February – African American History month

During this month we were reminded in many ways through media and social events about the significance and importance of recognizing the Black history today.

As I reflect on things I learned this month, I want to share a few facts:

February was chosen to coincide with the birthdays of both Abraham Lincoln and Fredrick Douglass.  The first week long commemorative celebration was held in 1926, as a Negro History Week.  It was not until the civil rights movement in 1960s that it became the Black History Month, unofficially, until in 1976, President Gerald R. Ford made an official declaration.

In 1996, President Bill Clinton’s Proclamation 6863 renamed the effort as the "National African American History Month," and it is the proper official name today.

 Each year has a theme.  Last year, 2013 it was commemoration of 150^th anniversary of Emancipation Proclamation I n1863, and 50^th anniversary of the March on Washington.  This year, 2014, the theme continues: “Civil Rights in America.” 

Thecelebrations take place also in Canada. Two commemorative stamps were produced for circulation this year inCanada (purchase and order these as you do your mailing to build awarenessJ).  This year is also 100^th anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War and the 75^th anniversary of the outbreak of the Second World War.  Black Canadians served in both these conflicts. During the First World War black Canadians were recruited for the N^o. 2 Construction Battalion. It was the first all-black regiment raised in Canada. Years later, despite many barriers to their participation, including restrictive recruitment policies that continued into the Second World War, thousands of black Canadians persevered and served both at home and overseas in a wider variety of roles than had previously been the case.

An interesting historical fact came to light recently.  A Canadian, Ontario born (1879) missionary, Arthur Asa Carscallen, was preaching the Gospel in 1906 in Kenya, Africa, after finishing Newbold College in England.  He had mastered the Luo language and written the first grammar book.  One of the first students/disciples was a 9-year old boy, who attended the boarding school on the shore of Lake Victoria, by the name Onyango Obama.  Much of his family followed the lead and became Seventh-day Adventists. He was the grandfather of the current, 44^th president of the USA.     

More on Alignment in Church

We did not get enough time at our board meeting, early Sunday morning past week, as we had to sort through a lot of urgent practical activities to do.  And I am hoping that our leaders will take time and discuss the value of being aligned at our next meeting. This week pastors of Western Ontario met to talk about aligning the work of our churches for more impact on our communities.  Pastor Atencio led with devotional on the need of teamwork.  The church as the Body of Christ has no individual victories, unless we win together.  There is no competition in the Church as the Body of Christ but group effort, and it needs alignment!

Have you ever visited a chiropractor? You know about alignment – when your bones and vertebra are aligned you are well and functioning.  When something is out of alignment – it causes pain, tensions, scaring and dysfunction.  For the Body of Christ, the church to seek alignment is to adjust one another, to be in the place we were made and were appointed to be, to consider how we connect with one another, and who we are connected to.  In bone-setting business, often doctor has to break afresh what was set without proper alignment, and then reset it again.

Consider how your life and schedule is aligned.  Are you taking into consideration your church family, the schedule of the church, events planned by different ministries as “body parts”?  Are you involved, do you participate and attend events, seminars, activities of the Church?

I hope you are reading, thinking, and examining yourself, and your place in the Body.  There are a lot of things that we need to transform, we need resurrection from spiritual death and awakening from dormancy.  Education and discipleship is one of our urgent needs. Improvement in leadership and management is needed.  Yet, without proper alignment it will not happen.

Let me share this simple Biblical picture:  Psalm 85:13 Righteousness will go before Him, And shall make His footsteps our pathway.  When we walk in His footsteps, when our path is aligned with God’s path we will all walk together instep!

We either align, or malign.  Apostle Paul was out of alignment, kicking against the goads (Acts 9:5) until he met Christ and got redirected.  Some of us may need the “Damascus Road experience” to recognize our need for alignment.  May the words of psalmist David be your desire - Psalm 37:23: The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD, And He delights in his way.  May God order your steps, may your steps be in-step with the Church as Body of Christ.  May we all be aligned with God’s Will and purpose, and walk together in unity, rowing in sync. 

Alignment in Church

Since 2011 the North American Division of the Seventh-day Adventists, of which our church is a part, has organized it’s activities by 5 principles, with acronym REACH.  We had hosted a rally for al district churches with president of Ontario, Mansfield Edwards explaining why REACH.  I had presented an appealing sermon last year about the need for organizing the church to be healthy, effective and functional.

REACH is simply a platform that reminds us of accountability we have before each other and the sisterhood of churches to seek following:

Revival & Transformation

It is applicable to our individual lives; to ministries, as we all need to improve, change, grow, and, if something got neglected – it needs to be revived, resurrected, restarted, renewed.  Our marriages need revivals and transformations.

Education & Discipleship

We have always prided ourselves that as a movement we offer education as an upward movement, a way to progress.  Let’s keep the focus on the importance of educating our next generation, not only secular science, but the principles of godliness and Biblical spirituality.  Sabbath School classes are about Discipleship, yet we lack in consistent approach to discipleship through Small Groups and mentoring, and the commitment to Christian Education, to Church school is lacking

Alignment

Just one word...with a lot of meaning.  On the banner in church we chose a picture of a rowing team working together.  A word used today in computer media is “sync” (synchronizing) to communicate being at one.  Have we aligned our schedules, our lives to the unity of church mission and church purpose?  As leaders we are asking this accountability question – are our programs aligned with people’s needs and interests?  Do our ministries align with one another not to interfere but to edify people for the common good?  This is the most urgent and touchy subject right now.  True alignment requires shedding selfish agenda and interests and putting others before self.

Yet, without this one element the remaining two, and the two listed earlier become difficult, if not impossible!  If we just figure out how to align ourselves for a teamwork, for cooperation, for considering the Big Picture, and what everyone is doing for common benefit, then we would also succeed more in

Community outreach & Evangelism

Healthy Management & Leadership

Focus on the Family

Last Wednesday I shared in our mid-week prayer meeting ten principles that functional families live by:

• Expectations/hope from one another.
• Forgiveness (Matthew 6:12)
• Encouragement (Hebrews 10:24-25)
• Discipline (Hebrews 12:7-8)
• Family is a support group (1^st Cor. 12:26)
• Problems are solved together, in unity (Matthew 12:25)
• Identity in the Name
• Security of caring for the needs
• Acceptance, unconditional love
• Comfort

As you consider the Church, which is the Family of God, God’s household (1 Timothy 3:15), we are to have same principles, same values among our fellowship.  Paul writes “the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers.” (Hebrews 2:11)   Our identity is in the name – Christian, since we had put on Christ at our baptism (Galatians 3:26-27).

As a church family we must apply the above mentioned principles to our fellowship.  Our expectations from one another are based on Biblical instructions, we are to be forgiving as we are forgiven by God. 

As I read Adventist Home advice to parents to make family homes attractive, comfortable, so the children would want to be home, and would not look elsewhere to spend time, I think about our church family.  We ought to also have this church facility and our gathering times so comfortable, attractive, that we would not want to leave J

Pastor Sam Pascoe is credited with this short version of Christian history: “Christianity started in Palestine as a fellowship; it moved to Greece and became a philosophy; it moved to Italy and became an institution; it moved to Europe and became a culture; it came to America and became an enterprise.”

Our church is not a philosophy club, even though we do study and seek wisdom; it is not an enterprise, we are not here to make money but to do charity; we are not an institution, or an organization, even though we have policy and rules.  We are the Body of Christ, an organism, a movement, a Family of God.  Let’s not forget that.