another groomsman caught me before I hit my head on the front pew. As a pastor, I now make it a point at every rehearsal to tell the guys, “Don’t lock your knees.” Nevertheless, summer weddings with a lot of candles (additional heat, less oxygen) make me very nervous! Do you have an amusing story to tell about a wedding blooper, or perhaps a blooper from a funeral or some other church service? More such stories will be compiled in future issues. Any submissions are welcome. Send to: The United Brethren, 302 Lake St., Huntington, IN 46750. The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 17 Rev. Michael R. Brown Monroe UB church Monroe, Ind. Rev. Jerry Au Fountain UB church Keyser, West Virginia Rev. Keith Kunda Make a Joyful Musical Unto the Lord This month, Rev. Philip Burkett takes a break from this monthly column. Replacing him is Rev. Keith Kunda, minister o f youth and music at College Park UB church in Huntington. Knowing that many UB choir directors, lacking musical training, may not know what to look fo r in selecting a musical and may fe e l overwhelmed by the number o f musicals available, I asked Keith to write some reviews. It turns out that Keith, fo r his own benefit, had already written evaluations o f numerous church musicals, many o f which he has personally directed over the years. So much o f the work was already done. A ll he had to do was call them up on his computer. Here, he deals with non-seasonal musicals— ones your church choir can perform anytime o f the year.—SD Difficulty level 5 most difficult 1 least difficult Alleluia by Bill and Gloria Gaither and Ron H u ff 1973, Benson Now distributed by Zondervan Although 15 years old, this remains a very fine praise musical for anyone who likes the Gaithers’ music. It contains many of their most familiar songs—“Because He Lives,” “Let’s Just Praise the Lord,” “Get All Excited,” and others. It works nicely with accompaniment tape or piano. Difficulty level: 2.5 Bind Us Together by Steve and Annie Chapman 1986, Star Song Music This musical about the family contains a powerful message of family commitment to Christ that every church needs to hear. It takes more soloists than most other works, but the music, including the solos, is not difficult. It works best with accompaniment tape. Difficulty level: 2 Celebrate Life by Buryi Red 1972, Broadman Now distributed by Genevox This musical drama is designed for Easter, but would work at any time of the year. Though the oldest work in this list, it remains a great classic. Celebrate Life could be done by adult or youth choirs, or a combination of both. It does not require large forces, the music is great, and it is not very difficult. Works best with live accompaniment of piano, organ, drums, and electric bass. Difficulty level: 2.5 18 The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 The Sounding Board Exaltation by Ron H u ff 1981, Paragon Distributed by Alexandria House This beautiful praise musical incorporates many of the praise choruses of the past 20 years, powerfully arranged for choirs. It also incorporates some Scripture readings, and makes a great worship service. Works best with accompaniment tape. Difficulty level: 3 (one number is 4.5, but could be cut) God Has Always Had a People by Don Marsh 1981, Paragon Distributed by Alexandria House This musical about faith, based on Hebrews 11, delivers a powerful message for believers today. Outstanding music combined with quality narration (requiring lengthy memorization work) make this one of the best musicals on the market. Works best with accompaniment tape. Not recommended for choirs of less that 25 people. Difficulty level: 3.5 How Great Thou Art by David Clydesdale 1984, Royal Tapestry Now distributed by Lexicon/ Spectra Based on the great gospel song of the same title, this is an excellent presentation of God’s greatness revealed through the death and resurrection of Christ. It works at Easter, but could be done any time of the year. Could be done with piano or accompaniment tape. Difficulty level: 3 Ruth by Sue Farrar 1985, Fourth Day This is a musical drama about the events in the book of Ruth. Everyone wears period costume and must perform from memory. However, the script and the music are not difficult, and it can be done with a relatively small cast. Ruth is very true to the biblical text and historical customs, and conveys a great message about faith and commitment. The only drawback for some churches is that it requires a large proportion of men. Difficulty level: 2 Jubilate by Mark Hayes 1985, Tempo Distributed by Alexandria House This is a quasi-charismatic praise musical intended to have lots of congregational involvement. If your congregation picks up on new things quickly to be able to sing along, it could be a great worship experience. The songs are nice, and the arranging is very good. Works best with tape accompaniment. Difficulty level: 3 Thou Art Worthy by David Clydesdale 1987, Royal Tapestry Distributed by Lexicon/Spectra Here is something for the bigger choir. It is hard, high, and big, but contains an exciting message. Subtitled “The Anthem of Eternity,” it concerns heaven and the second coming. The music ranges from Brahms’ “How Lovely is Thy Dwelling Place” to Gaither’s “The King Is Coming." Not recommended for choirs of less than 35. Works best with tape or live orchestral accompaniment. Difficulty level: 4 Hymns Triumphant by Lee Holdridge 1981, Sparrow Nine hymn medleys, each titled with a phrase from the Lord’s Prayer (e.g., “Our Father Who Art in Heaven”), are arranged into a choral suite. All songs are traditional hymns. The difficulty level will show this to be fairly easy, but it does have much division in the choral parts (frequently 5-8 parts). You don’t need a large group of singers, just people who can sing many parts. Works with piano/organ accompaniment or tape. Difficulty level: 2.5 To clear your August schedule for Challenge ’88, the annual Summer Seminar on United Brethren Church History has been moved to June 16-18. This annual course is sponsored by the Huntington College Graduate School of Christian Ministries. The tuition is $60. Students need two books: Trials and Triumphs, the UB church history book ($14.95); and the 1985-1989 Discipline ($4). Both can be purchased at the UB Headquarters Building in Huntington, or ordered from; Department of Church Services, 302 Lake St., Huntington, Ind. 46750. The seminar will begin at 9 a.m. on Thursday, June 16. Dr. Howard Cherry will teach the course. If you are interested in attending, please write to: Graduate School Huntington College Huntington, Ind. 46750 Summer Seminar on UB Church History The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 19 Where, Oh Where, Some friends of mine have a $50 bill. Or at least it looks like a $50 bill. On the front anyway. The back is blank, but the front looks absolutely genuine. It has a picture of some obscure dead President. It feels like real money. And it makes your mouth water just like real money. These friends get a great deal of mileage out of this phoney $50. Especially at the local bowling alley. Their favorite trick is to strategically place it under a table near the lanes. Then they sit back and watch. Recently, their victim was a fellow in their bowling league. For the sake of one of those awful puns my wife hates so much, we’ll call him “Buck.” Buck spotted the $50 about midway through the first game. His eyes bugged out. His mouth went dry. His palms grew sweaty. All the normal reactions of a guy who had just spotted an orphaned fortune. But Buck didn’t pick it up. He just watched it. He casually strolled around the general vicinity, eyeing it from every possible angle. My friends could barely control their laughter. Finally, early in the second game, Buck could stand it no longer. As quickly as he could without drawing attention to himself, he swooped down on that $50 bill and slipped it into his pocket—without giving it a closer look. And even more quickly, he fled the scene. Does My Decimal Point Go? 20 The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 Being freed from bondage to the law of the percentage sign. Rev. Thomas M. Brodbeck Buck’s whole attitude changed. As if some magical happy medication coated that piece of paper and, through the process of osmosis, was being absorbed through his pants pocket into his bloodstream. Soon, though, the medication wore off. Something was bothering Buck. To appease his conscious, he innocently asked those around him, “Did anyone lose some money?” A third party—not privy to the d e c e p tio n - responded, “If it’s $50, it’s mine!” Buck’s face dropped. Not just his jaw. His whole face. He pulled the money from his pocket. Then he noticed. The back was blank. The thrill of discovery, the excitement of the hunt, the satisfaction of the capture, the ecstasy of possession—all were bulldozed by the disappointment of the return and the anger of public humiliation. The Touchy Subject of Money The love of money is, indeed, the root of all kinds of evil. A magnetic-like force rivets our attention on it. Money determines where we live, what we drive, and whether we order a pizza or go home to eat leftovers . . . again. Is any topic as sensitive as money? When I was growing up, my parents gave me two pieces of advice: never ask a woman her weight or her age, and never ask a man how much money he makes. We love to earn it, spend it, control it. Anything but talk about it. We get defensive real quick about our finances. Two days after I began a new pastorate, the chairman of my Personnel Relations Committee informed me, “I’ll support you as long as you don’t preach on tithing." And he did. Until I did. And true to his word, once I did, he didn’t. God in His great wisdom knew money would create turmoil. That’s why the Holy Spirit devoted a considerable percentage of His inspiration to the subject. Since the Scriptures speak on it, we should, too.M ention money in the local church, and folks immediately think “tithing.” My Personnel Relations Committee chairman sure did. “Tithe” is part of the standard church vocabulary we must interpret for all newcomers. The Holy Lingo List also includes baptistry, anthem, doxology, and “with every head bowed and every eye closed.” For many, tithing measures a person’s spirituality. They link your fitness for leadership or membership to your ability and willingness to contribute that magical percentage of income every week. That upsets me, as you’ve already figured out. Why else would I write about it? You see, I am convinced that tithing, as practiced by many, is a sin. Furthermore, I am certain that such tithing doesn’t work. Now, lest you brand me a heretic and take away my “Wir Sind Bruder” tie tac, let me explain how I have arrived at these convictions. Focus on God, Not Percentages First, tithing focuses attention on the gift instead of on God, the recipient of the gift. We’re more concerned about where we place the decimal point than we are with honoring God. Some parishioners once asked me, “Which is right—10% of the gross, or 10% of the net?” I answered, “Neither. ‘How much’ is not the point.” I realize that “tithe” means “tenth.” My Webster’s works fine, thank you. But we often teach that the first tenth belongs to God. And I don’t buy that. I won’t even rent it. The whole thing belongs to God. All ten tenths. He wants everything, not just a token 10% gesture. If you believe you should “give to God what is God’s,” then be ready to endorse your paycheck and drop the whole thing in the offering plate. When we start thinking about decimal points, we stop thinking about God. And that’s wrong. No matter how accurate your arithmetic, the gift is invalid unless God is central to your thinking. A False Sense of Accomplishment We live in a goal-oriented society. You can take a seminar on “How to Set Goals,” with a follow-up seminar on “How to Achieve Your Goals.” Goal-oriented people like the tithing concept because it is measurable. Every time you get paid, you slide the decimal point to the left two spaces, round to the nearest dollar, and write the church a check for that amount. You feel satisfied at accomplishing that goal. It’s good for the ego. Congratulations! You have achieved a goal (and probably saved yourself the $200 registration fee for the follow-up seminar). This goal-orientation makes me uncomfortable with that approach to tithing. Too many people give their 10% and quit. “I’ve done my part,” they say. Even though they could give more, they feel they’ve done “all that God expects.” These folks need to be nudged with the example of the widow and her mite. Remember her? While the rich tithers rejoiced in doing “all that God expects,” she ignored the percentage sign—and earned praise from Jesus. When you reach heaven, try to tell her that she overpaid. On the other side of this coin is the person who simply can’t give 10%. Maybe he lost a job. Maybe he came to Christ after a lifestyle that greatly overextended his income. More frequently, you’ll find the ever-so-faithful young mother whose non-Christian husband tightly controls the checkbook. This mom lugs four preschoolers to church for every service, and somehow manages to save a dollar or two from the grocery budget for the offering plate. Money that her husband would be angry about. Is she really unfit for leadership simply because of that percentage sign? No way. And it is a crime to make her feel so. The Scriptures say “God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7). Not, “God loves a mathematically precise giver.” If giving determines who leads and who follows, then scan the congregation during the offertory and see who’s smiling. Old Law, New Standard One more reason to be agitated by tithing. It’s an Old Testament concept. Hold on! I believe in the inspiration of the Old Testament, too. Yet, like so many Old Testament principles, tithing has become The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 21 part of a legalistic system that emphasizes compliance rather than the attitude of the giver. Under the work of grace, we have been freed from the law of the percentage sign to give cheerfully and generously. That’s how the Philippians gave— generously, not proportionately. We need deliverance from such stale legalistic thinking. If we have been freed from such rules, why do we submit to their bondage over and over again? That’s a probing question for each of us to consider. “They Only Want My Money!” Church growth experts have identified the five accusations most often leveled against the local church: 1. It’s boring. 2. It’s unfriendly. 3. It’s irrelevant. 4. There’s nothing for my kids. 5. They only want my money. Ouch! We could talk for days about each of these, but our focus right now is Number 5. Money. What do your neighbors hear about your church? The youth group is selling candy to go to Florida. There’s a car wash this Saturday. A rummage sale next week. They show up to church services and an offering plate is handed to them. Plus they find an envelope or two tucked inside the bulletin for this week’s special offering: the Flower Fund, the Kitchen Fund, the Toilet Paper Fund, or better yet, those ever-present annual denominational pleas. Those of us who have been around the church for awhile have grown immune to such annoyances. They don’t bother us anymore. While someone explains the envelopes, we switch to another station. We find the next hymn. Go get a drink of water. Stick our fingers through the communion cup holder. Our neighbor, though, is appalled, and remarks, “They’re only after my money.” I applaud those sensitive churches that find creative ways for visitors to not contribute without feeling guilty. But some churches feel compelled to extract at least a dollar from every stranger who darkens the door. And—this breaks my heart—a few churches are gung-ho on outreach only because they need more paychecks to meet the budget. Getting to the Roots Paul wrote, “The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. ” To whom was that letter addressed? A pastor—Timothy. And ultimately, the church. That’s important. Paul wasn’t writing to non-Christians. He was warning against falling into the trap of loving money. The verse continues, “Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs” (1 Timothy 10b). These wanderers weren’t on the golf course Sunday morning. They were in the pew. Perhaps teaching Sunday school. Maybe even counting the offering. They weren’t thieves. They would never steal from the treasury. It’s just that their main concern was the amount needed to “run the church.” They were “eager for money.” And when the weekly total dipped below the weekly need, they were “pierced . . . with many griefs.” Paul continues, “But you, man of God, flee from all this and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness” (v. 11). Flee the love of money, man of God! And pursue . . . candy sales? No! Pursue righteousness! Model the latest line of offering envelopes? No! Model godliness! The generosity needed for the church budget comes as Christians flee an emphasis on money and pursue the attributes of God—righteousness, faith, love, etc. No other way. Not by fundraisers. Not by countless special offerings. Not by a legalistic approach to tithing. And face it, folks—too often, we d o n ’t flee the love of money. We commit adultery with it. Many Christians are having extra-marital affairs with George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Rooting Out the Roots So how do we change? It’s tough to reverse longterm practices and orientations. “Roots of evil” grow deep. And cosmetic alterations don’t solve deep root problems. First, and foremost, look inward. Ask God to help you review your personal finances. Focus on the 90% not being turned over to the church. How do you spend it? Is there waste? If so, give that waste to God. Do your spending habits include things that are even moderately inconsistent with your Christian witness? If so, make changes. The bottom line has to be, “Is the Lord honored by every penny He has provided for me?” Next, get the local church to review its spending practices. Where is there waste? How much is spent on maintaining what you have vs. outreach? There is no respectable way to continually pour money into outdated and ineffective programs. As a church, cut all the extra funds and special appeals. Consolidate every department’s checking account into one centralized account. Finally, review God’s promises to provide your needs. When you break through the 10% barrier, you will encounter some initial anguish. You’ll ask yourself, “Can I really live on less than the 90% I’ve always used?” But hang in there. You will experience relief at being freed from the burden of the percentage sign. For those of you who honestly can’t give more— forget about the expectations of others, and give God what you can cheerfully. Even if only a mite or two. The Whole Package God values givers far more than gifts. We Christians prefer the gifts. But since the Bible puts God’s desires above man’s desires, we should elevate the giver. This week, begin doing that in your own life. When the usher hands you the plate, regardless of the size of your offering, symbolically place all 100% of you into it. Picture yourself sealed up in that offering envelope. God will be pleased. And that, my friend, is what it’s all about. Rev. Thomas M. Brodbeck pastors Prince o f Peace UB church, Springfield, Ohio. 22 The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 44th General Conference, June 24-28,1985 THE MAIN EVENT The 45th General Conference, to be held in June 1989, is rapidly approaching. It is time to announce the number of delegates each conference can elect. The Discipline states the following for the North American conferences: “Each annual conference shall be entitled to two delegates—one minister and one lay person. Each conference shall average its adult membership and morning worship attendance, and shall have one additional delegate for each average of 500 or major fraction thereof above 500” (paragraph 223.1a). It then gives the breakdown of lay and ministerial delegates. For instance, a conference entitled to 4-6 delegates must include two lay delegates in that number. Adult AM MemberAttendTotal Total Ministerial North American Conferences ship ance Average Delegates Delegates Delegates Arizona 208 270 239 0 0 0 California 499 369 434 2 1 1 Central 6977 4951 5964 14 5 9 Florida 262 457 360 2 1 1 Michigan 3049 3516 3283 8 3 5 Midwest 474 361 418 2 1 1 North Ohio 2467 2484 2476 6 2 4 Northwest 338 263 301 2 1 1 Ontario 845 864 854 3 1 2 Pennsylvania 8463 5181 6822 16 6 10 Rock River 390 356 373 2 1 1 Sandusky 1903 2073 1988 5 2 3 Overseas Conferences Honduras 1757 1520 1639 1 Hong Kong (Information pending) Jamaica (Information pending) Sierra Leone 4827 2344 3586 2 The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 23 Delegate totals for the 1989 General Conference. Rev. Lester Smith The Fateful 40 I want to make clear that I am not trying to set a date for the return of Christ. Jesus said that only His Father knows that time. However, our Lord did encourage His followers to look for signs concerning the end of the age. That’s what I am doing here. For several years, I have felt that a significant prophecy would be fulfilled in 1988. Forty years have passed since 1948, when Israel became a nation again after being scattered throughout the world for 2000 years. The number 40 is the key period of time found throughout biblical history. Consider the following: 1. The flood lasted 40 days (Genesis 7:4). 2. Isaac married Rebekah (mother of “Israel)”) at age 40 (Genesis 25:20). His twin, Esau, also married at age 40 (26:34). 3. Moses received the Ten Commandments after fasting 40 days (Exodus 34:28). 4. After spying out the Promised Land for 40 days, the Israelites wandered in the wilderness 40 years (Numbers 14:34). 5. The life of Moses involved three 40-year periods (Acts 7:23, 30, 36). 6. According to Judges, Israel enjoyed 40 years of peace after the victories by Othniel (3:11), Deborah (5:31), and Gideon (8:28) 7. Eli led Israel 40 years (1 Samuel 4:1). 8. King Saul ruled 40 years (Acts 13:21). 9. King David ruled 40 years (2 Samuel 5:4). 10. King Solomon ruled 40 years (1 Kings 11:42). After Solomon, the nation was divided. Not until 1948 did Israel again become a free and united nation. 11. Goliath the Philistine (from which we get the word “Palestinian”) challenged Israel 40 days (1 Samuel 17:16). 12. Ezekiel was told to symbolically “bare the sins” of God’s people for 40 days before the siege of Jerusalem (Ezekiel 4:6-7). 13. Jonah warned that Ninevah could be destroyed in 40 days (Jonah 3:4). 14. Jesus fasted in the wilderness for 40 days, during which Satan tempted Him (Matthew 4:1-2). 15. Jesus appeared to His disciples for 40 days after His resurrection (Acts 1:3). 16. Forty years after Jesus died, the Romans destroyed the temple in Jerusalem and scattered the Jews until 1948. These events convince me that something biblically significant will occur in 1988. Most scholars agree that what happened in 1948 fulfilled the “dry bones” prophecy of Ezekiel 37—“I will bring you back to the land of Israel . . . . I will settle you in your own land” (verses 12,14). The war described in chapters 3-39 has not yet occurred. So I believe it will be fulfilled this year. What if I’m wrong? In that case, I look for Ezekiel’s prophecy to be fulfilled 19 years from now. That will be 40 years after the Six Day War of 1967. It was during the Six Day War that Israel captured old Jerusalem, where the temple once stood, and the West Bank, restoring to Israel the land God originally gave His people. Rev. Lester Smith pastors the UB church in Flint, Mich. 24 The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 Will something important happen in Israel this year? The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 25 The Good Shepherd Easter cantata. Central Huntington, Ind. The Good Shepherd church presented two performances of the Easter cantata “Now I See You,” by Don March and Claire Cloninger. The sanctuary was filled for both performances— one on Palm Sunday, the other on the following Tuesday. Mark Kiefer directed the cantata. The sanctuary was transformed into Jerusalem, with the city wall towering across the front of the church. A marketplace, the Upper Room, and the tomb were also built. The adult choir, dressed in biblical costumes, presented scenes from the last week of Christ’s ministry. A colt coming down the center aisle was used to depict Jesus triumphantly entering the city on Palm Sunday. Men from the congregation portrayed Jesus’ disciples and dramatized the Last Supper. The children’s choir, called the Sonshine Kids, joined the festivities for one song. — Submitted by Vicki Kiefer Zanesville, Ind. At an auction, the Zanesville church purchased a four-bedroom house next door to the parsonage. Youth director Scott Taylor and his wife, Mary Anne, moved into the house in February. Scott also holds youth meetings there. The property features a large backyard, part of which will be made into a parking lot for the church. At just $28,250, the members consider it a good investment. Chambersburg, Pa. Garnet and Evelyn Dice celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in February. They were married February 12, 1938, in Chambersburg. They have two children and seven grandchildren. They are members of the Criders UB church. The celebration occurred at the Salem UB church. Port Orange. Carrie Powell, 15, plans to serve on the mission field June 15—August 19 with Missions Outreach, Inc. She will spend six weeks in Quatzaltenango, Guatemala, as part of a 24-member team. They will build a much-needed science lab at the 26 The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 HEARTBEAT Pennsylvania Florida International Missions School there. Carrie is the daughter of Rev. and Mrs. Charles Causey, who pastor Faith UB in Port Orange. She is the church’s first missionary. Carrie is currently raising $1350 in support needed for the trip. The store-front meeting place being rented by the Chicago church planters. Rock River Chicago. Rock River Conference’s church extension work in Chicago has finally been able to rent an office and small meeting area at 3845 W. Montrose Ave. A missions trust fund, recently left to the Adeline UB church by an estate, is paying half of the rent and utilities for the one-year lease. A special offering is being taken in Rock River churches on Pentecost Sunday to provide the other half. The work began last September under the leadership of Rev. Lou and Kim Sari, and Rev. Paul Barber. Please pray with them that the Lord will begin softening the hard hearts of the people they are trying to reach with the Gospel in the Irving Park area of Chicago. —Submitted by Rev. Paul L. Barber The Huntington College Graduate School of Christian Ministries Conflict Management and Administrative Styles of Leadership an Intensive Education Module Course for the Master of Christian Ministry Degree June 6-10,1988 at Huntington College This course relates theory about conflict to the life of the church. It discusses such issues as the nature of human differences, the constructive values and uses of conflict, the biblical and theological understanding of conflict, styles of conflict management, and organizational handling of conflict. Students will examine their own styles of leadership and conflict, analyze typical conflict situations, and design an approach to managing conflict based on their own places of ministry. The instructor is Dr. Paul R. Fetters, who pastored UB churches for 18 years and currently serves as dean of the Graduate School. This course, worth three credit hours, runs Monday through Friday, June 6-10. IEM Tuition Costs for 1988 General Tuition (per credit hour) $100 Tuition for UBs 67 Senior adults (over 55) 35 Senior adults (over 62) Free Limited room space is available on campus at reasonable rates. For more information, contact: Graduate School Huntington College Huntington, IN 46750 (219) 356-6000 The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 27 €vents VIETNAMESE BIBLE PROJECT RESUMES Six pastors from Vietnam, now fulltime church workers in America, resumed translation of the Bible into everyday Vietnamese. This project halted 14 years ago, when Saigon fell. Four of the men are Southern Baptist ministers, and two are related to the Christian and Missionary Alliance. They are scattered from California to Texas to Louisiana to Georgia. This makes teamwork difficult, so they do much work independently. They recently completed Luke, and have finished parts of Matthew, Mark, John, and Philippians. They expect to complete the entire Bible in seven years. Most of the $725,000 project cost is coming from a foundation established by a retired Southern Baptist teacher in Texas. A United Bible Societies worker in New York City provides overall guidance. THAI TO THAI SEATTLE, Wash.—A 2900-member church in Thailand is starting a church in Seattle, led by a Thai physician. Up to 100,000 Thais live in America. The mother church has already started 10 churches in Thailand, and plans to start 20 more in 1988. AMITY PRESSES GOING FULL SPEED NANJING, China—The American Bible Society reports that Amity Printing Press, which began operating last fall, is already running three full shifts daily. Things are going so well that they doubled the press-run of Bibles originally projected for 1988—from 300,000 to 600,000. Amity completed 145,000 Chinese Bibles in traditional Chinese characters, and is finishing 100,000 reference Bibles. Amity also expects to print 200,000 New Testaments with Psalms in a simplified script geared to young people. Amity, heavily financed by the ABS, boasts state-of-the-art equipment which can handle any kind of printing job. GENDER TESTS The World Development Forum reports that prenatal gender tests are flourishing in Asian nations. Mothers often abort babies when the test shows that the fetus is a girl. In India, gender tests and abortions are legal, cheap, and readily available. China allows abortion, but forbids gender tests. Yet illegal gender tests and infanticide of female babies reduces the number of baby girls. South Korea also shows “an alarming swing” toward male births. BRAZILIAN CHINESE SAO PAULO—Gospel Missionary Union assigned its first missionaries to the 100,000 Chinese living in Sao Paulo, Brazil. CARIBBEAN MUSLIMS Nearly 400,000 Muslims live in various Caribbean nations. •Suriname has 100,000 Muslims. •Trinidad and Tobago have 100,000 Muslims. Trinidad, smaller than Delaware, has 85 mosques and a Muslim president. •120,000 Muslims live in Guyana. “CULT” PASTOR EXPELLED SEATTLE—Donald Barnett, founding pastor of the Seattle-based Community Chapel and Bible Training Center, was excommunicated by his church in March. Barnett’s unusual teachings brought the church a reputation as a “cult” church. He first came under scrutiny two years ago, when a member killed her six-year-old daughter, believing the girl was demon-possessed. Later reports claimed Barnett advocated forming “spiritual connections” with other members through sexual intimacy. In February, church elders declared Barnett guilty of “sexual sin of substantial magnitude” with several women in the congregation. The elders forbid him to meet women alone. Barnett refused. So elders amended church bylaws that had made Barnett “ Pastor for Life,” and expelled him. Barnett faces civil suits charging child abuse and sexual assault. ECFA’S 500TH MEMBER WASHINGTON, D.C.—The Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability approved its500th member: Christian Financial Concepts, an organization headed by Larry Burkett. 28 The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 TWR LOSES LICENSE SOUTHERN AFRICA—Trans World Radio has been broadcasting on an AM frequency in Southern Africa for five years. The government recently decided it needed the frequency for commercial needs, and told TWR the license wouldn’t be renewed. To continue broadcasting to Southern Africa, TWR will add a seventh transmitter at its Swaziland facility. THE PTL PULITZER The Charlotte Observer won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for its reporting on the PTL scandal. THREE FOOD TRUCKS DESTROYED IN ATTACK ETHIOPIA—Anti-Marxist rebels attacked a seven-truck food convoy transporting from ports to inland distribution centers. They ignored four United Nations trucks, and singled out the three long-haul trucks owned by Food for the Hungry. They destroyed the three 23-ton trucks, valued at $300,000 and carrying 151,000 pounds of grain. Food for the Hungry had been distributing 80,000 pounds of food daily, feeding 275,000 people. The loss of the trucks—only two more remain—severely curtails the organization’s ability to provide hunger relief. Food fo r the Hungry filed formal protests through the U. S. State Department, and with the Washington office of Tigray People’s Liberation Front, believed responsible for the attack. MORMONS IN BRAZIL BRAZIL—Christianity is growing faster in Brazil than in most nations. But so is Mormonism. The Mormons field 15,000 missionaries in Brazil. They gain about 2000 converts a month. These converts are being trained as missionaries, and Argentina is being targeted. RUMOR CONTROL TULSA, Okla.—Christian rock group Stryper received some undeserved bad publicity. Three Oklahoma young people tortured a dog and cat to death, recording the animals’ cries. They said they were imitating a song called “Granny," which features screaming animals in the background. The Tulsa press reported that Stryper recorded the song. Angry Christian parents besieged a local Christian radio station with calls. Stryper never recorded such a song. “JESUS IS ALIVE” MAIL ENGLAND—Through March and part of April, letters mailed in Great Britain carried the message^'Jesus is Alive.” It was part of a postmark stamped on nearly 50 million pieces of mail each day. This included mail bound for Muslim, Buddhist, and Jewish nations. A British postal service policy allows any institution, organization, or person to pay to have a slogan put on the postmark. Paul Slennet, a 41-year-old Christian bookstore owner, paid $88,500 for the “Jesus is Alive” postmark. People •William J. Bennett, U.S. Secretary of Education, has called for restoring content, character, and choice to public education. In a message at the National Association of Evangelicals convention, he stressed the need for developing personal character in students, and suggested ways to instill moral values. Then, in a question-and-answer period, he said, “ It doesn’t help my cause to teach moral values when those who speak the loudest cannot live up to their own beliefs. Frankly, I’m mad about it.” •Gordon Loux resigned as president and CEO of Prison Fellowship Ministries, citing “differences in management philosophy, style, and role expectations." Loux and Charles Colson founded Prison Fellowship in 1976. Colson commented, “ I will sorely miss him, though he has assured me I can continue to call on him for counsel and help.” •Bob Jones, chancellor of Bob Jones University, said, “ Pat Robertson makes a lot of crazy statements. I make them, too, but I’m not running for office.” •Jesse Jackson, in a speech he gives regularly to high school audiences, says, “You are not a man just ‘cause you make a baby. And you young ladies, [pregnancy] is a short-term thrill and a long-term chill for you. How do I know? Because I am the son of a teenage mother, who was the daughter of a teenage mother. I never lived in a house with my father one night of my life.” •Robert Seiple said the following in his inaugural address as new president of World Vision: “We have marketed children as a bargain by claiming, ‘For a few pennies a day . . . , Just give up one meal out of a month . . . , For the cost of a pair of Dodger tickets . . . .’ Subconsciously we say to millions of Americans, ‘That child isn’t worth much.’ ” •Rev. Michael Agnello, who headed a five-state TV ministry from Charleston, W. Va., admitted committing adultery. He told his wife and 350 worshipers that he was guilty of sexual misconduct with the widow of Davy Jo Hissom, who founded New Life Church. Agnello became pastor four months after Hissom died in a plane crash. His confession, dwarfed by the Jimmy Swaggart scandal, drew little media attention. •Jim Bakker returned to the pulpit fo r the first time in over a year on March 13, when he addressed 225 retirees in a California trailer park. His uncle is the park’s Lutheran pastor during the winter. •Eugene Antonio Marino is the first black Catholic archbishop in the U.S. The Pope appointed him to the Atlanta archdiocese March 14. •James Irwin found nothing during his six trips in search of Noah’s Ark. Now the former astronaut is looking for Egyptian chariots beneath the Red Sea. He joined an international team which retraced probable routes for the Israelites when they left Egypt. The effort included unsuccessful dives for chariot remains in the Red Sea, which God closed on Pharoah’s army after the Israelites had crossed on dry land. •Win Am, a church growth expert, says Sunday school attendance has dropped 14 million since 1970. The percentage of church members attending Sunday school plunged from 31% in 1970 to 18% in 1986. In 1970, only 10% of the population said they received no religious training as a child. In 1987, 27% made that response. The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 29 Is the Christian media any less biased than the secular media? I hear complaints about slanted news in the secular arena. Sometimes I myself complain. For instance, a friend of mine attended a prayer meeting October 3 at Yoida Plaza in Seoul, South Korea. He and one million Koreans! After the prayer meeting, they peacefully marched to city hall. Their purpose for the prayer and march was two-fold: 1. They prayed to invoke God’s solution to Korea’s problems; and for the 1988 Summer Olympics, being held in Seoul. 2. They marched to show they were looking to God for His solution. They wanted all Koreans to know they were waging their war with the weapons of love and prayer. That item didn’t reach the U.S. evening news. But let a tiny coterie of radicals raise cane on a Korean campus, and all the American networks and dailies billboard it. But what about the Christian media? Are they less slanted? Ifyou follow the Christian media, you will likely conclude that the only significant Work done in the Third World is done by Americans. What about the late Dr. John Sung of China? He impacted China, Indochina, and southeast Asia for God as no western missionary or organization in history. Have you ever heard his name? What about Mr. F. E. Accad? He took the Gospel to more Muslims in the completely closed countries of the Arabic speaking world than any western group in history. Have you heard his name? What about Dr. K. C. Han? His church in Seoul started with 28 refugees, and has now exploded into the world’s largest Presbyterian C h u rc h - 65,000 members. How often do you hear his name? You've probably heard the name Dr. Paul Yonggi Cho, founder and pastor of history’s largest church—more than 550,000 members. You’ve heard of him because he’s active in the United States and because some of America’s most visible ministers regularly make a trek there to study his methods. Then again, maybe you haven’t heard his name. I thank God for western missionaries and evangelists. I’m a second-generation product of Presbyterian missions to Damascus, Syria. But must the Christian press deny reality by spotlighting western Christians and ignoring Third World heroes of the faith? Recently, an American Christian leader, a dedicated but unreconstructed cultural colonialist, organized a convocation of other American Chris-tian leaders to discuss coordinating world evangelism efforts between now and the year 2000. Strange. Where were the Third World leaders? Are they not the most qualified to lead such a convocation? Are they not the only ones who can evangelize with credibility and effectiveness in nations that today house 80% of all Third World peoples? The convocation seemed to be an attempt by westerners to de-westernize world evangelism. How? By telling the Third World how to do it—a continuing colonial attitude that presumes the superiority of western control. Perhaps the Christian media slants the stories westward because the input they get comes from westerners who insist on dominating both program and personnel overseas. We need solid investigative reporting of the global facts by qualified journalists, so that sincere western Christians at home can pray intelligently and support (not control) the worldwide spread of the Gospel. An increasing number of organizations are following the example of such ministries as Prison Fellowship International, Evangelism Explosion, World Vision, and Living Bibles International. These ministries work as equals, not superiors, with their non-western colleagues. They urge their Third World brothers and sisters to advise and guide them, the westerners. And they enthusiastically report on the work of the contemporary Sungs, Accads, and Hans. Let every western, world-minded Christian ask himself, “Would the overseas Christians still accept western domination if western money was neither needed nor used?” Maybe when westerners stop their colonial control of Christian work in the Third World, the evangelical press will report all the news. John Haggai is president of the Haggai Institute, which specializes in training Third World leaders. 30 The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 Colonial Christianity John Haggai Of the world’s Christians, only 1 out of 20 live in the United States. BURMA’S LOST TRIBES BURMA—Seven native missionaries recently discovered nomadic people believed to be the lost tribes of Le lu Chin. The people, never reached by missionaries, live in villages hidden deep in the jungle rain forest. Burmese evangelist Ronald Lal-thanlina said the team found the people “starved for the Gospel” and eager to accept Christ. At least 75 did. The Le lu are animists. They believe demon spirits inhabit the rocks and trees they worship. Some Le lu villages remain unreached. Burma expelled all foreign missionaries in 1966. But about 1000 native missionaries are at work. Burma, one of the world’s most isolated nations, is cut off from surrounding nations by a horseshoe ring of mountains. VIETNAM NOTES •According to Britain’s Keston College, 18 Vietnamese pastors are still in prison, 9 of them since the communist takeover of South Vietnam in 1975. The charges include preaching against the revolution, organizing boat trips for refugees, receiving money from abroad, printing materials, and expanding church groups without permission. •Vietnam lost an estimated 38% of its wooded area during the last 30 years. U.S. troops inflicted most of the damage, spraying defoliants on 4 million acres. The Mennonite Central Committee has offered funds to reforest three scarred areas. • Poor harvests since 1985 have prompted the government to find ways to slow population growth. Vietnam, which adds 1.2 million people a year, competes with Bangladesh for the world’s highest birth rate. GOOD NEWS DOWN UNDER AUSTRALIA—To go along with Australia's 1988 bicentennial, the Australian Evangelical Alliance launched a nationwide evangelistic campaign called “Operation Good News ’88.” Every major denomination is involved. In May and June, thousands of trained volunteers will visit homes, sharing the gospel and offering a New Testament. Less than 20% of Australians attend church. MARXIST UNITY ZIMBABWE—Prime Minister Robert Mugabe and long-time political foe Joshua Nkomo signed an agreement to unite their parties. This establishes a one-party Marx- /st state HOLLYWOOD—This summer, theaters across America will begin showing “The Last Temptation of Christ.” The Universal Studios film, directed by Martin Scorsese, is based on a controversial novel by Nikos Kazantzakis. The book’s notoriety has caused Christians to line up in protest against the film long before it’s release. To deal with such criticism, Universal hired Christian consultant Tim Penland, who helped promote “Chariots of Fire” and “The Mission” in the evangelical market. Penland says Universal and Scorsese intended to make a “faith- CZECH DISCONTENT PRAGUE, Czechoslovakia—Over 300,000 Czech church members signed a 31-point petition. It demanded more bishops and priests, separation of church and state, the right to question Marxist dogma, and the right to petition authorities without harassment. affirming” movie, and cautions Christians against judging the movie before seeing it. But Christian author Steve Law-head says, “ It’s a bleak book that portrays Christ as a deluded, sunburned idiot. Unless they take great liberties of personal interpretation, it would be very difficult to get a faith-affirming story out of that book.” Penland will fly evangelical leaders to Hollywood for advance screenings. He says, "I'm hopeful [Christian leaders] will be able to embrace a film that shows the human side of Christ yet affirms Christ as Savior." But not having seen the film himself, he adds, “ If the movie is blasphemous, or if the Christian leaders feel it would be damaging to the cause of Christ, that will be the end of my involvement." AND FINALLY . . . At least three women in Santa Barbara, Calif., were conned by a team of “witches” who promised to exorcise evil spirits from their cash and jewelry. Police arrested three suspects for stealing a watch and $450 in cash. In the Courts Baptist Battles. The Supreme Court rejected without comment a case involving liberal-conservative power struggles within the Southern Baptist Convention. A liberal couple accused conservatives of “parliamentary irregularities” in 1985. Courts consistently claimed lack of jurisdiction. Cemetery Dispute. The Supreme Court demanded a trial for a New Jersey dispute. It involves a woman who wants to force a Jewish cemetery to disinter her husband’s body—a violation of Jewish law. Disneyland Dancing. Three gay men sued Disneyland for not allowing them to slow-dance, despite a court decision against such discrimination at dances. They say security guards at the Videopolis nightclub told them, “Touch-dancing is only for heterosexual couples." Bakkers Sued, Bakkers Sue. The PTL ministry is suing Jim and Tammy Bakker and former Bakker aide David Taggart for $52.8 million, charging mismanagement and unjustified compensation. The Bakkers sued PTL for $1.3 million in back salary. Activist Churches Lose. The Supreme Court refused to hear the appeal of 13 churches in Jackson, Tenn., which jointly opposed a 1984 liquor-by-the-drink referendum. State law requires financial disclosures by organizations participating in referendum issues. Officials said the churches had to register as “ political action committees" and make certain financial disclosures. The churches objected on freedom of religion grounds. The High Court dismissal leaves in place a lower court decision against the churches. The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 31 Controversy ot the Cinema United Brethren Bulletin Board Calendar May 7. Ontario Conference Missions Day'. May 8. Mother's Day. May10. The 4 bishops meet all day. May 11-12. The General Board meets at the College Park UB church in Huntington. May 13. HC trustee meeting. May14. HC baccalaureate and commencement. May 20. North Ohio conference council. May 21. Arizona Leadership Day in Fountain Hills. Michigan conference council. May 23-24. Michigan stationing committee meeting. June 4. Pennsylvania Conference Pastors and Family Breakfast. June 7. HQ staff picnic. The UB Building will be closed all afternoon. July 2. Denominational Bible quizzing finals at CM. From HC i p S senior0citizens for Dewitt and Evelyn^Bajfer. ° r' Parish^ an3"lntensUnSp in9 in the Module courw T Education Donald Roth 3U9ht by Dr- 1988 Annual Conferences Ontario: June 3-4 Midwest June 17-18 Northwest: June 24-25 North Ohio: June 28-30 California: June 29-JU Sandusky: July 17-20 Michigan: July 12-14 Rock River: July 12-14 Central: July 27‘ 3? Pennsylvania: August 3-5 Graduation Day cofes?p«uaV0;3° a-™. « D ' - V e r n o n G r o u n d ' s Peal<&: . speaker, and f f aulfl° r f President. rmer seminary front .^ p u s ^ b a /r in n 'h 1' ° n the ‘ fher, in which case th Wea' Center will be used? o erri,att Dr. Jerry White o r ^ l i peaker-' Navigators ’ president of The Prayer Concerns •Challenge 88, as preparations continue in these few remaining months. Rev. Paul Hirschy, director of Church Services, is shouldering much of the responsibility for the convention. •A great graduation day at Huntington College on May 14. •Keith and Carlene Schieling, who began a three-month missionary term in Sierra Leone at the end of April. •Rev. Brent and Sandie Birdsall, who leave for Sierra Leone in July for a 21 -month term. Brent will teach at the Sierra Leone Bible College. The family, which includes three children (and a fourth due in September), has spent the last four years in Fort Wayne, Ind., where Brent has pastored the Emmanuel UB church. • Missionaries currently on furlough and doing deputation: The Prabhakarfamily (India), June Brown and Michelle Becker (Sierra Leone). Guide to Abbreviations. UB—United Brethren. HC—Huntington College. GSCM—Graduate School of Christian Ministries. RGC—Rhodes Grove Camp (Pennsylvania). CC—CampCotubic (Central). CLW—Camp Living Waters (Michigan). CM—Camp Michindoh (North Ohio). GC—General Conference. HQ—Headquarters. At Camp May 14. RGC work day. May 21. CLW Source of Life fundraising banquet. May 27-30. RGC Spring Family Camp. May 27-30. CLW work camp. June 3-4. RGC men’s canoe trip. June1-12. CLW pre-camp training for summer staff. June 10-12. RGC College and Career Retreat. July 16-22. CLW Family Camp. August6-14. RGC campmeeting. August 21-26. Arizona teen camp (Prescott, Ariz.)
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Title | The United Brethren - Vol. 103, No. 5 (May 1988) |
Description | The United Brethren was first published April 7, 1954 and was the official publication of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ. It is a result of the merger The Christian Conservator and the Missionary Monthly. It continued the numbering of The Christian Conservator. It ceased publication with the December 1993 issue. |
Subject | Church of the United Brethren in Christ (Old Constitution) -- Periodicals |
Editor/Author | Steve Dennie |
Publisher | Department of Church Services, Church of the United Brethren in Christ |
Contributing Institution | Huntington University |
Original Date | 1988-05-01 |
Original Format | Magazine |
Type | Text |
Digital Format | |
Identifier | ub198805.pdf |
Source | United Brethren Historical Center |
Language | English |
Collection Name | Huntington University - United Brethren Publications |
Rights | This file may be downloaded for free for personal, research, or educational uses. Copyright information and permission to publish may be obtained from the Huntington University Archives (archives@huntington.edu) and fees may apply. |
Transcript | •A Church That Doesn’t Play by the Rules •Can Evangelicals Regain Integrity? •Wedding Bloopers: Tales of Mistied Knots •Where, Oh Where, Does the Decimal Point Go? May 1988 DENOMINATIONAL OFFICIALS Board of Bishops Dr. C. Ray Miller (chairman) East District Dr. Wilber L. Sites, Jr. Central District Rev. Clarence A. Kopp, Jr. West D istrict Rev. Jerry F. Datema Overseas District Office Manager/Treasurer Mrs. Marda Hoffman Department of Education Dr. Eugene Habecker Director President, Huntington College Department of Missions Staff Rev. Harold Wust Associate Director Mrs. Hazel McCray Associate Director Executive Secretary, WMA Rev. Kyle McQuillen Associate Director Department of Church Services Staff Rev. Paul Hirschy Director Rev. Carlson Becker Associate Director Rev. Dennis R. Miller Associate Director Steve Dennie Editor Mrs. Jane Mason Archivist Volume 103 MAY 1988 No. 5 Editor Steve Dennie The United Brethren (USPS 619-760) is the official publication of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ. It is published monthly by the Department of Church Services. Second-class postage paid at Huntington, Ind., and other offices. Subscriptions: $10.00 per year Single copies: $1.00 © 1988 Department of Church Services Subscriptions, address changes, letters to the editor, news items, materials for publication, and other correspondence should be sent to: THE UNITED BRETHREN 302 Lake St. Huntington, Ind. 46750 (219) 356-2312 EVANGELICAL M E S S ASSOCIATION Random Pokes It’s a good thing Job wasn’t a racquetball player. His sufferings might have been far worse. I play racquetball once or twice a week with Denny Miller. That’s Rev. Dennis R. Miller, Associate Director of Church Services, but hey, we’re talking sports here, so let’s be informal. We go to the YMCA during the lunch hour and he humiliates me. Oh, I always win at least one game, maybe even two or three. But so far, I haven’t broken the 50-50 barrier. Repeat: so far. Racquetball, for those of you unfamiliar with the game, is played in a little room with one unmarked exit and no fire escape. To start a point, someone whacks a little blue rubber ball against one wall. Then the fun begins. The object is to run full-speed into as many walls as possible before the ball stops bouncing. While caroming around the room, you may accidentally come near the unpredictably bouncing ball. That is why you carry a sawed-off tennis racquet. You swing the racquet with all your might and smack the ball at your opponent, trying to imbed it in his ear or at least make a satisfying whop on a thigh. This can be difficult when playing experienced opponents, who wisely present a small target by cowering in the corner in fetal position. At the end of the hour, you divide the number of wall collisions by the number of welts on your body. The person with the highest score wins. Then you mop up the sweat on the floor, which after an hour usually lies about an inch deep, go home, and enter a coma. It’s a great game. The only problem is, I keep getting hurt. First, it was my lower back. Now, I’d had problems before, starting with a last-second three-quarter court shot in a church league basketball game about seven years ago. That put me in the hospital for a few days. I’ve had occasional minor back problems since, but nothing like last fall. I was in bad shape. I’d go to the chiropractor, feel better, play some racquetball, and hurt. Finally, I gave up racquetball for about six weeks, went sedentary, and got fat. I felt much better. In January, we took to the Field of Battle again. I promptly pulled a hamstring, which took a week to heal. Then I severely sprained my ankle during one especially artful wall collision (I won the point). That took a couple weeks. I pulled something in my left side, but played anyway, since Denny threatened to recruit a healthier opponent from a nursing home. Then, a couple weeks ago, I got whiplash. No kidding. Denny and I were playing three-way Cut Throat with Tim Becker, son of our coworker Carlson Becker. I served the ball to Tim and, like everyone with half a brain says you absolutely shouldn’t do, I turned around to follow the ball. Tim hit it straight 2 The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 at my face, and I jerked my head back. The ball struck the nob of my nose and continued on its merry way. No harm done. We kept playing. The next morning, I began feeling pain in my shoulder and neck, and it got worse as the day progressed. All the second day, I did my critically acclaimed Hunchback imitation. And on the third day, my chiropractor confirmed my amateur diagnosis: whiplash. She said she’d treated people suffering whiplash from major auto accidents who were in better shape than me. And all I did was get bumped on the nose with a rubber ball. How ridiculous. Actually, racquetball’s effect on my body is more good than bad. I’m in better shape than I’ve been for years, and I’m losing weight in the process. The tradeoff is that certain key areas cry out in torment now and then. At the moment, I am injury-free, knock knock. Oh, my ankle remains a bit weak, my back uses any excuse to gripe, I feel a little something in my neck, my left knee is thinking about going on strike, and I’ve got a minor case of Bubonic Plague. But in general, I ’m healthy. For now. By the time you read this, I ’m sure I will have discovered sundry other bodily parts to maim and brutalize. Charlotte Elliott, who wrote the hymn “Just As I Am,” began losing her health at age 30. I’m 31. She ended up a bed-ridden invalid for the rest of her life (she died at 82), writing “Just As I Am” amidst physical suffering and despair. The way things are going, I’ll be writing songs before too long. Maybe I should sign up for wheelchair lessons. Or guzzle Geritol. Or take up checkers. Or sue Denny. So why do I keep playing racquetball? I get hurt, and I lose—two good reasons to quit. Why? Because I love racquetball. I can limp off the court, having just lost 15-0, and say, “That was fun!” Maybe such thinking results from running head first into walls, I don’t know. But it is fun. But is it fa ir? No. I lose and get hurt. Denny not only wins and remains unhurt, but loses more weight than I do. It’s not fair, I tell you, it’s not fair! The editor concentrating hard on his work. But then, many things in life aren’t fair. •One person, after two years of piano lessons, plays like Dino. Another takes lessons for ten years, and still can’t find middle C. •A glutton never gains weight, while a disciplined, calorie-counting weight-watcher grows into blimp-hood. •Larry buys a shiny new car, and within a week, someone rear-ends him. Moe buys a beat-up 1967 Ford, and goes 100,000 miles without a scratch. •The 50-year-old anchor man is considered increasingly distinguished and credible as he ages. The 50-year-old anchor woman is coaxed into a producer slot. •A one-week Love Boat romance produces a marriage that lasts 40 years. While a bright couple who dated for two years, received extensive premarital counseling, and considered every contingency get divorced after a year. •A dim-witted editor has the skills and a forum for expressing his shallow views, while someone with profound thoughts lacks communications skills and a forum. I’m sure Job and his wife felt God wasn’t treating them fairly. They’d been so faithful to God, and such good stewards of all He had given them. Their reward? Being bulldozed flat. Jeremiah complained about unfairness when he said, “Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease?” The psalmist Asaph, in Psalm 73, echoed those sentiments. He pointed out to God that the wicked often get rich, enjoy good health, have no struggles, and live a carefree life. Along with Jeremiah and Asaph, I have some complaints. •Jesus arose early in the morning to pray, and we’re supposed to follow His example. So why didn’t God make us all morning people? What about us late-nighters, who can’t get to sleep before 1 a.m.? •Why does God heal some people and not others? Doesn’t fairness require consistency? •One person tithes and prospers, another tithes and doesn’t. Why? •Will Anderson prays for a Christian wife and gets Ann Kiemel. Other people start praying for a Christian spouse at age 16, and die single at 92. •An inspirational but shallow pastor sees his church grow, and his annual report impresses the bishop. While a deeply spiritual, disciplined, gifted, hard-working pastor crashes into barrier after barrier. And guess which one is asked to lead a church growth seminar? Is that fair? Parenting can seem highly unfair. James Dobson, in his “Turn Your Heart Toward Home” film series and his latest book Parenting Isn't For Cowards, discusses why kids from good homes go bad. It doesn’t seem fair. You do everything right as a parent, but your child becomes an alcoholic; while the child of nonChristians down the street becomes a missionary. Is that fair? Proverbs says, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it” (22:6). Christians quote that like it’s a promise. But the truth is, some well-trained children do depart. Is Scripture lying? Is God not playing by His own rules? The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 3 Part of the answer comes from understanding the nature of Proverbs. It consists of generalizations, statements that are usually true—not promises. That verse could more accurately be interpreted, “ . . . and when he is old, chances are pretty good he won’t depart from it.” But the other part of the answer remains hidden. There’s no guarantee when it comes to parenting. All you can do is train a child in the way; he may or may not choose to depart from it. That’s not fair, but it’s fact. Many superb parents have agonized for years, “What did I do wrong?” Dobson relieves their guilt by saying, “The same boiling water that softens the carrot also hardens the egg. Likewise, some individuals react positively to certain circumstances, and others negatively. We don’t know why.” We d o n ’t know why. The Christian life is filled with unanswered “Why’s?” In Matthew 20, Jesus tells a parable in which, at the end of the day, all of the workers in a vineyard received the same amount of money, even though some worked only one hour and others worked all day. The vineyard owner tells a grumbler, “I’m not being unfair to you. You agreed to work for a denarius, and that’s what you got. Besides, I can do whatever I want with my money.” If I had been listening to Jesus, I would have argued, “Sure, the owner has that right. But that doesn’t make it fa ir.” Jesus, however, didn’t deal with the apparent unfairness in His story. His approach seems to be, “Like it or not, tha t’s the way it is. Now, for my next parable . . . .” Christians often apply this parable to death-bed conversions. Now, I’m happy about death-bed conversions. But in some cases, something within me cries “Unfair!” A guy says “No” to Christ for decades, and then, feeling fire on his feet, says “Yes” at the last minute. So he avoids having to live the Christian life, and receives the same reward as Christians who did. My baser instincts insist, “T hat’s not fair! Give him a shack in the valley, but not a mansion on the hilltop!” Many people wonder, “What about the people in remote jungles who die without ever hearing about Christ? Will God send them to Hell? It doesn’t seem fair.” I ’ve told people, “I have no idea how God will treat them, and the Bible isn’t much help. All I know is that God will be fair. When we see how He handles it, we’ll remark, ‘Yeah, that’s the best way to do it.’ ” Take a Vacation with a Purpose in Knoxville, Tenn. You’ll be Glad You Did! I ’m sure that when I get to heaven, 111 totally agree with God’s policies concerning the heathen and death-bed converts. But my approval is irrelevant. He says, “Like it or not, th a t’s the way it is.” Is God unfair? No. Does He seem unfair? You bet He does. And we have-io live with it. I get the impression Asaph drew the same conclusion in Psalm 73, after complaining about the unfair rewards of wickedness. He basically said, “I don’t have God’s answers, but I do have God. As long as I’m close to Him, I’ll be content living with unanswered why’s.” Job, after all he endured, never got an explanation— even after a personal conversation with God. The last chapter mentions how God rewarded Job, and concludes, “And so he died, old and full of years. ” I wonder if it would be accurate to say, “And so he died, old and full of years, and still wondering, Why?" For life’s unanswerable Why’s, we like to say, “When I get to heaven, I’m going to ask God why . . . .” But we may be disappointed. The Bible doesn’t say anything about a heavenly Q & A session. I can see it now. When I get to heaven, one of the first items on my To Do list will be to ask God some questions—like what Christ wrote in the dirt, are there people on other planets, what really happened to the dinosaurs, and why I continuously get hurt and Denny doesn’t. I’ll approach the Throne and say, “When I was on earth, some things really had me puzzled. I saved up some questions for You. Number One—” God will interrupt, “You don’t need to know the answers.” “But I’ve waited so long! It’s not fair!” “Sure it is. Trust me.” On Yonder Pages The April “Random Pokes” discussed the Jimmy Swaggart scandal. I said it was risky writing something which wouldn’t appear in print for six weeks, since the situation and facts could change drastically. But I felt in my heart that the Swaggart scandal would yield much-needed examples of repentance, restoration, and accountability. Writing now, with the April issue due to hit mailboxes any day, I feel deeply disappointed. Maybe that will change by the time this column appears. After I sent the April issue to the printer, I heard Dr. Paul Fetters give a seminar on “Ministerial Integrity” at Central Conference Leadership Day. He gave me his manuscript, which is the basis for an article in this issue. I think you’ll appreciate his insights and directness. Following that Leadership Day, I went to Reynoldsburg, Ohio, where a new church is doing great. I’ve heard of UB churches doing non-traditional things. First Love UB takes the grand prize. I was thrilled hearing Pastor Dan Kopp describe their innovative approaches and goals. And the worship service Sunday morning—123 people crowded into a school cafeteria—was one of the most refreshing UB services I’ve ever experienced. Read all about it. Mark Your Calendars! 4 The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 For six years, a Prayer Calendar has graced the back cover. Last month, you probably noticed something different there—“UBBB—United Brethren Bulletin Board.” Most people seemed to use the Prayer Calendar more as a denominational calendar of events than as a prayer guide, so I decided to make that the emphasis. Each month, UBBB will convey information about upcoming conference and denominational events, seminars, retreats, local church activities, camp happenings, and who knows what else. I welcome submissions for items to include in UBBB. They can even be of a “classified ad” nature— something your church is selling that another UB church may be interested in, or something you’re looking for. Whatever. 1 can still say “No,” but you can at least try. Just keep in mind that 1 need items at least six weeks in advance. “But you’re eliminating prayer,” some may protest. Not at all. Nothing’s stopping you from using UBBB as a prayer guide. Besides, it mentions more things to pray about. So pray away. Now I’ll stop telling you about this issue and let you read it for yourself. Enjoy.—SD The February issue interested me for a number reasons, but especially because of the information about Mr. and Mrs. Oliver Hadley. I have enclosed a photo of Mrs. I. H. Wilson, who is Mary Hadley, the infant daughter the Hadleys left in Indiana when they went to Sierra Leone. Mrs. Wilson was a member of my home church in Dayton, Wash., which I pastored 1941-44. Her former husband had been the pastor in years past. She died, as I recall, while I was pastor there, and I had her funeral (I think). She gave me her father’s journal, from which I submitted some items for The Christian Conservator in the 1940’s. I gave the journal to Dr. Fleming when he was writing his books on the African mission. George M. Martin Detroit, Mich. I appreciated the March issue, especially since it was written primarily by United Brethren writers and about United Brethren issues and concerns. There are many good Christian magazines, but only one speaks specifically to and for United Brethren. Ralph Butzow Claytonville UB church Claytonville, III. Overall, I enthusiastically agreed with all that Rev. Philip Burkett said in the March “Sounding Board.” However, I must challenge his closing words. Asserting that unbelief is the only excuse for not singing may seem reasonable, and it may challenge those who are too lazy to sing, but it is not a fair generalization. Some people simply do not sing for any of many reasons. They gain spiritual enrichment from listening to and reading the words, while the rest of us sing. As they do so, they commit the words to their hearts, where they belong, often gaining more from the music than we who sing our lungs out. Music is just as much a part of congregational worship for those who do not vocalize as it is for those of us who do. Total participation can only be judged by our Father, who sees the heart, rather than by those of us who see only faces. Rev. Burkett promised to challenge us, and he has. For that, I thank him. Lynn Newbraugh Winchester UB church Winchester, Va. The 1988 Elderhostel program will again be offered by Huntington College. This year’s dates are June 20-24. The curriculum is specifically created for older adults. We welcome individuals 60 years of age or o lder, together with their spouses. Three interesting courses will be offered daily: 1. “Flying Friends and Feathers,” a course on bird-watching taught by Mr. and Mrs. Neil Case. 2. “The Wonders of Word Processing,” taught by HC professor Mrs. Sharon Custer. 3. “Turbulence, Thunderstorms, and Tornadoes,” a course on weather taught by government aerologist Paul Sell. Costs. For commuters and those who provide their own room and board: $25 per course, or $70 total. For fulltime Elderhostelers: $225. This includes room and board from Sunday evening, June 19, through Saturday morning, June 25. For further information: contact host/ coordinators Dr. and Mrs. E. D. Baker, Huntington College, Huntington, Ind. 46750. Home phone: 356-0781. The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 5 ELDERHOSTEL For Senior Citizens Letters Dr. Paul R. Fetters Having been discredited in the world’s eyes by highly-publicized scandals involving our own leaders, can we Christians regain our — Integrity Erma Bombeck’s book title The Grass is Always Greener Over the Septic Tank would fit some recent religious news stories. For years, we looked over the fence at the gospel giants rolling in the lush grass of luxury and success. Now we are wondering if maybe the grass isn’t so green, after all. A few years ago, we found a small hole in our backyard near the foundation of the house. After some investigation, I discovered that our beautiful yard was not what it appeared to be. Although the grass was greener over our septic tank, our septic tank wasn’t working right. We had to install a whole new sewer system. Likewise, things are not what they have appeared to be in the living color of the televangelists. And now the whole world knows it. Their grass looked so green that we didn’t notice anything wrong until the system malfunctioned. Jim Bakker, Jimmy Swaggart, and others have embarrassed the Christian world. I believe they all began with pure motives. If Jim and Jimmy had died five years ago, we would have made movies about their life stories, and thousands of viewers would have entered the Kingdom. We see parallels in some Bible characters. If death had come before the mid-life crisis, we wouldn’t have heard about Lot and the incest with his daughters, or David’s adultery with Bathsheba. Few peo- 6 The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 pie can handle prestige, position, possessions, and power. After attaining those sweet P ’s, they forget to be dependent. And they fall. The Loss of Integrity During the past year, the Christian church has suffered an enormous loss of integrity. But we didn’t lose integrity overnight. I see three elements which have contributed to it. Holy God, Loving God One reason we lost our integrity is that at some point, we exchanged a God of Holiness fo ra God of Love. We have become so enamored with the God of Love that we feel entitled to love ourselves. This is seen in the relational theologians—Robert Schuller, Bruce Larson, and others—who teach a God-of- Love and Man-is-Good theology. A Holy God is more demanding than a God of Love. In fact, my understanding is that God commands us to love, but he demands that we be holy. The problem is, we don’t want anyone to demand anything of us. We love ourselves and others, our objects and objectives, more than we love a God who says, “I am holy and jealous, and I will not share the supreme devotion in your life with any other.” In the past 25-30 years, we have smothered the earth with “God is love.” What would happen if, in the next 25 years, we blitzed the world with, “God is holy”? Exalting Pragmatism We also lost integrity by trading biblical principles for pragmatism. According to pragmatism, there is no absolute truth. If it works, it is right. The end justifies the means. Pragmatism is perhaps the only distinctively American philosophy. The last General Conference wrestled with a statement concerning the marriage relationship of preachers. I raised some questions, and was asked to write a statement over the noon hour. One fellow told me, “Don’t give us anything theological. Give us something that will work.” That is pragmatism! The Bible gives several examples of pragmatic expediency, where people thought the end justified the means. Abraham and Sarah were promised a son, but they didn’t think God could pull it off. So they devised their own pragmatic plan, and Ishmael was born to Hagar. Another example concerns Rebekah and Jacob. God had said the older brother would serve the younger, indicating that the birthright would go to Jacob instead of Esau. They thought, “Doesn’t God understand that in our culture, the birthright goes to the oldest?” They decided that since God promised the birthright to Jacob, it didn’t matter how he got it. So they tricked Esau out of his birthright. The end justified the means. I see pragmatism in some of our fundraising efforts. A few years ago, Oral Roberts thrust his 900-foot Jesus vision upon the public. This fundraising scheme promised peace of mind and a set of New Testament tapes to everyone who sent $20 a month. To sweeten the pot, God supposedly promised to give the City of Faith a cure for cancer if the public faithfully responded to the goal. In his latest pragmatic trick, Oral announced that God was holding him hostage and demanding $8 million ransom. People tell me, “You shouldn’t criticize Oral Few people can handle prestige, position, possessions, and power. After attaining those sweet P’s, they forget to be dependent. And they fall. Roberts. God is blessing his work.” To which I reply, “It isn’t payday yet. The day will come.” Such fundraising schemes reaffirm the pragmatic preference: if it works, it’s right. This reminds me of a comment made by Madeline Murray O’Hair, when asked about the cause of atheism in America: “It is going so well that if I were not an atheist, I would be inclined to say God is blessing.” Some people within the Church Growth movement exhibit a pragmatic preference. I cringe when I hear some people within the movement say that as a church grows, it cannot insist on doctrinal or denominational purity. Does this mean we can’t insist on the virgin birth? On the inerrancy of Scripture? On the depravity of man? Do I begin watering down my theology when I get 50 people, then back off a little more when I get 100, 200, 500, until eventually I have no theology—but everyone feels comfortable? That’s what I sense I’m hearing. And it frightens me. I continue to be amazed when I teach in the Third World. In America, pastors ask me, “Will it work? If it will work, we’ll throw some Scripture verses at it and force it to be biblical.” But in Africa, Honduras, and Jamaica, pastors Dr. Paul R. Fetters is dean o f the Huntington College Graduate School o f Christian Ministries, and a member o f the College Park UB church in Huntington, Ind. The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 7 ask me, “Is it biblicaP. If so, we will make it work. If it isn’t biblical, we don’t want anything to do with it. ” Adopting the World’s Methods Let me add one more reason we have lost integrity. We argue that the church is an organism which operates under the power of the Holy Spirit. However, we organize the church according to the world’s methods. Instead of following the Holy Spirit’s lead, we take our cues from our culture, the business world, or the latest hunch of our favorite pop psychologist. For instance, we condemn the nebulously defined enemy of secular humanism, yet simultaneously adopt their methods. If 1 adopt their methods, won’t I eventually adopt the premises on which those methods are based? We may be close to that now. Today, too many ministers are willing to trade the role of shepherd for the title of chief executive officer, and follow Peter Drucker’s manual of operations, The Effective Executive. The “team” is now the hero. Individual moral convictions have yielded to group goals and moral consensus. Movements have replaced men as leaders. No one loses, be he right or wrong, for we now have a model in which everybody wins. In the past 25-30 years, we have smothered the earth with “God is love.” What would happen if, in the next 25 years, we blitzed the world with, “God is holy”? Our newest managerial guru is Lee Iacocca. We study Chrysler’s success to find help in promoting our church’s success. But consider these words from his bestselling autobiography, Iacocca: “The Chrysler story was cooperation and democracy at their best. I’m not talking about a biblical lesson here. I’m talking about real life.” Holding UB Ministers Accountable A t Central Conference Leadership Day, Dr. Fetters presented a seminar on ministerial integrity. The two sidebars are based on his responses during a question-and-answer time following the seminar. How can we hold ministers accountable in the United Brethren church? We already have a system for holding ministers accountable. First, the local congregation decides whether or not you should enter the ministry. Then the annual conference decides whether or not to accept you into its membership. After you have met certain academic and service requirements, a committee decides whether or not to recommend you for ordination, and the annual conference votes on that. Every year after ordination, ministers appear before an auditing committee. At annual conference, the auditing committee says, “We have looked at the ministers on our ministerial role and find them morally acceptable and officially competent.” We have the system. The question is: will we make it work? One year at Central Annual Conference, I was the only person among over a hundred delegates who voted against accepting the report of the ordination committee. I got taken to task for it. “Do you know something we don’t know?” I said, “Do you know this and this and this?” “Yeah.” “Then you know everything I know. And you still voted yes.” Who says I can’t vote no? If I don’t feel someone is fit to be a United Brethren minister in my conference, then it’s my right and duty to vote no. I won’t passively look the other way. Historically, United Brethren pastors have been assigned to churches by the conference. But local churches are becoming increasingly involved in the selection process. Why? Perhaps because we send them incompetents. Local churches say, “If you won’t protect us by sending ministers who are administratively competent and morally acceptable for our church, then we’ll protect ourselves.” It’s time we began policing our own ranks. We need to either use the system of accountability established by our forefathers, or write policies which will more effectively protect our congregations. 8 The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 Do we really want to pattern our church after Chrysler? Do we really want to build our church upon the managerial practices, job descriptions, performance standards, and objectives of the business world? Do we really want the world, rather than the Bible, defining our standards and practices? Regaining Our Integrity How can we regain our integrity? I have three suggestions. A Personal Reformation First, we need to experience a personal reformation. By reformation, I mean we bow to the authority of God’s Word and obey it. We can either agree with the Word, or we can acquiesce to its authority. Agreement means you’ll do it willingly. Acquiescence is like the little girl who, when told to sit down, said, “I ’m seated, but inside, I ’m standing up.” We need to say, “If th a t’s what God demands, that’s what I’ll do, whether I like it or not.” Most of our revival services are reformation services. We come to the saints at revival time and say, “This is what you say you are. Why don’t you bring your life into agreement with your testimony?” We cannot be hypocrites, claiming to agree with God yet marching to a different drum. People must see that, whether on stage or off stage, we really do believe and practice what we preach. Church Renewal Secondly, we need to experience church renewal. By that, I mean leading the church back to its original purpose. I’m not sure we know why the church exists anymore. Why was the United Brethren church called into existence? To proclaim a soul-saving assurance of salvation to people that would free them from the sin nature and bring holiness and righteousness. The sermons recorded in old conference minutes emphasize our need to come to grips with this dual foci. I sometimes wonder: If we took a secret ballot in our churches today, how many people would say they really believe that the Bible is God’s Word and that man is sinful by nature? Many people graduate from public schools and secular colleges; much of what they read is shaped by the social sciences, which do not teach that man is evil by nature, nor that the Bible is the authoritative Word of God. In addition, I fear that ministers don’t preach it anymore. We do evangelism, make pastoral calls, conducts weddings and funerals, and teach our people things that won’t upset them. But we don’t probe the conscience and challenge the will, because we’re afraid of what might happen. Universal Revival Third, I think we need to experience a universal revival. Nobody can make this happen. Hype and organization won’t do it. It is sovereign. God brings it. We can only put ourselves in a position—through prayer, humility, and repentance—where God can send a revival. And wait. What should we tell our parishioners when they ask our opinion about the Bakker and Swaggart scandals? My students in the School of Christian Ministries have asked me that question frequently. I tell them, “You cannot ignore these situations. While you shouldn’t condemn or condone, you should at least comment.” Oral Roberts discredited himself. Jim Bakker did. And now Jimmy Swaggart. Some of our people are devastated by what has happened. We need to give them direction. How have these situations effected pastors in general? These leaders owe the Christian world— especially ministers—an apology. Their hypocrisy has brought shame, embarrassment, and derision to the whole profession of the ministry. Not only is our integrity being questioned. So is our reason to exist. People have watched the celebrity supersaints crash. Now they wonder, “What about our little amateur pastor who has never preached to more than a hundred people? Does he have some dark secrets? Is he a hypocrite, too? If it can happen to the biggies . . . .” I’ve seen pastors ask for trouble by flirting, or joking in such a way that people could make something of it. That has always been out-ofplace. Now, it is dangerous. Innocent encounters with church women can fuel destructive rumors. When I started out in the ministry, I never worried about visiting a woman if her husband wasn’t home. I was cautious, explaining why I came and leaving when done. But I didn’t avoid such visits. “The pastor dropped by today,” the wife says. “What did he want?” “He came to discuss Vacation Bible School.” “How long was he here?” A husband has every right to ask those questions. I’m sure they were asked when I was a pastor. Now, there will be more of that—“What did he want, and how long did he stay?” I warn my students, “No longer do people view ministers as above reproach. People will now make jokes at your expense. They will doubt your sincerity and the value of your work. You must work hard to protect your integrity, and avoid doing or saying anything which might jeopardize it.” The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 9 Living Under Suspicion The Church That Threw Away the Rulebook Above: Pastor Dan Kopp with some of his parishioners. Below: Sunday set-up time. Here’s something novel: a United Brethren church that’s not designed for Christians. In the heart of the Buckeye Belt, there exists a church which looks like this. •They meet in a school. •The Sunday morning service lasts one hour, with no Sunday school. •They do funny skits during the worship service. •The sanctuary includes two TVs hooked up to VCRs, on which they’ve shown the congregation clips from general-release movies. •They don’t take an offering. Which means . . . . •They don’t sing the Doxology. •No pastoral prayer, either. •No Sunday evening or midweek service. •Nearly everyone is less than 40 years old. •The congregation is alive and growing like crazy. Now answer this multiple choice question. Circle as many as apply. This church is: a. Probably a cult. b. Doing everything wrong. c. A carry-over from the Jesus People days. d. Definitely not United Brethren. e. Doomed to extinction. f. All of the above. g. None of the above. one of the above. The church is First Love Community, and yes, it is UB. It’s a Central Conference church extension project in Reynoldsburg, Ohio, a suburb of Columbus. Pastor Dan Kopp started the church several years ago as a “tentmaker,” simultaneously ministering fulltime with Campus Life. He has gradually reduced his Campus Life responsibilities, and hopes to go fulltime with First Love this fall. Dan didn’t want to plant First Love in a rut. So from the beginning, the church was designed to look far different from traditional churches. The typical unchurched person feels uncomfortable in God’s house. It’s alien terrain. The people act too nice. He doesn’t know when to stand up and when to sit down. People speak in strange words and phrases. He’s forced to sing unfamiliar songs. The special music is exceedingly dull, especially compared to the 10 The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 Steve Dennie Springsteen tape he listened to on the way to church. An offering plate is stuck under his nose, and all he has in his wallet is a twenty. Why does he feel discomfort? Because the service isn’t designed for him. It’s designed for the regulars. The First Lovers reverse that. They try to create a worship experience which puts the unchurched person at ease. And they’re succeeding. Too many growing churches specialize in sheep-stealing, filling the pews by luring the already-converted from other churches. Sure, some people at First Love transferred from other churches, but the focus is the unchurched. You can build an individual church by shuffling the deck. But if you want to build the Kingdom, you have to increase the size of the deck. That’s First Love’s goal. They’re searching sleeves and pockets for new cards. So far, Dan says, they’ve had 12-18 decision for Christ a year. “We’re most successful in reaching people with some church background who, at some point, drifted away from the church. Maybe they left as kids, or became disgruntled in a traditional church. We want to do a better job of reaching people with no church background.” The Sunday I was there—a regular Sunday in March, with nothing special happening— 123 people showed up. The average attendance for January and February had been 103. They met in a school cafeteria— a rather small one, as school cafeterias go, no bigger than the typical church fellowship hall. As soon as a basketball league ended, they would move back into the school gym. The “sanctuary” was arranged in sideways fashion, with the pulpit in the middle of one side. The two TVs, set atop high stands, flanked the pulpit. Five rows of plastic chairs angled around the platform area. Nobody sat far from the pulpit or the TV screens. “What time does the service start?” I had asked my overnight hosts. “About 9:45,” I was told. Dan started the service at 9:50, welcoming everyone and then telling a joke. We sang two songs from the Gaither hymnal, had a short period of silent prayer, and sang “His Name is Wonderful.” Then associate pastor Joe Leighton gave the announcements, kindly including a plug for The United Brethren. All this took 15 minutes. At 10:05, they showed videotaped promotional clips of the new Billy Graham film, “Caught.” Children came forward and sat on carpet samples scattered on the tile floor in front of one TV. After the promo, Dan gave a brief children’s message. Then the kids left for the rest of the service. At 10:20, Dan began his message— the conclusion of a series called “Habit Busters,” this one about making habits stick. He wore a lapel microphone, and spoke from 2 Chronicles 34 about Josiah. His message sparkled with numerous illustrations, amusing stories, humorous asides, general joviality—and solid content. Refreshing. The service ended just after 11:00. That was it. No Sunday school. Some people stayed for a regular talk-back session with the pastor, which focuses on applying the sermon, but most went home. They didn’t collect an offering. Did they forget? No. The bulletin said, “First Love is supported by its regular participants. We do not wish our guests to feel pressured to give. Thus, we allow those who wish to give to do so in the box by the door.” Again, they were looking out for the unchurched. “Churches only want your money,” some people assert. Not First Love. They want you. One thing glared at me: the disproportionate number of young people. There were so many teens and young couples! I noticed only a handful of people I figured were 50 or older. And they call this a United Brethren church? Yep. The difference is, First Love reaches people most UB churches only pray about. “As a denomination, we need to examine our effectiveness in reaching teenagers, young adults, and young marrieds,” Dan told me. “Our churches do a lot of things that don’t pay off. We need to allow for some creativity, flexibility, and change. The younger generations are more familiar with certain mediums, because they were brought up with them. So let’s use them. “People today, especially the younger generations, are programed mainly by television. And it’s usually short and sweet—30- second commercials with a thousand things happening all at once. We can’t present our message in a very non-stimulating, dry atmosphere. We need to creatively use mediums that make them think.” The medium First Love emphasizes is drama. Most Sundays, they use a skit of some kind to introduce the message or to get across a point of the message. They make dramas both humorous and insightful. “In the Habit Busters series, we did a funny skit about a guy who couldn’t manage his time. He kept breaking appointments, which hurt his relationships with everybody. It ended with the line, ‘You just can’t count on some people, can you?’ That brought us from the humorous to the serious, and set the stage for the sermon.” In another drama, a girl sat at a table saying the Lord’s Prayer. God—someone offstage with a microphone—interrupted her prayer and tried to talk with her. That caught her by surprise. “Wait a minute, Lord. I need to finish this prayer. Don’t talk to me about this guy I should forgive. I’m trying to pray.” On Valentines Day, Dan conducted a mock wedding. As the organist played the wedding march, a couple came down the aisle in tuxedo and gown. Dan started through the wedding ceremony. Then, at the vows, voices came over the speakers giving the thoughts of the bride and groom. It turns out the blissful couple weren’t so sure of their “for better or worse” commitment to each other, after all. Another time, they showed a short clip from the film “Ghost Busters.” Dan cautions, “I wouldn’t recommend showing that in most churches, but it worked in our situation, and went right along with the sermon.'” Besides, a high percentage of our people, especially the younger ones, had probably seen that movie and could relate to it. It was an effective way to get their attention and comThe UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 11 municate a point." They would like to use the medium of contemporary music. “How many people attend concerts or listen to albums that use only piano and organ? We have a vision for doing the type of music that really turns on the unchurched. “We want to work toward using a synthesizer, drums, guitar, bass, keyboard. You need a mix of gifts to do that, and it requires commitment from musicians. But God may be giving us enough tools to pull it off.” Creativity requires planning. You can’t throw a skit together an hour before the service begins. “We’re trying very hard to develop the message themes well in advance, so we can coordinate the various elements of the service—choruses, drama, special music, etc.—with the day’s theme.” Part of Dan’s job description, written by the church, is to spend one week this summer planning all the services through the end of 1988. He will isolate himself and concentrate on topics, texts, themes, outlines, the invitation to be offered that day, drama ideas, etc. Sunday morning is the only church service, partly because they still meet in a school. But can a church really thrive without a Sunday night service? Without a midweek service? Can such radical behavior succeed? “Sure,” Dan says. “Our cells meet all of those needs.” Cells are basically small groups with a purpose. They take many forms. Cells for young adults, for singles, for couples. Men’s and women’s cells. Men’s breakfasts. Challenge '88! The Hyatt Regency Monday—Thursday. A Church Leaders Clinic with Dr. John Maxwell. Friday—Sunday. A UB Convention—a denominational first. Up to 1000 people are expected. Over 40 seminars. A dynamic keynote speaker. The Murk Family Singers. Activities for children. Incredible worship experiences. And the best of fellowship among UBs from Maryland to Oregon, Jamaica to Ontario. It will be a high-quality convention at low cost. Registration is $10 for individuals, $25 for families. Lodging at the Hyatt Regency, where the meetings will be held, is just $49 per room per night. Up to four people can stay in a room, yet the price remains $49. People can also take advantage of nearby campsites. Church Leaders Clinic August 15-18 UB Convention August 18-21 The Hyatt Regency in Knoxville, Tenn. The Murk Family Singers 12 The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 Take a Vacation with a Purpose next summer in Knoxville, Tenn., with up to 1000 other UBs. A vacation to remember! Discipleship groups. Bible studies. A JOY—Just Older Youth—cell for senior adults. After church, I went to lunch with two families that eat together every Sunday. They call it their “fat cell." The Habit Busters series spawned a support group for people wanting to overcome alcoholism, cigarette smoking, or overeating. “People’s needs are better met in more intimate circles. We probably have a higher percentage of the congregation attending cells than you’ll find in the average Sunday evening service.” They also have some outstanding athletic teams, which are a type of cell. The basketball team won two different church leagues this year. The team is led by Brad Hoffman, who played starting guard for Dean Smith at North Carolina during the early 1970’s, and later toured with Campus Crusade’s Athletes in Action. Oh—the First Love softball team won its league championship, too. Not bad for an infant church that doesn’t even have it’s own building yet. third to First Love. This year, it’s reversed, which means he had to give up a big share of his Campus Life responsibilities. Dan still directs the local Campus Life ministry. His goal is to be fulltime with the church this fall, yet continue directing the Campus Life club as a volunteer. As you may guess, the name “First Love” comes from Revelation. Jesus said the church at Ephesus had lost it’s first love. The church at Reynoldsburg doesn’t want to be accused of that. 1 John 4:19, however, is their theme verse. They incorporated it into their purpose statement: “We love, because He first loved us. We demonstrate that love by celebrating life in Christ, cultivating personal growth in Christ, caring about one another in Christ, and communicating Christ to the world.” The church is not “First Love United Brethren Church.” Rather, it’s “First Love Community,” followed by the description “Church of the United Brethren in Christ.” A number of UB churches, especially newer ones, use the “Community” label. This practice, believe it or not, draws fire from some UBs—“What’s the matter? Are they ashamed to admit being United Brethren?” Dan addressed this. “We must deal realistically with the minds of the unchurched. In our situation, the ‘United Brethren’ name raises certain questions and connotations. Many people are turned off by denominationalism, or wonder, ‘What does that group believe?’ “We’re not one bit embarrassed about our heritage or doctrine. In fact, First Love exists only because a denomination cares. They nurtured me and helped me through school. They got this church off the ground, and even provided a core of families when we began in somebody’s basement. We exist because of the denomination. “But we prefer introducing people to Christ, and later telling them about our denomination. We want to be a community-minded, community-centered church—a group of believers who happen to be United Brethren.” Dan calls his Campus Life work and church planting “a great marriage of ministries.” How does he juggle the two? “A majority of the kids have no idea I’m a pastor, and I like it that way. For two reasons. One, I don’t have to deal with their preconceptions about preachers. They treat me as a person who cares about them and runs something they’re excited about. “Second, Campus Life is a para-church ministry. In that capacity, I represent the entire Body of Christ in the area, regardless of denomination. I’m not involved in Campus Life to feed my own church. “Sure, some kids we’ve won to Christ through Campus Life are involved at First Love. Most of them lack any kind of church background. But on the whole, I keep the church and Campus Life separate.” Dan’s written agreement with Campus Life mentions a five-year sliding plan, during which he gradually reduces his Campus Life involvement. Last year, Dan devoted himself two-thirds to Campus Life, one- Church planting is expensive. Typically, a conference or denomination totally funds a new church— pastor’s salary and other expenses— until the congregation is big enough to support itself. That can take many years. The high cost means we can start only so many churches. “T en t-m ak in g ”—sup p o rtin g yourself at least part-time while starting the church—cuts the cost significantly. Dan is a tentmaker under unique circumstances. He is planting a fulltime ministry while doing a fulltime ministry. As in other ministries, Campus Life staffers raise their own support. This usually comes from friends, church members, and relatives who pledge so much a month. “I recruited support not only for youth ministry, but for planting a church. In our monthly prayer letter, we report on both,” Dan explains. “The advantage is that our supporters won’t continue giving indefinitely. As the church grows, we need less outside support. A person might agree to give $400 the first year, $300 the second, $200 the third, $100 the fourth—and then they’re done. Their financial support is no longer needed, because a congregation is providing it.” Dan envisions using this approach in planting other churches. If a person feels burdened to plant a church, he could be instructed, “Find some people to support your needs over the next three years. The first year you need full support, the next year two-thirds, the third year a third, and the fourth year you won’t need anything.” It’s a method which has worked well at First Love. The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 13 A New Way to Make Tents Childhood Days with Grandpa I was privileged to have a grandfather who, as he put it, was “fond of young’uns.”To this day, Granddad still has a hold upon me and often times, I suppose, gently tugs on the reins that guide my footsteps. Granddad wasn’t too far removed from being a young’un himself. Like any young boy, he had a powerful sweet tooth. I can still see him devouring heaping bowls of rich, homemade ice cream topped with a liberal sprinkling of sugar. Yes, sugar. At meals, Granddad was never without his sugar bowl. He even sprinkled sugar on his nightly bowl of homemade bread, which had been soaked in a mixture of sweet cream and milk. Granddad was a big man, standing about six feet tall and probably weighing close to 200 pounds in his prime. He had fought in the Civil War at age 16. He went on to work as a sawmill operator, lumberjack, and teamster. But I remember him only as a farmer. When I came along, Granddad was farming 50 acres in southern Michigan, about two miles west of Blissfield. My father taught school about 20 miles away. The farm stood along a dirt road which, in summer, was hardly more than a couple of wagon tracks in the sand with a ribbon of grass running up the middle. In the spring, it became a quagmire of soupy mud. The land contained a little bit of everything in the way of soil. There was good, rich, black sandy loam, a sand hill, a small wood lot, and a patch of swamp. Granddad kept a team, a couple of milk cows, pigs, chickens, geese, and a fair sized collection of both usable and discarded farm machinery. Granddad dressed in the usual overalls and straw hat of the farmer. His ruddy face sported a big iron gray mustache which, during the winter, was often decorated with an icicle or two and hoary frost from his breath. He was a kindly man not easily aroused, but was known to “make the fur fly when he got his dander up.” He could hold his own with any mule skinner in the country when it came to scolding an ornery team of horses, with which he always seemed to be blessed. 14 The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 Robert Cory And he had an insatiable appetite for tinkerin’ and putterin ’ around machinery, whether a steam engine, threshing machine, or one of his early vintage cars. Grandma said he was happiest when elbow deep in grease. I don’t know just when Granddad got married. All that matters is that he did. Grandma was as kind a soul as ever a man could want for a wife. I know too that she was Granddad’s guiding light, for when she passed on in later years, he was like a man lost upon the desert and as restless as its shifting sands. Their reunion beyond our horizon must have been something fine. It was a Warm, spring day, and I was out “around the place” with Grandpa. Grandpa was fixing the land fence. I stood beside Grandpa as he worked, quietly absorbing the delicious smells, sights and sounds. The air bore the fragrance of blossoming clover, apple trees, wild flowers, and the tangy odor of freshly plowed ground. Many sounds punctuated the morning— the whisperings of countless insects, the steady low-pitched drone of bees, the tinkle of a cowbell floating from the woods, and the tink, tink, tink of Grandpa’s hammer driving staples into the cedar posts. Grandpa watched me with a twinkle in his eye. Finally, he took a deep breath, slowly and lovingly, seeming to caress every bit of air drawn into his lungs. Then he looked out across the fields. “Shore is nice, ain’t it, son?” he said softly. “Guess the Good Lord wouldn’t have needed no further excuse for puttin’ a nose on a man fer anything else than just enjoyin’ the smell of growin’ things.” We were startled out of our reverie by a halloo from the back stoop—Grandma calling us for dinner. Half the day had slipped away. Grandpa said he needed to start start plowin’ the west meader that afternoon, and if I was a mind to, I could follow behind in the furrow. So after dinner, we went to the barn to hitch up the team. This business of “hitching up” fascinated me—the smell of the leather mingled with the odor of the horses, the chink of the chain tugs, the struggle with strange straps and buckles that were too high for me to reach. I bustled around importantly, and Grandpa let me think I was a great help. When we were ready, Grandpa gave me the honor of driving the team to the field. How I strutted! We hitched the team to the plow. Then Grandpa lined up his first furrow, stuck the point of the plow into the ground, and clucked to the horses. They lurched forward. Like the bow wave of a ship, the earth rolled away from the plow in a long straight ribbon, lying black upon the green. I followed along behind, shoes off, toes digging into the cool, moist, freshly turned earth, the mellow sun beating upon my back and shoulders. I could smell the crushed clover and the sweat of the working team. I could hear the squeak of leather on leather, the chink of chain tugs, the blowing of the horses, and the pop, pop, pop of the big clover roots being cut. I can still see the field completely plowed, fitted, and planted. Within it lay sleeping life, waiting but for man and God’s hand to bring it forth. A s spring progresses, a field dons new garments. One day, the farmer sees nothing but the warm earth. The next day, he sees corn poking inquisitive sprouts out of the ground, reaching for the sun. The farmer carefully hoes and cultivates throughout the hot summer, keeping the earth loose and free of poaching weeds. The stalks grow, in time towering above him, heavy ears hanging down. As fall approaches and the nights get chilly, the color changes from green to delicate shades of yellow and brown. And the farmer looks upon the fruits of his labor with satisfaction. Grandpa reached down, picked up a handfull of the soil, and let it trickle slowly through his fingers— probably contemplating what fertilizer the soil needed. “You can’t always take; you’ve got to put, too,” Grandpa wisely stated. “Ground is just like yourself. If you want to get the most out of it, you’ve got to feed it and give it rest.” To Grandpa, soil wasn’t just dirt. Dirt came out of a smokestack, or blew off a city street into your face on a windy day. But soil—it was vibrant, alive. Soil was something to care for, to cherish; something to handle with the skill of an artist to achieve the best results. It was stable, an immovable rock upon which man could build life. Material things— even life itself—might come and go, but there would always be the soil. All that warm afternoon, a team of horses, a man, and a small boy trod back and forth across the west meadow, followed by a flock of noisy birds busily picking fat worms and bugs from the newly-turned furrows. Yes, even the birds look forward to the plowing. Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation.”...And it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fru it with seed in it, according to their kinds. A n d God saw that it was good. Bob Cory is a member o f Zion UB, Blissfield, Mich. I can still see the field completely plowed, fitted, and planted. Within it lay sleeping life, waiting but for man and God’s hand to bring it forth. The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 15 The Missed Kiss It amazes me that anyone survives the first dozen weddings a pastor performs. There is so much to remember, and so much that can go wrong. The whole blessed ceremony is printed right before you. Yet there are times when you have difficulty finding your own hands. Since I have a record of every wedding I have performed, I know it was the fourth one when I forgot to have the couple kiss, of all things. As everyone knows, that is the highlight of the whole event. I had written it IN CAPITAL LETTERS at the appropriate place in the ceremony, but that didn’t mean a thing. I forgot. The couple would not be denied, however. They took one step into the processional, stopped very unceremoniously, and proceeded to get what they came for. I am proud to say I have not forgotten it since. Maybe because I now write it at least three time IN CAPS across the page. The Runaway Ring The more hands an object passes through, the greater the chance gravity will grab it and wrestle it to the floor. Especially when all the hands are shaking and sweaty. Such is often the fate of wedding rings. Someone came up with the insidious idea that the ring becomes more sacred if the minister touches it during its perilous journey from the best man to the bride’s ring finger. The same genius probably invented the ringbearer’s pillow, with its foolproof bows that never are. To outsmart gravity and spare myself humiliation, I have always insisted that the best man lay the ring in the palm of my hand, rather than pass it fingertip to fingertip. So who knows why, at one wedding, I extended my hand with my middle and ring fingers separated. And who knows why the best man placed the ring between those two fingers instead of in my palm. I only know that gravity won that evening. And did you ever notice that rings don’t just fall flat and lay there? No, they roll, even on carpet. I am still working on a dignified way to walk from the platform to the front pew to retrieve a runaway ring. It sure would help if the best man and ushers didn’t act like a bunch of Keystone Kops as they chase after it. Two Wives, No Hubby Being a versatile person, I can make wedding bloopers on either side of the altar rail. Unquestionably, my most embarrassing blooper 16 The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 Tales of Mistied Knots Rev. Fred Johns Birmingham Church Extension Birmingham, Ala. occurred at my very own wedding. Bishop C. Ray Miller, then pastor of Prince Street church, was assisting. Mary and I had spent weeks memorizing our vows. We weren’t going to blandly repeat what some minister told us to say. We were going to express our commitment in words that we had mulled over in our minds and that came straight from our hearts. It was a beautiful Thanksgiving wedding. Everything moved along nicely, except that I forgot to bring money to pay the pastors (my best man bailed me out). Then came time for our vows. I very solemnly began, “I, Fred, take you, Mary, to be my wedded wife; and I do promise, before God and these witnesses, to be your loving and faithful wife . . . .” Then it hit me—I had just promised to my wife’s wife. I couldn’t believe it. Now what do I do? I looked at both pastors, but they weren’t any help. They just stood there grinning from ear-to-ear. After what seemed like an eternity, I corrected my mistake and went on to complete my vow without further incident. Ring Juggling While pastoring in Michigan, I conducted a wedding for a couple in their fifties, both of whom were widowed. They wanted a very simple wedding, with just a best man and maid of honor. The wedding proceeded fine until the exchanging of rings. I asked the groom, “What do you give in token of your pledge?” “This ring,” he said, placing the ring in my hand just like we had practiced. We went through the vows with no problems. The bride now wore a ring. Then I asked the bride, “What do you give as a token of your pledge?” “This ring,” she replied. She placed a tiny little ring in my hand. I looked at it and thought, That ring will never f i t on his hand. Then the bride removed the ring on her finger— a much bigger ring—and placed it in my hand, next to the little one. Next, she took the little ring, slipped it on her finger, and then picked up the larger ring and put it on his finger. And the wedding proceeded. The couple had simply gotten the rings switched. They taped the wedding, and crack up laughing every time they listen to it. There is a silent pause at that point. I must have worn an odd expression as I stood there with two rings in my hand, not knowing what to do. Revive Us Again In another wedding, I noticed the bride getting pale. “Are you okay?” I whispered. In response, she stiffened like a board and fell backwards into the arms of her parents and groom. Fortunately, they had included a hymn in the service. The congregation sang while the bride recovered. Hand Surgery I have never seen a perfect wedding. Even if a wedding rehearsal goes without a hitch—and it rarely does—the real thing will probably have at least a small slip-up. In at least two weddings, I was the slip-up. A few years ago, I led a wedding one beautiful Father’s Day afternoon. Everything went fine until we got to the ring ceremony. After explaining the significance of the ring, I told the bride, “You may put the finger on his hand.” I didn’t catch my blooper until afterwards, when one of the groomsmen—who was on the verge of cracking up the rest of the ceremony—told me what I had said. Going Down The other blooper happened during the wedding of my oldest brother one hot summer day in an un-air-conditioned country church. Near the beginning of the wedding I, a groomsman, decided to take the quick way out. I fainted! Nerves (it was my first wedding), heat, and locked knees provided just the right combination for me to pass out. Fortunately, another groomsman caught me before I hit my head on the front pew. As a pastor, I now make it a point at every rehearsal to tell the guys, “Don’t lock your knees.” Nevertheless, summer weddings with a lot of candles (additional heat, less oxygen) make me very nervous! Do you have an amusing story to tell about a wedding blooper, or perhaps a blooper from a funeral or some other church service? More such stories will be compiled in future issues. Any submissions are welcome. Send to: The United Brethren, 302 Lake St., Huntington, IN 46750. The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 17 Rev. Michael R. Brown Monroe UB church Monroe, Ind. Rev. Jerry Au Fountain UB church Keyser, West Virginia Rev. Keith Kunda Make a Joyful Musical Unto the Lord This month, Rev. Philip Burkett takes a break from this monthly column. Replacing him is Rev. Keith Kunda, minister o f youth and music at College Park UB church in Huntington. Knowing that many UB choir directors, lacking musical training, may not know what to look fo r in selecting a musical and may fe e l overwhelmed by the number o f musicals available, I asked Keith to write some reviews. It turns out that Keith, fo r his own benefit, had already written evaluations o f numerous church musicals, many o f which he has personally directed over the years. So much o f the work was already done. A ll he had to do was call them up on his computer. Here, he deals with non-seasonal musicals— ones your church choir can perform anytime o f the year.—SD Difficulty level 5 most difficult 1 least difficult Alleluia by Bill and Gloria Gaither and Ron H u ff 1973, Benson Now distributed by Zondervan Although 15 years old, this remains a very fine praise musical for anyone who likes the Gaithers’ music. It contains many of their most familiar songs—“Because He Lives,” “Let’s Just Praise the Lord,” “Get All Excited,” and others. It works nicely with accompaniment tape or piano. Difficulty level: 2.5 Bind Us Together by Steve and Annie Chapman 1986, Star Song Music This musical about the family contains a powerful message of family commitment to Christ that every church needs to hear. It takes more soloists than most other works, but the music, including the solos, is not difficult. It works best with accompaniment tape. Difficulty level: 2 Celebrate Life by Buryi Red 1972, Broadman Now distributed by Genevox This musical drama is designed for Easter, but would work at any time of the year. Though the oldest work in this list, it remains a great classic. Celebrate Life could be done by adult or youth choirs, or a combination of both. It does not require large forces, the music is great, and it is not very difficult. Works best with live accompaniment of piano, organ, drums, and electric bass. Difficulty level: 2.5 18 The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 The Sounding Board Exaltation by Ron H u ff 1981, Paragon Distributed by Alexandria House This beautiful praise musical incorporates many of the praise choruses of the past 20 years, powerfully arranged for choirs. It also incorporates some Scripture readings, and makes a great worship service. Works best with accompaniment tape. Difficulty level: 3 (one number is 4.5, but could be cut) God Has Always Had a People by Don Marsh 1981, Paragon Distributed by Alexandria House This musical about faith, based on Hebrews 11, delivers a powerful message for believers today. Outstanding music combined with quality narration (requiring lengthy memorization work) make this one of the best musicals on the market. Works best with accompaniment tape. Not recommended for choirs of less that 25 people. Difficulty level: 3.5 How Great Thou Art by David Clydesdale 1984, Royal Tapestry Now distributed by Lexicon/ Spectra Based on the great gospel song of the same title, this is an excellent presentation of God’s greatness revealed through the death and resurrection of Christ. It works at Easter, but could be done any time of the year. Could be done with piano or accompaniment tape. Difficulty level: 3 Ruth by Sue Farrar 1985, Fourth Day This is a musical drama about the events in the book of Ruth. Everyone wears period costume and must perform from memory. However, the script and the music are not difficult, and it can be done with a relatively small cast. Ruth is very true to the biblical text and historical customs, and conveys a great message about faith and commitment. The only drawback for some churches is that it requires a large proportion of men. Difficulty level: 2 Jubilate by Mark Hayes 1985, Tempo Distributed by Alexandria House This is a quasi-charismatic praise musical intended to have lots of congregational involvement. If your congregation picks up on new things quickly to be able to sing along, it could be a great worship experience. The songs are nice, and the arranging is very good. Works best with tape accompaniment. Difficulty level: 3 Thou Art Worthy by David Clydesdale 1987, Royal Tapestry Distributed by Lexicon/Spectra Here is something for the bigger choir. It is hard, high, and big, but contains an exciting message. Subtitled “The Anthem of Eternity,” it concerns heaven and the second coming. The music ranges from Brahms’ “How Lovely is Thy Dwelling Place” to Gaither’s “The King Is Coming." Not recommended for choirs of less than 35. Works best with tape or live orchestral accompaniment. Difficulty level: 4 Hymns Triumphant by Lee Holdridge 1981, Sparrow Nine hymn medleys, each titled with a phrase from the Lord’s Prayer (e.g., “Our Father Who Art in Heaven”), are arranged into a choral suite. All songs are traditional hymns. The difficulty level will show this to be fairly easy, but it does have much division in the choral parts (frequently 5-8 parts). You don’t need a large group of singers, just people who can sing many parts. Works with piano/organ accompaniment or tape. Difficulty level: 2.5 To clear your August schedule for Challenge ’88, the annual Summer Seminar on United Brethren Church History has been moved to June 16-18. This annual course is sponsored by the Huntington College Graduate School of Christian Ministries. The tuition is $60. Students need two books: Trials and Triumphs, the UB church history book ($14.95); and the 1985-1989 Discipline ($4). Both can be purchased at the UB Headquarters Building in Huntington, or ordered from; Department of Church Services, 302 Lake St., Huntington, Ind. 46750. The seminar will begin at 9 a.m. on Thursday, June 16. Dr. Howard Cherry will teach the course. If you are interested in attending, please write to: Graduate School Huntington College Huntington, Ind. 46750 Summer Seminar on UB Church History The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 19 Where, Oh Where, Some friends of mine have a $50 bill. Or at least it looks like a $50 bill. On the front anyway. The back is blank, but the front looks absolutely genuine. It has a picture of some obscure dead President. It feels like real money. And it makes your mouth water just like real money. These friends get a great deal of mileage out of this phoney $50. Especially at the local bowling alley. Their favorite trick is to strategically place it under a table near the lanes. Then they sit back and watch. Recently, their victim was a fellow in their bowling league. For the sake of one of those awful puns my wife hates so much, we’ll call him “Buck.” Buck spotted the $50 about midway through the first game. His eyes bugged out. His mouth went dry. His palms grew sweaty. All the normal reactions of a guy who had just spotted an orphaned fortune. But Buck didn’t pick it up. He just watched it. He casually strolled around the general vicinity, eyeing it from every possible angle. My friends could barely control their laughter. Finally, early in the second game, Buck could stand it no longer. As quickly as he could without drawing attention to himself, he swooped down on that $50 bill and slipped it into his pocket—without giving it a closer look. And even more quickly, he fled the scene. Does My Decimal Point Go? 20 The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 Being freed from bondage to the law of the percentage sign. Rev. Thomas M. Brodbeck Buck’s whole attitude changed. As if some magical happy medication coated that piece of paper and, through the process of osmosis, was being absorbed through his pants pocket into his bloodstream. Soon, though, the medication wore off. Something was bothering Buck. To appease his conscious, he innocently asked those around him, “Did anyone lose some money?” A third party—not privy to the d e c e p tio n - responded, “If it’s $50, it’s mine!” Buck’s face dropped. Not just his jaw. His whole face. He pulled the money from his pocket. Then he noticed. The back was blank. The thrill of discovery, the excitement of the hunt, the satisfaction of the capture, the ecstasy of possession—all were bulldozed by the disappointment of the return and the anger of public humiliation. The Touchy Subject of Money The love of money is, indeed, the root of all kinds of evil. A magnetic-like force rivets our attention on it. Money determines where we live, what we drive, and whether we order a pizza or go home to eat leftovers . . . again. Is any topic as sensitive as money? When I was growing up, my parents gave me two pieces of advice: never ask a woman her weight or her age, and never ask a man how much money he makes. We love to earn it, spend it, control it. Anything but talk about it. We get defensive real quick about our finances. Two days after I began a new pastorate, the chairman of my Personnel Relations Committee informed me, “I’ll support you as long as you don’t preach on tithing." And he did. Until I did. And true to his word, once I did, he didn’t. God in His great wisdom knew money would create turmoil. That’s why the Holy Spirit devoted a considerable percentage of His inspiration to the subject. Since the Scriptures speak on it, we should, too.M ention money in the local church, and folks immediately think “tithing.” My Personnel Relations Committee chairman sure did. “Tithe” is part of the standard church vocabulary we must interpret for all newcomers. The Holy Lingo List also includes baptistry, anthem, doxology, and “with every head bowed and every eye closed.” For many, tithing measures a person’s spirituality. They link your fitness for leadership or membership to your ability and willingness to contribute that magical percentage of income every week. That upsets me, as you’ve already figured out. Why else would I write about it? You see, I am convinced that tithing, as practiced by many, is a sin. Furthermore, I am certain that such tithing doesn’t work. Now, lest you brand me a heretic and take away my “Wir Sind Bruder” tie tac, let me explain how I have arrived at these convictions. Focus on God, Not Percentages First, tithing focuses attention on the gift instead of on God, the recipient of the gift. We’re more concerned about where we place the decimal point than we are with honoring God. Some parishioners once asked me, “Which is right—10% of the gross, or 10% of the net?” I answered, “Neither. ‘How much’ is not the point.” I realize that “tithe” means “tenth.” My Webster’s works fine, thank you. But we often teach that the first tenth belongs to God. And I don’t buy that. I won’t even rent it. The whole thing belongs to God. All ten tenths. He wants everything, not just a token 10% gesture. If you believe you should “give to God what is God’s,” then be ready to endorse your paycheck and drop the whole thing in the offering plate. When we start thinking about decimal points, we stop thinking about God. And that’s wrong. No matter how accurate your arithmetic, the gift is invalid unless God is central to your thinking. A False Sense of Accomplishment We live in a goal-oriented society. You can take a seminar on “How to Set Goals,” with a follow-up seminar on “How to Achieve Your Goals.” Goal-oriented people like the tithing concept because it is measurable. Every time you get paid, you slide the decimal point to the left two spaces, round to the nearest dollar, and write the church a check for that amount. You feel satisfied at accomplishing that goal. It’s good for the ego. Congratulations! You have achieved a goal (and probably saved yourself the $200 registration fee for the follow-up seminar). This goal-orientation makes me uncomfortable with that approach to tithing. Too many people give their 10% and quit. “I’ve done my part,” they say. Even though they could give more, they feel they’ve done “all that God expects.” These folks need to be nudged with the example of the widow and her mite. Remember her? While the rich tithers rejoiced in doing “all that God expects,” she ignored the percentage sign—and earned praise from Jesus. When you reach heaven, try to tell her that she overpaid. On the other side of this coin is the person who simply can’t give 10%. Maybe he lost a job. Maybe he came to Christ after a lifestyle that greatly overextended his income. More frequently, you’ll find the ever-so-faithful young mother whose non-Christian husband tightly controls the checkbook. This mom lugs four preschoolers to church for every service, and somehow manages to save a dollar or two from the grocery budget for the offering plate. Money that her husband would be angry about. Is she really unfit for leadership simply because of that percentage sign? No way. And it is a crime to make her feel so. The Scriptures say “God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7). Not, “God loves a mathematically precise giver.” If giving determines who leads and who follows, then scan the congregation during the offertory and see who’s smiling. Old Law, New Standard One more reason to be agitated by tithing. It’s an Old Testament concept. Hold on! I believe in the inspiration of the Old Testament, too. Yet, like so many Old Testament principles, tithing has become The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 21 part of a legalistic system that emphasizes compliance rather than the attitude of the giver. Under the work of grace, we have been freed from the law of the percentage sign to give cheerfully and generously. That’s how the Philippians gave— generously, not proportionately. We need deliverance from such stale legalistic thinking. If we have been freed from such rules, why do we submit to their bondage over and over again? That’s a probing question for each of us to consider. “They Only Want My Money!” Church growth experts have identified the five accusations most often leveled against the local church: 1. It’s boring. 2. It’s unfriendly. 3. It’s irrelevant. 4. There’s nothing for my kids. 5. They only want my money. Ouch! We could talk for days about each of these, but our focus right now is Number 5. Money. What do your neighbors hear about your church? The youth group is selling candy to go to Florida. There’s a car wash this Saturday. A rummage sale next week. They show up to church services and an offering plate is handed to them. Plus they find an envelope or two tucked inside the bulletin for this week’s special offering: the Flower Fund, the Kitchen Fund, the Toilet Paper Fund, or better yet, those ever-present annual denominational pleas. Those of us who have been around the church for awhile have grown immune to such annoyances. They don’t bother us anymore. While someone explains the envelopes, we switch to another station. We find the next hymn. Go get a drink of water. Stick our fingers through the communion cup holder. Our neighbor, though, is appalled, and remarks, “They’re only after my money.” I applaud those sensitive churches that find creative ways for visitors to not contribute without feeling guilty. But some churches feel compelled to extract at least a dollar from every stranger who darkens the door. And—this breaks my heart—a few churches are gung-ho on outreach only because they need more paychecks to meet the budget. Getting to the Roots Paul wrote, “The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. ” To whom was that letter addressed? A pastor—Timothy. And ultimately, the church. That’s important. Paul wasn’t writing to non-Christians. He was warning against falling into the trap of loving money. The verse continues, “Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs” (1 Timothy 10b). These wanderers weren’t on the golf course Sunday morning. They were in the pew. Perhaps teaching Sunday school. Maybe even counting the offering. They weren’t thieves. They would never steal from the treasury. It’s just that their main concern was the amount needed to “run the church.” They were “eager for money.” And when the weekly total dipped below the weekly need, they were “pierced . . . with many griefs.” Paul continues, “But you, man of God, flee from all this and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness” (v. 11). Flee the love of money, man of God! And pursue . . . candy sales? No! Pursue righteousness! Model the latest line of offering envelopes? No! Model godliness! The generosity needed for the church budget comes as Christians flee an emphasis on money and pursue the attributes of God—righteousness, faith, love, etc. No other way. Not by fundraisers. Not by countless special offerings. Not by a legalistic approach to tithing. And face it, folks—too often, we d o n ’t flee the love of money. We commit adultery with it. Many Christians are having extra-marital affairs with George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Rooting Out the Roots So how do we change? It’s tough to reverse longterm practices and orientations. “Roots of evil” grow deep. And cosmetic alterations don’t solve deep root problems. First, and foremost, look inward. Ask God to help you review your personal finances. Focus on the 90% not being turned over to the church. How do you spend it? Is there waste? If so, give that waste to God. Do your spending habits include things that are even moderately inconsistent with your Christian witness? If so, make changes. The bottom line has to be, “Is the Lord honored by every penny He has provided for me?” Next, get the local church to review its spending practices. Where is there waste? How much is spent on maintaining what you have vs. outreach? There is no respectable way to continually pour money into outdated and ineffective programs. As a church, cut all the extra funds and special appeals. Consolidate every department’s checking account into one centralized account. Finally, review God’s promises to provide your needs. When you break through the 10% barrier, you will encounter some initial anguish. You’ll ask yourself, “Can I really live on less than the 90% I’ve always used?” But hang in there. You will experience relief at being freed from the burden of the percentage sign. For those of you who honestly can’t give more— forget about the expectations of others, and give God what you can cheerfully. Even if only a mite or two. The Whole Package God values givers far more than gifts. We Christians prefer the gifts. But since the Bible puts God’s desires above man’s desires, we should elevate the giver. This week, begin doing that in your own life. When the usher hands you the plate, regardless of the size of your offering, symbolically place all 100% of you into it. Picture yourself sealed up in that offering envelope. God will be pleased. And that, my friend, is what it’s all about. Rev. Thomas M. Brodbeck pastors Prince o f Peace UB church, Springfield, Ohio. 22 The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 44th General Conference, June 24-28,1985 THE MAIN EVENT The 45th General Conference, to be held in June 1989, is rapidly approaching. It is time to announce the number of delegates each conference can elect. The Discipline states the following for the North American conferences: “Each annual conference shall be entitled to two delegates—one minister and one lay person. Each conference shall average its adult membership and morning worship attendance, and shall have one additional delegate for each average of 500 or major fraction thereof above 500” (paragraph 223.1a). It then gives the breakdown of lay and ministerial delegates. For instance, a conference entitled to 4-6 delegates must include two lay delegates in that number. Adult AM MemberAttendTotal Total Ministerial North American Conferences ship ance Average Delegates Delegates Delegates Arizona 208 270 239 0 0 0 California 499 369 434 2 1 1 Central 6977 4951 5964 14 5 9 Florida 262 457 360 2 1 1 Michigan 3049 3516 3283 8 3 5 Midwest 474 361 418 2 1 1 North Ohio 2467 2484 2476 6 2 4 Northwest 338 263 301 2 1 1 Ontario 845 864 854 3 1 2 Pennsylvania 8463 5181 6822 16 6 10 Rock River 390 356 373 2 1 1 Sandusky 1903 2073 1988 5 2 3 Overseas Conferences Honduras 1757 1520 1639 1 Hong Kong (Information pending) Jamaica (Information pending) Sierra Leone 4827 2344 3586 2 The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 23 Delegate totals for the 1989 General Conference. Rev. Lester Smith The Fateful 40 I want to make clear that I am not trying to set a date for the return of Christ. Jesus said that only His Father knows that time. However, our Lord did encourage His followers to look for signs concerning the end of the age. That’s what I am doing here. For several years, I have felt that a significant prophecy would be fulfilled in 1988. Forty years have passed since 1948, when Israel became a nation again after being scattered throughout the world for 2000 years. The number 40 is the key period of time found throughout biblical history. Consider the following: 1. The flood lasted 40 days (Genesis 7:4). 2. Isaac married Rebekah (mother of “Israel)”) at age 40 (Genesis 25:20). His twin, Esau, also married at age 40 (26:34). 3. Moses received the Ten Commandments after fasting 40 days (Exodus 34:28). 4. After spying out the Promised Land for 40 days, the Israelites wandered in the wilderness 40 years (Numbers 14:34). 5. The life of Moses involved three 40-year periods (Acts 7:23, 30, 36). 6. According to Judges, Israel enjoyed 40 years of peace after the victories by Othniel (3:11), Deborah (5:31), and Gideon (8:28) 7. Eli led Israel 40 years (1 Samuel 4:1). 8. King Saul ruled 40 years (Acts 13:21). 9. King David ruled 40 years (2 Samuel 5:4). 10. King Solomon ruled 40 years (1 Kings 11:42). After Solomon, the nation was divided. Not until 1948 did Israel again become a free and united nation. 11. Goliath the Philistine (from which we get the word “Palestinian”) challenged Israel 40 days (1 Samuel 17:16). 12. Ezekiel was told to symbolically “bare the sins” of God’s people for 40 days before the siege of Jerusalem (Ezekiel 4:6-7). 13. Jonah warned that Ninevah could be destroyed in 40 days (Jonah 3:4). 14. Jesus fasted in the wilderness for 40 days, during which Satan tempted Him (Matthew 4:1-2). 15. Jesus appeared to His disciples for 40 days after His resurrection (Acts 1:3). 16. Forty years after Jesus died, the Romans destroyed the temple in Jerusalem and scattered the Jews until 1948. These events convince me that something biblically significant will occur in 1988. Most scholars agree that what happened in 1948 fulfilled the “dry bones” prophecy of Ezekiel 37—“I will bring you back to the land of Israel . . . . I will settle you in your own land” (verses 12,14). The war described in chapters 3-39 has not yet occurred. So I believe it will be fulfilled this year. What if I’m wrong? In that case, I look for Ezekiel’s prophecy to be fulfilled 19 years from now. That will be 40 years after the Six Day War of 1967. It was during the Six Day War that Israel captured old Jerusalem, where the temple once stood, and the West Bank, restoring to Israel the land God originally gave His people. Rev. Lester Smith pastors the UB church in Flint, Mich. 24 The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 Will something important happen in Israel this year? The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 25 The Good Shepherd Easter cantata. Central Huntington, Ind. The Good Shepherd church presented two performances of the Easter cantata “Now I See You,” by Don March and Claire Cloninger. The sanctuary was filled for both performances— one on Palm Sunday, the other on the following Tuesday. Mark Kiefer directed the cantata. The sanctuary was transformed into Jerusalem, with the city wall towering across the front of the church. A marketplace, the Upper Room, and the tomb were also built. The adult choir, dressed in biblical costumes, presented scenes from the last week of Christ’s ministry. A colt coming down the center aisle was used to depict Jesus triumphantly entering the city on Palm Sunday. Men from the congregation portrayed Jesus’ disciples and dramatized the Last Supper. The children’s choir, called the Sonshine Kids, joined the festivities for one song. — Submitted by Vicki Kiefer Zanesville, Ind. At an auction, the Zanesville church purchased a four-bedroom house next door to the parsonage. Youth director Scott Taylor and his wife, Mary Anne, moved into the house in February. Scott also holds youth meetings there. The property features a large backyard, part of which will be made into a parking lot for the church. At just $28,250, the members consider it a good investment. Chambersburg, Pa. Garnet and Evelyn Dice celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in February. They were married February 12, 1938, in Chambersburg. They have two children and seven grandchildren. They are members of the Criders UB church. The celebration occurred at the Salem UB church. Port Orange. Carrie Powell, 15, plans to serve on the mission field June 15—August 19 with Missions Outreach, Inc. She will spend six weeks in Quatzaltenango, Guatemala, as part of a 24-member team. They will build a much-needed science lab at the 26 The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 HEARTBEAT Pennsylvania Florida International Missions School there. Carrie is the daughter of Rev. and Mrs. Charles Causey, who pastor Faith UB in Port Orange. She is the church’s first missionary. Carrie is currently raising $1350 in support needed for the trip. The store-front meeting place being rented by the Chicago church planters. Rock River Chicago. Rock River Conference’s church extension work in Chicago has finally been able to rent an office and small meeting area at 3845 W. Montrose Ave. A missions trust fund, recently left to the Adeline UB church by an estate, is paying half of the rent and utilities for the one-year lease. A special offering is being taken in Rock River churches on Pentecost Sunday to provide the other half. The work began last September under the leadership of Rev. Lou and Kim Sari, and Rev. Paul Barber. Please pray with them that the Lord will begin softening the hard hearts of the people they are trying to reach with the Gospel in the Irving Park area of Chicago. —Submitted by Rev. Paul L. Barber The Huntington College Graduate School of Christian Ministries Conflict Management and Administrative Styles of Leadership an Intensive Education Module Course for the Master of Christian Ministry Degree June 6-10,1988 at Huntington College This course relates theory about conflict to the life of the church. It discusses such issues as the nature of human differences, the constructive values and uses of conflict, the biblical and theological understanding of conflict, styles of conflict management, and organizational handling of conflict. Students will examine their own styles of leadership and conflict, analyze typical conflict situations, and design an approach to managing conflict based on their own places of ministry. The instructor is Dr. Paul R. Fetters, who pastored UB churches for 18 years and currently serves as dean of the Graduate School. This course, worth three credit hours, runs Monday through Friday, June 6-10. IEM Tuition Costs for 1988 General Tuition (per credit hour) $100 Tuition for UBs 67 Senior adults (over 55) 35 Senior adults (over 62) Free Limited room space is available on campus at reasonable rates. For more information, contact: Graduate School Huntington College Huntington, IN 46750 (219) 356-6000 The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 27 €vents VIETNAMESE BIBLE PROJECT RESUMES Six pastors from Vietnam, now fulltime church workers in America, resumed translation of the Bible into everyday Vietnamese. This project halted 14 years ago, when Saigon fell. Four of the men are Southern Baptist ministers, and two are related to the Christian and Missionary Alliance. They are scattered from California to Texas to Louisiana to Georgia. This makes teamwork difficult, so they do much work independently. They recently completed Luke, and have finished parts of Matthew, Mark, John, and Philippians. They expect to complete the entire Bible in seven years. Most of the $725,000 project cost is coming from a foundation established by a retired Southern Baptist teacher in Texas. A United Bible Societies worker in New York City provides overall guidance. THAI TO THAI SEATTLE, Wash.—A 2900-member church in Thailand is starting a church in Seattle, led by a Thai physician. Up to 100,000 Thais live in America. The mother church has already started 10 churches in Thailand, and plans to start 20 more in 1988. AMITY PRESSES GOING FULL SPEED NANJING, China—The American Bible Society reports that Amity Printing Press, which began operating last fall, is already running three full shifts daily. Things are going so well that they doubled the press-run of Bibles originally projected for 1988—from 300,000 to 600,000. Amity completed 145,000 Chinese Bibles in traditional Chinese characters, and is finishing 100,000 reference Bibles. Amity also expects to print 200,000 New Testaments with Psalms in a simplified script geared to young people. Amity, heavily financed by the ABS, boasts state-of-the-art equipment which can handle any kind of printing job. GENDER TESTS The World Development Forum reports that prenatal gender tests are flourishing in Asian nations. Mothers often abort babies when the test shows that the fetus is a girl. In India, gender tests and abortions are legal, cheap, and readily available. China allows abortion, but forbids gender tests. Yet illegal gender tests and infanticide of female babies reduces the number of baby girls. South Korea also shows “an alarming swing” toward male births. BRAZILIAN CHINESE SAO PAULO—Gospel Missionary Union assigned its first missionaries to the 100,000 Chinese living in Sao Paulo, Brazil. CARIBBEAN MUSLIMS Nearly 400,000 Muslims live in various Caribbean nations. •Suriname has 100,000 Muslims. •Trinidad and Tobago have 100,000 Muslims. Trinidad, smaller than Delaware, has 85 mosques and a Muslim president. •120,000 Muslims live in Guyana. “CULT” PASTOR EXPELLED SEATTLE—Donald Barnett, founding pastor of the Seattle-based Community Chapel and Bible Training Center, was excommunicated by his church in March. Barnett’s unusual teachings brought the church a reputation as a “cult” church. He first came under scrutiny two years ago, when a member killed her six-year-old daughter, believing the girl was demon-possessed. Later reports claimed Barnett advocated forming “spiritual connections” with other members through sexual intimacy. In February, church elders declared Barnett guilty of “sexual sin of substantial magnitude” with several women in the congregation. The elders forbid him to meet women alone. Barnett refused. So elders amended church bylaws that had made Barnett “ Pastor for Life,” and expelled him. Barnett faces civil suits charging child abuse and sexual assault. ECFA’S 500TH MEMBER WASHINGTON, D.C.—The Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability approved its500th member: Christian Financial Concepts, an organization headed by Larry Burkett. 28 The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 TWR LOSES LICENSE SOUTHERN AFRICA—Trans World Radio has been broadcasting on an AM frequency in Southern Africa for five years. The government recently decided it needed the frequency for commercial needs, and told TWR the license wouldn’t be renewed. To continue broadcasting to Southern Africa, TWR will add a seventh transmitter at its Swaziland facility. THE PTL PULITZER The Charlotte Observer won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for its reporting on the PTL scandal. THREE FOOD TRUCKS DESTROYED IN ATTACK ETHIOPIA—Anti-Marxist rebels attacked a seven-truck food convoy transporting from ports to inland distribution centers. They ignored four United Nations trucks, and singled out the three long-haul trucks owned by Food for the Hungry. They destroyed the three 23-ton trucks, valued at $300,000 and carrying 151,000 pounds of grain. Food for the Hungry had been distributing 80,000 pounds of food daily, feeding 275,000 people. The loss of the trucks—only two more remain—severely curtails the organization’s ability to provide hunger relief. Food fo r the Hungry filed formal protests through the U. S. State Department, and with the Washington office of Tigray People’s Liberation Front, believed responsible for the attack. MORMONS IN BRAZIL BRAZIL—Christianity is growing faster in Brazil than in most nations. But so is Mormonism. The Mormons field 15,000 missionaries in Brazil. They gain about 2000 converts a month. These converts are being trained as missionaries, and Argentina is being targeted. RUMOR CONTROL TULSA, Okla.—Christian rock group Stryper received some undeserved bad publicity. Three Oklahoma young people tortured a dog and cat to death, recording the animals’ cries. They said they were imitating a song called “Granny," which features screaming animals in the background. The Tulsa press reported that Stryper recorded the song. Angry Christian parents besieged a local Christian radio station with calls. Stryper never recorded such a song. “JESUS IS ALIVE” MAIL ENGLAND—Through March and part of April, letters mailed in Great Britain carried the message^'Jesus is Alive.” It was part of a postmark stamped on nearly 50 million pieces of mail each day. This included mail bound for Muslim, Buddhist, and Jewish nations. A British postal service policy allows any institution, organization, or person to pay to have a slogan put on the postmark. Paul Slennet, a 41-year-old Christian bookstore owner, paid $88,500 for the “Jesus is Alive” postmark. People •William J. Bennett, U.S. Secretary of Education, has called for restoring content, character, and choice to public education. In a message at the National Association of Evangelicals convention, he stressed the need for developing personal character in students, and suggested ways to instill moral values. Then, in a question-and-answer period, he said, “ It doesn’t help my cause to teach moral values when those who speak the loudest cannot live up to their own beliefs. Frankly, I’m mad about it.” •Gordon Loux resigned as president and CEO of Prison Fellowship Ministries, citing “differences in management philosophy, style, and role expectations." Loux and Charles Colson founded Prison Fellowship in 1976. Colson commented, “ I will sorely miss him, though he has assured me I can continue to call on him for counsel and help.” •Bob Jones, chancellor of Bob Jones University, said, “ Pat Robertson makes a lot of crazy statements. I make them, too, but I’m not running for office.” •Jesse Jackson, in a speech he gives regularly to high school audiences, says, “You are not a man just ‘cause you make a baby. And you young ladies, [pregnancy] is a short-term thrill and a long-term chill for you. How do I know? Because I am the son of a teenage mother, who was the daughter of a teenage mother. I never lived in a house with my father one night of my life.” •Robert Seiple said the following in his inaugural address as new president of World Vision: “We have marketed children as a bargain by claiming, ‘For a few pennies a day . . . , Just give up one meal out of a month . . . , For the cost of a pair of Dodger tickets . . . .’ Subconsciously we say to millions of Americans, ‘That child isn’t worth much.’ ” •Rev. Michael Agnello, who headed a five-state TV ministry from Charleston, W. Va., admitted committing adultery. He told his wife and 350 worshipers that he was guilty of sexual misconduct with the widow of Davy Jo Hissom, who founded New Life Church. Agnello became pastor four months after Hissom died in a plane crash. His confession, dwarfed by the Jimmy Swaggart scandal, drew little media attention. •Jim Bakker returned to the pulpit fo r the first time in over a year on March 13, when he addressed 225 retirees in a California trailer park. His uncle is the park’s Lutheran pastor during the winter. •Eugene Antonio Marino is the first black Catholic archbishop in the U.S. The Pope appointed him to the Atlanta archdiocese March 14. •James Irwin found nothing during his six trips in search of Noah’s Ark. Now the former astronaut is looking for Egyptian chariots beneath the Red Sea. He joined an international team which retraced probable routes for the Israelites when they left Egypt. The effort included unsuccessful dives for chariot remains in the Red Sea, which God closed on Pharoah’s army after the Israelites had crossed on dry land. •Win Am, a church growth expert, says Sunday school attendance has dropped 14 million since 1970. The percentage of church members attending Sunday school plunged from 31% in 1970 to 18% in 1986. In 1970, only 10% of the population said they received no religious training as a child. In 1987, 27% made that response. The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 29 Is the Christian media any less biased than the secular media? I hear complaints about slanted news in the secular arena. Sometimes I myself complain. For instance, a friend of mine attended a prayer meeting October 3 at Yoida Plaza in Seoul, South Korea. He and one million Koreans! After the prayer meeting, they peacefully marched to city hall. Their purpose for the prayer and march was two-fold: 1. They prayed to invoke God’s solution to Korea’s problems; and for the 1988 Summer Olympics, being held in Seoul. 2. They marched to show they were looking to God for His solution. They wanted all Koreans to know they were waging their war with the weapons of love and prayer. That item didn’t reach the U.S. evening news. But let a tiny coterie of radicals raise cane on a Korean campus, and all the American networks and dailies billboard it. But what about the Christian media? Are they less slanted? Ifyou follow the Christian media, you will likely conclude that the only significant Work done in the Third World is done by Americans. What about the late Dr. John Sung of China? He impacted China, Indochina, and southeast Asia for God as no western missionary or organization in history. Have you ever heard his name? What about Mr. F. E. Accad? He took the Gospel to more Muslims in the completely closed countries of the Arabic speaking world than any western group in history. Have you heard his name? What about Dr. K. C. Han? His church in Seoul started with 28 refugees, and has now exploded into the world’s largest Presbyterian C h u rc h - 65,000 members. How often do you hear his name? You've probably heard the name Dr. Paul Yonggi Cho, founder and pastor of history’s largest church—more than 550,000 members. You’ve heard of him because he’s active in the United States and because some of America’s most visible ministers regularly make a trek there to study his methods. Then again, maybe you haven’t heard his name. I thank God for western missionaries and evangelists. I’m a second-generation product of Presbyterian missions to Damascus, Syria. But must the Christian press deny reality by spotlighting western Christians and ignoring Third World heroes of the faith? Recently, an American Christian leader, a dedicated but unreconstructed cultural colonialist, organized a convocation of other American Chris-tian leaders to discuss coordinating world evangelism efforts between now and the year 2000. Strange. Where were the Third World leaders? Are they not the most qualified to lead such a convocation? Are they not the only ones who can evangelize with credibility and effectiveness in nations that today house 80% of all Third World peoples? The convocation seemed to be an attempt by westerners to de-westernize world evangelism. How? By telling the Third World how to do it—a continuing colonial attitude that presumes the superiority of western control. Perhaps the Christian media slants the stories westward because the input they get comes from westerners who insist on dominating both program and personnel overseas. We need solid investigative reporting of the global facts by qualified journalists, so that sincere western Christians at home can pray intelligently and support (not control) the worldwide spread of the Gospel. An increasing number of organizations are following the example of such ministries as Prison Fellowship International, Evangelism Explosion, World Vision, and Living Bibles International. These ministries work as equals, not superiors, with their non-western colleagues. They urge their Third World brothers and sisters to advise and guide them, the westerners. And they enthusiastically report on the work of the contemporary Sungs, Accads, and Hans. Let every western, world-minded Christian ask himself, “Would the overseas Christians still accept western domination if western money was neither needed nor used?” Maybe when westerners stop their colonial control of Christian work in the Third World, the evangelical press will report all the news. John Haggai is president of the Haggai Institute, which specializes in training Third World leaders. 30 The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 Colonial Christianity John Haggai Of the world’s Christians, only 1 out of 20 live in the United States. BURMA’S LOST TRIBES BURMA—Seven native missionaries recently discovered nomadic people believed to be the lost tribes of Le lu Chin. The people, never reached by missionaries, live in villages hidden deep in the jungle rain forest. Burmese evangelist Ronald Lal-thanlina said the team found the people “starved for the Gospel” and eager to accept Christ. At least 75 did. The Le lu are animists. They believe demon spirits inhabit the rocks and trees they worship. Some Le lu villages remain unreached. Burma expelled all foreign missionaries in 1966. But about 1000 native missionaries are at work. Burma, one of the world’s most isolated nations, is cut off from surrounding nations by a horseshoe ring of mountains. VIETNAM NOTES •According to Britain’s Keston College, 18 Vietnamese pastors are still in prison, 9 of them since the communist takeover of South Vietnam in 1975. The charges include preaching against the revolution, organizing boat trips for refugees, receiving money from abroad, printing materials, and expanding church groups without permission. •Vietnam lost an estimated 38% of its wooded area during the last 30 years. U.S. troops inflicted most of the damage, spraying defoliants on 4 million acres. The Mennonite Central Committee has offered funds to reforest three scarred areas. • Poor harvests since 1985 have prompted the government to find ways to slow population growth. Vietnam, which adds 1.2 million people a year, competes with Bangladesh for the world’s highest birth rate. GOOD NEWS DOWN UNDER AUSTRALIA—To go along with Australia's 1988 bicentennial, the Australian Evangelical Alliance launched a nationwide evangelistic campaign called “Operation Good News ’88.” Every major denomination is involved. In May and June, thousands of trained volunteers will visit homes, sharing the gospel and offering a New Testament. Less than 20% of Australians attend church. MARXIST UNITY ZIMBABWE—Prime Minister Robert Mugabe and long-time political foe Joshua Nkomo signed an agreement to unite their parties. This establishes a one-party Marx- /st state HOLLYWOOD—This summer, theaters across America will begin showing “The Last Temptation of Christ.” The Universal Studios film, directed by Martin Scorsese, is based on a controversial novel by Nikos Kazantzakis. The book’s notoriety has caused Christians to line up in protest against the film long before it’s release. To deal with such criticism, Universal hired Christian consultant Tim Penland, who helped promote “Chariots of Fire” and “The Mission” in the evangelical market. Penland says Universal and Scorsese intended to make a “faith- CZECH DISCONTENT PRAGUE, Czechoslovakia—Over 300,000 Czech church members signed a 31-point petition. It demanded more bishops and priests, separation of church and state, the right to question Marxist dogma, and the right to petition authorities without harassment. affirming” movie, and cautions Christians against judging the movie before seeing it. But Christian author Steve Law-head says, “ It’s a bleak book that portrays Christ as a deluded, sunburned idiot. Unless they take great liberties of personal interpretation, it would be very difficult to get a faith-affirming story out of that book.” Penland will fly evangelical leaders to Hollywood for advance screenings. He says, "I'm hopeful [Christian leaders] will be able to embrace a film that shows the human side of Christ yet affirms Christ as Savior." But not having seen the film himself, he adds, “ If the movie is blasphemous, or if the Christian leaders feel it would be damaging to the cause of Christ, that will be the end of my involvement." AND FINALLY . . . At least three women in Santa Barbara, Calif., were conned by a team of “witches” who promised to exorcise evil spirits from their cash and jewelry. Police arrested three suspects for stealing a watch and $450 in cash. In the Courts Baptist Battles. The Supreme Court rejected without comment a case involving liberal-conservative power struggles within the Southern Baptist Convention. A liberal couple accused conservatives of “parliamentary irregularities” in 1985. Courts consistently claimed lack of jurisdiction. Cemetery Dispute. The Supreme Court demanded a trial for a New Jersey dispute. It involves a woman who wants to force a Jewish cemetery to disinter her husband’s body—a violation of Jewish law. Disneyland Dancing. Three gay men sued Disneyland for not allowing them to slow-dance, despite a court decision against such discrimination at dances. They say security guards at the Videopolis nightclub told them, “Touch-dancing is only for heterosexual couples." Bakkers Sued, Bakkers Sue. The PTL ministry is suing Jim and Tammy Bakker and former Bakker aide David Taggart for $52.8 million, charging mismanagement and unjustified compensation. The Bakkers sued PTL for $1.3 million in back salary. Activist Churches Lose. The Supreme Court refused to hear the appeal of 13 churches in Jackson, Tenn., which jointly opposed a 1984 liquor-by-the-drink referendum. State law requires financial disclosures by organizations participating in referendum issues. Officials said the churches had to register as “ political action committees" and make certain financial disclosures. The churches objected on freedom of religion grounds. The High Court dismissal leaves in place a lower court decision against the churches. The UNITED BRETHREN/May 1988 31 Controversy ot the Cinema United Brethren Bulletin Board Calendar May 7. Ontario Conference Missions Day'. May 8. Mother's Day. May10. The 4 bishops meet all day. May 11-12. The General Board meets at the College Park UB church in Huntington. May 13. HC trustee meeting. May14. HC baccalaureate and commencement. May 20. North Ohio conference council. May 21. Arizona Leadership Day in Fountain Hills. Michigan conference council. May 23-24. Michigan stationing committee meeting. June 4. Pennsylvania Conference Pastors and Family Breakfast. June 7. HQ staff picnic. The UB Building will be closed all afternoon. July 2. Denominational Bible quizzing finals at CM. From HC i p S senior0citizens for Dewitt and Evelyn^Bajfer. ° r' Parish^ an3"lntensUnSp in9 in the Module courw T Education Donald Roth 3U9ht by Dr- 1988 Annual Conferences Ontario: June 3-4 Midwest June 17-18 Northwest: June 24-25 North Ohio: June 28-30 California: June 29-JU Sandusky: July 17-20 Michigan: July 12-14 Rock River: July 12-14 Central: July 27‘ 3? Pennsylvania: August 3-5 Graduation Day cofes?p«uaV0;3° a-™. « D ' - V e r n o n G r o u n d ' s Peal<&: . speaker, and f f aulfl° r f President. rmer seminary front .^ p u s ^ b a /r in n 'h 1' ° n the ‘ fher, in which case th Wea' Center will be used? o erri,att Dr. Jerry White o r ^ l i peaker-' Navigators ’ president of The Prayer Concerns •Challenge 88, as preparations continue in these few remaining months. Rev. Paul Hirschy, director of Church Services, is shouldering much of the responsibility for the convention. •A great graduation day at Huntington College on May 14. •Keith and Carlene Schieling, who began a three-month missionary term in Sierra Leone at the end of April. •Rev. Brent and Sandie Birdsall, who leave for Sierra Leone in July for a 21 -month term. Brent will teach at the Sierra Leone Bible College. The family, which includes three children (and a fourth due in September), has spent the last four years in Fort Wayne, Ind., where Brent has pastored the Emmanuel UB church. • Missionaries currently on furlough and doing deputation: The Prabhakarfamily (India), June Brown and Michelle Becker (Sierra Leone). Guide to Abbreviations. UB—United Brethren. HC—Huntington College. GSCM—Graduate School of Christian Ministries. RGC—Rhodes Grove Camp (Pennsylvania). CC—CampCotubic (Central). CLW—Camp Living Waters (Michigan). CM—Camp Michindoh (North Ohio). GC—General Conference. HQ—Headquarters. At Camp May 14. RGC work day. May 21. CLW Source of Life fundraising banquet. May 27-30. RGC Spring Family Camp. May 27-30. CLW work camp. June 3-4. RGC men’s canoe trip. June1-12. CLW pre-camp training for summer staff. June 10-12. RGC College and Career Retreat. July 16-22. CLW Family Camp. August6-14. RGC campmeeting. August 21-26. Arizona teen camp (Prescott, Ariz.) |
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