Summer is moving along! Pastor David, Connie and I attended the North American Convention of the Church of God in Oklahoma City last week and were challenged, inspired and moved to be proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ with boldness. This event is one of the great events of the Church of God and we would fully endorse your attendance or even following it on the Internet. Topics, along with the many great speakers, music and worship experiences plus the general assembly, included a move to have the NAC every odd numbered year with the International Youth Convention on even years, resolutions to improve racial relationships, a call to community outreach and encouragement to keep “Jesus is the Subject” in our daily lives. A blessed experience for the entire Church of God. Continue reading
Change in the Church of God
Real, substantive, meaningful change. That’s what we are hoping for, and that’s what we began to see in the Church of God Convention last week in Oklahoma City.
This was the second year in a row that the major CHOG Convention was held outside of our home base in Anderson, Indiana. Attendance was up, excitement was up, unity was up. Mean attitudes or doubting spirits were less present this year, compared to last year when the change was still fresh and not well understood. Continue reading
Church of God Convention Recap
Last week’s convention in Oklahoma City gave Pastor David a few solid takeaways that will affect our life together at Mt. Haley. Listen in to his reflections on this meaningful event!
Freedom in Christ
February 22 was “Freedom Sunday,” a day in which churches from many different denominations joined forces to learn, pray, study, think, and act about the problem of human trafficking in today’s world. The evils of this industry make us wonder if God is aware or capable of doing anything about it. But Psalm 10 speaks a louder truth: God is King of the universe and will bring about justice for the oppressed. Listen in to Pastor David’s message on this special day!
A Tale of Two Conventions
Last week, Pastor David, Pastor Jerry, and Connie Graham traveled to Oklahoma City for the Church of God Convention. This coming week, several members of our youth group will travel to Nashville for the International Youth Convention. Today, Pastor David preaches on Matthew 10:37-42, a difficult but important passage. What does it say to us, and how are we challenged to move ahead as the Church of God? Listen in:
The Belong Blog
Today I would like to let you in on a little project that is growing among some friends of mine. Several of us went to seminary together and have remained in contact even though we are serving in different parts of the country (and world). You may recall that two of these friends pastor the churches with whom we sponsored Sudipta Nanda to attend last year’s Global Gathering in Anderson. We all care deeply about the Church of God, and we believe in what it stands for. And this year, we are starting with a new series of blog posts: each of us will take a turn explaining how we came to the Church of God and why we are committed to its future.
This blog is found online at www.mthaley.org/belong – it is hosted on our church’s website but is completely separate from our church’s online presence. Please take a few minutes to read the initial post of this series (written by my friend Gwynne Watkins from Dayton, Ohio) and my contribution to the series. And check back in regularly, because more stories will be posted in the coming weeks! Please do leave comments to let us know what you think, as well. We believe this conversation is important!
Pastor David
Successful Worship
Today, I read an article posted on the Church of God Ministries news website. This article is entitled “Turning Hearts and Minds Toward God in Worship,” and it explains the approach to worship taken by one large Church of God congregation in Scottsdale, Arizona. There are some incredible stories coming from that congregation: many people being baptized as believers, many people engaging in mission projects in that community, worship attendance doubling over the past four years.
But what I find fascinating in this article is how they describe their approach to worship.
Church of God Convention Moves to OKC
This past June, I wrote about the new movement in our identity as Church of God people: our new General Director, Rev. Jim Lyon, is using the phrase “Jesus is the subject” as the primary rallying cry for the Church of God in this present time. In that article, I called this phrase a “wonderful starting point.” I still believe that to be true: that “Jesus is the subject” is a wonderful theological truth, and that it is just the beginning of the reflections we can make on our identity as the Church of God.
In the past few weeks, many important changes have been unveiled by Church of God Ministries, our movement’s central offices in Anderson, Indiana. I would like to discuss one of them in particular with you, the Mt. Haley Church of God family, in this article.
Reengaging as the Church of God
Last week, something fascinating unfolded on Facebook. Church of God Ministries, our national office in Anderson, maintains a Facebook page to help Church of God people connect with each other. (It’s very similar to Mt. Haley’s Facebook page, but it reaches a much broader audience than ours does.) Occasionally, the people who maintain that page will ask a question, post a thought, or share a picture – and usually not a whole lot of discussion takes place.
That was not the case this week, when Church of God Ministries asked these questions: “How can the Church of God re-engage congregations, from California to the New England states? And, what would you say the Church of God needs to do to re-engage the younger generation?”
What followed was an intense, thoughtful discussion involving many different individuals. This is rather unusual for Facebook, especially for an online discussion about faith-related issues! Many of the responses were short and terse calls to “preach the Word of God alone” and “get back to the basics” – a kind of “scripture only” stance that many Christian groups have called for over the years. (In Latin, one would say “sola scriptura“; that phrase was a guiding principle of the Protestant Reformation led by Martin Luther in the 1500s.) While I agree with the principle, there’s nothing uniquely Church of God about that stance.
Many people discussed our annual national campmeeting, which has always been held in Anderson, Indiana. Some people are calling for a moving, rotating convention so that people in all locations have equal opportunity to attend a campmeeting that is close to them. Others are concerned about programming, service opportunities, and speakers at these conventions. Several mentioned how the 20-to-30-something age bracket is missing at the national campmeeting and, not coincidentally, in our local congregations. Again, many church groups (we can use the word “denominations”) are struggling with issues like these.
But one theme kept popping up over and over. While all of the above issues are important, the identity of the Church of God resurfaced again and again as a question that needs to be answered. If we are just another church group that holds annual conventions and connects local churches together and is losing touch with people in their third decade of life, then woe to us. If we do not have compelling reasons to exist as “The Church of God (Anderson, Indiana),” then perhaps we should join arms with other like-minded church groups like the Nazarenes, Free Methodists, and Wesleyans. I would argue that history, tradition, hymnody, emotional attachment, and generational connectedness are not good reasons to exist as a denomination. (These were many of the ideas mentioned in the Facebook discussion!)
Christian faith is about one thing – salvation through Jesus Christ – and the far-reaching consequences of that salvation. We live in a time of great division and distinction among church groups, and truthfully I don’t see that changing any time soon. Denominations are here to stay. While some might question the legitimacy and validity of other church groups (and this is part of our history in the Church of God), I believe each group has something important to contribute to the conversation about salvation through Jesus Christ.
This is what we as the Church of God must figure out in the years that lie ahead. What is it about our history, theology, hymnody, and traditions that leads us to contribute something unique to the global conversation about Jesus Christ? Why do we exist as a people?
Only once we have answered these questions will we be able to address the issue of reengaging widely diverging congregations and generations.
Pastor David
P.S. You can read the full Facebook conversation here:
Old-Fashioned Hymn Sing
Last night, I had the privilege of leading a unique kind of experience to open this year’s 120th annual St. Louis Campmeeting: an “old-fashioned hymn sing.” Pastor Jim Sirks (from Battle Creek) and I played our guitars to accompany a crowd of over 100 that gathered in the old tabernacle on the St. Louis campgrounds. This event kicked off the campmeeting in stellar fashion, and I’d like to share a few reflections with you about the evening.
In the Church of God, we have a diverse collection of songs. For this event, I selected sixteen of our “heritage hymns,” songs written by some of the earliest people in our movement. I grouped these sixteen into four groups of four, each group revolving around a different theme: Songs of Praise, Songs of Gratitude, Songs of Testimony, and Songs of Commitment. There may be other types of songs in our heritage, but even these four groups reveal a wide variety of songs in our tradition that can be used for any occasion. (By the way, we sang all the verses of all sixteen songs, and the whole event lasted only an hour.)
In the Church of God, we have people who can sing four part harmony. The acoustics of the old tabernacle – a small, open-air, wooden building with lots of hard surfaces – added to the musical experience produced by two acoustic guitars and a hundred voices. These were songs that people knew and wanted to sing. And many sang the parts (alto, tenor, bass) they have learned and have known for many years. Singing in harmony is a gift from God, and it does something spiritually to connect people together in worship. Worship (including but not limited to singing) is a communal activity, something we do together and not alone. (Remember that electronic amplification is less than a century old – newer than many of the songs we sang last night!)
In the Church of God, we sing what we believe. In late 19th Century America, church music was an instructional tool that helped people learn the contours of our faith. So much of our early heritage music contains a tremendous amount of theology. While we did not reflect on the theology of all sixteen songs last night, I did highlight one hymn in particular: “The Bond of Perfectness” by D.S. Warner. One of my seminary professors, Dr. Gil Stafford (previously pastor of East Ashman Church of God in Midland), once said that this was the epitome of Church of God theology in lyrical form, because it blends together our understandings of holiness and unity so beautifully:
How sweet this bond of perfectness, the wondrous love of Jesus;
A pure foretaste of heaven’s bliss, oh, fellowship so precious!Refrain:
Oh, brethren, how this perfect love unites us all in Jesus!
One heart, and soul, and mind we prove the union heaven gave us.Oh, praise the Lord for love divine that binds us all together;
A thousand chords our hearts entwine, forever and forever.“God over all and in us all,” and through each holy brother;
No pow’r of earth or hell, withal, can rend us from each other.Oh, mystery of heaven’s peace! Oh, bond of heaven’s union!
Our souls in fellowship embrace, and live in sweet communion.
These reasons, and several more, are why I am committed to having us sing at least one of our heritage hymns in each of our Sunday morning worship services. Which are your favorites?
–Pastor David