First Baptist Church

FIRST LIGHT

A NEWSLETTER OF FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH
110 SYDENHAM STREET KINGSTON , ON K7L 3H5

(613) 548-7116
fbckgstn@kingston.net
November 2003

Dear Friends,

What a privilege to be serving among you in this beautiful city. It is now 85 years since that first Armistice Day. The Second World War ended over 58 years ago. Though these events are increasingly in our distant past, we are called to remember.

One of our greatest Canadian Baptist preachers was the Rev Dr John MacNeill, long time pastor of Walmer Road Baptist Church and a former Vice-President of the Baptist World Alliance. MacNeill set aside a year or two from pastoring Walmer Road to go overseas to serve as a chaplain with the Canadian Armed Forces during the First World War. It was not unusual to do such a thing.

In his history of Walmer Road Baptist Church at the time of its centennial in 1989, the Rev Don Goertz observed that MacNeill appreciated two exceptional things among the troops overseas. First, he appreciated the worship among the troops. It was anything but staid. In fact, he wondered how the troops would fit in with their home churches when they returned. Today, worship comes in all different forms - traditional, blended, jazz, blues, country, blue grass, Taize, high church, contemporary, alternative, and indigenous - to name a few. All these styles have been used of God and continue to be used of God. The major thing is where the focus is to be found. Worship should have a Christ focus. That, in itself, should make it exciting.

Second, he was amazed at the fellowship among the troops overseas. He was doubtful they would ever experience anything like it in the churches back in Canada. It is often in times of great stress that bonds of Christian community are formed.

In our Western society, many people feel the pain of alienation. They long for community but seldom experience it. The Greek word, allelous, "one another, each other, etc" is used 60 times in the New Testament. We won't have the community of the soldiers serving in the trenches in World War I, but perhaps we can recover a New Testament sense of community as we ponder how allelous is used. The following are taken from Today's New International Version, New Testament, copyright 2002 by Zondervan:

1. "...be at peace with each other" (Mark 9:50).
2. "...wash one another's feet" (John 13:14).
3. "...love one another..." (John 13:34).
4. "...love one another..." (John 13:34).
5. "...love one another..." (John 13:35).
6. "...love each other..." (John 15:12).
7. "...love each other..." (John 15:17).
8. "...be devoted to one another in love..." (Romans 12:10).
9. "....Honor one another above yourselves..." (Romans 12:10).
10. "...live in harmony with one another..." (Romans 12:16).
11. "...love one another..." (Romans 13:8).
12. "...stop passing judgment on one another..." (Romans 14:13).
13. "...accept one another, then just as Christ accepted you..." (Romans 15:7).
14. "...instruct one another..." (Romans 15:14).
15. "...greet one another with a holy kiss..." (Romans 16:16).
16. "...make everyone equally welcome..." (1 Corinthians 11:33).
17. "...have equal concern for each other..." ( 1 Corinthians 12:25).
18. "...greet one another with a holy kiss..." ( 1 Corinthians 16:20).
19. "...greet one another with a holy kiss..." ( 2 Corinthians 13:12).
20. "...serve one another humbly in love..." (Galatians 5:13).
21. "...If you keep biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other" (Galatians 5:15).
22. "...Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying one another" (Galatians 5:26).
23. "Carry each other's burdens..." (Galatians 6:2).
24. "...be patient, bearing with one another in love..." (Ephesians 4:2).
25. "...be kind and compassionate to one another..." (Ephesians 4:32).
26. "...forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you..." ( Ephesians 4:32).
27. "...speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs from the Spirit..." (Ephesians 5:19).
28. "...Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ..." (Ephesians 5:21).
29. "...in humility, value others above yourselves..." (Philippians 2:3).
30. "...Do not lie to each other..." (Colossians 3:9).
31. "...Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone..." (Colossians 3:13).
32. "...Teach ....[one another]..." (Colossians 3:16).
33. "...Admonish one another..." (Colossians 3:16).
34. "...May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other..." (1 Thessalonians 3:12).
35. "...Love each other..." (1 Thessalonians 4:9).
36. "...Encourage one another..." (1 Thessalonians 4:18).
37. "...Encourage one another..." (1 Thessalonians 5:11).
38. "...Build each other up..." (1 Thessalonians 5:11).
39. "...Encourage one another..." (Hebrews 3:13).
40. "...Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds..." (Hebrews 10:24).
41. "...not giving up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another..." (Hebrews 10:25).
42. "...Do not slander one another..." (James 4:11).
43. "...Don't grumble against one another..." (James 5:9).
44. "...Confess your sins to each other..." (James 5:16).
45. "...Pray for each other..." (James 5:16).
46. "...Love one another deeply, from the heart..." (1 Peter 1:22).
47. "...Be like-minded..." (1 Peter 3:8).
48. "...Love each other deeply..." (1 Peter 4:8).
49. "...Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling..." (1 Peter 4:9).
50. "...Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others..." (1 Peter 4:10).
51. "...All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another..." ( 1 Peter 5:5).
52. "...Greet one another with a kiss of love..." ( 1 Peter 5:14).
53. "...Love one another..." (1 John 3:11).
54. "...Love one another..." ( 1 John 3:23).
55. "...Love one another..." ( 1 John 4:7).
56. "...Love one another..." ( 1 John 4:11).
57. "...Love one another..." ( 1 John 4:12).
58. "...Love one another..." ( 2 John 5).

The challenge of Christian community is to strive to treat one another as we are taught in Scripture. More than 20 of the above instances call us to love one another. A few call us to encourage one another. Others tell us to greet one another with a holy kiss. As we recover what Scripture teaches us as to how we are to treat one another, I believe our church will become more and more what our Lord wants us to become.

Advent begins on November 30.
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Here are some other upcoming events:

November 15 9am Alpha Retreat
November 16 10am International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church
November 23 10am Restorative Justice Sunday - with Rev Hugh Kirkegaard
November 23 3pm Induction Service for Rev Greg Rodgers, Project Reconciliation and the 25th anniversary celebration of PR
December 3 7pm Quarterly Business Meeting

Christmas will soon be upon us. Here are some books you might enjoy.

Dawn, Marva J. and Peterson, Eugene H. (Edited by Peter Santucci). The Unnecessary Pastor: Rediscovering the Call. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company and Vancouver: Regent College Publishing, 2000.
This book is based on a course taught at Regent College. At first glance, the title might cause some to think that the church should have read this before they called a pastor as if a pastor is not necessary in a church. Actually, it is written in the context of diverse opinions as to what the role of the pastor is. It is a call for the pastor to get back to the role of equipping and discipling and for the church to recognize that role as primary. This is an excellent book. The class was video-taped at Regent College. The video tapes are available from there. Dawn, a Lutheran, is a prodigious writer. Peterson, a Presbyterian, is also the translator of The Message.

Patterson, Ben. Deepening Your Conversation with God: Learning to Love to Pray. Minneapolis: Bethany House Publishers, 1999, 2001.
We have been talking about praying during a number of services this autumn. I have read a number of terrific books on prayer. However, if I were to choose one book - this is the one! Patterson is a Presbyterian. I have enjoyed reading some interesting pieces by him over the last 20 years in Leadership magazine. I had the privilege of meeting him at Bethel Seminary when I was there. He has pastored churches in New Jersey and California prior to becoming dean of the chapel at Hope College in Michigan. Currently he is the campus pastor at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California.

Lischer, Richard, Open Secrets: A Spiritual Journey Through a Country Church. New York: Doubleday, 2001.
Ever since this book has been published, it has been lauded by both Christian Century and Christianity Today. Excerpts have been published in both. Lischer has served as a pastor in Lutheran congregations in rural Illinois and in Virginia, and for more than twenty years has taught at the Duke University Divinity School. With his sharp eye and keen wit, Lischer perfectly captures the comedy of small town life with all of its feuds, rumours, scandals, and friendships. It tells of his own maturing and how the people grew to love him.

Cordeiro, Wayne. Doing Church as a Team. Ventura, California: Regal Books, 2001.
In 1995, Wayne Cordeiro started New Hope Christian Fellowship in Honolulu with a handful of members. One month later, the faithful numbered 800. Today, there are over 8,000 members who share Cordeiro's passion for doing church as a team. This would be an excellent study for an adult class.

Gibbs, Eddie. Church Next: Quantum Changes in How We Do Ministry. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2000.
Gibbs is from the Church of England. Currently, he is professor of church growth at the School of World Mission, Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena. He is an enjoyable writer. In this important work, Gibbs describes how competition from non-traditional and Eastern religions join with the pressures of both modernism and postmodernism to squeeze Christianity. While new church models have sprung up to meet these challenges, they all have strengths and limitations. Gibbs candidly analyzes these models while proposing nine areas in which the church will need to transform to be biblically true to its message and its mission to the world. This is an excellent book.

Willard, Dallas. The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives. San Francisco: Harper and Row, Publishers, 1988.
When this book came out, Richard Foster called it "the book of the decade." Willard, now 68, has served as Professor and Past Director of the School of Philosophy at the University of Southern California. He is an ordained Southern Baptist minister. This is a wonderful book in the field of spirituality. In fact, anything Willard writes is to be recommended. He is scheduled to speak at the Assembly of the Convention of Atlantic Baptist Churches in the next year or two.

Erickson, Millard J. Christian Theology. 2nd Edition. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1998.
Erickson was dean of Bethel Seminary and Professor Systematic Theology when I was there. He now teaches at Baylor University. A wonderful man with Swedish Baptist roots, he is one of the most prolific writers in Christian circles today. Anything he writes is worth reading. Erickson is also a terrific preacher. He pastored churches with the Baptist General Conference.

May the month of November not be dreary for you. May the love of Christ fill you with His love.

In His Service,

(Rev) Kevin Smith