Friday, May 19, 2006

Bright Future...we are postmil, after all!

Covenant Christian Fellowship is excited about the future...we're a candidate church in the CREC and hope to be received into that group of churches in October. It's great to see the growth of the CREC all over the place! It's especially encouraging to see the growth of a consistent covenantalism not only in the CREC, but in other denominations as well. The issue is not simply paedocommunion, but covenant nurture and covenant succession. If we want to raise up a new generation of faithful followers of Christ, we can't continue to do business as usual. The division of the Body of Christ into communing & non-communing members is an aberration, biblically and covenantally. It must therefore have less than desirable consequences. Children are not fooled, they know they either belong or they don't. The power of the knowledge and the assurance of "belonging" should not be underestimated. And, conversely, the power of confusion in saying a child of Christian parents doesn't belong until he or she has a conversion experience acceptable to the elders, or can recite the catechism, or some other artificial requirement (the traditions of men) does not lead in the direction we want for our children.
This is why we are holding our conference. We want to spread the Good News of the Covenant! We were glad to see the new issue of Credenda/Agenda "That Wonderful Cup". Check it out at www.credenda.org Also, Athanasius Press is about to release the Gregg Strawbridge edited book, The Case For Covenant Communion very soon. It looks to be a great companion to Tim Gallant's study, Feed My Lambs.

We're in the process of selling a piece of property that the church owns to help fund repairs and renovations of our OLD church building. Hopefully, within a month or so we'll be able to get started with the roof...and then the kitchen and then the bathrooms...and, well, the list is long!

Our nursing home ministry is going well. One of the residents, Emma, a dear saint 97years old, loves to worship with us. She loves the Lord and is an encouragement to all who talk with her! We pray that our ministry at Huntington Hill Center for Health & Rehabilitation would bear fruit.

Our church website is coming along...visit it, or better yet, visit us! www.ccfreformed.net


Friday, May 12, 2006

CCF Conference

October 6th & 7th Covenant Christian Fellowship presents: To You & Your Children: Rediscovering the Lost Doctrine of the Covenant. Dr. Gregg Strawbridge is our speaker. We're hoping to find a debate partner for Dr. Strawbridge, as well. Here's the topic: God's Way with the Children of Christian Parents: Conversion Experience or Covenant Nurture?
So far we haven't found anyone to debate. We're working on it...maybe Greg Welty...we'll see.

We're excited about the opportunity! If anyone wants more info about the conference, let me know. We'll keep you posted.

Thursday, May 04, 2006

Close reefed and scudding before the wind...

Hold Fast & Clap On...if you enjoy Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin novels you know it ain't all smooth sailing, and life is like that. This picture from the movie Master & Commander is especially moving as there is a man overboard and Ralph Vaughn Williams improvisation of Thomas Tallis' Third Mode Melody, a haunting tune, is playing. You'll find it as Psalm 63 in Cantus Christi.