As a church, we prayerfully and financially support a number of local, stateside and foreign ministry partners. In the past we have made efforts to educate and communicate updates about our ministry partners through a printed monthly/quarterly missions update. Going forward we intend to provide regular updates on our ministry partners and other missions initiatives through the blog on our website.

Bruce Koch - Frontier Ventures Ministry

As a church, we have supported Bruce Koch for many years. He has even taught a Perspectives course at our church several years ago. This month, the missions committee would like to highlight Bruce’s ministry and explain a little more about it. Bruce works with what is most commonaly known as Perspectives Global, which is part of a larger ministry by the name of Frontier Ventures Ministry.

What is Perspectives?

Perspectives on the World Christian Movement is a 15-lesson study program designed to educate and mobilize believers to participate in global missions and see the gospel proclaimed to the ends of the earth.

Quick Facts:

• The Perspectives course currently is in 9 nations with translations into 38 different languages!
• National Perspectives programs seek to mobilize and unite God’s people for
  effective engagement in fulfilling God’s mandate to establish movements within
  every people group on earth that will worship, obey, and glorify Jesus.
• The course examines four “perspectives” of God’s mission - Biblical, Historical, Cultural and Strategic - exploring the why and the how of being on mission with God.
• First developed for college students in 1974 by Dr. Ralph Winter and the US Center for World Mission, Perspectives has emerged into a global movement attracting Christians of all generations and nations.
• Almost 50 years of history has demonstrated that the experience of “taking Perspectives” results in transformed lives and transformed churches, ensuing in the transformation of unreached people groups as the gospel spreads within their midst.

Perspective’s global team works primarily through hosting catalytic events to launch and support national Perspectives study programs. Our aim is to educate and motivate the global body of Christ to work with Jesus to see his kingdom come and His will done within every tribe, tongue, people, and nation.

Over the past one hundred years the Church in Africa, Asia and Latin America has expanded so rapidly, it now represents two-thirds of the global Body of Christ. Whereas in the past, mission was perceived as “from the West to the rest,” today there is a growing global mission force, passionate and ready to be deployed. They often live geographically or culturally near the least-reached people groups.

These new missionaries are dependent upon an equally engaged and mission-aware church to send them. That’s where Perspectives Global comes in. Perspectives is the oldest, most-recognized mobilization tool to produce a deep level and sustaining transformation in churches and individuals.

Most Recent Update From Bruce:

“Besides my ongoing responsibilities overseeing the Perspectives Global Service Office and the 5th Edition Revision Team, I am involved in many other activities to advance the Gospel. As Perspectives continues to expand globally, we have found it helpful to form regional networks, the most dynamic of which is the network that unites and serves all of the Spanish-speaking countries. In the next few years, we will be forming an English-based network and a French-based network in Africa.

We will be addressing many other program development issues, but the formation of the Anglophone African network will consume a large portion of our time in the near future. Some countries, like Nigeria have been offering Perspectives for decades. Some like Ghana and Malawi are just starting.

I have one primary prayer request: that the Holy Spirit clearly leads and guides the 17
African leaders to envision and begin the first steps towards a collaborative network that will enhance and accelerate the work they are already doing.

In May, I traveled to the United Arab Emirates to encourage and support our coordinating teams and alumni on the way to India to teach in our emerging program there.

In July, I attended a three-day consultation on catalyzing Jesus movements in the 293 frontier peoples with over 1 million in population.  These people groups, which are predominantly Muslim and Hindu, represent over 47% of the population of the over 7000 remaining unreached groups. It means we can make the gospel available to almost 50% of humanity currently without churches in their culture by reaching just 4% of the remaining groups!"

If you would like to contact Bruce with questions or make a donation in addition to what our church does, you can reach him at Bruch.Koch@frontierventures.org. He’d love to hear from you!

Jonathan Edwards once said that the fruit of the Spirit grows from within us like the branches of a tree - in a balanced fashion, left and right. We don’t just grow love - the Spirit grows love AND, at the same time, say, faithfulness. God is interested in all that He Himself is, not just the fruits that we wish we would have more of. 

The universal example of this difference between God and us comes in Philippians 4:5, when Paul instructs us to see to it that our . . . gentleness! is evident to all. Of all the personal characteristics that people, even often Christians, want to be evident to all around them, I would guess that 9 times out of 10, gentleness does not make the top 3. 

But of all the fruits of the Spirit, Paul puts his finger on gentleness, or reasonableness, as the thing that all should find self-evident about you, and me. Why? Why is God so interested in gentleness? Why are we not?

God (probably) desires this because gentleness is the exterior experience or interface that other people have with a person who possesses a joy in the Lord. I’m happy to defer to you, though I have the right not to, because I have everything - joyfully so - in Him. The Spirit grows the twin fruits of joy and gentleness in tandem, like a tree. 

And how does the Spirit produce this fruit? In the struggles and disappointments and anxieties of life, we believe - 4:5 - the Lord is near (“at hand”). He is returning soon in glory, sharing that glory with us, and until then, by His Spirit, He is near to us, with the attitude of a generous Benefactor, laboring in His good pleasure to give us His kingdom (Luke 12:32). 

This fruit itself produces twin fruits, branches off the branches. First, it puts anxiety in its place (4:5a). We move from simply believing He is near (4:5), to experiencing peace in our anxiety (4:7), to, as we practice this faith, seeing His very presence with us (4:9). 

And this sense of His presence brings us full-circle. It produces, in our outward interactions with others, a gentleness, a reasonableness, that our world increasingly lacks. It matters not what political persuasion you are - this world is bereft of gentleness. This must be another reason why God loves it so. Our friends and neighbors thirst for gentleness, unwittingly longing for God.

Slow down a bit, then, and preach to your soul: the Lord is at hand . . .  

Thus we sense the need to lay more and more groundwork before “giving the message”. We want to establish friendship, and trust. We want to establish a holy, consistent life before the other person. We want equip ourselves with good rebuttals to objections beforehand. We want to organize our tactics well, in advance.

All of this is good. Do it. But I would like to suggest that the most important fundamental to get right, to bridge the gap, is the one that we are most likely to jettison in all our laying of groundwork. That is, what is most required is to have a passion and readiness to share the gospel right now.

This readiness is precisely what precedes and informs Paul, in Acts 17, in his famous sermon on Mars Hill. Prior to this moment, he is simply walking the streets of Athens. He is provoked by all the idolatry that he sees. So he begins reasoning with people, in a way that they listen - in a way that is not socially inappropriate for the moment - about God and the gospel. This gets him invited to the Aeropagus.

His readiness also informs how he shapes his gospel message. He is careful; he is gracious; he considers his audience; he lays a wise and useful groundwork. But that’s all because he looking and ready to share the gospel now.

The more passionate we are about the gospel, the more we want to share it. And the more we want to share it, the more we will walk into every situation with careful intentionality, to build a bridge to speaking the gospel. Give me a person who holds the gospel precious above all, and I will show you not a brusque boor, but a model of courtesy. Not someone who is distracted by politics and other lesser subjects, but who is laser-focused, to see the gospel heard.

A joyful passion to share the gospel now drives us to be alive and aware to what’s going on around us in the moment. It has been oft repeated: “Preach the gospel always. If necessary, use words.” Though it is less pithy, I would instead say: “Be ready to preach the gospel always. Therefore, do all that will lead to using words.”

God is imperishable. We know this, but it's good to consider it again. Whatever the bad news is, it can't harm God. In the end, God's reputation will be seen by all - really, ALL, from every place and time - to be what it should be: glorious glory upon glory, glory inexpressible. He will see to that. So really, what happens here and now, in a real sense, can't hurt God.

And we are in Him. This should breed courage in us. We will share in His glory.

And yet . . .

This life is a fight . . . to hold fast to the center - to the gospel. If we don't know that it's a fight - starting inside us, and in others, and in the church - we're not seeing the world and this generation as it really is. We're deluded.

This is Paul's warning to the elders at Ephesus in Acts 20. Paul wanted them to expect that "fierce wolves" would come from within them.[1] So watch yourselves closely. And then "work hard" in love: in protecting the flock; in providing them the gospel; and in leading them toward God. To really live is to be a giver, not a taker. We are all in need of walking in mutually self-correcting community. [2]

Which requires us to be . . .

People who cling submissively and humbly to the gospel. Paul calls the Bereans in Acts 17 “more noble” than the Thessalonians, because they “searched the Scriptures daily” to see if Paul’s message was true. Their nobility came not from being sticklers for precision, but for being humbly submitted under the truth, the gospel, the Word of God. This enabled them, when faced with Paul’s good “news”, to overcome whatever psychological hurdles they naturally felt, and accept it, and change, and repent.

The basis for change – the truth, and the heart for change – humility. And therefore, since the truth is Jesus, also the power for change – the amazing grace that is found in Him. Sufficient grace, for all.[3]

How important are these truths for leaders, and for a church that sometimes worships leadership?

[1] Augustine in Confessions used the phrase “misled misleaders”. Often an apt phrase, in my opinion.

[2] I’m heartened by the fact that, in so many reports of pastoral malfeasance over the last decade, there has been an elder board there doing exactly this. Never perfectly, but there nonetheless, seeking to do its often-messy job.

[3] For those hurt by bad leadership, and for bad or errant leaders.

Nestorian missionaries had come all the way from Syria to share the gospel. Their names are lost to history. And it is important to note that the Nestorians’ theology about the nature of Christ was incorrect. Yet under that emperor, Christianity flourished. Until 845 AD, when Christianity was banished. The stela was buried, for centuries. In 987 AD, a writer in Baghdad recorded a conversation with a returning monk from China, who grieved that there were no more Christians left in China - the persecution had been brutal.

This is just one of a thousand stories like this, in the history of the church. I would like to note a few lessons:

We are rarely “first on the scene”. Only the apostles can always lay claim to that. Whether it is a people group, or your friend, Someone Else is always, already “on the scene”. The wise and humble look first for evidences of this preexisting work, by the Spirit.

Yet the Spirit often works through flawed vessels. We can quite correctly rebuke the Nestorians for their flawed doctrine of the nature of Christ. That matters. A great deal. And yet, how shall we compare their missionary zeal to ours?

What drove them, to cross such distances, knowing they would most likely never see their families again. Not in a month, or six months - ever again. What risks! What will the Chinese emperor say to our message? The positive reception of the gospel by the Chinese is a beautiful picture that, you just never know. In a world where God is sovereign, where, if God chooses, it’s gonna happen, then you just never know. So take the chance. Go, speak. A Chinese dynasty in the 600’s was changed, because the church in Syria did just that.

But it did not last. The church has never lived in “home territory”. This world will be our inheritance - but not yet. Until then, great successes are open to grievous reversals. In this “day of tribulation”, our successes are never ultimate, and yet our defeats are never fatal. God builds His Church. Through anonymous, hope-filled risk-takers. Like us?

The first was a conversation over the Bible with our intern Josh Hix. He simply read a famous passage in context, and as he read, a new, path-cutting connection was made for me.  

The second happened at Home Depot^⁠1. I was on the verge of giving up and paying for an expensive sprinkler repair, when another customer - a sprinkler repair guy - asked about what I was doing. After I told him my problem, he shared two simple details that turned a $500/1 week problem into a $60/1 hour problem. 

Chances are, he is not a Christian. Just an expert in his work, who shared that expertise with me. It was a gift. He was grace to me. 

God has always designed our work to depend on others outside the faith. Solomon procured materials from God-less nations in order to build God’s temple. Paul bought materials from vendors in Corinth in order to make tents, sell them, fund his ministry, write letters that would become Scripture . . . that you and I would have eternal life. 

A complex web. And the faultlines in any culture make negotiating this web of interdependence in work even more difficult. Were any of Paul’s vendors in Corinth Christians? Did not his purchases fund Corinthian idolatry? When they came to know his beliefs, did their relationship change?

You may face similar complexities. The very person you depend on to accomplish your job also organizes the Pride Month activities - which are meant, in part, to “out” those who don’t take part - mainly, the Christians - mainly, you. The same people who are ideologically and personally hostile to you are also a gift to you in your work - simultaneously a grace and a threat. 

How to navigate the complexity, faithfully? The choice is to either embrace the complexity, by faith, or resist the complexity, and rely instead on simplistic axioms and assumptions. It seems easier to sit in the cheap seats, blame the culture, and “take a stand” on Facebook. But actually simplism makes it harder on ourselves, especially for those in the arena, seeking a way through. 

Wisdom embraces complexity by asking questions. Do you know who (else) in our church faces such complexities? This brings us back to my first moment above. Who will come alongside those in the arena, not making things worse with simplistic axioms and arguments, but longing for God’s wisdom? “What workplace complexities do you face? Shall we prayerfully search the Scriptures, together?”

¹ Or, as I more affectionately refer to it this time of year, Home Despot.

And because he so closely tracks with the inner “logic” of our present culture’s lurch away from a God-centered view of sexuality and gender identity. Some things - like human nature - never change. 

Augustine observes that we don’t realize how valuable, how costly we are, and therefore when we “treat [our] own souls with irreverence”, deceived “by our wickedness”, we humans therefore invite God’s punishment. We twist our God-given nature, which God “made and regulated”; we “make excessive use of things allowed them” (what could that refer to, sexually?); we allow our passions to carry us beyond His boundaries. He sees that some just kick against God in their minds, while others “shatter the confines of human society and impudently delight in their own little cliques and feuds, according to whether any particular thing thrills them or gets in their way”. Yep. 

Why is humanity this way? Here Augustine may instruct us, particularly those of us who are prone to argue and tweet against the culture’s declension: “These things happen when they leave you, the flowing spring of life, you who are the one true creator and regulator of the universe; when, in a fragmented manner and out of a private pride, they value a false oneness.” Augustine sees that we want oneness - and that’s not the problem. Our Maker designed us that way. But we want oneness our way, thus we seek false forms of the real thing. But only oneness with God will do, because He HIMSELF is the flowing spring of life. 

Our culture’s biggest problem is simple, and was once ours: “leaving you.” As we leave God we dissolve; we become “fragmented”. This our culture does what it loves, and what it loves is deceptively, proudly suicidal. What’s the way back? Only through “humble reverence.” How does anyone get this? Only if God would “free us from the chains we’ve made for ourselves.”

Only the sight of God will bring this “humble reverence”. Our children, our neighbors, they don’t need a different worldview. Worldview follows something more basic and profound: seeing and loving God. Where, in whom, will our world see Him?

¹ I’m reading the recent translation by Sarah Ruden.

When Israel anoints a king, he needs to do one thing negatively (put in three parts), and one thing positively. The negative: he is to keep himself from being entangled by the world, whether it be in the form of power (16), sex (17a) or money (17b). Explicit or implied: any of these will lure the king and the people away from this generous God. His gifts, ironically, woo us away from His yet still greater gifts. 

So then, the king was to write out by hand his own copy of the the law, and read it daily. First, it would burn away pride. The king is to be humble, not above his brothers. Second, it would ensure the king would lead the people to enjoy the Promised Land for a long, long, long time. Doesn’t it sound good to be led by such a King? 

Stop for a moment, and revel in the reality that we have this King, who is gentle and lowly in heart. Whoever follows this King finds rest for their soul, under his easy yoke and light burden.^⁠1

But which still leaves us with the question: what then, for us? United to him, we too now are kings, soon to reign with him. This charge to the kings of Israel lands to us, but with a few important tweaks: 

First, look again at the King, who did all this for you, in your place. His active obedience counts to us. And for all the ways that love of money, sex and power have lured us away, He’s won our forgiveness.

Second, we too now may resolve to keep free from the world, and to read the Scriptures, so that we may SEE God. Then we will no longer see money, sex and power as sources of life, but as gifts, from a generous Father. 

Then our enjoyment of them is actually heightened. The sad truth: the sex addict is the one who enjoys sex the least. Gifts are enjoyed most when they’re enjoyed as gifts, as our pleasure in them is doubled and eclipsed by our pleasure in the Giver.

“In yourself You rouse us, giving us delight in glorifying You, because You made us with Yourself as our goal, and our heart is restless until it rests in You.” -Augustine, Confessions

¹ I invite you to look again at the last paragraph of Matthew 11. What qualifies a person to come to Jesus, according to this passage? Do you qualify?

We will experience a helpful corrective on Sunday. It’s called communion. When we participate in communion, the Lord’s Table, we are to “consider the body” - other brothers and sisters in Christ. We ought to do this on both an x-axis and a y-axis: we are participating in union with Christ with everyone else in the room, around the world . . . and with every other generation of Christians. We are all united into one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all.

This means that the past victories and high points of the Christian faith, to some degree, we share in. And the same goes for past errors and sins. At least to the extent that we share in their same capacity to err and sin in the same way. 

Disagree? Consider all that prior generations did understand and accomplish in the past, in life conditions far more painful and dangerous than our own. Then consider the embarassment of riches that we Christians possess today, that prior generations would have died for. And did die for: William Tyndale was strangled and burned to give us the Bible we so easily pull up on our iPads. Think also of our access to an explosion of Bibles, books, articles and other resources. 

Then consider the sins that yet still now beset us. And consider then how complicated are our times, as a result. We don’t know the way as well as we think we do. 

We need something deeper than knowledge, something stronger than self-assured, wet-tissue, superficial moral superiority.

That Something is clothed for us in the Lord’s Table. Jesus, body handed over and broken for our forgiveness; life poured out for our life; raised for our justication; present with us for our endurance; returning for our eternal joy. Jesus, our shepherd, our way, our truth, our life. 

Communion reminds us that we need him, as much as any other generation. That is, desperately. And it reminds us that we have him. Drink freely from these truths this Sunday. Draw deep into faith, and hope, that your love for him may soar.^⁠2

¹ If you’d like some help, here are but two examples: the number of Christians, given the stats, that have taken part in watching the rampant sexual content and rape culture of “Game of Thrones”. Another example: we read our Bibles, how the people of Israel descended into even sacrificing their own children on fires, and we rightly recoil. And then, the righteous indignation - I would never do something so horrific! No? Our culture perfectly protects and nurtures children? What do we do with unwanted children?

² In his excellent book “Spirit and Sacrament”, Andrew Wilson gives the analogy of a trampoline to describe this. If one stands in the middle of a still trampoline, and then tries to jump, she won’t get very high at all. But if she jumps into the middle, and goes down deep, then she will soar high. So it is with our nourishment in communion. Go deep in its meaning, enjoying the presence of Christ, and watch your spirit soar high in inexpressible joy.

(or…What we are NOT voting about in the special congregational meeting after church this Sunday)

This Sunday after church we will be holding a special congregational meeting to discuss and vote on one issue: “Should our church vote ‘yes’ on the proposed amendment to our denomination’s Statement of Faith at the upcoming national conference?”

You already received information about that proposed amendment. It is included again as an attachment to this email. The amendment proposes to remove the word “premillennial” from the portion of the SOF that addresses Christ’s 2^nd Coming. The proposal is to replace it with the word “glorious.”  The vote is about what we allow as accepted belief in our denomination’s leadership and teaching. It is not a vote to jettison the Premillennial view on the timing of Christ’s return.

We the pastors and elders have taught and will continue to teach the Premillennial position on the timing of Christ’s Return. The elders thought it prudent to take this moment to give the briefest explanations as to what Premillennialism is and how it compares to other views. If you have studied this issue before, you know it can become quite involved. Basically Bible-believing adherents land in one of three basic camps as they consider the question, “When will Christ bodily return to the earth and reign?”

• Postmillennialism

There is a “millennium” period that is yet to come. This period is either 1000 years long or is a very long time. During this millennial time frame the church will grow, advance, and is spread victoriously over all the earth. And at the end of that period (“Post-“), Christ will return to bring in the eternal glorious state. This view has been held by many Christians and it seems to become more popular during periods of prolonged revival or evangelistic progress. Examples: John Owen, Jonathan Edwards, B.B. Warfield.

• Premillennialism

There is a “millennium” period that is yet to come. This period is either 1000 years long, or is a very longtime. During the millennial time frame the church prospers over all the earth. But this is because Christ has already returned to the earth before (“Pre-“)  the millennium and is therefore here, present and reigning during the millennium.  When the millennium ends, there will be one final great Satanic rebellion that Christ will defeat, bringing in the eternal glorious state. This view appears to be the majority view throughout church history.

Examples:  Charles Spurgeon, John Piper, D.A. Carson. 

• Amillennialism

We live in the Millennial period right now—the long period of time between Christ’s 1^st and 2^nd comings. During this period Christ reigns from heaven, causing the gospel to spread and the church to grow. When Christ returns, He will bring in the eternal glorious state. Many Christians have held this view—it is perhaps the 2^nd most popular view. Examples: Augustine, J.I. Packer, Sam Storms.

Where are we—and where will we remain? Again, this is just the simplest of treatments, but we are Premillennial. Revelation 20, verses 1 to 6 is a good place to see the position.

                Chapter 19—Christ returns—Pre-chapter 20. In other words, the return of Christ to reign occurs before chapter 20’s depiction of Christ’s reign. We are persuaded that these chapters are chronologically sequenced.

                Chapter 20—vs 1-3 Satan bound for 1000 years. His deceiving ability is                                               stopped. He is removed from the place of influence and                                               power.

                                     Vs 4-6 Christ, with His people, reign on earth for the                                                   Millennium.    

                                          Vs 7-10 The millennium ends, and Satan is released to                                                   mount one final attack. It is defeated and in victory                                                     Christ then initiates the Judgement.             

                                           Vs 11 and following: the glorious, eternal state is                                                         ushered in.          

In presenting this so succinctly, we do not mean to diminish the other views held by other serious Christians. Nor do we diminish our own view. Certainly, if we were to be debating the merits of Premillennialism vs Postmillennialism vs Amillennialism, there would be much to talk about.

But that is the point:  we aren’t debating the merits of these 3 views. We are voting to become something else. We are voting to expand to include the other views, based on the principle that our denomination has always tried to uphold: We seek to be a denomination for “believers only, but all believers”, united around the gospel itself.

It is our belief that this change will uphold what is critical with regards to eschatology[1]—not the timing of Christ’s return, but the FACT of it: He will gloriously, bodily return, and in this Hope we rejoice and rest. All three of those evangelical Christian views believe this Hope. By allowing the other two to partner with us in the EFCA, we believe we can further gospel-centered ministry.

 [1] The word “eschatology” simply means “the study of the end”, or of “last things”.