GCI Update

Are we “evangelicals”?

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Joseph and Tammy Tkach

I was talking recently with a member who was wondering where Grace Communion International fits within the larger body of Christ. Noting that GCI is not Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox, they asked, “Does that mean we’re Protestant?” I answered yes, and they continued: “Since we’re not liberal or fundamentalist Christians, does that mean GCI is evangelical?” Again, my answer was yes, though as I’ll point out in this letter, the term “evangelical” is widely misunderstood and misrepresented. Note this comment from Christian scholar and professor Mark Noll:

In the rough and tumble world of American politics, the label [evangelical] is now often used simply for the most active religious supporters of President Donald Trump. By contrast, in the rarified world of professional scholarship, academics now sometimes treat it as a term with so much ambiguity, fluidity and imprecision that it cannot meaningfully designate any single group of Christians. (Source)

Despite the ambiguity and controversy swirling around the term evangelical, Professor Noll believes that it does have continuing value and should not be abandoned. He concludes: “When used with responsible attention to history and careful focus on generally accepted norms of… definition, [it] can still communicate reality and not just confusion.”

A related question is this: Who gets to define who and what an evangelical is? Often overlooked in answering that question is that, first and foremost, evangelical is a theological identifier. Before it identifies a group of people, it identifies the gospel (the evangel) of Jesus. It is first Jesus’ gospel, not ours—it is first about him, not about us. Those who rightly call themselves evangelicals are careful to point first to Jesus and his gospel, and then to what it means to be a follower of Jesus. Faithfulness to the gospel is measured by faithfulness to the Bible, whose authors were appointed by Jesus. Central to the Scriptures are the four Gospels authored by the four evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. As these authors show, Jesus is the gospel—he is the true evangelical!

Sadly, for many in North American society, the term evangelical is defined not by Jesus and his gospel, but by the media and entertainment industry, along with politicians, psychologists, sociologists and historians—people often with little or no understanding of the biblical and theological roots and meaning of the term evangelical. The result is the confusion, controversy and outright misrepresentations that swirl around the term in our culture today.

To add to the problem, there are religious leaders who call themselves evangelicals but, at best, are on the extreme edges of what theologically can rightly be called evangelical. Some of these leaders are hypocrites who, wanting to justify themselves or cover up their unfaithful ways, co-opt the label evangelical. Though these pretenders are rightly criticized, the media often portray evangelicals as a monolithic group that is largely white, privileged, ultra-right-wing, racist and homophobic. The unfortunate result is that all who call themselves evangelical are tarred with the same brush by the media, casting a spell of guilt-by-association on those who, in actuality, rightly bear the name evangelical.

The reality is that evangelicals are not a monolithic group—in fact, they are quite diverse, including racially and ethnically, as shown in this chart:

In an article published by the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), Ed Stetzer notes that research on evangelical identity has tended to focus on three measures: behavior, belonging and belief. The article quotes NAE President Leith Anderson who, in weighing up the research, notes that “evangelicals must be defined primarily by their beliefs rather than politics or race.” Stetzer then offers this:

Dr. Ed Stetzer

In the hopes of crafting a consensus definition of core evangelical beliefs, we evaluated the statements of a diverse group of sociologists, theologians and evangelical leaders. In weighing the insights of these leaders, LifeWay Research developed a definition of evangelical belief around strong agreement with these four statements:

  • The Bible is the highest authority for what I believe.
  • It is very important for me personally to encourage non-Christians to trust Jesus Christ as their Savior.
  • Jesus Christ’s death on the cross is the only sacrifice that could remove the penalty of my sin.
  • Only those who trust in Jesus Christ alone as their Savior receive God’s free gift of eternal salvation. (Source)

GCI agrees with these statements, though we would locate them within the larger theological context of our whole Statement of Beliefs. Our agreement is reflected by our membership in the National Association of Evangelicals (in the U.S.), the World Evangelical Alliance, the Evangelical Alliance (in the UK and Philippines) and similar organizations elsewhere. The beliefs and ideals that characterize these evangelical organizations are addressed in The Capetown Commitmentan 80-page document that resulted from deliberations at the Third Lausanne Conference on World Evangelization. If you’d like to learn more about what it means to be evangelical, I highly recommend that you read this document.

Sue and Don Lawson

As a denomination, churches and individuals, we are healthy when we are living out our biblically based, evangelical beliefs. With that in mind, I close with the admirable example of one of our retired pastors, Don Lawson. For many years Don served GCI-USA as a pastor then as a district superintendent. Following retirement, Don experienced severe health problems, had to be hospitalized, then spent time rehabilitating in an assisted-care facility. Don sent me a note recently, letting me know he had returned home. His note included this:

About a month ago, the nurse in charge of memory care, where [my wife] Sue lives, asked if I would do a church service each Sunday for the Alzheimer’s patients in her ward. I agreed, and have spoken to them for the last three weeks. What a challenge for an 81-year-old, but I enjoyed it. We have had an average of 15 attending and I will continue to help them as long as I am able. My purpose is to try to find a level of teaching they might understand. I begin with He knows my name. Second: Jesus loves me this I know (and some sang along with me). Third: What is Jesus doing now? (I talked about a place of eternal joy and happiness, with no sorrow or tears).

That’s what being an evangelical looks like, and that’s the gospel evangelicals love to share!

Gospel blessings to you all,

Joseph Tkach

PS: Is the evangelical movement in the U.S. and elsewhere perfect? Of course not, and its leaders know that. On Monday and Tuesday of this week, a denominationally, racially, ethnically and politically diverse group of 50 prominent evangelical leaders met at Wheaton College, west of Chicago. Their purpose was to discuss the current condition of the evangelical movement in the U.S. According to Skye Jethani, a meeting participant,

We gathered to have an honest, and at times uncomfortable, conversation about the current state of American evangelicalism. The focus of the dialogue was not the [U.S.] President or any current policy matters. The focus was how to have a consistent Christian public witness that affirms the dignity of all people as created in the image of God. We explored our history and affirmed when evangelicals did this well, and when necessary we lamented when we have not. There were extended times of prayer, confession, repentance and open discussion.  (From a post on Skye Jethani’s Facebook page, 4/20/2018)

For an additional report on this meeting, click here.

Pastoral Resident Ceeja Malmkar

Here is a recent GCI Member profile introducing GCI Pastoral Resident Ceeja Malmkar (click on the image below to enlarge):

Events at Grace Communion Hickory

Grace Communion Hickory is a newly re-launched GCI congregation in Hickory, NC. Along with moving the congregation to a location central to the community (see the picture above), a new pastoral leadership team has been formed. GCI Vice President Greg Williams recently visited to commission the new team:

L to R (standing): Greg and Susan Williams, Anthony and Elizabeth Mullins, Emma Lee and PD Kurts.

Greg commissioned PD Kurts and Anthony Mullins as co-pastors, Emma Lee Kurts as a member of the pastoral team (she also serves as a worship leader) and Elizabeth Mullins as a member of the pastoral team (she was recently hired by GCI as a Pastoral Resident with a focus on serving as the congregation’s Community Developer).

Prayer of commissioning.

Camp & mission directors’ conference

Over 30 of GenMin’s camp and mission trip directors and staff (pictured below) gathered recently in Ohio for a conference led by GenMin national coordinator, Jeffrey Broadnax. Jeff set the tone with a presentation titled “A Compelling Vision for GenMin” based on Matthew chapter 10. He offered several examples of how Jesus both supported and challenged his disciples as they obeyed his command to go into the harvest field, sharing in Jesus’ disciple-making ministry.

Here are highlights of other topics covered during the conference:

  • All participants completed the five voices assessment from GiANT Worldwide. The tool helps a person lead themselves and others more effectively by helping them identify their natural “voice.”
  • Youth pastor Gary Pecuch (pictured below) shared The Faith Web—a tool he authored that helps congregations form intergenerational connections through shared faith development. Included in the tool are discussion starters that encourage cross-generational conversations. Gary gave examples of rebranding generation-specific activities so as to include all generations—for example, turning a youth cakewalk into an entire church cakewalk. He also stressed the importance of tying activities back to the congregation—doing things like having the youth talk about their trips or activities during church life, or hosting a time when everyone brings in hobbies they care about then hold breakouts to explain the details.

  • GenMin advisory council members/camp director trainers Mark and Anne Stapleton reported on the 2018 GenMin camps teaching curriculum, “All In.” Based on Mark 12:28-31, it explores five aspects of loving God and one’s neighbor.
  • GenMin missions leaders (pictured below) spoke about “living on mission,” helping conference participants explore developing a missional culture within GenMin camps and other programs and events that can be carried back home.
L to R: Joel Clevenger, Barbara and Steve Solari, Lee Berger
  • Breakouts during the conference covered compliance, reporting and administrative work; online application/registration processes; re-imagining camp; and a regional pastor’s perspective on camp (led by Regional Pastor Mike Rasmussen).
  • Jeff Broadnax introduced prayer with a pencil—jotting down the nudges received from God during prayer so that they may be recalled during future prayer and reflection.

Worship throughout the conference was led by Mohammad Ali (pictured below) a GCI intern in GCI’s congregation in San Jose, CA.

Myanmar conference

This update is from Rod Matthews, GCI Mission Developer for Southern Asia and the South Pacific.

The Holy Spirit made his presence felt powerfully in a conference of about 40 church elders and leaders (pictured below) held recently in Yangon, Myanmar. There was much excitement in that this was the first meeting between several of the participants, including those who had become part of our fellowship in 2016. Nine participants came from the Matupi area in the Chin Hills of Myanmar. They were joined by local GCI leaders and several pastors from other fellowships.

The conference featured presentations by speakers from Malaysia, India, Singapore and Australia. We were humbled and amazed by the way the topics dovetailed, presenting a comprehensive overview of God’s nature and his presence with us by the Spirit, enabling us to participate with him in ministry.

In order that the participants from Myanmar could meet their counterparts from other areas in Southeast Asia, we arranged for the attendance of Dr. Sellappan and Devaraj Ramoo from Malaysia, Joe and Anna Zachariah from Singapore, and Danny Zachariah from India. Danny gave presentations on pastoral counseling. As shown at left (with Regional Coordinator Wong Mein Kong speaking) translations were provided into Burmese, Myanmar’s national language.

On Sunday morning during the conference, a special worship service was held at our Hmawbi congregation’s building. The assembled group (pictured below) shared lunch prepared by the members. In the afternoon, several more sessions were held with the local members attending (note their T-shirts, specially produced for this historic gathering).

I received many expressions of thanks for the conference. The elders from Southeast Asia said they greatly enjoyed meeting their new brothers and sisters in Christ. Chan Thleng (at left), leader of our Hmawbi congregation, wrote, “To God alone be all the glory for the successful completion of our Asian GCI Conference. Thank you for the wonderful teaching your team is doing! We have learned a lot of the word of God from you especially about Trinitarian theology, pastoral service and counseling. It gives encouragement and motivation to follow Jesus Christ.”

During our time in Myanmar, Mein Kong and I, along with our wives, visited several local ministries with whom we have become friends. These ministries focus on caring for orphans and children whose parents cannot look after them. One of those visits was with a married couple that looks after 16 children. We had a delightful time with them. We had hardly got back to our hotel when the husband informed us that his wife had given birth to their third child within two hours of our departure—he reported that his wife and new daughter were doing very well (we didn’t expect our visit to be so effective in adding to the “congregation” in their home!).

Why attend church?

Why attend church? GCI Pastoral Resident Anthony Walton, answers in this video, produced by Grace Life, GCI’s congregation in Glendora, CA :

On YouTube at https://youtu.be/TaD2p0m1CD4.

Pedro Rufián

We have requested prayer for Pedro Rufián, GCI pastor in Spain, who is battling prostate cancer. Here is an update from Pedro:

Thanks to our loving Triune God, the results from recent tests show my cancer is in remission. To God be all glory and honor! He is our healer in every case. Chemotherapy and other treatments are scheduled for the near future. Thanks for your love and prayers for me and my wife Brigida.

Cards may be sent to Pedro and his wife Brigida at:

Mr. and Mrs. Pedro Rufián
Real 26
E-28610 VILLAMANTA
SPAIN

2018 Crossing Borders mission trips

Have you been thinking about going on a short-term mission trip? If so, 2018 may be the year for you.

GenMin’s Crossing Borders Mission Organization, which has conducted 25 mission trips in its 13 years of operation, will be conducting a summer mission trip to Mexico on June 16-24, and a winter/shoebox delivery trip to Mexico on December 7-10. Everyone age 15 to 99 is welcome to participate in either or both of these trips. Even if you don’t wish to travel into Mexico, you can participate by helping out at the U.S. camp facility in Texas. For information about these trips, go to cbmission.org or call 903-746-4463.