The Church of God in Texas

Today marks the first day of a new ministry year. I pray it will be a year of victory for you and your ministry. I pray it will be an “unhindered” year of growth. If you have not already done so, you are probably thinking about the things in your church that need to be done. Of course, there are people to reach, money to raise, buildings/equipment to be repaired or purchased, goals to be set, and the list goes on.

For today’s eNews, would you consider thinking about your method of dispensing the gospel message in 2012. To do so, please think about these words from St. Anselm, Benedictine monk and Archbishop of Canterbury (11^th century): He writes:

“As the right order demands that we should first believe the deep things of the Christian faith before we venture to discuss them by reasoning, so it appears to me to be negligence, if, after we are confirmed in faith, we should not endeavour to understand what we believe.’ (Cur Deus Homo, lib. i. c. 2.)

He makes two key points. First, unless you believe, you will not understand. As odd as it may appear to the 20^th century rationalistic mind, sometimes people believe before they understand. In some ways, we might say that when it comes to faith, people usually do believe before they understand. Second, pastors and Christian educators err when they fail to take belief and “confirm” it with sound teaching. One of the great lessons from the faith of our Old Testament fathers was the cultural insistence upon the memorization of the Torah and its application to life (see Proverbs 2:2). Cindy and I were talking just the other day about the systematic and thorough way the churches of our youth taught us the scriptures. Are we giving our youth the same thing? Are we giving our new believers the same things? Do our elders know the scriptures?

Maybe one commitment for 2012 would be a basic one: teach our people the faith. Or, dare I say, provide confirmation of their faith in God and His Word. Hey, it’s just a thought!