Church Family,
Church structure is often viewed as boring and irrelevant to the life and well-being of a church. This could not be farther from the truth laid out in 1 Timothy 3:1-7. Paul has left Timothy in Ephesus to charge the false teachers to stop teaching things contrary to sound doctrine. In that work, he is also to find godly men to serve as Elders/Overseers/Pastors to ensure the church in Ephesus does not return to false teaching. One clue we have to the significance (rather than boring and irrelevant) of this work is the phrase, “The saying is trustworthy,” that introduces the office. This phrase serves as a citation-emphasis formula.[1] Meaning that by this time in the early church, a saying of importance had developed about the work an Elder/Overseer/Pastors does at a church, indicating how vital it was for the life and well-being of a church. At Light in the Desert Church, we love the bible and desire it to guide all our practices. Therefore, this fall, we are making significant strides to move to a plurality of Elders as our church structure. We announced this move at our recent Get the Vision meeting and will keep everyone updated as we make progress. Continue to pray that God would raise up godly men to serve in this capacity.
Disciple-Makers
Disciple-makers is designed to help equip and encourage a follower of Christ to fulfill their responsibility of making disciples. It is a two-semester course that covers various foundational beliefs, extremely practical ways to read scripture with believers and non-believers, and the ins and outs of how we change. On average, it will require about 30-45 minutes of reading each week before the class. Then, each Wednesday from 6:00 pm- 7:30 pm there will be discussion and practice reading scripture with others. We will begin this class on September 15th.
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Bryan
[1] See George W. Knight III, The Faithful Sayings in the Pastoral Letters. Kampen, 1968; reprinted Grand Rapids, 1979, for an excellent treatment on the use of the saying within the PE.