- Joined
- Feb 2, 2012
- Messages
- 10,838
- Reaction score
- 3,974
- Points
- 113
Alayboy and I share a birthday (August 27th) so we spent this weekend with him. He has attended the (UC) campus church on and off but doesn’t really like the vibe there (evangelical but quite “contemporary” in numerous ways he doesn’t prefer).
So this morning we went to a nearby (reformed) church, which I had scouted out as suitable for a visit. As it turns out (I did not know beforehand when looking where to go) the church is pastored by Ken Ham’s brother (Steve). I thought Ken was averse to that theological (reformed) framework, and as conversation with a gal at our table in Sunday School revealed, I was right. She works at Answers in Genesis (founded by Ken Ham and a huge finance support for The Ark Encounter and The Creation Museum in Kentucky), and has been attending Steve’s church (Grace and Truth) the last 4 years, and said that theological difference was a point of contention among them. Pastor Steve, via an illustration about his family during the sermon said something similar about his parents non-reformed beliefs and practices.
The Sunday School teacher taught the class of probably 30 people out of the book Acts, and it was sufficiently meaty, but he broke from the exposition at one point to illustrate the doctrines of Grace via the TULIP acrostic (at which time he momentarily forgot what the “L” stood for, lol). This seemed a bit over the top to me, but the message was otherwise good.
The pastor’s sermon was from 1 John 2:27-29 and was about abiding in Christ. It was likewise filled with grace-filled exhortation to look to Christ for our strength and example. It was chock full of supporting references and never once did I hear “close your Bibles and listen to me”, <ahem, binaca chug>.
Lastly, in my concern for the reformed emphasis I wondered how much that impacted their method of evangelistic appeal. After the sermon they closed with a song (most of the music was via Getty music) and then a prayer. When the song finished the semi-pelegian in me wondered if they ever “give an invitation” of any sort, when to me very pleasant surprise Pastor Steve came back to the stage and invited any person who doubted, or knew they were not (abiding) in Christ to come after the close of service and talk with any of the (5) elders. I was sold, ad the gospel saturation and Bible centered exposition was satisfying.
Please pray with me that Alayboy would plant himself in such a Christ-centered healthy congregation for his final collegiate year of experience.
So this morning we went to a nearby (reformed) church, which I had scouted out as suitable for a visit. As it turns out (I did not know beforehand when looking where to go) the church is pastored by Ken Ham’s brother (Steve). I thought Ken was averse to that theological (reformed) framework, and as conversation with a gal at our table in Sunday School revealed, I was right. She works at Answers in Genesis (founded by Ken Ham and a huge finance support for The Ark Encounter and The Creation Museum in Kentucky), and has been attending Steve’s church (Grace and Truth) the last 4 years, and said that theological difference was a point of contention among them. Pastor Steve, via an illustration about his family during the sermon said something similar about his parents non-reformed beliefs and practices.
The Sunday School teacher taught the class of probably 30 people out of the book Acts, and it was sufficiently meaty, but he broke from the exposition at one point to illustrate the doctrines of Grace via the TULIP acrostic (at which time he momentarily forgot what the “L” stood for, lol). This seemed a bit over the top to me, but the message was otherwise good.
The pastor’s sermon was from 1 John 2:27-29 and was about abiding in Christ. It was likewise filled with grace-filled exhortation to look to Christ for our strength and example. It was chock full of supporting references and never once did I hear “close your Bibles and listen to me”, <ahem, binaca chug>.
Lastly, in my concern for the reformed emphasis I wondered how much that impacted their method of evangelistic appeal. After the sermon they closed with a song (most of the music was via Getty music) and then a prayer. When the song finished the semi-pelegian in me wondered if they ever “give an invitation” of any sort, when to me very pleasant surprise Pastor Steve came back to the stage and invited any person who doubted, or knew they were not (abiding) in Christ to come after the close of service and talk with any of the (5) elders. I was sold, ad the gospel saturation and Bible centered exposition was satisfying.
Please pray with me that Alayboy would plant himself in such a Christ-centered healthy congregation for his final collegiate year of experience.
