Church of God
THERE’S ONLY ONE RACE / WHEN GOD SENDS A FAMILY TWIN INVESTMENTS / REACHING MUSLIMS IN MICHIGAN
EVANGEL JANUARY 2017
The
FINISH
COMMITMENT
contents
January 2017
volume 107 / issue 1
4 Ministry Snapshot
5 FINISH by Tim Hill
6 By the Numbers
7 On My Mind by Lance Colkmire
8 Currents
10 There’s Only One Race—the Human Race
10
by Daniel L. Black
12 Finding Unreached People by Ken Anderson
14 Interceding for Lost People Everywhere by Grant and Janice McClung
16 Every Home for Christ by Mark Schrade
17 Global Connect
14 28
21 Viewpoint by Cornelia Scott Cree
22 Networking to Spread the Gospel by James E. Cossey
24 Twin Investments
by Byron Davis and Kevin Rhodes
26 When God Sends a Family by Tamitha Lynch
28 Reaching Muslims in Michigan by Frederick Nichols
30 People & Events 34 Chronicles by David G. Roebuck EVANGEL January 2017
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ministry
snapshot
The Church of God Evangel (ISSN 0745-6778) is edited and published monthly. n Church of God Publish ing House, 1080 Montgomery Ave., P.O. Box 2250, Cleveland, TN 373202250 n Subscription rates: Single subscription per year $17, Canada $24, Bundle of 15 per month $17, Canada $28, Bundle of 5 per month $7.50, Canada $11.25 n Single copy $1.50 n Periodical postage paid at Cleveland, TN 37311 and at additional mailing offices n ©2017 Church of God Publications n All rights reserved n POSTMASTER: Send change of address to Evangel, P.O. Box 2250, Cleveland, TN 37320-2250. (USPS 112-240)
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EVANGEL January 2017
Students from Daystar Church of God (Lincolnton, NC) learning to pray for others
PATHWAY PRESS
EVANGEL STAFF
DIVISIONAL DIRECTOR John D. Childers
EDITOR Lance Colkmire
DIRECTOR OF PUBLICATIONS Terry Hart
EXECUTIVE SECRETARY Elaine McDavid
MANAGING EDITOR OF PUBLICATIONS Lance Colkmire
COPY EDITOR Esther Metaxas
PRINTING DIRECTOR Mike Burnett DIRECTOR OF ACCOUNTING Wayne Walston
EDITORIAL AND PUBLICATIONS BOARD
GRAPHIC DESIGNER Bob Fisher
Tony D. Cooper Doug Baker Les Higgins David Jarvis Cheryl Johns James McIntyre José Daniel Montanez Harvey Turner Jr.
SUBSCRIPTIONS MANAGER Arleah DiFebbo
INTERNATIONAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Member of THE EVANGELICAL PRESS ASSOCIATION and the INTERNATIONAL PENTECOSTAL PRESS ASSOCIATION
Timothy M. Hill Raymond F. Culpepper J. David Stephens David E. Ramírez John D. Childers
FINISH
TIM HILL • General Overseer
SUCCESSFULLY SEEKING
B T
Y NOW, the Church of God is recognizing the elements of the FINISH Commitment—the initiative that guides our efforts to help complete the Great Commission in our generation. Working alongside our brothers and sisters in other Evangelical movements, this challenge is achievable, if we will faithfully Find, Intercede, Network, Invest, Send, and Harvest—the essentials of our God-inspired approach to the task. On the global front, we are hard at work finding and engaging lost people. In cooperation with interdenominational agencies, and employing our own strategies, we are identifying unreached people—groups among whom there are no Christians, or so few that they are unable to evangelize the rest of their population. We are discovering that many of these groups are near neighbors to Church of God people, and we are effectively reaching them. It is thrilling to realize how successful these efforts are! The beginning point for the local church’s buy-in of the FINISH Commitment is a determination to find the people who need to hear and respond to the Gospel in our own communities. Lost people surround our churches. Our task is to build bridges to reach them. Consider these practical strategies that are within reach of the typical pastor and congregation: • Distribute index cards to church members and ask them to write the names and contact information for unchurched
Lost people surround our churches. Our task is to build a bridge to reach them.
friends and family members, and let those names become a concerted prayer and contact basis for local evangelism efforts. This changes the growth goal of the church from “reach more people” to “win Bob and Nancy Smith.” • Research indicates that most people have six to 10 people (average, 8) within their spheres of influence. Challenge believers to make the unchurched people in their circles the subject of intense prayer and concern, and ask each of them to engage a partner in praying for his or her friends. The concentration and passion that often result can bring people into the reach of the church. • Sponsor “nonchurch-service” activities related to the church—such as picnics, concerts, and sports events—and encourage church people to bring unchurched friends. This can become a first contact that opens the door to moving them into a church service or closer contact with other believers. • Use home Bible studies. Research shows that most unchurched people respond more readily to an invitation to attend a home-based activity than to a church service. Bible studies can become a place to find friends and help move them toward Christ. • In the youth group, initiate entry points (outreach events, special nights, trips) to which students can invite their unchurched friends. This exposure to friendship and fellowship may make them open to Bible study or church attendance as a follow-up. • Use your sanctified creativity. Think of your own approach to find people and move them into an environment where they can be influenced for Christ—through individualized efforts, small groups, or in church services. God may use you to change a person’s life and eternal destiny! Someone captured the essence of a true church with these words: A church becomes a New Testament church when it is more interested in helping than in being helped; loving than in being loved; giving than being given to; fasting than being fed; meeting needs than having needs met.
Does this sound like your church? EVANGEL January 2017
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by the
numbers
900 hours 1,500 hours Average time an American youth spends in school annually
Average time an American youth watches TV annually
www.scun.edu
TOP NEW YEAR’S
RESOLUTIONS MADE BY AMERICANS:
47%
756,691,040
Undernourished people in the world
Self-improvement/education
38%
Weight
34%
worldometers.info
Money
31%
1,633,804,422
Overweight people in the world 6
EVANGEL January 2017
Relationships statisticsbrain.com
ON MY MIND LANCE COLKMIRE • Editor
FOUR WAYS TO CONTACT THE EDITOR: •
[email protected] • 423-478-7592 • Church of God Evangel on Facebook • Box 2250, Cleveland, TN 37320-2250
JAIRUS AND FRIENDS
IT
N THE GOSPELS, Jairus is the synagogue leader who fell at Jesus’ feet on behalf of his dying 12-year-old daughter, whom Jesus raised back to life. In East Africa, Jairus is the name of a Church of God pastor I met on a November teaching trip to Rwanda. Like his Biblical namesake, this Jairus is a man of faith who intervened in a little girl’s desperate situation. This girl was 4 years old when she came to live with Pastor Jairus and his family. Until then, the girl’s unwed teenage mother kept her locked in a small room, where her only access to the outside world was a small window. From there, she would wave and smile at passing children. “When she came to live with us, she had no language,” the pastor explained. Today, that girl is 17 years old and progressing in every way. Meanwhile, Pastor Jairus’ family also took in an 8-year-old boy whose family members had been violently killed. He is now a young adult, composing and singing songs in a Christian band. Jairus commented that the needs of the children in his community are overwhelming . . . but at least they changed the lives of these two. Besides reaching children, Pastor Jairus conducts School of Ministry courses (from the Church of God Department of Education) in a local prison, and three of the men he has won to Christ are now pastors. One of those men was a murderer sentenced to death by hanging. His life was so transformed by Christ that his sentence was commuted to life in prison . . . and then to an
Church of God congregation at the Pagirinya, Uganda, refugee camp
Lance Colkmire’s photo by Sandy Clukey Photography
ever-shortening number of years behind bars. He became a prison trustee, and then was promised parole. “The people in his community said if the man returned, they would kill him because he was a murderer,” Jairus said. “But I told them this would only lead to more violence, and finally they would all kill each other. Was this what they wanted?” Jairus’ words were heeded, and this former prisoner is now pastoring a church he planted. When I met Jairus, he was one of 52 East African pastors and national leaders completing their 12th and final two-week course of the six-year-long Training Our Teachers certificate program, under the leadership of Jürgen Rudolph (education director for Church of God World Missions in Africa). These leaders from seven nations gathered in Kigali, Rwanda, some riding buses for days. Four leaders from Tanzania were in a bad wreck along the way. Their bus landed on its top, leaving them hanging upside-down from their seatbelts. Incredibly, none of them were injured. They resumed their three-day journey on another bus, arriving hours late but healthy. Another learner-leader who traveled a long way was Pastor Joseph Levi, who started a church at a refugee camp in Pagirinya, Uganda, last July (see photo). Because of the ongoing civil war taking place in South Sudan (the world’s newest country), thousands of refugees are streaming into Uganda every week. Pastor Levi is ministering to desperate Sudanese people in a place where malnutrition and malaria are ever-present dangers. If I had space, I could relate the details of other testimonies I heard: • The Kenyan pastor whose life was spared during his youth when he chose not to take part in a bank robbery in which three peers were killed • The Tanzanian pastor who prayed for a lifeless 2-yearold boy whom God raised back to life • Joseph Ndashe, who survived childhood eating just one meal per day, and today is overseer of the Church God in Rwanda. The Lord has raised up leaders with tremendous testimonies who are doing Christ-exalting exploits in the severity of East Africa. We must pray for them . . . and learn from their example. EVANGEL January 2017
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CURRENTS The purpose of CURRENTS is to inform readers of trends and events influencing the culture.
Andrew Goldkuhle inspects and replaces stained-glass images of the Confederate battle flag at Washington National Cathedral.
CONFEDERATE IMAGES STIR DEBATE n Washington, D.C.—After quietly removing panes bearing the Confederate flag from its stained-glass windows, leaders of the Washington National Cathedral are now wondering what to do about remaining images of Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson. The windows honoring the Confederate generals were added in 1953 with the support of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, a group that sought to honor the memory of veterans who fought for the South. Under the Robert E. Lee window, there is language etched in stone that calls him “a Christian soldier without fear and without reproach.” And under Jackson, it says he “walked humbly before his Creator whose word was his guide.” “How can you justify having those windows in a house of God?” challenged Riley Temple, a former board member of the Washington National Cathedral’s foundation. Temple was one of several audience members who spoke during a series of discussions held at the cathedral concerning racial justice. The Rev. Kelly Brown Douglas, canon theologian at the cathedral, said she 8
EVANGEL January 2017
hoped the leaders would avoid the “easy route” of a take-them-down or leavethem-up decision. “I really want to do the hard work of becoming a different kind of community, and pointing a way to how we can become that.”—RNS
FEDS PROPOSE MORE ADOPTION RESTRICTIONS
n Washington, D.C.—New proposed regulations will make it harder for American families to adopt children outside of the U.S., according to a group of U.S. adoption agencies protesting the rules. “The proposed rules, which we believe are unnecessary and discriminatory against accredited adoption agencies and foreign child welfare officials, represent an attempt by representatives of the
State Department to exercise subjective and anti-adoption influence and control over the field of intercountry adoption,” states a letter signed by 70 accredited U.S. adoption agencies. The new regulations will require adoption agencies to acquire additional accreditation for intercountry adoption, cap wages at an undisclosed “reasonable” amount for intercountry adoption workers, and require prospective intercountry adoptive parents to undergo additional State Department training. Overseas adoptions in the U.S. have plummeted since their peak in 2004— down from 22,989 in 2004 to 5,647 in 2015, a 75 percent drop. Many criticize the State Department for playing a role in that decline. “[State Department officials’] lack of leadership and their lack of proactivity has resulted in a decline in numbers and an inability really to open up new doors of opportunity for orphaned and abandoned children,” National Council for Adoption’s president Chuck Johnson told World New Service. The proposed regulations would not only ignore opportunities to reopen doors to currently closed countries, but would also overburden still-standing U.S. agencies and contribute to a further drop in intercountry adoptions, Johnson said. Adoption agencies would face “potentially unlimited and uninsurable liability” for overseeing workers in foreign countries, according to the Save Adoptions group. They argue that liability would drive the cost of providing an intercountry adoption out of reach.—WNS
AFTER SCHOOL SATAN CLUBS TOUTED n Kansas City, MO—Lucien Greaves, cofounder of the Satanic Temple, is leading a campaign to launch After School Satan Clubs in elementary schools. The clubs are not about indoctrinating children into Satanism, Greaves said before a recent talk in Kansas City. In fact, Greaves said he does not believe in the
devil as a real being, much less one to be worshiped. Rather, his clubs are about making a statement against the government providing facilities exclusively for Christian afterschool programs such as Good News Clubs. Good News Clubs, which are sponsored by the Missouri-based Child Evangelism Fellowship, have become increasingly common in schools across the U.S. over the past decade. During club time, children are taught Bible lessons, sing songs, play games, and hear missionary stories. After a 2001 Supreme Court ruling that allowed conservative Christian clubs to organize in grade schools, the number of Good News Clubs spiked to more than 3,500, and they are present in more than 5 percent of the nation’s public elementary schools. That growth both irked Greaves and provided a blueprint for the Satanic Temple, whose first After School Satan Club was set to start at a Portland, Oregon, elementary school just before Thanksgiving 2016. The group’s website says its club will include lessons on science and reason, with a “focus on free inquiry and rationalism,” and will also have fun activities. “I would definitely oppose afterschool Satanic clubs, but they have a First Amendment right to meet,” Mat Staver, head of the Liberty Counsel, told The Washington Post. “I suspect, in this particular case, I can’t imagine there’s going to be a lot of
students participating in this. It’s probably dust they’re kicking up and is likely to fade away in the near future for lack of interest.” Christians are not the only ones who might look askance at the Satanic Temple and its clubs. Greaves’ host for this talk was the Kansas City Atheist Coalition, and atheists aren’t necessarily keen on the idea of something that seems to promote any religion—be it satanic or Christian. Adam, a Kansas City native who preferred not to use his last name, called himself an “admirer” of the Satanic Temple. “They’re not Satanists, they’re atheists. I’m not a Satanist, I’m an atheist. It’s a ploy to bedevil Christians, and it invariably works,” he said. This is how Greaves explained it: “People miss that the self-identified Satanist isn’t merely doing this for the shock value that it provokes among Christians—it very much is a personal statement, a personal declaration of independence against those things they feel oppressed by.” Born Doug Mesner to a Protestant mother and Catholic father, Greaves grew up in Detroit and was raised in both Christian traditions. The few times he visited a Catholic Church, he said, he found it “horrifying.” Greaves didn’t much like Protestant teaching, either, and still recalls the message of a Sunday school song called “Careful Little Eyes.” He describes the song as a warning that we are “being looked upon and judged by [an] ultimate tyrant in the sky.” Founder Lucien Greaves promoting After School Satan Clubs
Greaves founded the Satanic Temple four years ago in Salem, Massachusetts. He estimates the group’s current membership to be around 50,000, with chapters nationwide.—RNS Jen Hatmaker (Facebook)
LIFEWAY PULLS HATMAKER BOOKS n Nashville, TN—LifeWay Christian Stores has pulled from its shelves books by best-selling author Jen Hatmaker after she voiced support for same-sex marriage. In an October interview with Religion News Service, Hatmaker was asked, “Do you think an LGBT relationship can be holy?” She responded, “I do. And my views here are tender. . . . I’ve seen too much pain and rejection at the intersection of the gay community and the church.” Hatmaker also stated she supported the legalization of same-sex marriage. The author of several best-selling books and the subject of an HGTV series called My Big Family Renovation, Hatmaker’s Southern charm, laugh-out-loud humor, and passion for family gained her massive popularity both in and out of the Christian mainstream in recent years. She has more than 600,000 followers on Facebook, and has appeared on national TV and in The New York Times. Hatmaker and her husband, Brandon, live in Austin, Texas, with their five children.—WNS EVANGEL January 2017
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n by DANIEL L. BLACK
There’s Only One Race–
THE HUMAN RACE W
ITH ALL THE talk we hear nowadays about race and racism, I am constantly reminded of what the Bible says about this. According to the Bible, all the humans on earth—regardless of their skin’s pigmentation, nationality, language, tribe or family—belong to one race. The idea that humans belong to different races is entirely our own sinful invention, not the work of God. According to Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, the word race, as it applies to humans having differing physical characteristics, means “a category of humankind that shares certain distinctive physical traits.” Race can also mean “a 10
EVANGEL January 2017
family, tribe, people, or nation belonging to the same stock”; or, “a class or kind of people unified by shared interests, habits, or characteristics.” By these man-made definitions, we have fractured the human race into competing groups who, all too often, arrive at the conclusion that people who do not belong to their group are not altogether human. This is what we call racism, a terrible sin that dehumanizes the whole human race. The Origin of the Human Race According to the Bible, all humans are one race. To begin at the beginning, the Bible says the whole human race is
descended from one man and one woman, Adam and Eve (Gen. 1:26-27; 2:18-25; 5:1-2). This original pair of humans was created by God, and Eve is plainly identified as “the mother of all living” (3:20). In addition to the Bible’s account of the creation of Adam and Eve, there is the account of Noah and his family after the Flood. All humans are not only descended from the first couple who were husband and wife; after the Flood, the human race started again, with all humans being descended from the three sons of Noah (Shem, Ham, and Japheth) and their wives (6:9-10; 7:7; 8:15-16; 9:1-2). Because I believe the Bible is God’s Holy Spirit-inspired Word, I accept its
account regarding Adam and Eve, and Noah and his family, as true. However, for those many people who believe these accounts cannot be accepted as “literally true,” an undeniable truth lies at the heart of both accounts. Both affirm the unity of the human race, meaning there are not many races of humans, but only one. The Nations Descended From Noah’s Sons Genesis 10 is devoted entirely and exclusively to identifying the various nations of humans who descended from the sons of Noah. To restate this as concisely as possible, the nations descended from Shem settled originally in what are now Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran, and Arabia. The descendants of Ham settled in what are now Turkey, Israel, Jordan, and Egypt. The descendants of Japheth settled in what are now Turkey, Iran, and the island of Cyprus. “These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations. . . . And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech” (10:32; 11:1). As a boy growing up, I heard people try to explain that black and other darkskinned people descended from Canaan, the son of Ham, because of the curse Noah placed on Canaan (Gen. 9:20-26). Of course, this interpretation is far removed from truth. The account of Noah cursing Canaan is a retrospective explanation of why the Canaanites were so sexually promiscuous, and why, as a consequence of God’s judgment against them, their land (Canaan) was given to the Israelite descendants of Shem. An examination of the nations descended from Noah’s sons reveals there were dark-skinned people who came from all three of his sons. Since the Flood occurred, dark-skinned people with brown eyes and dark hair have been the majority of humans. The Apostle Paul’s Testimony The apostle Paul taught there is only one human race. This is revealed in his preaching in Athens, Greece. Paul said to the assembled wise men of Athens, “God, who made the world and everything in it . . . has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the
earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings” (Acts 17:24, 26 NKJV). I am aware that in the Greek text, some authorities leave out the word blood in verse 26, but that does not change the meaning of what is said. The verse still declares, “God has made from one every nation of men.” People of different nations, tribes, and families, and with different colors of skin, are not different races. Jesus Loves All the Children Born at home in 1942 on a cotton mill village in South Carolina to white parents, I grew up in the segregated South, where people with black or dark-colored skin were discriminated against by law. I also grew up in a Christian home, where I was taught that, according to the Bible, all people are equal in God’s sight.
I learned early in life that “color is only skin-deep.” I learned early in life that “color is only skin-deep.” I was strictly forbidden to say anything derogatory to or about others because of the color of their skin. I was told to treat every person with the same fairness, regardless of skin color or any other distinction. One of the first songs I learned in Sunday school was, “Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world. / Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight; / Jesus loves the little children of the world.” The Influence of My Father My father died when I was 9 years of age. At 16, I began working in a general store that sold everything from groceries to clothes to gasoline and car tires. The vast majority of our hundreds of customers were black farm workers. There, I
became acquainted with an elderly black man named Robert McEachern. A retired veteran of World War I, Robert asked all of his friends to simply call him “Man.” Robert told me he had known my father well, while he was growing up, and after he became a man. He said to me, “Your daddy was a good man. He treated everybody the same. No matter whether you were black or white, rich or poor, he treated everybody the same, and he was good to everybody.” It meant much to me to hear my respected friend “Man” say that about my father. As a boy, I had seen and heard the man whom Robert described my father to be, and I aspired to be like him. Black and brown neighbors and friends were welcome in our home, and my younger sister and I played with their children. We never thought there was anything exceptional about this; we were simply doing what was right for Christians. Follow the Bible In America, the term racism almost always refers to having ill-will toward, or discriminating against, other humans because their skin color is different from our own. In contrast to this, there are instances in the Bible of people being discriminated against because of their nationality, religion, or socioeconomic standing, but never because of their skin color. If we read and believe the Bible, and if we are committed to living by it, the Bible leads us away from the man-made evil called racism. The Bible leads us to the truth that humans comprise one race, not many. Therefore every person is a human, created originally in the image of God, regardless of nationality, language, skin pigmentation, or social standing. Simply stated, we are all one race. We are all blood relatives—in the first place through Adam and Eve, and after that through Noah’s sons and their wives. As Dr. Martin Luther King rightly preached, people should not be judged “by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” Daniel L. Black, Th.D., is editor of New Life adult Sunday school curriculum for Pathway Press.
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J
ESUS SAID, “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come” (Matt. 24:14 NASB). Driven by obedience to Christ’s mandate, the Church of God embraces the challenge to find unreached people groups across the globe. Three billion unreached individuals live in 6,500 ethno-linguistic communities which are characterized as having little or no access to the Gospel. Missiologists say one in nine people worldwide is born again, and of the remaining eight, four are members of an unreached people group (defined as less than 2% of the population being Christian). While it is necessary to continue evangelism and church planting among Christianized people groups, the priority in pioneer missions is to seek and find the unreached, taking the Gospel where no viable or sustainable Christian witness exists. Many unreached people groups (UPGs) are isolated by location, cultural/ religious systems, or other barriers which make it difficult to enter the world’s last and largest harvest fields; however, the time is right to overcome every obstacle in world evangelization. A united body of Christ has all the spiritual, human, technological, relational, and financial resources to get the job done in one generation. Would Christ give His Church an impossible mission? No! There are 9,000 Protestant denominations in the world. In America alone, there are 314,000 Protestant churches. For every UPG, there are more than enough churches, and groupings of churches, to finish the task. With laser-like focus and effective cooperation, global evangelization can and should be finished. From 10 to Hundreds Since 1992, international leadership in the Church of God has consistently emphasized the task of finishing the Great Commission. We began by targeting 10 unreached people groups, all of which have been reached on some level; then the number grew to 74 engaged UPGs in the 20 years following. With a renewed emphasis launched in July 2014, through networking and team12
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FINDING UNREACHED PEOPLE n by KEN ANDERSON
Global Mapping International
10-40 Window
building, 380 new UPG ministry opportunities have been discovered. Most of these are located in the 10-40 Window. The FIND Coalition A 50-member team of North Americans, Latin Americans, and South Asians called FIND Coalition was formed in April 2015, and is casting a missional net around the world in search of UPGs. The team meets once per year, has a clear mission and vision, emphasizes interdependent relationships, and works with overseers, missionaries, and national workers in various countries. In order to assist with communication, coordination, and mobilization, regional UPG coordinators have been appointed to the strategic places of South Asia and Middle East/North Africa (MENA). Eventually, coordinators may be appointed in every major region where the unreached are located. The multinational FIND Coalition searches for the lost by following a relationship trail that starts with the people of existing churches and leads to their
neighboring UPGs. This has been an amazing experience with results that exceed our expectations. All involved have discovered God’s matchless blessing which comes in direct proportion to our willingness to walk in obedience to His mandate. We simply go into the world to discover what He is already doing. The effort to find UPGs connects globally-minded pastors and believers with many open doors in the mission field. When a new UPG ministry opportunity is discovered, local leaders and UPG coordinators work together to write a simple ministry proposal that involves answering seven basic questions: 1. What? General description of the project. 2. Why? The strategic rationale for reaching a particular community. 3. Who? Identifies the UPG as well as the human resources needed to carry out the mission. 4. Where? The place and culture. 5. When? A timeline proposed for starting and finishing the work. 6. How? A brief plan of action. 7. How much? The cost for initiating and sustaining the ministry for a period of time.
Each new ministry begins with an exit strategy in mind as our long-term goal includes the capacity for a local ministry to become self-supporting as soon as practical. With this simple but effective approach, more and more doors open each month, and the list of new UPGs continues to grow. One of our amazing discoveries is that in most cases, ministry has already begun on some level even before a UPG ministry proposal has been officially adopted. The reason is, for more than 100 years, Church of God World Missions has invested in national leadership and Bible schools around the world, so missionary zeal burns on every continent, and foundations for pioneer ministry are already laid in most of the targeted areas. Ministry That Lasts For long-term success, indigenous ownership is the key. Of 380 new UPG ministry proposals in the works, only six are fully dependent on North American leadership.
In southern India during the past 12 months, a national leader has established relationships with 65 local missionaries who are touching 23 UPGs in his area. In Bangladesh, a team of 17 full-time evangelists are circulating throughout the world’s most densely-populated country, touching 20 UPGs. In Nepal, one small orphanage has a representation of eight UPGs. These children are being raised in a dynamic ministry center and will become effective missionaries in touching their own people groups. There are many difficult barriers— including distance, language, and antiChristian politico-religious systems—but evangelism fervor is pressing on to get the message of the Gospel to every nation, even within closed countries. Radio waves and Internet connections reach beyond boundaries of illiteracy and geographical isolation. Children’s after-school clubs are transforming into prayer centers and house churches, as Christian workers penetrate closed communities with education, business ventures, and other entry strategies in central and northern India. Translation of the Scriptures and oral Bible recordings are being produced for UPGs in Laos and Vietnam. English and music are being taught in closed communities throughout Asia with the Bible as the textbook, and praise and worship songs as the musical repertoire. Missionaries and national workers are reporting hundreds of house churches being planted through the African Firewall model, and orphans in that continent are being raised in the fear and admonition of the Lord through the collective efforts of Serving Orphans Worldwide and Church of God World Missions. Collaboration with the Billion Soul Network and other missions agencies is creating a powerful synergy that reaches into the most difficult places such as northwest China, Tibet, and Mongolia. Relief efforts following the 2011 tsunami in northeast Japan opened the door for a new church plant in a large community that previously had no Christian witness. This new work is being pastored by a missionary from South America and financially supported
by the Church of God in Japan. In the Tharparkar Desert of Pakistan, UPG communities are being reached with water wells and simple, open-air shelters which double as educational and worship centers provided through the support of churches in Texas. Financial and prayer support coming from Pennsylvania and a Hispanic district in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, have facilitated the purchase of properties, construction of worship facilities, ministry training, missionary support, and assistance to local pastors who are working with a very large UPG in Central India. Many more testimonies of God’s presence and grace may be given as examples of how the FINISH Commitment is impacting people who were previously unreached. Adopting a People Group How can a local church adopt an Unreached People Group? Because of the sensitivity of ministry in closed areas, many of which are subject to anticonversion laws and harsh penalties, our specific UPG efforts (names and locations) must be communicated in a very discreet manner. At present, 380 UPG proposals are awaiting adoption by individuals, churches, or districts. Through contact with World Missions special projects personnel, these UPG ministry proposals may be shared directly with you. These proposals may involve one or more of the five pillars of pioneer missions—prayer, discipleship, church planting, social action ministry, and missionary support. Each project desperately needs a covering of intercession by a committed individual, church, or group. Also, each ministry proposal will involve some level of financial assistance for the first years ranging from $50 to $500 per month. Together we can do this . . . we must do this . . . we will do it . . . and then the end will come. Contact Yolanda Guy (423-478-7794) for information about adopting a UPG. Ken Anderson is coordinator of Unreached People Groups for Church of God World Missions.
[email protected]
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INTERCEDING for Lost People Everywhere n by GRANT and JANICE McCLUNG
H
ERE IS OUR STORY from the practical experiences of individual believers in a local church making intercession for lost people everywhere. After moving to Cleveland, Tennessee, in 1985, we were asked to offer a Wednesday-night missions prayer group at Westmore Church of God. It was scheduled as a temporary summer class to see if there would be any local-church interest in praying for nations and missionaries. This prayer ministry has now continued for over 30 uninterrupted years! We have had scores of missionaries and national leaders as guests, as well as praying for many from our local church who have participated in short-term missions ministries. We spend 90 minutes together every Wednesday night with dedicated and interested intercessors. We give God the glory for multiplied answers to prayer. When we tell the story of that faithful prayer group, we are always asked, “What do you do, and how do you go about it?” We spend the first 30 minutes in worship and general intercession for various needs. We give the next 30 minutes to a guest presenter. The final 30 minutes allow time for some follow-up questions and special prayer for the needs highlighted by our guest. We have used seven steps, or concepts, as guidelines for a global intercessory prayer ministry. We believe we should pray (1) Scripturally, (2) spiritually, (3) systematically, (4) sensibly, (5) spontaneously, (6) sensitively/specifically, and (7) strategically. Pray Scripturally We are motivated to intercession when we realize intercessory prayer for 14
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missionaries and nations is Biblical and that the Scriptures give us numerous examples to follow. We begin our time of prayer with Scripture reading—usually a passage about prayer. Periodically, we will give our entire time to a Bible study on global prayer. When we read various prayers and accounts of prayer in Scripture, they are an example for us on how
personal cleansing, devotion, and consecration to God. Our prayer meetings do not launch immediately into taking prayer requests or reading prayer concerns from various newsletters and emails. Instead, we start with corporate worship. We remember the disciples worshiped Jesus before He commissioned them into the world (Matt. 28:16-20), and we remember the
and what to pray. We have great assurance in our praying when we realize we are praying what God desires. We pray in agreement with the Word of God.
first missionary team was sent out after a time of worship and fasting (Acts 13:1-3). Effective intercession begins with individual and corporate worship.
Pray Spiritually It may sound redundant to say we pray “spiritually” when it is evident that prayer is a spiritual exercise. We use the term spiritually to convey the truth that effective intercessory prayer begins with a time of
Pray Systematically Scheduled times of intercessory prayer allow us to practice this ministry as a regular, normal part of Christian discipleship. Just as we are taught to read our Bible, attend church, give our tithes and offerings, and give an evangelistic
witness to others, we should also see intercessory prayer as something we do on a regular basis. Effective prayer meetings are organized and have a basic system. In time, people are trained in systematic and consistent prayer, learning various methods. Naturally, being Pentecostal, we do a lot of “concert prayer”—everyone praying out loud together. In addition, we have helped people learn how to engage in “conversational prayer”—praying in turn one after another, either in small groups or as a whole group. This gives those who normally would be reluctant to pray in a larger worship service the opportunity to verbalize their prayers in a smaller setting. Individuals grow in their self-confidence and spiritual leadership as they learn to lead out in prayer. Intercessory prayer is a systematic part of Christian discipleship. Pray Sensibly By praying “sensibly,” we mean praying according to basic factual information. Paul said, “I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also” (1 Cor. 14:15). Informed Christians make the best intercessors, so know the facts. We glean news from missionary prayer letters and emails. Knowing we pray every week, missionaries connect with us regularly to make specific prayer requests known. We try to have a special guest every week: missionaries on furlough; national leaders in town to attend a conference or meeting; foreign students in college or seminary; members of our church report returning from a short-term missions trip. For prayer groups that may not have the benefit of such guests, there are many media resources, such as Operation World (www.operationworld.org) that provide prayer information. Using these, we highlight specific countries, cities, and people groups, praying sensibly for them (knowing the facts). Many times, the current events and headlines from the daily news provide developments, needs, and issues about which to pray. One of the most valuable habits prayer leaders and intercessors can develop is to watch, hear, and read
the news, not as spectators but as prayer participants. Basically, praying sensibly means staying aware and praying about what we see and hear. Ruth Graham was fond of saying that she prayed with a newspaper in one hand and her Bible in the other. Sensible prayer is made according to facts and information.
The eternal consequences of God’s kingdom agenda await the action of prayer from God’s people. Pray Spontaneously On the other hand, there is a wonderful serendipity, a surprise of the Holy Spirit, as we enter into prayer. This is what we mean by praying “spontaneously.” Often, the Holy Spirit will burden us to pray about something we had not planned to pray about, or a dimension of something we had not anticipated. Many times, while praying for a specific nation or missionary family, one of our members will move into another issue or special need related to what we had already mentioned. For this reason, we should always let the Holy Spirit lead us as we pray. Spontaneous prayer follows the creative leading of the Holy Spirit. Pray Sensitively/Specifically We believe it is important to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit and to pray specifically for nations and individuals. Our prayers should go beyond the generic, “God bless the world” or “Help all those missionaries over there.” It is important to pray for people by name—locally and globally.
The online information and quarterly DVD resources of Church of God World Missions (www.cogwm.org), along with the four-page “Global Connect” in each issue of the Evangel, provide us with specific names of missionaries, national leaders, and ministries. As we correspond with individuals or read their prayer requests, we can pray specifically for the special needs they communicate. Sensitive and specific prayer intercedes for nations, leaders, and missionaries by name. Pray Strategically Praying strategically recognizes that Spirit-led intercessory prayer opens up new doors, often breaking through spiritual resistance. It realizes that vision for new ministry and leading into new areas proceed out of times of intercessory prayer (Acts 13:1-3). There are multiple evidences from Scripture and our denominational story of how new avenues of ministry were opened through intensive and strategic intercession. We conclude meetings by gathering around our special guest for prayer. Sometimes prophetic words have been given that offered encouragement, new direction, or specific insight to the missionary. We don’t pray to receive the strategy; prayer is the strategy. On Mission We are on mission with God through prayer and worship. It is God’s will that we pray for the lost in our families, our communities, and among the nations. We connect to what God is doing in our world through intensive intercessory prayer. Prayer changes things and leads us into missional action. The eternal consequences of God’s kingdom agenda await the action of prayer from God’s people. Let us pray! Grant and Janice McClung are veteran leaders with Church of God World Missions who resource the global Great Commission community through Missions Resource Group. They offer numerous books, articles, and teaching outlines at www.Missions ResourceGroup.org. EVANGEL January 2017
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n by MARK SCHRADE
EVERY HOME FOR CHRIST
Y
OU CAN BE MORE than a church member; you can become a missionary. You can become part of an Acts 19:10 congregation, helping “all the residents” of your community hear “the word of the Lord” (ESV). Let me tell you how this happened in our church. During our congregation’s annual 21-day fast, the Lord gave us the word of acceleration. We felt He was going to enable us to reach the harvest like never before. While we were in the midst of our period of prayer and fasting, I discovered three great tools that could help fulfill what our Father revealed to us. The first tool now available to every congregation is Pray 4 Every Home (www.Pray4everyhome.com). For a small church donation, every person in our congregation was able to type in their address and receive detailed information about the closest 100 neighbors around them. Imagine how wonderful it was to have this software program to email each person who signed in with the names of five different neighbors to pray for each day.
Our congregation learned the names of their neighbors and other “praying neighbors” who live around them. This new website also contains a prayer journal and Scripture verses to pray over your neighbors. You can even take a “virtual prayer walk” (via satellite) around your neighborhood from your computer, tablet, or smartphone. Every congregation needs to sign up for this groundbreaking outreach tool. Next, we discovered the Mapping Center for Evangelism (www.mappingcenter .org). This service helped us to identify our harvest “sweet spot” (those households within a 10-minute drive of our church) and 18 different aspects of those households. After we downloaded our church members’ addresses into this software, we discovered we have people living in all of the neighborhoods (consisting of 92,500 households) within a 10-mile radius of our church. As we began to pray for our neighbors and focus on acts of kindness toward them, we sought for a way to show them the greatest love in the world—God’s
love. That’s when we discovered Christ for All Peoples (www.christforallpeoples .org). They specialize in distributing the Jesus film on DVD (now available in 1,435 languages) to reach all immigrants who have come to America. For just 50 cents per DVD, the full-length Jesus film could be obtained in the languages indigenous to all the peoples living around us. With that exciting news, our church organized a WOW (Win Our World) Wednesday to assemble bundles containing the Jesus DVD, a bag of popcorn, and our church brochure. During our 40 Days of Real Love Campaign, many of our members adopted their neighborhoods for prayer and distributed over 7,525 bundles. People have been saved, attended our church, and made Facebook posts thanking us for sharing the love of God with them. Please join us and many others as we go into our neighborhoods to accelerate the harvest with contemporary tools of evangelism. I believe the Lord will be glad you did. Mark Schrade is lead pastor of the Sanctuary Church of God in Deland, Florida. www.sanctuaryonline.cc
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First “Lighthouse” Set for Kigali, Rwanda From the Director
When World Missions selected the 10 world-class cities on which to focus for its “Send the Light to the Cities” emphasis, Kigali, Rwanda, was one of two African metropolitan areas singled out for attention. Dr. David Griffis, director, and a missions team recently traveled to Kigali and met with African leaders to discuss plans and set goals. Kigali, home to 1.3 million residents, holds the distinction of being Africa’s cleanest and safest city, known for its streets, parks, skyscrapers, residential areas, and its friendly populace. Although it has earned that reputation in recent years, only two decades ago it experienced an extremely tragic period in its history. The country suffered a devastating year of genocide in 1994, when the nation’s two major tribal groups attempted to wipe each other out. The two—Tutsis and Hutus—fought for control of the government, and in the process at least a million people were slaughtered. The story was chronicled in the movie, Hotel Rwanda. It is one of the saddest chapters in the last century of Africa’s history. Violence stopped only when international peacekeepers intervened.
DAVID M. GRIFFIS Director
M. THOMAS PROPES Assistant Director
Global Connect January 2017 WORLD MISSIONS LEADERSHIP
David M. Griffis, Director M. Thomas Propes, Assistant Director Robert D. McCall, Special Assistant to World Missions Executive Leadership EDITOR Bill George DESIGN EDITOR Mark Shuler CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Janet Polen Price
Hutus comprised the majority population, perhaps more than 80 percent, while the central government was largely in the hands of Tutsis. This Hamitic tribe originated in northern Africa many years before, and was somewhat more light-skinned and had Europeantype facial features. This caused colonial powers that successively controlled Rwanda for more than a century—Germans, Belgians, and French—to favor them and assign them to government jobs, and it inspired the Tutsis to think of themselves as more advanced than Hutus. Ideas of racial superiority planted seeds of hatred between the two groups. The antagonism between them seems to have abated following the genocide.
(continued on the next page)
The beginning of the Church of God in Rwanda dates to 1977, when a preacher from the Congo set a church in order in Kigali.
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The beginning of the Church of God in Rwanda dates to 1977, when a preacher from the Congo set a church in order in Kigali, and the movement grew and many churches were established. A national overseer who served from 1982 until 2004, however, came under the influence of Oneness, or “Jesus Only,” theology and had to be removed. As a result, most of the congregations left the denomination. In 2004, a new overseer, Charles Kagarama, was appointed, who served until 2008 and began the church’s recovery. His successor, Joseph Ndashe, the present overseer, began an aggressive church planting movement. At the present time, the Church of God has 45 congregations throughout the country, including seven in the capital city. In the Eastern Province, a church led by a woman pastor is currently building a new sanctuary that will seat more than 1,000 worshipers. Overseer Ndashe and Director Griffis visited a large plot of undeveloped land owned by the Church of God in an area of the city called Gahanga that will be the focus of the principal “Send the Light” project. The forward-looking civic leaders of Kigali have established a development plan that will guide the city’s growth through the year 2040. In that plan, the Gahanga plot will be on a main thoroughfare leading from the city center to the newly developed airport. The property adjoins one of the most prosperous neighborhoods in the city. According to World Missions leaders, the site development will include a central church that will be designated as a “birthing church,” one that will have as part of its primary mission the planting of new congregations. Further, a training center will be established that will champion church planting and pastoral preparation for Rwanda and for the East African area. Visionary plans are in process already for several upcoming city projects in the 10 metropolitan areas around the globe, including the other African location—Lomé, Togo—a seaport city of 760,000 in West Africa. n
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The site development will include a central church that will . . . have as part of its primary mission the planting of new congregations.
What’s Happening in Missions News FRom aRouND The Globe
ETHIOPIA
Work continues on the headquarters building and central church in Addis Ababa. The five-story structure is a project of YWEA. It will be dedicated in 2017. The cement used in the construction is hand-mixed on the ground and carried up ladders in buckets as the building rises, as are the blocks. The Church of God property adjoins a mosque, and the cross will stand just a short distance from the crescent. n
NEW WEBSITE FOR WORLD MISSIONS INFORMATION
In an effort to keep World Missions participants more informed, World Missions has established a new website for its emphasis called, “Send the Light to the Cities” at www.sendlight2cities.com. World Missions is focusing on 10 major cities: Amsterdam, Netherlands; Bangkok, Thailand; Georgetown, Guyana; Kigali, Rwanda; Lomé, Togo; Manila, Philippines, Mexico City, Mexico; Moscow, Russia; Paris, France: and Sáo Paulo, Brazil. (Since recent rulings regarding Christianity by Russia’s legislature, Moscow will become a prayer emphasis for the Church of God for a time, as resistance to churches and the Gospel is great.) Prague, Czech Republic, has been chosen to complete the 10-city vision. n
LUXEMBOURG
The Church of God celebrated its 25th anniversary during this past year. Organized in 1991 (by the European field director, Douglas LeRoy; and overseer of France, André Weber) with seven adults and eight children, the congregation has grown to over 400 believers from 47 nations. Graham and Chris Kettle planted the English-speaking church in the beginning, but their ease in working with other cultures opened the door for many nationalities. The theme for the anniversary celebration was from 2 Samuel 7:12: “Hitherto has the Lord helped us.” n
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AN EXAMPLE OF GIVING
Wayne Perel, a former National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) employee, is 77 years old and has faithfully financially contributed to World Missions for many years. In addition to his global impact, he prays from the time he awakens until 4 p.m. each day, then from 4 to 7 p.m. he goes to a Florida beach to witness. Last year alone he experienced 27 conversions. Wayne worships with three churches—one Caucasian and the other two Hispanic. Although he does not speak Spanish, he enjoys their worship—the passion, power, and prayer in their services. Regardless of his current health issues, Wayne will continue to send his financial support to World Missions, and affirms that all he does is to the glory of God. n
ROMANIA
Bread of Life Orphanage and Feeding Center continues to show the love of God in its country. A mother and her children were banned from their home by the father when she accepted Christ. Some Christians who discovered her plight together provided an apartment. Because one of the children has special needs, the mother cannot work and must depend on the assistance of Bread of Life, along with other charitable organizations. The mother feels relief knowing God’s people unite and help through difficult times. Bread of Life now impacts the lives of over 3,000 children and their families across Romania. n
SCOTLAND
Dennis and Vanna Tanner, overseer of Scotland, returned to their mission field following the recent International General Assembly and faced a busy schedule. They met with pastors, had an interview with a church interested in joining their fellowship, and anticipated dedicating a new youth and discipleship Community Ministry Center. An annual church and ministers meeting was also conducted. Sadly, the Tanners’ computers crashed and they were forced to purchase two new ones at an expense of $4,000. n
HUNGARY
Four years ago, Church of God missionaries partnered with a local Hungarian pastor to provide a youth camp for poor Roma Gypsy children. This year, the youth camp ministry grew into three camps in the villages of Uzska, Aranyospati, and Nojkteloja. Over 300 children attended and 72 accepted Christ into their hearts. A youth camp will be conducted for the first time in August 2017 in Romania. n
Visit globalCoNNeCT online at
www.cogwm.org
for updated information weekly. 20
VIEWPOINT
Cornelia Scott Cree, retired missionary-teacher, returned to Waynesville, North Carolina, to write books, articles, and a blog, WouldYouConsider.net.
WHY DO SINGLE WOMEN QUIT CHURCH?
T N
O, I’M NOT A SOREHEAD. I’m not mad at anyone. I am not asking anyone to change to accommodate me, nor am I looking for the mythical “perfect church.” However, and I say this cautiously, there is no comfortable place for single women in most churches. In fact, almost all Christian women friends of mine no longer attend church regularly. The data bears this out. A 2016 Pew Research report showed, “The U.S. gap in church attendance has been narrowing in recent decades as the share of women attending weekly has declined.” In the early 1970s, “an average of 36 percent of women and 26 of men reported attending religious services at least once a week—a 10-percentage-point gap. . . . By the early 2010s, the gender gap in attendance had narrowed to just 6 points, with 28 percent of women and 22 percent of men saying they attend religious services at least weekly” (pewresearch.org). My two unmarried daughters both graduated from Oral Roberts University. When one of them went house-hunting, the realtor showed her a primarily gay community, and flatly said he had assumed she was a lesbian. She got the same story from some people at church. Maybe being nearly 6 feet tall had something to do with it . . . but really?
The symbol of a good church is that the members love and appreciate each other; this means there should be a good cross-section of people. If members love each other, there is a place for you too.
Then there are church women who cast furtive, hostile glances while clutching their husbands when a single woman joins. Other church members routinely try to push young single women into marriage, which is not the mission of the church. Single older women can pose an economic concern because they often have few resources. Will the pastor fear we might be needy and drain church finances? Wisely, the finance committee of a large Church of God congregation in North Carolina never tells the senior pastor how much money is contributed by individual members. He requested this so he would not make decisions based on income potential. His church prospers. While living in Texas, I attended a megachurch with 23,000 members at one campus as large as a community college. This group believes women should not teach. Our brave Sunday school teacher studied hard, but he had no calling to teach. Fortunately, two former missionaries in the class bailed him out every Sunday by clarifying his words. Wouldn’t it be better to have someone do God’s work that God, not man, had called? In one church, a choir member wanted to quote a scripture before she sang, but was halted. “Shouldn’t we get permission from the pastor first?” the choir director asked. This woman has been a Christian for decades, but because she was female, the question was asked. Women have always worked, and worked hard, in church. They are counted on for the four C’s: children, choir, cooking, and computers. Oh, and I forgot, cleanup. However, what if God has called them to something else? How can a woman, or a man, find a good church to attend? Pay no attention to the outside; you’re not looking for a showplace. The secret is in the Scriptures. The symbol of a good church is that the members love and appreciate each other; this means there should be a good cross-section of people. If members love each other, there is a place for you too. Jesus said, “Love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another” (John 13:34-35). EVANGEL January 2017
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NETWORKING TO SPREAD THE GOSPEL n by JAMES E. COSSEY
“A three-stranded rope isn’t easily snapped” (Eccl. 4:12 TM).
N
ETWORKING is “making contact and exchanging information with other people, groups, and institutions to develop mutually beneficial relationships, or to access and share information.” While the term has been widely used in business, especially in technology, it is a relatively new term for the church. The principle behind networking is each of us can accomplish more when we are in partnership with others. Networkers are too busy to “reinvent the wheel,” so they collaborate with others to accomplish a common goal. Those who network are scarcely concerned about who gets the credit; they are preoccupied with the accomplishment of an agreed-upon task. Regarding the Great Commission, USA Missions (now USA/Canada Missions) has been engaged in the networking concept for some time. Examples are our strategic partnership agreements with Operation Christmas Child (Samaritan’s Purse), My Hope with Billy Graham, and Global Institute for Ministry and Training (GIMT). Operation Christmas Child provides Christmas shoeboxes filled with gifts to underprivileged children; My Hope produces materials believers can use to conduct nonconfrontational witness opportunities in their homes; GIMT trains Christians how to share Christ with their Muslim neighbors. Rather than opening offices in our headquarters and seeking to fund and develop these kinds of out22
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reaches, we have chosen to challenge our pastors and churches to network with these ministries. Mission North America is the USA/ Canada side of the Division of World Evangelization. In MNA we consider ourselves to be a functioning internal network of Church of God ministries. Consisting of seven entities—Black Ministries, Hispanic Ministries, Marketplace Ministries
(personal evangelism), Men and Women of Action, Ministry to the Military, Multicultural Ministries, and USA Missions— we are united, under the leadership of J. David Stephens (our divisional director), to fulfill the Great Commission. While maintaining our primary objective of making disciples, we engage in planting and revitalizing churches, developing leaders at the state and local level, offering ministry resources, providing humanitarian relief, and evangelizing the lost. The ministries of MNA do not only network with each other. Each entity also networks with various denominations; social and governmental agencies; and national, state, and local ministries and associations to facilitate the fulfillment of the Great Commission. From associations that train church planters to immigration services and relief agencies, we are continually networking with others for the sharing of ideas and resources for making disciples. If we are to realize the fulfillment of Christ’s command, networking at all levels of ministry is essential. For example, in my most recent pastorate, we found ourselves overworked and underfunded every Thanksgiving and Christmas trying to provide food for needy families. We discovered there was a social agency in our community already doing this, and we learned they were feeding some of the same families we were feeding. After much prayer and thought, we discontinued our food distribution, began making donations from our church to support the community program, and enlisted volunteers from our church to
assist the social agency. This helped meet a critical need while avoiding duplication, and allowed our members the opportunity to actively live out their faith as they networked with the community. Recently, I had the opportunity to visit a church in a major metropolitan area where the pastor had not been able to realize good growth of his Englishspeaking Anglo congregation that is located in a changing neighborhood. After a season of prayer and contemplation, the congregation rejected the notion of abandoning the community and relocating to a “more acceptable” location. Instead, the pastor and lay leadership began to interact with the multiple ethnic groups in their community. Over time, the pastor networked with scores of people groups in the vicinity of his under-occupied facility, discovering struggling house churches and small groups meeting in less-than-desirable situations. The end result of his networking experiment is five congregations (Anglo, Jamaican, Hispanic, Ukrainian, and Filipino) sharing a once-almost-empty house of worship with ministry activities taking place virtually every day of the week, and each group making disciples, thus expanding the kingdom of God. General Overseer Tim Hill says the Great Commission is too great a task for any one person, church, or denomination to accomplish alone. Surely, it is a doable assignment, or else our Lord would not have commanded us to do it. The Joshua Project (joshuaproject .net/countries/US) estimates there are 482 distinct people groups in the United States, with 83 of those groups (10.7 million people) virtually unreached with the Gospel! (A people group is defined as “an ethno-linguistic group with a self-identity that is shared by all the members”). These statistics remind us joining hearts and resources with others is essential to finishing the Great Commission. It can be argued that the Church of God, from its inception, has had an excellent structure built right for the first stages of networking. We are denominationally subdivided into districts, comprised of
Finishing the Great Commission requires Kingdom-minded partnerships. clusters of local congregations. Would it not be exciting to rather see these as networks (connoting action, activity) rather than districts (ecclesiastical structures)? Imagine what could happen if a group of local churches decided that rather than compete with one another, they would complete one another by networking together to advance the cause of Christ. What could happen if a cluster of congregations networked their personnel and resources to plant a new church across town or in the next city, or to conduct unified city or community outreach ministries and events? What could happen if nobody cared who got the credit, but cared only that Jesus got the glory? What could happen if we allowed our territorial lines to blur and recognized, “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it. The world and all its people belong to him” (Ps. 24:1 NLT)? What could happen if we were minded to jointly build Christ’s kingdom? It has been said everyone that you meet knows something you don’t; and in
the words of Elizabeth Jane Howard, “Call it a clan, call it a tribe, call it a network, call it a family. Whatever you call it, you need one!” Solomon declared, “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. . . . Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken” (Eccl. 4:9-10, 12 NKJV). The FINISH Commitment is too exhaustive and too exhausting for lone rangers. It can only be completed through partnerships and Kingdom-mindedness. Someone has said, “If you’re not networking, you’re not working.” Helen Keller stated, “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” James E. Cossey is a former editor in chief of Church of God Publications, and former editor of the Church of God Evangel. Since 2012, he has served in the Division of World Evangelization/USA Missions, currently as special projects coordinator.
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THE ROAD
(Camp Hill, Pennsylvania) by Kevin Rhodes
A
S A CHURCH PLANTER, the word invest has multiple meanings. First, it is realizing that church planting is primarily about investing in Kingdom work by reaching people with the good news of Jesus. As we focus our efforts outside church walls, we are investing in our greatest challenge, which is fulfilling the Great Commission. In the initial stages of planting The Road, I had to choose how much I was going to give up to start a new church. I had my calling to plant, the blessing of my leaders, vision, strategy, and the grit to stay flexible within the process . . . but how far was I willing to go? We began in a mobile site, which required setting up and tearing down weekly. I was working two jobs, putting in close to 65 hours a week. At times I would go four days in a row working 12-hour shifts and miss seeing my baby boy, because he was asleep when I left and asleep when I got home. There were Saturday nights I would get home from work at 11:00
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exhausted, knowing that Sunday morning was just hours away. What kept me going, and still keeps me going, is a clear understanding that church planting is an investment into God’s kingdom, and our return will be the harvest of souls God sends our way for all of the sacrifices we have given to His work. When you are sacrificing to move the work forward, you know you are invested in what you are doing. Church planting has taught me this firsthand. Throughout our journey, people have invested in The Road in many ways: • Our prayer partners intercede for us and send encouragement on a consistent basis. • Leaders on the national, state, and district level contact us and encourage us, taking time to pour into a young pastor with a vision. • Financial partners have sent love offerings that showed up at God-ordained times to help keep us going in some really tough moments. • Saving the best for last, our plant team that has been with us for two years are our heroes. They are always present and ready to take on any challenge we face. Their spiritual support and confidence in this new work is sunshine on the rainiest of days. The investment they have put into
TWIN
church planting will go farther than they know, and they make this pastor feel so humbled to have them on our team. God has moved in significant ways at The Road, and it’s been amazing to have front-row seats to see Him work. We went from meeting in a local gymnasium to having an old church/schoolhouse given to us. I have gone from working 65 hours a week to 40, and have been promoted at my current job twice this year. We began two years ago with five people, and now have a core team of 35, including a worship team we have worked so hard to establish. We are now planning to update our facility to create an environment for effective children’s/student ministry, and launching a marketing campaign to reach out to our community. The most significant thing that has happened at The Road is having guests come, accept Jesus, and walk with us in ministry. We have reached people who were unchurched. This is why we invest in church planting. As a planter in the Church of God, I couldn’t be more proud and excited about what God has in store for our future.
INVESTMENTS DWELLING PLACE CHURCH (Siren, Wisconsin) by Byron Davis
W
HEN GOD FIRST laid it on our hearts to plant a church, our first question was, how could we afford to invest in such an endeavor? Almost two years later, I can say with confidence that my wife and I were worried about the wrong facet of church planting. While it takes financial investment to run a ministry, it requires much more than money to succeed, for church planting is a spiritual matter. The first investment must be in your dream for your church and the needs of the area you desire to reach, and how you envision investing in that need. As a friend of mine often tells me, “Find a hurt and heal it; find a need and meet it.” Vision is crucially important, for Proverbs 29:18 says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” Your vision has to be clear so others can see it plainly enough to become their vision as well. Second, if you are married, you and your spouse must both be willing to invest in that vision, completely, as one. You must be equally willing to sacrifice your time and energy to achieve the vision together. If it were not for my wife constantly edifying and exhorting me to fulfill God’s call on my life, I would not be writing this. The church plant would have never come to fruition regardless of finances. Third, and most important, is the investment of prayer. You must always remember the church is not yours; it
belongs to God. If He laid it on your heart to start a church in a particular area, there is a reason for it, and you must stay in constant communication with Him to know His will for the people He has entrusted to you. When God led me to plant a church, I was not fiscally able to perform such an endeavor. I could have never dreamed from where my help would come. The first investor in our ministry was the manager of a local theater who offered us the use of the facility for free until we could
connection in the success of our church plant. We have also been blessed to have wonderful family members and friends to invest in our vision, as well as extraordinary congregants who unselfishly invest their time and energy every week into the ministry. The most significant thing God is doing in our ministry is showing up and changing lives. Nothing does my heart as good as seeing someone who has never experienced the manifest presence of God walk into our service and leave significantly changed. There could be nothing
get established. While this was an unconventional idea for a church, it was a blessing for us, and we will be forever grateful that she believed in our vision enough to invest in it. That is why we must pray and listen: God thinks outside the box. We have been unbelievably blessed by the investment of our regional overseer. I cannot say enough about all he has done to support our vision. He has not only helped us financially, but through countless hours of mentorship. He has been a constant source of edification and a crucial Kingdom
greater in ministry than to be a part of a move of God’s Spirit. God is adding to the church and multiplying the gifts within. I am beyond thankful to say within six months of conception, we were blessed enough to start a successful children’s ministry headed up by two of the most effective children’s pastors that any church could have. This is important to me because children are the church of both tomorrow and today.
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When God Sends a FAMILY
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IFTEEN YEARS AGO, my husband and I heard God asking, “Whom should I send as a messenger to this people?” We responded by saying, “Here we are. Send us.” Bobby and I had always been involved in our local church, and were compassionate about those in need, yet we were content in our self-absorbed little bubble of safety. Through a time of study and strengthening of our relationship with God, our faith in and commitment to Him grew deeper. As we surrendered more of ourselves to God, He opened the eyes of our hearts and created within us a burning passion for the poor and oppressed. Our eyes were opened to the reality of poverty and injustice all around us. God challenged us to show His love to the multitudes who have never known such love. With every new awakening, our hearts were broken with God’s love for those who are suffering. Before long, we were sent forth by our local church to serve in missions. We 26
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quit our jobs, sold our possessions (home, truck, fishing boat, extra furniture, artwork, even the dog), and moved into a housing complex of inner-city Atlanta to participate in an incarnational ministry project. Leaving a sleepy, small town in Alabama, we moved to a place ripe with gang and racial tensions. In our new home, chaos and crime were so common that they were barely even noticed. Selling our possessions and moving our small children into the ghetto seemed drastic and even crazy to many onlookers. To us, this was the exciting culmination of our searching for God’s will. It was as if we had been on a scavenger hunt and finally found
Bobby and Tamitha Lynch
the prize. Sure, we felt nervousness over entering this new and strange world, but every step was taken in complete peace and assurance that we were following God’s guidance. There was no turning back. After five years of inner-city missions, we began to hear His call once again. We felt a strong sense of God sending us to work in a developing country, but had no peace about exactly where. Knowing we had learned so much that could be applied in yet another culture, we began to seek counsel from several pastors and friends. As Bobby spoke over the phone with his former missions professor, Rick Waldrop, at the Pentecostal Theological Seminary, God began to reveal His plan. As Dr. Waldrop talked to Bobby about the needs of the Church of God seminary in Quito, Ecuador, I was only hearing Bobby’s end of the conversation. I was able to understand they needed a professor of missions (which perfectly fit Bobby’s gifts) and there were many children in need (which fit my passion and calling). The peace of
missionary life. However, they also wear many ribbons from the experiences that have positively shaped and enriched their lives. They have friends in many different places. They have visited beautiful and historically important sites. They can understand and empathize with the foreigner trying to make his or her way in a new culture. Most importantly, they have seen the reward of a life surrendered to God. They have held children who were traumatized by abuse. They have seen God miraculously heal the sick and wounded. They have shared their food with families who had nothing to eat. They have seen God provide not only for themselves, but also for children with tattered clothing and shoes. Our family has seen the face of Jesus in the lost and hurting, and have had the extreme honor of serving as His hands and feet extended to care for them.
God began to fill both of our hearts, along with a deep passion for the Ecuadorian people we had yet to meet. While he was still on the phone, I wrote a note to Bobby that said, “Where do we sign?” as my way of expressing the confirmation I felt. Bobby shared that confirmation; we knew Ecuador was the next place to which God was sending our family. Not long after this, our 8-yearold twins came to us and shared how they had been praying and they strongly sensed that God was preparing our family for “something big.” Fueled by such strong confirmation of God’s plan, we applied and were appointed as missionaries for the Church of God to Quito, Ecuador. Once again, we sold our home and other possessions, in preparation to go where God sent. We moved to Ecuador with only a vague memory of high-school Spanish and little knowledge about what our daily life would entail. It was another leap of faith that we took while relying on God.
injustice of poverty. They continue to follow their own personal callings in various ways. Our daughter is currently studying at Lee University in preparation to work in Asia when God is ready to send her.
Can Children Be Sent? A missionary calling affects the whole family. When God called us, He called our children as well. Our children, indeed, heard their own callings from God to participate in the Great Commission throughout various phases of our journey. For example, after befriending a former Ringling Brother’s clown who was homeless, the twins began ministering as clowns as kindergarteners. Another example was when, in response to the need for workers in our children’s ministry in Ecuador, they started a puppet and drama team using their friends. I could give you many more examples of how God has used them mightily. Our children were sent, along with us, to live among those who live on the streets . . . who have been abused . . . who are hungry and hurting. Because they grew up in this reality, they relate naturally to people from all walks of life, as they have very little bias or prejudice that would normally be a barrier. They instinctively care for and are very empathetic to others. They are passionate about issues of human rights because they have witnessed firsthand the
Attempting to blend into a totally different culture, while never truly being able to fit in, has intense emotional effects. Our kids experienced culture shock, both here and there. When we first moved to Ecuador, they jokingly debated about how much money they could make from selling their blond hair because people petted their locks. The first time we returned to the U.S., they were overwhelmed and confused by the plethora of choices for gum and candy in the grocery store. There is the constant uncertainty of “Can we drink the water here?” or “Do we flush the toilet paper here?” Also, their safety has been at risk. As 3-year-olds, living among nightly gunfire in “the hood,” the twins thought there were fireworks every night in Atlanta. In Ecuador, they have to follow safety precautions against theft or other dangers as a part of their daily routine. They have even been on lockdown while watching an attempted government coup take place live, on television.
Our Extended Family If our family leaves any mark on the people we have served, it will be evident in those around us who decide to take up their crosses and allow God to send them into their own areas of ministry. Our overarching goal as missionaries is to serve in community with the people to whom we are sent. Working with the existing leadership, we aid in the training and sending of more local leaders. We strive to continuously “work ourselves out of a job” and see that indigenous local leadership is equipped to take over our various roles and lead the ministry further into unreached territory. We have the privilege of working alongside ministers throughout Latin America who are completely sold out to God’s work. The passion and sacrifice by many of our students and ministry partners, who have become our adopted family, is both humbling and encouraging. God is moving and stirring revival around the world as individuals continue to surrender their own wills and say to God, “Here I am. Send me.”
The Reward Yes, our children wear a few emotional battle scars from being sent to this
Tamitha Lynch and her husband, Bobby, are missionaries living in Quito, Ecuador. lovegodserveothers.com
The Cost Life as missionary kids isn’t always easy. Our children have sacrificed intimate relationships. They have left behind Christmas gifts that were too large to fit into the suitcase. They have endured times of intense loneliness and were forced to mature much more quickly than most children.
Our children have seen God provide not only for themselves, but also for kids with tattered clothing and little to eat.
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HEN PEOPLE DISCOVER we live in Dearborn, Michigan, they generally ask two questions: “Are you afraid?” and “How did you end up living with all those Muslims?” The answers are “No” and “Our pastor asked us to spend two years in Dearborn planting a church.” Well, that was 27 years ago, and our church plant became a mission station to the largest concentration of Arab-speaking Shia Muslims in the Western world. It’s been a fabulous journey, and we’ve been both challenged and enriched by the Middle Eastern people we have had the pleasure to serve over the last quarter century.
the church, and from there we moved out in all four directions. Eventually we combined prayer walking with house-tohouse tract distribution and offering to pray with people. Muslims welcome your prayers when they are facing sickness or difficulty. To date we have covered about 30,000 homes. In the last three years we’ve added “cross walks” in parks and college campuses. Prayer impacts the spiritual environment, and it positions the church to hear the mind of God concerning how best to witness. Prayer also prepares the hearts of those we are trying to reach. We pray for divine appointments and open doors,
Understanding Your Neighbor We tend to shy away from people who are culturally different from us. Differences in music, food, family, societal structure, and religious beliefs can be either roadblocks or stepping-stones in building relationships with immigrant communities. “Project Dearborn” was born out of our need to understand and engage our Muslim neighbors. It is a five-day annual training and immersion program where participants learn about Muslim practices, beliefs, and history, and Christians learn how to share their faith. Many past participants have ongoing relationships with Muslims whom they met during the training.
Reaching Muslims in Michigan (or wherever you live) God made it very clear to us, as a church, that the Arab Muslim people were in America by the will of God, for the purpose of hearing the Gospel. God uniquely positioned His church in Dearborn to be involved in His plan. God called us to pastor all of its residents and empowered the church to fulfill God’s mission. By 1995, this was the premise of our ministry in Dearborn. Getting Started Not all immigrant communities are the same, so there is not a one-size-fits-all ministry model that applies to every Unreached People Group. For example, within our community’s Arab population, many different Arabic dialects are spoken. The culture of the tribal people from Yemen is much different than that of the Lebanese. Yet, there are some general guidelines we should consider when developing a strategy to engage immigrant communities. Those strategies include strategic prayer and worship, understanding your neighbors, depending on the Holy Spirit, and sharing Jesus. Strategic Prayer and Worship We started prayer walking in 1995. We first covered the streets next to 28
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asking the Holy Spirit to lead us to the right people. Love is the essence of evangelism. Through prayer, love develops for those we are praying for. We feel God’s heart toward them, and His love constrains us to open our mouths and use our hands in witness. It’s important to note you will not love people you do not pray for—especially those who are culturally and ethnically different than you, and whom many people consider to be their enemies. (The prophet Daniel is a great example of someone who interceded for his enemies.) Many immigrant communities are passionate about their religion, and this is particularly true of Muslims. Many of their imams are very charismatic, and it is not uncommon for the people to loudly express their belief in the greatness of their god. For instance, I saw a crowd shouting praise to Allah during the rescue of a young child from the rubble left by an earthquake. I mention this because it has been my experience that Muslims who step into a Christian church are not bothered by passionate prayers, exuberant worship, or boisterous preaching. Just as happened on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2, Arabs, Persians, and Iraqis are being drawn to Jesus by the Holy Spirit.
Effective witness happens when we intentionally learn about those we are trying to reach, and use that knowledge to form a contextualized message. Dependence on the Holy Spirit My telephone rang early one morning. I recognized the caller as one of my elders. “Pastor, my mother has had a heart attack and a stroke, and the doctors are giving her 24 hours to live.” I asked him if he would like me to go immediately to the hospital to pray for her. “Yes, but she doesn’t like you, so I have no idea how she’ll react.” I asked, “Why doesn’t she like me?” My elder replied, “Because I’m attending your church instead of the mosque.” “Don’t worry. God will show me what to do when I get to the hospital.” When I arrived, Alice was by herself in a darkened room in ICU. Tubes were running everywhere, and the only sound was coming from the machines that were keeping her alive. The Lord whispered in my spirit, “Tell her she is dying, and ask her if you may pray for her in the name of Jesus.” That’s what I did. Though she couldn’t speak, she affirmed my request by gently nodding her head. As we prayed, the
presence of the Holy Spirit enveloped the room. Alice was out of intensive care and in a regular room within two days. About a year and a half later, the Lord told me that Alice’s day of salvation had come. While visiting in her home, she accepted the substitutional death of Jesus as payment in full for her sins. Similar events have been taking place in Dearborn for many years. The Holy Spirit will direct us as to when and how to engage our Muslim friends.
We are out to win hearts— not political, religious, or geographical arguments.
Give Them Jesus I believe it was a Texas evangelist who coined the phrase, “Read the red and pray for the power.” He was referring to the words of Jesus that are highlighted in the New Testament with red ink. When talking with Muslims, we focus on the life and words of Jesus. Muslims have a deep respect for Jesus, believing He is a miracle worker, healer, and great prophet. So, Jesus is where we begin our witness. Most Muslims have never read the New Testament, even though they recognize it as an inspired book. They are unfamiliar with the extent of Jesus’ ministry. They don’t understand concepts like the Trinity, the divinity of Christ, and His substitutional death. I have been praying for and witnessing to some of my neighbors for over seven years, spending countless hours explaining who Jesus is and what His life, death, and resurrection really mean. Most of our conversations have been initiated by my neighbors. There are some specific concepts within the Muslim religion that we use to witness to our Muslim friends; one is the concept of sacrifice. The story of God stopping Abraham from sacrificing his son on an altar, and then providing an animal sacrifice, is celebrated by Eid al-Adha, or “the Feast of Sacrifice.” Anyone who is serious about presenting a contextualized message to Muslims need to familiarize themselves with this celebration. Finally, remember we are out to win hearts—not political, religious, or geographical arguments. These few guidelines will go a long way in helping you engage the Muslim people in your community. Frederick Nichols is pastor of Reach International Church in Dearborn, Michigan.
[email protected] Pastor Nichols on a “cross walk” in Dearborn
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People Events HARVEST OF PRAISE Rochester, NH—The incredible 37-year journey for my wife, Linda, and me into the harvest field of Northern New England began in August 1979. While I was serving as assistant pastor at the Williamsport (Maryland) Church of God, a friend gave my name and phone number to the overseer of Northern New England, Ariel Yorkman. Brother Yorkman called us with the invitation to pastor the Rochester Church of God in New Hampshire. Linda and I took a week to pray over this decision, and the Lord burdened our hearts to move to Rochester. As we prayed, we sensed God was sending us to become part of the revival and harvest He was bringing to New England. The needed finances started coming in from every direction, and we knew God was in this move of faith. On September 30, 1979, Linda and I, along with our 6-month-old daughter, left Maryland in a U-Haul truck with our green AMC Hornet in tow. We arrived in New Hampshire on October 2. Shortly after arriving in Rochester, we discovered there was an Anderson, Indiana, Church of God in the town. With both churches using the name “Rochester Church of God,” it caused confusion with mail, telephone calls, and so on. We began to ask the Lord to give us the right name for our church. We felt led to change the church name to “Harvest of Praise Church of God,” based on Psalm 126:5-6: “Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him” (NIV). There are many blessings and challenges with pastoring in North-
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ern New England. Research shows the New England states have the lowest church attendance of all the regions in the United States. On any given Sunday, less than 20 percent of the population attends worship services here. The long, cold, snowy winters are also a challenge. At our location, most of the parking is along the street. When a significant snowstorm comes, we lose all or most of our parking until we can clear the snow away. The blessings of God, however, far outweigh the challenges we face. We have seen God meet every need we ever had with salvations, healings, finances, and spiritual breakthroughs. He brings the joy in the harvest. Ministries of the Church Our church offers a wide range of ministries for the entire family: Sunday school, morning worship, children’s church, intercessory prayer groups, and Wednesday-night Family Training Hour. All worship services offer lively gospel music and Biblecentered preaching.
Pastor Whaley leading 2016 National Day of Prayer event at Rochester City Hill
In 1984, the church began the annual Gospel Concert on the Lighthouse Christian Academy— Rochester Common, featuring a state-approved Christian school singing and music from churches using A Beka curriculum in kinderin the Greater Rochester area, with garten and first grade, and Alpha 200 to 300 in attendance. Omega’s LifePac curriculum in Our congregation is one of Grades 2 through 12. Lighthouse six that helps to provide a weekly is the only K-12 Christian Harvest of school in Rochester. GradPraise Church uates have gone on to college, into the ministry, and several had served our nation in the military. Once a month from September through May, we have a dinner-and-amovie event. We provide modestly priced meals and a free showing of Christian and family movies. The cost of the meals helps us purchase the movies and pay the performance license. Many people come from the Rochester and surrounding communities to attend this monthly event; it has been a fruitful outreach. A Community-Minded Church Harvest of Praise networks with other area churches and pastors for special services and community events. Every year, our church sponsors and organizes the local National Day of Prayer observance on the first Thursday of May. Believers gather on the front lawn of the Rochester City Hall, and area pastors lead in prayer. Every summer the church also sponsors and organizes
worship service at the Colonial Hill Care and Rehabilitation Center of Rochester. Our church’s newest ministry is the Rochester Prayer Network. Consisting of pastors and laity in the Rochester area, we meet two Sundays a month (from 6 to 7 a.m.) to pray for revival in our city, state, and nation. The network also maintains a Facebook page to share prayer concerns and needs. A Missions-Minded Church Our church helps to support missionaries in Indonesia, Brazil, and Ecuador. We also contribute to Northern New England’s “Sending Light to the Lost,” the pregnancy help center in nearby Dover, the Smoky Mountain Children’s Home in Tennessee, and our local Christian radio station. Linda and I never dreamed we would remain at Harvest of Praise for over 37 years. All we know is, the best is yet to come as we continue to pour out our hearts into the harvest field before us. God has always been faithful as we have pressed on.—Pastor Laren Whaley
For daily news updates about what’s happening in the Church of God and Evangelical world, visit FAITH NEWS NETWORK, at www.faithnews.cc.
BAKER Installed as Seminary President Cleveland, TN—Dr. Michael L. Baker was formally installed as president of the Pentecostal Theological Seminary (PTS) on October 19, 2016, becoming the 11th president to serve at the Church of God school. In addition to the presidency, Baker serves as chancellor of the denomination’s Division of Education. The office oversees Church of God colleges, seminaries, and schools around the globe—a number in excess of 110 learning institutions. Baker is the fourth person to fill this role, which was created in 1998. During the ceremony, video greetings were presented from educational leaders in Germany, Ecuador, England, the Bahamas, and Russia. Cleveland Mayor Tom Rowland touted the strategic presence of the seminary in the city. Art Rhodes, chairman of the Global Board of Education, greeted the audience, followed by Lee University President Dr. Paul Conn, who listed the contributions of Baker toward the advancement of education at Lee and the denomination. General Overseer Tim Hill performed the investiture ceremony. “Mike Baker is uniquely gifted,” Hill stated. “It is rare to find a person with the past ministry experience needed to fill this role. He has done all things with excellence and is well prepared to lead PTS forward.” The outgoing president, Dr. R. Lamar Vest, led a “prayer for inauguration and commissioning.” Baker and Vest have shared a lifetime of friendship and ministry together, so the transition between the two administrations has been a sharing of dialogue and mentorship. During his inaugural address, Baker thanked a number of influMike ential leaders who have guided and Baker mentored him throughout his ministry posts in the Church of God, which have included pastor, educator, communications director, and state overseer of Virginia and North Georgia. He opened his remarks by laying the groundwork of cooperation with and for the Church of God, both through participation in the FINISH Commitment and the launch of the Global Education Initiative. He then honed in on the future of the seminary. “What is the next level for PTS?” he asked the delegation. “Instead of starting out by asking God for what we need, let’s offer Him what we have, and He will pour out His blessings. I affirm the past, actualize the present, and anticipate the future. Let us embrace our future and move to the next level.”—Faith News Network
Sushil Mathew ministering to housemaids in Kuwait
AN OIL-RICH BUT GOSPEL-HUNGRY LAND Mahboula, KUWAIT—The eight Church of God congregations here are all doing well by God’s grace. I am a bi-vocational minister working 60 hours per week (normal schedule), pastoring one congregation, overseeing the eight churches, and serving as co-coordinator for Unreached People Groups in the Middle East and North Africa. Ministry here is challenging and distinctive. During a recent three-day Muslim holiday, I was blessed to meet with Kadama, a housemaid from Cameroon who works in a Kuwaiti home. This sister called me a while earlier requesting a Bible. She is not allowed to go outside at all, despite the law which allows domestic workers one day off per week. I drove three hours to give her a Bible. On my arrival, I spent
two minutes presenting the Bible and praying for her. Then another believer asked for one. She is also from Cameroon and in exactly the same situation. I ended up delivering a Bible to her too. You cannot imagine the joy and excitement this gave them. One sent me this phone message: “A million thanks. Pastor, I will praise Jesus all day long.” This is the joy of serving the Lord in Kuwait. In the midst of difficulties and suffering, believers hunger and thirst for God as their only hope. It is a joy to serve God through these neglected and abused maids. Meanwhile, the Church of God is now offering Certificate in Ministerial Studies at the Leadership Institute of Kuwait, with plans to open a second site. The total expected enrollment is 25 students. —Rev. Dr. Sushil Mathew
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People Events LEE PROFESSOR COMPOSES INAUGURATION MUSIC
SCHOOL DESKS and HOPE Portsmouth, VA—Jamaica is a beautiful tropical paradise known for sugary-sand beaches, tropical breezes, crystal-clear water, and 5-star resorts. However, those luxurious accommodations are provided to tourists on the backs of ordinary Jamaicans working for around $50 (U.S.) per week. While wading through the marred residue of colonialism and reeling from the effects of globalism, most families are struggling to survive. Yet, hope remains alive in the New Testament Church of God in Jamaica, which has given the world scholars, physicians, scientists, clergy, and missionaries. The denomination values education, and operates dozens of schools, many operating in the poorest of areas. One of those schools, Dumfries Primary, was built for 200 students in 1973, “but currently has an enroll-
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ment of 233,” said the interim principal, Doreen Neale. She added, “The school is in need of repairs, expansion, and basic furnishings— tables, chairs, and desks.” In support of that school and others, Hope Charitable Services (HOPE) collected, inspected, sorted, prepared, and shipped 402 student desks to Jamaica. Church of God World Missions matched the cash donation of Pastor Anthony Addinall and the All Nations Church of God (Alexandria, VA) to assist with the costs. Individuals, other churches, and businesses across the United States worked together to complete this project. HOPE is a Church of God World Missions ministry (#1022040) that serves the poor locally, nationally, and internationally. —Frank Allen, founding director http://www.hopecharitable.org/
Washington, D.C.—Lee University’s John Wykoff, assistant professor of music theory and composition, composed music for the U.S. Presidential Inauguration on January 20. “I was thrilled to receive the invitation to compose for the inaugural ceremony,” said Dr. Wykoff. “It would be gratifying to me if our small contribution could offer people a hope that’s grounded in truth.” Dr. Cameron LaBarr, director of choral studies at Missouri State University, invited Wykoff to compose on behalf of the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies. Wykoff composed two works for LaBarr’s choir to sing in the ceremony. Wykoff and LaBarr enlisted poet Michael Dennis Browne to compose the text for one of the pieces. The other work is an arrangement of an American folk-hymn. “I am pleased that the work of Dr. Wykoff will be showcased at this event, not only because he is a talented composer and scholar, but
Deceased Ministers
also because it highlights the positive impact of Lee University for the second Inauguration in a row,” said Dr. Phillip Thomas, chairperson of Lee’s School of Music, referring to Lee’s Festival Choir performance at the 2013 Inauguration. A member of Lee faculty since 2011, Wykoff received his doctorate in music composition from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, his master’s degree in music composition from the Aaron Copland School of Music (Queens College), and a bachelor’s degree in music and philosophy from Covenant College. —Charity Parris
John Wykoff
HONEYCUTT, Thaddeus; 92; exhorter; North Carolina; Louise Hartsell (daughter)
ALCALA, Jose Ramon; 80; ordained bishop; California; Angie Alcala (wife)
MAY, Robert Warren; 81; ordained bishop; California; Chris May (son)
FIDLER, Eddie Arthur; 83; ordained bishop; Iowa; Bill Fidler (son)
STALLINGS, Gordon; 99; ordained bishop; Tennessee; Edmond Stallings (son)
HESTER, Elvis H., Jr.; 73; ordained bishop; Georgia; Rita Hester (wife)
VAUGHN, Willie; 90; ordained bishop; Washington; Alvin Vaughn (son)
CHURCH OF GOD
CHRONICLES
DAVID ROEBUCK • Church of God Historian
CHALLENGING “UNALTERABLE CONDITIONS”: THE APPOINTMENT OF OVERSEER THOMAS J. RICHARDSON
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HEN GENERAL OVERSEER A. J. Tomlinson delivered his annual address to the 17th Church of God General Assembly, the racial divide in the United States loomed insurmountable. By 1922, there were black Church of God congregations in at least Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. Yet, Jim Crow laws restricted the freedoms of black Americans. Not only did they force segregated seating at the General Assembly and other public gatherings, Southern society restricted access to places providing food, lodging, and public restrooms Tomlinson lamented these circumstances regarding “colored” members in his address: “There is a problem confronting us that is yet to be solved. South of the Mason and Dixon line it is difficult to show them all the courtesy that we would like to. It is our purpose to make them feel at home with us and they do in a sense, but on account of conditions that seem to be unalterable a number of them are going away from us each year.” Likely referring to the Church of God in Christ, the general overseer reported that many black members were “joining with an organization of colored people.” Tomlinson reported that although black members desired to be part of the Church of God, “under the circumstances they feel better to be in a church to themselves where they can be perfectly free in every respect.” This situation demanded Assembly consideration. If the Church of God were God’s church, then it must be inclusive of all people despite the oppressive social conditions. At least as early as 1915, people of African descent had attended the General Assembly, and from 1919 each Assembly included a worship service led by black members. In 1915, Tomlinson had appointed Edmond Barr as overseer of black churches in Florida. For several reasons, Barr’s leadership had not continued; and, by 1922, the Church of God needed a national resolution or risked further loss of black constituents. Tomlinson’s address called for church leaders to counsel with black members to determine solutions that might allow for appropriate black leadership and progress within the Church of God. 34
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As is still the custom, committee appointments was one of the first actions of the Assembly. Among those appointments was the Committee on Better Government. Their report to the Assembly included, “We recommend that a colored overseer be appointed over all the colored churches with the same authority as state overseers; however, his territory of labor is not to be limited.” When the Executive Committee appointed state overseers for the following year, they also appointed Thomas J. Richardson to oversee all black churches. Thomas J. Richardson became national Richardson was overseer of black an ordained churches in 1922. African-American bishop from Miami who was ministering with his wife, Mamie, in North Carolina at the time. Although Richardson only served one year due to the division with Tomlinson in 1923, black national overseers continued to serve until 1958. Following Richardson, black national overseers included David LaFleur (1923–1928), J. H. Curry (1928–1939), N. S. Marcelle (1939–1946), W. L. Ford (1946–1950 and 1954– 1958), and George A. Wallace (1950–1954). Although their appointments did not solve all of the racial challenges in the church, they were a significant declaration that people of all races belong in the Church of God. David G. Roebuck, Ph.D., is Church of God historian and director of the Dixon Pentecostal Research Center. droebuck@ leeuniversity.edu
