Ask the Pastor

What is the Evangelical Free Church?

~ brandon ~ Leave a comment

I get that question a lot.  Many visitors are curious about our movement, our beliefs and practices.  The Evangelical Free Church of America (EFCA) is a movement of about 1500 autonomous congregations that began in the Scandinavian countries of Sweden, Norway & Denmark.  In the 19th century a growing number of Christians saw the state church becoming nothing more than an arm of government.

Though it was illegal, small groups of men and women began meeting in house churches (referred to as free churches).  These groups centered on a few common convictions such as the authority of Scripture and the urgency of missions.  Eventually, these churches received official sanction from the state church.

As Scandinavian immigrants moved to the new world, they brought their free churches with them.  In 1884 the first Free Church in America was founded in Boone, Iowa.  Over the next 65 years, the Free Churches would grow closer together until 1950, when they formally joining together as the Evangelical Free Church of America.  Holding to the same convictions that started the first home groups, the EFCA is devoted to glorifying God by multiplying healthy churches around the world.

For more information on the EFCA, check out efca.org.

These posts come from Ask the Pastor, a weekly column published in the Beecher Herald.

What is the best way to witness to someone who doesn’t believe the Bible?

~ brandon ~ Leave a comment

Your question is becoming more and more relevant.  As our society moves beyond our Christian heritage, you will find fewer Biblically literate folks.  However, that doesn’t mean Scripture has no place in witnessing.  Scripture tells us that the Word of God is living and active—and its power doesn’t rely upon the faith of the hearer.  So please use Scripture to witness, but consider using it in the context of your faith story.

In John 9 Jesus heals a blind man.  The Pharisees, trying to trap Jesus, ask this man to testify that Jesus is a sinner.  His response is a model of personal witness.  He responds, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see,” (John 9:27, ESV).  The main thrust of his witness was simple:  Christ changed me.

Of course people need to hear what God has said, but they also need to know it makes a difference.  In sharing with others, share why and how you came to believe in Christ and the difference He makes.  Help them see that your faith is more than pie-in-the-sky, don’t-go-to-Hell kind of stuff.  Let them see that your faith changes how you live, and leads to a more abundant, peace filled life.

Ask The Pastor runs weekly in the Beecher Herald.

Can you think of any reasons, outside the Bible, to be Pro-Life?

~ brandon ~ Leave a comment

I can think of many, such as unique DNA.  Within moments of conception the new baby is blessed with his own DNA.  This DNA tells us 1) the baby is human and 2) she is not the mom or the dad.  In other words, from moments after conception the DNA tells us it is a distinct human individual.

Also, being anti-life subjects human dignity and value to a cost/benefit analysis.  For example, only 7% of abortions are performed for tough cases such as rape, incest or serious health problems.  That means the overwhelming majority of abortions aren’t done out of medical necessity (in fact, fully 50% of women having abortions admit to using it as a form of contraception).  So if, in the mother’s eyes, the costs of bearing the child are greater than the benefit, then she aborts the child.  Doing so devalues that child and it devalues all of us.

We find the similar logic used to argue for euthanasia and assisted suicide.  Where the cost of life is higher than the perceived benefit, Doctor’s should be able to help end life early, we are told.  Again, connecting the value of someone’s life to the costs of keeping them alive devalues all of us.  Once we connect the dignity of human life to some cost/benefit analysis, we are only as valuable as we are perceived to be.  The big question then becomes who gets to make that determination.

While my Pro-Life views are primarily religious, they are solidly supported by science and logic.

Do you make New Year's Resolutions?

~ brandon ~ Leave a comment

No, I don’t, but not for religious reasons.  For me, it’s a practical matter.  In the past the resolutions I’ve made (to read the bible more, or to exercise more or what have you), all ended up in the grave of good intentions.  As I talk to folks around me, they seem to have similar experiences.

Instead, I make a daily resolution:  to follow Christ more closely by living more obediently to His Word.  This is the heart of Christianity, daily focusing our energy into applying Christ’s teachings to the circumstances of life.  This resolution can be followed at work or play, with family or alone.  In every circumstance my goal is the same:  to follow Him by obeying Him.

Christ said, My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me, (John 10:27).    As you ponder your New Year’s resolutions, why not make your resolution to daily follow Christ?  In doing so we find a rewarding life, and receive eternal life.

Did Christmas begin as a non-Christian holiday?

~ brandon ~ Leave a comment

Before Christ’s birth was celebrated on December 25 the Romans and the Iranians celebrated their gods.  For the Romans it was the Day of the Invincible Sun.  The Iranians celebrated the birthday of the idol Mithras (also a Sun god).  Both celebrations were timed to follow the shortest day of the year.  This history, however, does not mean Christmas began as a pagan festival.

In fact, it began as a rival festival—a Godly alternative to the pagan revelry surrounding December 25.  Different congregations had observed Christ’s birth at different times.  Noting the parallels between the false gods Rome worshipped and the True Son of God, Church leaders choose December 25.  In doing so they weren’t seeking to baptize a pagan holiday but to start an alternative holiday.  And we can see they were right.  1668 years after the first ‘official’ Christmas the idols of Rome are forgotten, but the Son of God is still worshipped!

Was Jesus really born in 1 AD?

~ brandon ~ Leave a comment

While the calendar we use is based upon the birth of Christ, Christ was actually born a few years B.C.  A Christian monk named Dionysius Exiguus began the practice of dividing the calendar into B.C. (before Christ) and A.D. (Anno Domini, in the year of our Lord) in the sixth century.  His purpose was twofold.  He desired to allow for accurate dating of Easter and to move away from the Diocletian system, which honored an Emperor known for his cruelty to Christians.  As he devised this system, Dionysius wrote that the current year was 525 years after Christ’s incarnation, or A.D. 525. Nowhere does Dionysius explain this claim, he just states it as fact.  While Dionysius devised this system, it was 200 years later when Bede popularized the convention in his work Ecclesiastical History of the English People.

Modern scholarship questions Dionysius’ dating based upon our knowledge of events mentioned in the Gospels.  Both Luke and Matthew indicate that Jesus’ birth took place before King Herod’s death in 4 B.C.  From this information, we can safely date Jesus’ birth in or before 4 B.C.

More precision is impossible.  We simply do not have enough evidence, inside or outside of Scripture to place an exact year upon Christ’s birth.  Yet, we can confidently say that Christ was not actually born in year 1 A.D.