Category: Hear From the President

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

So far this year I’ve attended seven regional conferences in the US, an international conference (for Spanish-speaking elders) in Bogotá, Colombia, and just recently I returned from a ministerial conference in the UK. When I add to these trips my other travels in the US and abroad, I must say how blessed I am to meet so many GCI pastors, elders and other members. It’s not only a thrill to get to know them, I’m blessed to call them friends.

North American churches set aside October for showing honor, thanks and appreciation to their clergy and their families. In GCI, our clergy are our elders, and most of these men and women serve as pastors—some lead pastors, others associate or assistant pastors. As we enter October, I want to share how much I appreciate each of our pastors and elders. Their faithful, heartfelt service to God’s beloved sons and daughters is something I thank God for as I pray for a small group of them by name each day.

What a journey we’ve been on in GCI over the last 20+ years! Most of you serving as pastors have travelled most, if not all, that distance, and I must say how elated I am for your willingness to follow where God has led our fellowship. Along the way, most of you encountered significant losses in attendance and income in the congregations you pastored. Yet, you remained faithful to our Lord’s call to ministry. Some of you struggled at first to understand our changes, yet you persevered through many hours of prayer and Bible study and came to see the amazing triune nature of God who loves you and loves every person you serve. Through all the changes we’ve encountered in GCI, you continued to equip the saints for their work of ministry. For that, I give you my sincere thanks.

I also thank you for all the meals you’ve missed because you were on the phone, or had to run out the door to visit someone at the hospital. I thank you for the many nights your sleep was cut short because of a phone call. I thank you for the many times you gave up personal plans in order to fit a wedding into your schedule, or to officiate at a funeral. I thank you for the numerous evenings you spent at a church function, a ministry meeting, or to visit someone rather than being at home. I thank you for continuing to study and take classes and attend training sessions so you can be more effective in pastoring your congregation. I thank you for the hours you have spent on your knees or on a walk, praying to God on behalf of your members, for our fellowship, and for the advance of God’s kingdom.

I also thank the wives whose husbands serve as pastors. Thanks for your faithful, selfless service in the often-challenging role of pastor’s wife (thanks also to the men whose wives are pastors). As a source of encouragement to pastors’ wives, I recommend an NAE podcast featuring Kay Warren, who with her husband Rick, founded Saddleback Church. You’ll find the podcast at http://nae.net/warrenpodcast/.

To all our elders, I extend heartfelt appreciation for learning how the work of an elder should be done, and then being faithful to God’s call to that important office of service in the body of Christ. Ultimately, all thanks goes to God for his mercy and grace that disciplines us, but I want to thank you for being submissive to the Spirit’s lead as you have devoted your life to joining Jesus in his ministry.

Pastors, let me encourage you to not let your church responsibilities become greater than your responsibilities at home to your spouse, children, grandchildren, and other family members. Please set aside one day a week to be free from phone calls and other church-related interruptions. You need this time for your own physical and spiritual renewal. I also encourage you to go on vacation with your family and leave behind the textbooks, turn off the cell phone, not check your email, and just be present with your family and friends. Your congregation will be fine without you for a week or two.

For all of you reading this letter who are blessed to be loved and served by one of our pastors, I encourage you to take time this month to show them your thanks. Send a card or other small gift of appreciation to encourage and affirm them. He or she needs you as much as you need them.

Praising God for the good work of our pastors and elders,

Joseph Tkach

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Did my title get your attention? I’ve chosen to write about kissing, not to help you improve your marriage (though more kissing might help), but because the Bible talks about a holy kiss, and kissing is one of the most common things we do in life. We start kissing our children at birth, and often kiss people in their last moments. By God’s design, kissing has great power and value.

In the lyrics to the song “As Time Goes By,” popularized by Louis Armstrong’s record and the movie Casablanca (“Play it again, Sam”), song-writer Herman Hupfeld famously declares that “a kiss is just a kiss.” But as research in our day indicates, there’s much more to it than that.

You may have heard that about 400,000 tourists visit Cork, Ireland each year to kiss what’s called the Blarney Stone. Legend has it that if you bend over backward and kiss it, you’ll be rewarded with the “gift of the gab.” Though this is clearly superstition, and few of us would want to bend over backward to kiss a stone, as I note below, research shows that kissing is good for our health.

The anatomy and benefits of kissing

One study showed that the exercise involved in kissing helps prevent facial wrinkles. A “peck on the cheek” uses only about two muscles, but a full-on, passionate kiss can involve as many as 23 to 34 facial muscles and 112 postural muscles (note the diagram at left).

Other research indicates several other benefits: kissing three times a day significantly reduces your weight (kissing burns about 2-3 calories per minute); long, passionate kissing helps regulate your heartbeat and lower your blood pressure. Kissing strengthens the immune system, relieves aches and pains, and even prevents cavities!

Research also shows that men who kiss their wives before heading out to work live five years longer than men who don’t. Perhaps Italians get the greatest benefit here—though only about 50% of the world’s lovers are passionate kissers, 75% of Italians are (besame mucho!). Talk about “much kissing”—according to the Guinness World Book of Records, Ekkachai and Laksana Tiranarat of Thailand hold the record for the world’s longest kiss. They locked lips for a total of 58 hours, 35 minutes and 58 seconds!

The language of kissing in science and scripture

In the language of science, the study of kissing is called philematology and the person who studies it is called an osculologist. Perhaps those of us who enjoy studying the Greek and Hebrew words for kissing qualify as osculologists! The Hebrew word for kiss is nāshaq, also translated “brushing against” (as in the gentle contact of the living creatures’ wings in Ezekiel 3:13). The Greek words for kiss are phileō, philēma, and kataphileō. In the New Testament, the Greek verb phileō is usually translated love, but when associated with the strengthened form kataphileō (meaning kiss repeatedly, effusively), it’s translated kiss, and the noun philēma is always translated that way.

The apostle Paul refers to the “holy kiss” (en philemati haio) in four passages: Romans 16:16; 1 Corinthians 13:12, 16:20; and 1 Thessalonians 5:26, and the apostle Peter refers to the “kiss of love” (en philemati agapēs) in 1 Peter 5:14. The Greek words in these verses denote a kiss that is sacred—physically pure and morally blameless. Such a kiss is called “holy” to distinguish it from a sexual one, and from hypocritical and deceitful ones like Joab gave Amasa (2 Samuel 20:9), and Judas gave Jesus in betraying him (Matthew 26:49). In New Testament times, the holy kiss was a sign of greeting, much like our modern handshake. Commentator R. Kent Hughes puts it this way:

Paul’s injunction was brilliant. First, because to call another person “brother” was a breach of Roman protocol, as it was unlawful to call people brothers or sisters who were not of one’s family. Thus the everyday language of Christianity asserted that Christians were family in spiritual relationship. Second, the kiss was an expression of affection among family members—a token of deepest relationship and unity. (Preaching the Word: 2 Corinthians—Power in Weakness)

We’re part of one, spiritual family

Though I’m not suggesting we give up shaking hands and start holy kissing each other when we meet, I do think we should give thought to the meaning behind what Paul calls the holy kiss and what Peter calls the kiss of love. We’re part of a spiritual family. As brothers and sisters in Christ, we love each other as family and treat each other as family, valuing our relationships and unity. As we spend time together, we affirm each other and we encourage each other—iron sharpening iron, together.

Together we worship the one, triune God

One of the Greek words used for worship in the New Testament and Septuagint (Greek translation of Old Testament) is poskuneou, which is translated kneel down, bow down, bend one’s knee, prostrate, pay homage, fall down in reverence, and occasionally, kiss or adore. Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Commentary defines the word as, “literally, to kiss toward someone, to throw a kiss in token of respect or homage.” This definition may suggest to many of us what we call “blowing a kiss.” I remember when my two children were very young and would blow a kiss to Tammy or me. That was over 25 years ago, but I remember it as if it was just yesterday.

It’s a pleasant thought to consider that when we worship the one, triune God, we are bowing our hearts in reverence to him, and in that sense, “blowing a kiss” toward God in recognition of his greatness and holiness. In worship we express our love, appreciation and respect toward our God, and that, dear family, is a real holy kiss!

Delighting (on multiple levels) in God’s gift of kissing,
Joseph Tkach

______________

PS: Our thoughts and prayers are with our friend Dr. John McKenna, one of the professors at Grace Communion Seminary. Despite his recent health struggles, John is writing a book on Genesis, and is further developing his earlier work on the sixth-century Alexandrian scientist, Coptic Christian John Philoponus. Dr. McKenna’s focus is on how Philoponus’ impetus theory concerning the dynamic nature of light, relates to the singularity theory of the hot big bang black hole beginning that is posited by physicists and cosmologists in our day. Philoponus’ revolutionary insights were grounded in his understanding of the triune God as uncreated light with us. Because Dr. McKenna’s work on Philoponus is highly regarded by the Christian Coptic Church, one of their scholars recently sent John this note of appreciation:

Dear Dr. McKenna,

Your heroic sacrifices to defend our beloved Johannes Philoponus will never be forgotten, and for your name to shine for 13 million Copts in Egypt and 2 million in the Diaspora, we have a plan to translate your Arbiter book into Arabic, so that all Copts will forever pray for those who stood with the truth of John’s faith.

I am also in Cairo, as our first project has just started, translating Christ in Christian Tradition, The Church of Alexandria, with Nubia and Ethiopia, after 451. It would be completed next June. I sincerely hope that all I wrote about John transmits the brilliance and diffuses the fragrance of your research, restoring the orthodoxy of his Alexandrine faith confession.

Joseph Badir

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

In the late 1830s, American artist and inventor Samuel F. B. Morse perfected the electromagnetic telegraph. Then in 1844, using his new invention, Morse sent a telegram from Washington, D.C. to Baltimore, Maryland. Tapped out using what we now refer to as Morse code (which reduces words to dots and dashes), his message was quite short: What hath God wrought? (Old English for What has God done?) Morse’s now-famous question got me thinking about how God the Father, by sending his incarnate Son in the power of the Holy Spirit, both revealed to us who he is, and reconciled us to himself.

Revelation and Reconciliation is What God hath wrought.

The triune God in action

Our triune God is a God of action. From all eternity his being is that of doing. The Father, Son and Spirit were always in relationship—always interacting, always loving. As Jesus said, there was a knowing, loving and glorifying of each other before the foundations of creation were laid. There never was a time when God was lonely—he never was the solitary Unmoved Mover some have wrongly imagined. The Triune God is a living fellowship of holy love among the three divine Persons.

Accomplishing Revelation and Reconciliation

We know these things about God only because he acted towards his creation in such a way that we, his creatures, can know him. As Scripture declares and the early church taught, only God knows God and only God reveals God. God did not remain at a deistic distance expecting us to guess, instead he made a personal appearance, revealing himself to us in the person of the incarnate Son of God, Jesus Christ. Scripture also declares that humankind, having become alienated from God, is in need of reconciliation with God. We all need the regeneration of our beings that has been accomplished by the Father, through the incarnate Son, and by the Spirit.

To truly know God means to know both who he is and what he has done in relationship to us. Who God is in his being is revealed to us through God’s doing on our behalf. Unlike humans, whose being and doing are separated, and often in conflict, there is no separation, no conflict between what God does and who God is. As T.F. Torrance notes in Theology in Reconciliation, when we carefully and prayerfully take this truth into account, we will arrive at an “astounding conclusion”:

God has made possible, and actual in Jesus, a true human knowledge of himself, not just as God is toward us, but in some real measure as God knows himself, as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, from all eternity. (p. 238)

The triune God has brought about both Revelation and Reconciliation.

In and through the God-man Jesus Christ

Scripture tells us that the fullness of the Godhead dwelled in the human-born Jesus. The author of Hebrews put it this way: “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being” (Hebrews 1:3). In and through his incarnate Son, Jesus Christ, and by the Spirit, God the Father has revealed to humanity who God is and what he has and is doing to bring humanity into right relationship with himself. Reconciled to God in Christ, we come to know not merely something about God, but who God actually is.

It’s only an analogy, but we might make a comparison between the coming of the Son of God to us in the person of Jesus with one of us going to a bunch of ants in order to have a relationship with them. While remaining who we are (human), we become one of them, dwelling within their anthill. We do this to be with them and to interact with them without losing our identity as a human.

In like manner, God the Father, through the Spirit, sent to us his Word in the person of Jesus to reveal himself to us, and in so doing to bring us his reconciling, saving grace. What the triune God has done reveals who he is—our Reconciling God!

The scientific theology of T.F. Torrance essentially says that the way of knowing God is the same as the way of salvation. Jesus is both the Truth of God (revelation) and the Way to God (reconciliation). Though God is not a part of his creation, nor is creation a part of God, God is not cut off from his creation. As Karl Barth noted, “God is not imprisoned in his transcendence.”

According to Torrance in The Mediation of Christ, God the Father, in Jesus, through the Spirit accomplishes both God’s self-revelation and his graceful gift of salvation-reconciliation:

Perhaps the most fundamental truth which we have to learn in the Christian Church, or rather relearn since we have suppressed it, is that the incarnation was the coming of God to save us in the heart of our fallen and depraved humanity, where humanity is at its wickedest in its enmity and violence against the reconciling love of God. That is to say, the incarnation is to be understood as the coming of God to take upon himself our fallen human nature, our actual human existence laden with sin and guilt, our humanity diseased in mind and soul in its estrangement or alienation from the Creator. This is a doctrine found everywhere in the early Church in the first five centuries, expressed again and again in the terms that the whole man had to be assumed by Christ if the whole man was to be saved, that the unassumed is unhealed, or that what God has not taken up in Christ is not saved. The sharp point of those formulations of this truth lay in the fact that it is the alienated mind of man that God had laid hold of in Jesus Christ in order to redeem it and effect reconciliation deep within the rational center of human being. (pp. 48-49)

Mission Developer Rod Matthews, who ministers for GCI throughout the South Pacific Region, told me about Bislama, a dialect of Pidgin English spoken in Vanuatu. In that dialect, Jesus, the Word of God, is called Tok blong God, literally translated talk belonging to God. No matter the language spoken, Jesus, for all humanity, is Tok blong God. To us, with us, and for us, Jesus is the Word from God—God-talk straight from the heart of God.

Dear sisters and brothers, Jesus is What God hath wrought.
Joseph Tkach

PS: Along with Greg and Susan Williams, and Gary and Cathy Deddo, Tammy and I recently visited England to participate in a ministerial conference (pictured below), and to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the founding of our London churches. Congratulations (and thanks) to all our members there!

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

It’s a common misconception to think that Adam and Eve’s expulsion from the Garden of Eden was God’s way of punishing the first man and woman for disobeying his instructions. In line with that wrong notion, artists (as in the picture below) typically portray the expulsion scene with an angel, serving as God’s agent of wrath, rather violently ejecting Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden (Paradise) and then preventing their return.

Along with this misconception comes another, namely that when Adam and Eve sinned, God had to come up with “Plan B” to replace his original plan that mankind would not sin and thus live “happily ever after” with him in Paradise.

But then there’s the truth conveyed in the Genesis narrative where the God of grace, continuing to implement his one and only plan, is shown extending his loving care to Adam and Eve—both within the Garden, and then outside. Having judged as being inadequate the fig-leaf coverings with which the couple had clothed themselves (Genesis 3:7), God (as shown in the painting at right) clothed Adam and Eve with garments he made of the hides of animals (Genesis 3:21). Only then did God usher the couple out of Paradise. Thus their expulsion should be understood as protection, not punishment. Note this:

Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”—therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken. (Genesis 3:22-23 NASB)

Because his love for Adam and Eve (and all humanity with them) was so great, God did not want them to eat the fruit of the tree of life and thus live in their fallen condition forever. God always was, and still is, for his beloved.

I find it just a bit humorous that some, despite knowing God to be Creator of all things and all-knowing, nevertheless believe he was caught off guard by the events in the Garden of Eden. Perhaps they see God, resting after creation, and proud of all he had accomplished, being startled when an angel approaches and declares, “We have a problem!” But the omniscient Creator was not surprised by Adam and Eve’s disobedience. He did not have to “punt” and move to a hastily-devised plan B. God foreknew what Adam and Eve (representing humankind) would do and, to use a modern cliché, “had it covered.”

The death of the animals, whose skins provided Adam and Eve’s covering, is seen by many as foreshadowing the death of the ultimate sacrifice for covering the sins of all humanity. That sacrifice, of course, is Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God (John 1:29; Revelation 13:8).

From before the foundation of the world (1 Peter 1:20 ESV), God’s plan included what he would do to restore humanity to fellowship with God (pictured by the Garden of Eden). God’s clothing of Adam and Eve with animal skins pointed forward to Israel’s animal sacrifices that, in turn, pointed to the sacrifice of Jesus, the second (final) Adam, who “covered” the sins of the world by sacrificing himself. Thus we understand that Incarnation and Atonement were part of God’s plan from the beginning.

God’s plan of redemption was not Plan B—it was the only plan, because it was a perfect plan—coming directly from the heart of our Triune God. Though death is the consequence for disobeying God (Romans 6:23), God did not leave us in the state of death. He rescued us by giving, as a gift of sacrifice, his only Son for the sake of bringing life out of death.

Prior to man’s first breath, the Son of God chose to become the Son of Man to save us from the sin that easily ensnares us, bringing horrific consequences, death included. The father of lies whispered into Adam and Eve’s ears the idea that they must go their own way—shape their own identity. The deceiver continues to spread the same false idea today. He does so, in large part, by convincing us that we are unlovable and thus unloved—not worthy to be God’s children because we are “not”—not good enough, not talented enough, not even skinny enough; and, therefore, we must find our own way.

Understanding Satan’s tactics, we can understand that Adam and Eve suffered from the first case of a stolen identity. Rather than believing the truth that they were God’s masterpiece—his beloved children—they believed the lie that they could not count on God and must make something of themselves. Not trusting God, they disobeyed, declaring that they would be whom they decided to be, and would not depend on anyone or anything to do so. As a result, Adam and Eve (and humankind along with them) became a false version of who God made us to be—his image! But because of his love for us, God would not allow Adam and Eve to enter into eternity bearing a false image. So in love, he removed them from Paradise and thus from access to the tree of life. Doing so was always part of God’s plan that, ultimately, would come to fullness in Jesus Christ.

God says we are “fearfully and wonderfully made” and “precious in his sight.” He calls us all to be his children and heirs to his promise. He tells us that we are unconditionally loved, and he proved that by dying for us while we were still sinners. God, in Christ, became the Lamb slain prior to the foundation of the world—prior to the fall—because he knew humanity would try to do things its own way before realizing the value of doing things his way.

God’s plan for us has always been to give us eternal life as his glorified sons and daughters. So, prior to the first sin, God set his plan (his only plan) in motion. That plan was and is to restore us to the image and identity he intended for all of us from the beginning. Before we sinned and believed ourselves to be unloved, and God to be untrustworthy, God’s plan for salvation clearly demonstrated his love and grace towards us all. As a result, God was much more interested in protecting Adam and Eve than in punishing them. That’s the type of God we serve and are called to share with others. He is a God who, in Christ, has proved himself willing to do anything for us. He is a God who sees us according to our true identity—his children, created in his image.

Rejoicing in the true identity that is ours in Christ,
Joseph Tkach

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

We’re all familiar with the scripture that says, “Patience is a virtue.” Except, well, there isn’t one, though the Bible does say a lot about patience. Paul lists it as part of the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22 ESV). He also encourages us to be patient in affliction (Romans 12:12), to wait patiently for what we do not yet have (Romans 8:25), to patiently bear with one another in love (Ephesians 4:2), and to not grow weary in doing good, because if we are patient, we’ll reap a harvest (Galatians 6:9). Scripture also tells us to “wait for the Lord” (Psalms 27:14), but, unfortunately, some mistake waiting patiently with inactivity.

One of our regional pastors (RPs) attended a meeting in which each discussion item referring to renewal or mission was responded to by the congregation’s leaders this way: “We know we need to do that in the future, but we are waiting on the Lord.” I’m sure these leaders believed they were being patient as they waited for God to make clear what direction they should take in outreach. There are other congregations “waiting on the Lord” to give them a sign they should change to a day or time of worship more convenient for new believers. The RP told me, “I finally asked the leaders, ‘What are you waiting on the Lord to do?’ Then I explained that God was likely waiting on them to participate in what he was doing already. As I did, I started hearing several say, Amen!”

When faced with difficult decisions, we’d all like a sign from God we can show others—one telling us where to go, and how and when to go there. But that is not how God typically works. Instead he often simply says, “Follow me,” exhorting us to take a step forward without understanding the particulars. We should remember that Jesus’ original disciples, both before and after Pentecost, struggled at times to understand where their Messiah was leading. Though Jesus is a perfect teacher and guide, they were not perfect learners and followers. We too often struggle to understand what Jesus is saying and where he is leading—sometimes we fear moving forward because we fear that we will fail. This fear often drives us into inactivity, which we then wrongly equate with patience—with “waiting on the Lord.”

We need not fear our mistakes, or a lack of clarity about the road forward. Though Jesus’ first disciples made many mistakes, the Lord kept giving them opportunity to join him in what he was doing—to follow where he was leading, even if that meant correction at points along the way. Jesus does the same today, reminding us that any “success” we experience will be the result of his work, not our own.

We should not be alarmed when we’re unable to fully understand the things of God. Times of uncertainty call for patience, and sometimes that means waiting for God to intervene before we take the next step. But whatever the situation, we’re always Jesus’ disciples, called to hear and follow him. In that journey, we must remember that our learning doesn’t come just from praying and reading Holy Scripture. Much of it comes through taking action—moving forward, in hope and faith (informed by prayer and the Word), even when it is not clear where the Lord is leading.

God wants his church to be healthy and thus to grow. He wants us to join him in his mission to the world, taking gospel-directed steps to serve our communities. When we do so, we will make mistakes. Sometimes our mission and outreach initiatives will fail to produce hoped-for fruit. Yet we will learn from those mistakes. As we see in the early church of the New Testament, our Lord will graciously use our mistakes as we entrust them to him, in repentance if need be. He will grow and mature us, forming us more closely to the image of Jesus Christ. With this understanding, we will not view a lack of immediate fruit as failure. In his time and way, God can and will bring forth fruit from our efforts, particularly when those efforts are focused on introducing people to Jesus by living and sharing the gospel. And the first fruits that we may see will be those in our own lives.

True “success” in mission and ministry comes only one way: faithfulness to Jesus—a faithfulness informed by prayer and Scripture by which the Spirit leads us into truth. But note that we don’t learn this truth instantaneously, and inactivity can hinder our progress. I wonder if, perhaps, this inactivity comes from a fear of truth. Jesus often predicted his death and resurrection to his disciples, and fearing this truth, they were, at times, frozen in inactivity. So it often is in our day.

When we talk about participating with Jesus in reaching out to unchurched people, it’s easy to react with fear. But we need not fear, because “He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4 ESV). Trusting in Jesus and his Word calms our fears. Indeed, faith is the enemy of fear. That’s why Jesus said, “Do not fear, only believe” (Mark 5:36 ESV). When, in faith, we actively engage in Jesus’ mission and ministry, we are not alone. We have the Lord of all creation with us, just as Jesus promised long ago on the mountain in Galilee (Matthew 28:16) where, shortly before his ascension, he gave his disciples the instructions we commonly call The Great Commission:

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20)

Notice the “bookends” here. Jesus begins by stating that he is in possession of “all authority in heaven and on earth,” then concludes with these words of assurance: “I am with you always.” These statements should be a source of great comfort, confidence and freedom to us as we go about doing what Jesus commanded: make disciples. We do so with boldness knowing that we are participating with the One who has all power and authority. And we do so with confidence knowing that he is always with us.

With these thoughts in mind, rather than seeing patience as inactivity, we will wait patiently on the Lord while actively participating with him in what he is doing to make disciples in our communities. In that way we will be practicing what we might call active patience. Doing so is Jesus’ command to us because it is his way—the way of faithfulness that bears the fruit of his ever-present kingdom.

Actively patient with you,
Joseph Tkach

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

In this letter I take a look at the GCI Board of Directors and then, at the end of the letter, share information about plans to relocate our Home Office.

Concerning the GCI Board, I’m often asked two related questions: “What does the GCI Board do?” and “Who are the GCI Board members?” I’ll answer both of these important questions here, hoping you find the answers both encouraging and informative.

What does the GCI Board do?

The GCI Board meets several times a year to set the budget, conduct the business affairs of our fellowship, maintain our doctrinal integrity, and serve as the mother board of the multiple boards of directors and trustees within GCI in various places around the world.

Though it doesn’t have a high public profile, the GCI Board is highly important. Its role is guided by the Corporations Code, with the Board operating according to Articles and Bylaws of Incorporation. The Articles, which are filed with the State, set forth basic matters for our church to operate within the law as a nonprofit religious organization. The Bylaws deal primarily with internal matters of church governance. For example, they require that the Board has no less than five and no more than fifteen people serving as Directors, and that the Directors be GCI ordained elders. Since we have nearly 900 congregations in 100 countries around the world, we also strive to ensure that the Board has an international flavor that reflects the diverse nature of our fellowship.

Who are the GCI Board members?

I’ll answer this question with pictures and short biographies of each of the current members of the GCI Board. I serve as Chairman of the Board, and since you likely are already acquainted with me and my wife Tammy, let’s begin with Dr. Russell Duke, who serves as Vice Chairman of the GCI Board.

Dr. Russell Duke

Dr. Russell Duke has been part of GCI since his parents became members of the Radio Church of God in 1953. Russell attended the denomination’s grade and high schools through 1966, then moved to Big Sandy, TX, to attend Ambassador College. He holds great memories of summers at camps in Big Sandy and Orr, MN, as a camper, counselor, and ski instructor.

In 1970 Russell married Phyllis Havens, from Lawton, OK. “The best thing to happen at Ambassador!” he says. The Dukes have two children, Chris and Tracy, and six grandchildren. Together they have directed music for Imperial Schools, and for church, festival and Ambassador College choirs. Most memorable was the six years directing the Young Ambassadors singing group in Big Sandy that performed in six tours of churches in the middle and eastern U.S. “Great relationships were built on those long trips.”

Russell pastored churches in Topeka, KS (1974-77) and Blue Springs, MO (1978-1984), before becoming a professor at Ambassador College in 1984. At Ambassador he served as an instructor, director of the Young Ambassadors, chair of the Theology department when the college became an accredited university, then president from 1995-1997. Following his time at Ambassador, Russell opened the Ambassador Center at Azusa Pacific University (APU), where he began splitting time between the church and university. He helped develop Grace Communion Seminary (GCS), serving as its President from 2008-2015. He continues serving GCS as Liaison Officer and professor.

Carn Catherwood

Carn Catherwood was born in a small village in western Manitoba, Canada. When World War II began, Carn’s dad left the farm his grandfather had homesteaded in 1885, and enlisted in the Canadian Army. He contracted TB in England and was hospitalized for more than 20 years. Carn’s childhood was spent in St. Boniface, a small French-speaking city in Central Manitoba, where he became bilingual.

Carn was only 14 when he first heard Herbert Armstrong on the radio. “His dynamic analysis of the Bible and world news fascinated me.” Carn applied to Ambassador College in Pasadena and entered in 1957, only the second Canadian to attend. He spent his senior year at the Bricket Wood campus in England, and graduated there in 1961. In 1962 he married Joyce Sefcak from Taylor, TX. They have been blessed with three daughters and eight grandchildren.

Ordained a year after graduation, for the next 45 years Carn pastored or supervised churches in six U.S. states, and in Canada, Belgium, France, England and Italy, as well as parts of West Africa. He also taught Christian Leadership at Ambassador College for 14 years. Carn is presently retired, living in North Texas.

When the Church began its time of renewal in 1995, Joyce and Carn quickly saw the need for doctrinal change. As their understanding of the New Covenant continued to grow, they began to realize that a relationship with Jesus is at the heart of the Covenant and Jesus should be the center of our worship and our lives.

Dr. Charles Fleming

Dr. Charles Fleming, GCI overseer for our Caribbean churches, first learned about our church in 1967. As a member of his high school’s debate team, he was doing research for a debate and came across a copy of the Plain Truth and subscribed. Two years later he joined the church and then attended Ambassador College. After graduating in 1977, he was sent as an intern to Puerto Rico. Since then he has served as a pastor in Jamaica, Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, and currently serves as Mission Developer for the Caribbean.

During his internship in Puerto Rico, Charles met and married Carmen, the love of his life. Together they have three children: Robert, an engineer; Michelle, a math teacher; and Anne Marie, who works for the University of Central Florida. They consider themselves an “island family” with Charles born in Grenada; Carmen, Robert and Michelle born in Puerto Rico; and Anne born in Jamaica.

Charles says a highlight of his life has been the privilege of living through the remarkable renewal of an entire denomination. This has left him with a strong sense of just how much God is an active agent for change in our confused and confusing world. The remarkable transformation of a church, moving from extreme legalism to embracing unfathomable grace, has left him with a deep desire to help others know and experience the loving presence of the Triune God of grace. He sees our denomination as one of God’s ministries for doing just that.

Charles completed a doctorate in Missional Leadership at Fuller Theological Seminary, where he now works part time as an adjunct professor. He says his exposure to students who serve as missionaries in just about every country on earth has increased his appreciation for the ways God reaches out in love to people from every nation, tribe and even religion. Charles is able to bring to his region and all of GCI fresh insights he gains from the highly experienced missionaries in his classes.

Franklin Guice

Franklin (“Frank”) Guice was born September 1, 1938, and was named after President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The first five years of his life were spent in Pineland, TX, a lumber mill town not far from Big Sandy. His parents then moved the family to Wichita, KS, in pursuit of a better life. It was there that Frank received his basic public education. Brought up in the Baptist church in Wichita, Frank developed a love for music by singing in the choir with the adults. In the seventh grade he sang in a boy’s quartet and learned to appreciate harmonizing. It was in junior high that he developed a love for sports in general, and basketball in particular.

Taking a break in formal education, Frank joined the U.S. Navy and traveled through much of the western and eastern U.S., and many cities and countries in the Western Pacific region. After three years in the Navy, Frank returned to Wichita and found employment at the U.S. Post Office. It was there that he met and married the love of his life, Cora Scott. This year they will celebrate 55 years of “a really blessed union.” Cora and Frank were blessed with two children, Stephen and Stephanie, and a granddaughter Kayla Gibson (Stephanie’s child).

While in Wichita, Frank sensed God’s calling to the Church of God and had his love of learning rekindled. He attended Wichita State University for a semester and then Ambassador College in Pasadena, CA, where he received a bachelor’s degree in 1975. After graduation, Frank continued to study, taking classes at Los Angeles City College and Pasadena City College. After working for a couple of engineering firms, he returned to work for the U.S. government, working for the Treasury Department for 29 years. Frank retired in 2006 after working for the government a total of 43 years.

Frank feels it has been a life blessing to journey with others through the learning experience of the Worldwide Church of God and now Grace Communion International. He has been blessed to serve as a deacon and elder in our fellowship. Frank was selected to serve on the Ambassador College/University Board prior to serving on the GCI Board. He says it is an ongoing joy to worship with and serve in our worldwide fellowship, including his home congregation, New Hope Christian Fellowship, in Los Angeles. He appreciates his physical and spiritual families, realizing how much love there is in GCI when many brothers and sisters around the world prayed for him after learning of his illness many years ago through a prayer request in GCI Weekly Update.

Though now in physical decline, Frank rejoices in the spiritual health he has in Jesus Christ that continues to grow. “A growth that God makes possible for all of his children.”

Curtis May

Curtis May was born in Greensboro, AL, on November 3, 1944. After graduating from high school in 1963 as class president and valedictorian, he moved to Brooklyn, NY, and studied accounting at the Brooklyn Adult Vocational School. He later worked as a postman in the Church Street Station in Manhattan, NY. During the 70s his focus was on biblical studies. During that decade he attended Ambassador College and married his wife, Jannice Everett.

Curtis served in the pastoral ministry for 30 years in WCG congregations in Washington, D.C.; Baltimore, MD; Norfolk, VA; Los Angeles and Pasadena, CA. He also taught at Imperial Schools and directed youth summer camps. In the early 2000s, he served as District Superintendent of the Southwest District.

In January 1996, Curtis was appointed Director of the Office of Reconciliation Ministries (ORM). He also is the editorial director of ORM’s newsletter Reconcile. He has traveled throughout the U.S., Canada, Alaska, South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, South America, the Caribbean, England, and Ireland to conduct ORM workshops. Curtis has received training at the Center of the Healing of Racism in Houston, TX, and is now a member of the Center as well as a member of the International Reconciliation Coalition. Curtis also is a member of the Board of Directors at African Enterprise, where he serves on the executive committee.

Curtis’ wife, Jannice, is Founder and President of Connecting and Bonding Inc., an organization that serves ministers’ wives. The Mays have two children: Angela Clark, a CPA; and Bradley May, a Corporal in the city of Pasadena Police Department; and two grandchildren: Jaden (age seven), and Bryce (age three).

Wendy Moore

Wendy Moore’s family began fellowshipping with the Worldwide Church of God when she was just beginning school in South Africa. In spite of the tensions and challenges in South Africa during those years, Wendy’s childhood was positive. “Attending SEP camp every year as a teen had a big impact on me. It was due to the example and encouragement of some camp volunteers from Ambassador College that I decided to travel the great distance to California to attend Ambassador College.”

Wendy stayed busy in college, taking advantage of the numerous opportunities presented. After graduating, she worked for the church for a number of years, got married, and became involved in service in a local church. This led to an opportunity for Wendy and her husband to be involved in pastoral ministry. They moved to the San Francisco, CA, area for a year of training, then returned to South Africa.

This period was characterized by the immense doctrinal changes that transformed our fellowship. “It was exciting, as we moved to a much more Christ-centered theology, with the strong focus on God’s triune nature we now have. During the trauma of that time, some leaders and a significant number of members chose to disassociate themselves from us.” Wendy went through the personal trauma of divorce during that time, but says, “The gift of a long-desired child of my own was a huge blessing from God in an otherwise dark time.”

Wendy had been working at the church office in Johannesburg, and with the departure of two of three employed elders, was asked to serve as the National Coordinator of our fellowship in South Africa. This was a very busy time in her life (being the single parent of a small child!), but a richly rewarding one as well. “We have some wonderful pastors and many dedicated and loving members in our 25 churches scattered throughout South Africa. It was a great pleasure working with, and serving them.”

Wendy’s role in the church required her attendance at the 2005 International Conference in California where she met Gary Moore. Within about a year they were married. Our Canadian churches loaned Gary to South Africa for a year of teaching and pastoral training. The newlyweds much enjoyed working together in ministry throughout the country. The year ended on Canada Day 2007, and Wendy and Gary moved back to Canada where he resumed his role as National Director, though initially retaining a link with South Africa serving there as a mission developer. Wendy now works closely with Gary, especially in the growing international mission work that GCI-Canada conducts. She has very much enjoyed getting to know the members in our Canadian churches, and deeply appreciates their generosity to help serve the cause of Christ wherever in the world the opportunity to do so presents itself.

Wendy says the doctrinal journey of our church has been one that has vastly enriched her understanding of God—Father, Son and Holy Spirit. “As we live our lives in relationship with him, each day becomes an adventure. What a privilege to enter into his ministry to the world, and see him work with us and through us to benefit others!”

Mathew Morgan

Mathew (“Mat”) Morgan, MBA, serves as Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer of both Grace Communion International and Grace Communion Seminary where he is responsible for overseeing the financial, legal, accounting, human resources, IT, and facilities departments. He also serves as a Director and Secretary of the GCI Board.

Mat was born in rural Montana and spent his early years in Montana and South Dakota before moving to California to attend Ambassador College. There he met and married Pam, the love of his life. During their 28 years together they have been blessed with two children, Mathew (now a financial consultant) and Jessica (now an elementary school teacher).

Mat credits his parents, Richard and Edythe, for introducing him to God and church work. “Because of their desire to serve God and others, the Morgan house was always open for guests or even animals who needed help.” Richard and Edythe joined WCG when Mat was about five years old. In those early years, the family drove 250 miles each way to the nearest congregation or Bible study, either in Great Falls, MT, or Spokane, WA, depending on which direction had the better weather that day.

Mat has worked for GCI and GCS in various positions for more than 32 years. After receiving his MBA in 1994, he worked in both the legal and financial areas and has been in his current positions since 2005. He counts it a privilege to have worked for the church during its challenging years of transition because he has seen God’s hand in the journey and has “served with some of the most wonderful people in the world.” He looks forward to what God has in store for GCI in the years ahead. “Following God’s lead has never been boring or easy, but it has always been filled with an overall sense of peace and joy that can only be explained through the presence of God along the way.”

Celestine J. Holman Olive

Celestine (“Cella”) Olive was born in Houston, TX, to a Navy veteran, Daniel Holman, and a Baptist, gospel and blues pianist, Vera Levy Pittman (both born in East Texas). She has 10 living siblings (the eldest died as an infant) of which she is the third oldest. Her father began listening to Herbert Armstrong on radio in the early 50s and the family started attending festivals in Big Sandy, TX, when she was seven years old. “There was no congregation in Houston at that time.” Cella was baptized at age 19 in the Houston congregation.

Cella met Leonard Olive Jr. of Compton, CA, in the late 60s when their respective families were attending a festival in Big Sandy. During her senior year in high school she began working part-time in a vocational training program for NASA/Manned Spacecraft Center (now NASA/Johnson Space Center). She was hired full-time upon graduating high school and worked there until leaving home and moving to Pasadena, CA, in 1971 to live with her sister and long-time duet partner, Linda Morgan, who had earlier moved from Houston to Pasadena. She and Leonard began dating and eventually married in January 1973. They have two sons, Phillip Olive, Eric Olive (married to Michele) and three grandsons, Trenton, Eric II and Cameron, all of whom are baptized members of GCI.

Cella was ordained a deaconess in 1991. Over the many years of her membership she has served on the Pastoral Advisory Council for three pastors, and for seven of those years served as Church Treasurer. She was ordained an elder in 2007 and commissioned as an Assistant Pastor in New Hope Christian Fellowship, which currently meets in Eagle Rock, CA, where she presently serves with Pastor Glen Weber on the financial team. She also facilitates the New Hope Women’s Fellowship meetings. Cella has enjoyed being involved in music most of her life, having studied piano and voice with both private and university instructors. She serves as the Director of Music and Worship Arts Ministry at New Hope and has been conductor of the New Hope Praise Choir for the past 17 years.

Celestine began working for GCI full-time in various capacities in 1996. She presently works in the Accounting Department as Supervisor of Member Services and Cash Accounting. She was invited by GCI President Joseph Tkach to become a member of the GCI Board and began serving in January 2015.

Norman Smith

Norman Smith was born on the family farm near Burnt Prairie, in Southern Illinois on February 18, 1930. He lived there until at age 20 he left to attend Ambassador College in Pasadena, CA. Norman’s wife, Charlene also enrolled in Ambassador in 1950. They began dating in their sophomore year and married in their senior year. Their daughter, Deborah, was born in 1954, their first son, Kevan in 1956, and son Kyle in 1960. The Smiths have two grandchildren.

Norman was baptized in 1950, and has served the church in various capacities ever since. He began working in the church’s recording studio in 1951, which soon turned into a full time job that continued during his last two years of college. He was made director of the broadcasting studio in 1952, and after graduation in 1954, became manager of the church’s radio and television production facilities. He was ordained an elder in 1955, regularly giving sermons to various congregations in Southern California.

As an associate member of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, the Audio Engineering Society, and the Acoustical Engineering Society at the time the Ambassador Auditorium was being designed, he played an important role in the design of the lighting and sound system in the Auditorium. He obtained a master’s degree in management science from West Coast University, Los Angeles in 1976, and later completed a Master of Science Counseling Psychology program at California State University, San Bernardino in 1993 to facilitate counseling and training in the areas of alcoholism, addiction, and child abuse.

In 1976, Norman was assigned to pastor the Chico, CA, congregation and be the Area Coordinator for ministers in Northern California, Oregon, and Washington. In 1980, the Smiths were transferred to San Diego—Norman’s first pastorate with no other responsibilities. The couple then transferred to the San Bernardino congregation in 1987. Norman thrived in his pastoral responsibilities, delighting in performing weddings, anointing and praying for people and seeing God bless and protect them through their trials. He delighted in counseling with people, seeing them develop a trusting relationship with Jesus Christ and make changes in their relationships with others. His “pastor’s heart” always led him to be alert to people’s needs and find innovative ways to help them.

Norman stated in a 1994 interview, “I attempt to look at both the great progress the church has made since I have been a part of it and also admit the mistakes which have seriously hindered some people’s ability to see the love of Jesus Christ. Admitting the mistakes does not mean to dwell on them. But, admitting the mistakes is a form of reaching out to those who have been hindered and have faltered.” Norman retired in 2005 and has served as Assistant Pastor in the Eugene, OR, congregation to the present. He was a member of the church’s Advisory Council of Elders for several years and has served on the GCI Board since January 2015.

Concluding thoughts and an announcement

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about our Board members. Perhaps you were pleasantly surprised to learn who serves on the GCI Board. I wish all of you could share in the privilege I feel working with these talented women and men—each is an inspiration to me, and I’m proud they all serve as Board members. I think it’s the most qualified Board we’ve ever had in our history as a denomination. Three of our Board members have doctorates, two have MBAs, three are internationals, and two have histories that reach back to our Radio Church of God days, where they had daily contact with Herbert Armstrong. Our Board has been through it all!

As a Board, we spend a lot of time praying for all of you, and I invite you to pray for all of us—joining us as prayer warriors on behalf of GCI and our mission of living and sharing the gospel. Regarding that mission, we’re always looking for ways to be as effective as possible in using the resources that God provides. Toward that end, our management team, for the last several months, has been carefully analyzing options for moving our Home Office (currently located in Glendora, CA) to a location that would serve our needs better in terms of cost to the denomination and to our Home Office employees (including providing more affordable housing).

Just this morning (August 25), after months of prayerful deliberation, the GCI Board met, concluding that we should proceed to implement plans to relocate the Home Office to a yet-to-be-determined location in North Carolina. I ask for you to join us in praying about this important move (and the many details involved). Please read what I have to say about the move in my September letter to GCI donors—you’ll find it online at https://www.gci.org/letter/1609. We’ll keep you informed as additional details emerge.

Your brother in Christ,
Joseph Tkach

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Bait-and-switch is a commonly used sales tactic. Typically, the customer is drawn to a store or website with promises of very low prices. Once inside, they find different items at higher prices. Sadly, some churches and ministries use bait-and-switch tactics in marketing a gospel that turns out to be no gospel at all.

A friend of mine shared a conversation he had on an airplane returning home from a trip to India. A young Indian woman sitting next to him asked what he had been doing in India. He explained he had been there for mission and ministry. She asked if he was Christian, and he said he was, so she asked, “Tell me about this Jesus!” He began by asking what she had heard. “Well, I’ve heard Christians and missionaries talk about a God who loves everyone and sent Jesus as a gift to save us. They then encourage people to become Christian so they can have a better life.” Then she paused—“But my friends who go to Christian churches say they find out it is not that easy. You have to give money to the church, work hard to keep the gift, and if you don’t do what the priest says, the God who is supposed to love you will send you to hell to burn forever!”

Fortunately, it was a long flight and by the time it was over, the Indian woman had heard the gospel message that God, who uses no bait-and-switch tactics, sent his Son, in love, to save the world by grace.

Unfortunately, some churches proclaim a false gospel that God won’t save people until they overcome this or that. Or they proclaim that God saves us by grace but then it’s up to us to maintain our salvation by works (using, of course, their programs). These unfortunate messages present salvation as a transaction rather than the freely-given, enduring relationship with God that it is.

The gospel that uses bait-and-switch tactics is far different than the one presented in Scripture. There we find that Jesus, who is truth personified (John 14:6), presents the gospel truth that God, who always is for us, came to us and lives among us by his Spirit. Jesus doesn’t call us to himself, then say, “Now change or be damned!” He draws us to himself unconditionally, through love and for love. As we get to know him more and more, we respond to his love with all we are and in all we do. We want to change because we want to be like him and involved in what he is doing. We want to enjoy as close a relationship with him as we can—a relationship in which we become like the one we love.

Perhaps the biggest change that we encounter in this relationship with God is learning to love others the way God loves them. As our perfectly loving heavenly Father, God is for all people and against all that is against them. He is for all that brings his children true life in ever-deepening relationship with himself. He desires that his children live in a way that reflects the glory of who he is—the glory we see in God’s incarnate Son, Jesus Christ, who is the Way, the Truth and the Life.

The gospel tells us that God is a triune being: Father, Son and Holy Spirit existing eternally in a relationship of love. God created us to share in this tri-personal relationship, and since he is perfect and complete without us, he does not need bait-and-switch tactics to trick us into anything. Though he doesn’t need us, in love and for love he desires that we experience and enjoy the loving relationship he is and has for us.

One of the biggest changes we face is learning to embrace and live out of our relationship with God. This is tough because most of us have grown up loving the darkness of self-love rather than the light of God’s love. Many seem unaware that God created us for relationship with him and with others. These relationships are based on the new commandment given by Jesus to his disciples the evening before he died for us: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:34-35).

When Jesus makes something new, he makes it better than the old. There is more to Jesus’ new command than many realize. It’s about loving God and others the way Jesus loves us and his Father. Jesus gave himself completely for the sake of his Father and all the world. Jesus was God’s plan to bring us into an eternal relationship of love with himself. God, who is an eternal, relational being, invites all to respond to his love. His intent is made clear in the passage that is often called “the Bible in a nutshell”: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” (John 3:16-17).

There is no bait-and-switch here. Jesus did not come to condemn and punish; he came to save. In the four Gospels we find Jesus telling people about his Father, about the Holy Spirit, about his Father’s kingdom, and about himself. Through acts of healing, helping, correcting and warning, we find him establishing the reality of who he is and why he came. All of this he did freely and even joyfully, out of the fullness of his relationship with the Father and in the Holy Spirit.

In Scripture we find Jesus serving, not asking to be served. He doesn’t draw people in, then drop the hammer. With Jesus there is no “gotcha,” bait-and-switch catch. Jesus is pure, consistent love. His love is based on who he is, not on what we do. The apostle Paul put it this way: “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Notice, there are no conditions placed here on God’s love for us. God doesn’t say, “I’ll love you as soon as you clean up your act.” He doesn’t say, “I’ll sacrifice my Son if you promise to love me.” The Bible tells us that God’s love is always unconditional—there is no bait-and-switch here. God’s grace, by definition, is freely given—unearned and undeserved. There is nothing we must do or can do to cause or enable God to give it. Grace is truly the ultimate expression of love, which is the essence of God’s being.

God, who is love, never stops loving his creation. His anger (wrath) arises from seeing his beloved hurting themselves and others. When we embrace our relationship with God, his love works from inside our being by his Spirit to restore and transform us. Note Jesus’ prayer for his followers: “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them” (John 17:25-26). Rest assured, Jesus never uses bait-and-switch tactics with us, and such tactics are never part of co-ministering with him. We are called to know Jesus and his love, and to make him known by freely sharing his love with others.

Always thankful for the truth of God’s unconditional love,
Joseph Tkach

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Here’s an important question for us to ponder: How do we view nonbelievers?

Chuck Colson, founder of Prison Fellowship and the Breakpoint radio program, once answered that question using an analogy: If a blind man stepped on your foot or spilled hot coffee on your shirt, would you be angry with him? Chuck’s answer was that you wouldn’t. Why? Because a blind person is unable to see what is right in front of them.

Now consider that people who have not awakened to the faith of Christ are unable to see the truth that is right in front of them. By virtue of the fall they are spiritually blind (2 Corinthians 4:3-4). But at just the right time, the Spirit moves to open their spiritual eyes so they might see (Ephesians 1:18). The church fathers called this the miracle of illumination, and when it occurs, the opportunity is presented to receive in faith (to believe) what they have now been given eyes to see.

While it is true that some who have had their eyes opened choose not to believe, it is my conviction that at some point most will respond positively to the strong call of God in their life. I pray they do so sooner rather than later so they can experience, even now, the peace and joy of knowing God and making him known.

As we know, nonbelievers hold wrong beliefs about God. Some of those beliefs are the result of poor examples from Christians. Others come from years of being taught illogical and purely speculative ideas about God. These wrong beliefs work to reinforce spiritual blindness. But what is our reaction to their unbelief? Unfortunately, many Christians set up walls of self-protection and even hatred. In erecting these walls, they overlook the reality that nonbelievers are just as important to God as believers. They forget that the Son of God did not come to earth for believers alone.

When Jesus began his ministry, there were no Christians—most everyone was a nonbeliever, including the Jews of that day. But, thankfully, Jesus was a friend of sinners—an advocate for nonbelievers. He knew that, “it is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick” (Matthew 9:12). Jesus was committed to seeking lost sinners in order that they might receive him and the salvation he has for them. So he spent great amounts of time with people others viewed as unworthy and unlovable. As a result, the religious separatists labeled Jesus “a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners” (Luke 7:34).

The truth of the gospel is that the Son of God became incarnate, lived, died and ascended to heaven for all people. As Scripture tells us, God loves “the world” (John 3:16), and it would seem that most of these people are nonbelievers. The same God calls us as believers to join Jesus in loving all people. To do that we must view them as who they are in Christ—those who belong to him, those for whom Jesus died and was raised. But many Christians struggle with that. There seems to be no lack of Christians who are willing to condemn others despite the Son having told us that he came not to condemn the world but to save it (John 3:17). Sadly, some Christians are so busy condemning nonbelievers they fail to see them as God the Father does—his beloved for whom he sent his Son to die, even though they do not (yet) know or love him. We might see them as nonbelievers or unbelievers, but God sees them as not-yet believers.

Before the Holy Spirit opens a nonbeliever’s eyes, they are trapped by the blindness of unbelief—caught up in theological deceits concerning God’s identity and love. It is in this condition that we must love them, not shun or reject them. Part of doing so is praying for the time when, by the Spirit, they will be enabled to see (understand) the good news of God’s forgiving grace and receive (believe) that truth, taking up the new life that is theirs under God’s rule and reign, enabling them to experience the freedom that is theirs as children of God.

As we consider nonbelievers, let’s remember Jesus’ command: “love each other,” he said, “as I have loved you” (John 15:12). And how does Jesus love? By including us in his love and life. He does not set up walls that divide believers and nonbelievers. The Gospels tell us that Jesus loved and included tax-collectors, women caught in adultery, the demon-possessed and lepers. He loved and included women of ill repute, soldiers who mocked and beat him, and criminals crucified at his side. With all these people in mind, Jesus, hanging on the cross, prayed: “Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). Jesus loves and includes all so that all might receive his forgiveness as their Savior and Lord, and by his Spirit live in fellowship and communion with their heavenly Father.

As we share in Jesus’ love for nonbelievers, we will view them as people belonging to God by virtue of creation and redemption despite the fact that they do not (yet) know the One who loves them. When we hold this perspective, our attitude and behavior toward nonbelievers will change. With open arms of compassion, we will embrace them as orphaned or estranged children who need to know their true Father; as lost brothers and sisters who aren’t aware they are related to us through Christ. We will seek to share God’s love with nonbelievers so they too might welcome God’s grace into their lives.

Sharing the Triune God’s love for not-yet believers,
Joseph Tkach

PS: For a related article by Gary Deddo titled Jesus’ Acceptance, click here.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

It’s an important spiritual discipline, yet many people (Christians included) misunderstand and even fear meditation. Perhaps this is because they have in mind its non-biblical forms, which generally involve disengaging the mind from temporal existence through various practices including repetition of particular words or phrases. In contrast, biblical meditation is about actively engaging one’s mind with a focus on divine revelation.

Scripture teaches the practice of meditation. Note this verse: Tremble, and do not sin; meditate in your heart upon your bed, and be still (Psalms 4:4 NASB). In place of meditate, other translations have search (NIV), ponder (ESV) and commune (KJV). Perhaps these words remind us of times we’ve been deep in thought lying in bed before rising in the morning, or before falling asleep at night. Biblical meditation gives focus to such thoughts by framing them within our life in Christ, considering how we can participate or have participated with our Lord in his life and love.

Transformed thinking

Rather than emptying the mind of thought, biblical meditation involves filling it with the knowledge of God—of who he is, and of our life in him and his presence in us. This focused way of thinking is also about absorbing the life and love of God as we ponder actions we might take in given situations. As we do, the Holy Spirit transforms our thinking, helping us develop more godly responses. As we practice the spiritual discipline of meditation, this pattern of thinking becomes second nature—almost automatic. The more we meditate, the more we’ll find ourselves making right decisions.

Though no analogy is perfect, we can liken biblical meditation to the response of a baseball player at bat. Though the best batters are born with excellent hand-eye coordination and vision, much practice is needed to become highly skilled. A pitch traveling 90 mph takes approximately .4 seconds to reach the batter, giving the batter only about .2 seconds to make a decision before swinging (or letting the ball pass). The batter then has only about .2 seconds to swing. If he or she misreads the speed of the pitch by as little as 1.5 mph, their swing will miss by a foot. Because a bat is at most 2.75 inches thick at its fattest part, missing by only an inch will cause the batter to miss the ball entirely, or at best hit a soft grounder or a weak fly-ball. But with much practice, the batter’s swing becomes more accurate—the timing and adjustment of his or her swing becomes second nature.

Biblical meditation is like that—it’s a form of practice (spiritual discipline) in which the Holy Spirit cultivates within us a God-attuned “timing.” Eventually our “trained” (second-nature, automatic) response will be to more fully experience fellowship with God in our lives.

Two ways of knowing

In “Meditation in a Toolshed,” C. S. Lewis wrote about the different ways we look at things: “You can step outside one experience only by stepping inside another. Therefore, if all inside experiences are misleading, we are always misled.” Though Lewis did not believe that we are always misled in life, he did think that certain ways of knowing are more fundamental and direct than others. He recommended we draw a distinction between looking at the effects created by something or someone (the analytic way of knowing) and looking along something to its source (the participative way of knowing).

The analytic way involves understanding something about the quantitative effects of something on other things apart from ourselves—like studying the wake of a ship that has already passed us. We mostly get to know something about things that way. We can call this the more objective approach, although all knowing involves to one degree or another both objective and subjective elements.

The participative way of knowing involves understanding the object itself and its qualitative effects upon us. In this approach we look directly at the source or object of our knowledge and pay attention to the whole range of effects it has upon us and the responses it draws out of us. This more subjective approach pays much more attention to the affective, internal and personal interaction with the object of knowing. This is knowing something itself, not merely knowing about something.

Lewis used the experience of being in love to make his point. The analytic, more objective way of knowing involves viewing something being experienced by someone else who is said to be in love, analyzing what is seen without reference to any love the observer might have experienced themselves. In this mode, the observer might refer to biological stimuli or to various behavioral reactions.

By way of contrast, the participative way of knowing about love considers the subject’s more direct experience of participating in the relationship and the qualitative effects upon the person. This view takes account of every aspect of the relationship experienced as a whole. Consideration of one’s own experience of love is used to come alongside the person and to interpret their experience of love, accounting for that person’s emotions, thoughts, actions, moral and religious/spiritual considerations, and other responses generated by the love and the short- and long-term effects of the relationship.

Experiencing God and his blessings

Now let’s think about these two ways of knowing in terms of Christian meditation. This form of meditation involves looking at a verse or passage of Scripture from both perspectives. Practicing an analytic way of knowing, we consider the words, grammar and historical-cultural context of the passage to see what it most likely meant to the original audience and the effects upon those who originally received the message. Then we practice a participative way of knowing, considering what the biblical revelation means for us today.

By his Holy Spirit and through his preachers and teachers in the church, God speaks to us both individually and collectively through Holy Scripture. Our God has not stopped communicating, and the primary object of the knowledge he communicates to us through his revelation is who he is and who we are in relationship to him.

Such knowledge draws out from us the response of worship, expressed through repentance, faith, hope and love. Through Scripture, we come to know not just the words of the Bible, but become personally addressed and engaged in knowing the source and subject of the Bible: God himself! As we look at the Bible and find we can look along it to its Author who speaks again today, we find that we can know and trust him with all we are and all we have.

The Bible is a readily available gift of revelation from God that is designed to help us both objectively and subjectively. We can look at it subjectively because it is the only book in the universe that has the author present with us as we read it. Equally important to reading the Bible and enjoying its narratives is reflecting (meditating) on God’s revelation to us, realizing it is also revelation for us. T. F. Torrance reminds us that thinking about Scripture should be ordered from a Trinitarian theology of revelation: God the Father speaks through the incarnate Son of God and we are given ears to hear and know this Triune God by the ministry of his Holy Spirit in us.

Meditation, like the other spiritual disciplines, is not a self-help tool designed to help us get closer to God so that he will love us more. Rather, it enables us to experience a relational dependence on God’s grace, which he has already fully given to us in Christ. As C. S. Lewis said, “In silence and in meditation on the eternal truths, I hear the voice of God which excites our hearts to greater love.” Though he was not talking about hearing an audible voice, he did have in mind being sensitive to the lead of the Holy Spirit as he shapes our understanding of God and of our responsiveness to God’s Word.

The source of all our knowledge about God is his revelation of himself in Christ through the Holy Spirit. Grasping this Trinitarian relation is our hermeneutical base for how we read the Bible, enabling us to meditate on how we should act in any given situation. As we, through meditation, ponder our response to certain situations (past or future), the Spirit is working to transform us in our approach to God and in how, through thought and action, we participate in the divine nature of our triune God.

When we interpret the Bible relationally, we are able to experience and apprehend God in the reality of his own words and acts. As T. F. Torrance taught, “indwelling God’s Word” is an acquired habit of looking through Scripture and allowing God’s message to be “interiorized” in our minds. As we allow God to retain his own majesty in our knowing him, he will preside in all our judgments of him and of others.

As we conclude using my baseball analogy, we should note that as we surrender to the lead of the Holy Spirit in our lives through meditation, we will experience more “extra base hits” and “home runs” in our lives. And that will be a very great blessing!

Enjoying the extra bases of God’s love and life,
Joseph Tkach

_____________

Notes:

1. The bottom three pictures in this letter are public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
2. To read an article from the C. S. Lewis Institute on the topic of Biblical meditation, click here.