Today's Conversation

Hosted by Leith Anderson, this podcast will help you understand: How the EFCA’s history with premillennialism influenced the decision; What resources and conversations were needed for pastors and churches to consider the change; Why some EFCA pastors didn’t want the Statement of Faith to change; and What recommendations EFCA leaders would offer to other groups ...

At its 2019 Conference, the Evangelical Free Church of America revised its Statement of Faith to change the word "premillennial." EFCA leaders Kevin Kompelien and Greg Strand share about the process, the significance of the change, and what other organizations and denominations can learn about changing theological statements.

Hosted by Leith Anderson, this podcast will help you understand:

How the EFCA's history with premillennialism influenced the decision;

What resources and conversations were needed for pastors and churches to consider the change;

Why some EFCA pastors didn't want the Statement of Faith to change; and

What recommendations EFCA leaders would offer to other groups considering a Statement of Faith change.

Read a Portion of the Transcript

Leith: Some people didn’t like this I assume, and they didn’t want the change to take place. Why didn’t they want it to be changed?

Greg: I think there were a couple things, Leith. One was there was a concern that this move is a denial of inerrancy or the authority of Scriptures. Many would equate a certain premillennial understanding — a certain read of the Scriptures — as hand-in-hand with affirming the doctrine of inerrancy. It’s what they had been taught. And at the end of the day, that is grounded in the notion of God and his character. That is to say that if God has made a promise, then it needs to be fulfilled.

That was one of the concerns that was raised and rightly so. Any time one is going to move away from the authority and narrative of the Scriptures, that is an issue of which we must be gravely concerned. The question is, “Does it?” And is that understanding the only way in which one can affirm the inerrancy and authority of the Scriptures? That is part of the discussion. This is where it’s also important to understand some of the larger history.

A second issue was if it didn’t deny inerrancy, it is at least a slippery slope toward the denial of inerrancy or the undermining of the authority of the Bible. Possibly, but it doesn’t necessarily equate one for one.

A third is this is a move away from our history. Certainly it was a move away from some of our history from the 1950s — the merger Statement of Faith between the Swedes, Norwegians and Danes. And we talked about that earlier. But if you looked at our longer history, it wasn’t necessarily a move away from our history.

The other concern was this was changing our distinctive. For many, this became one of the key issues of the Free Church — that this is our distinctive. And in fact, A. T. Olson would have said that in light of the establishing the nation of Israel, this is one of the key reasons that God has raised up the Free Church to be a harbinger of this eschatological view and the fulfillment of the biblical prophecy.

Well, part of that issue is: Was that our underlying, undergirding distinctive, or is our Free Church distinctive the fact that we will be unified around the central truths of the gospel? We’re not going to divide on some of the other issues through which in history there have been various views and understandings that are considered evangelical and orthodox. So for some, it may have changed our distinctive, at least some have read it that way.

The sense was that there is an undergirding distinctive in the Free Church, and in some ways it’s that we’re not so distinctive. We focus on the essentials on the gospel of Jesus Christ and that is reflective of who we are.

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Evangelical Free Church of America

"One-on-one with Greg Strand on Premillennialism and the EFCA" on The Exc...

Based out of the University of Missouri, Carl has published widely in the area of religious liberty and church-state relations. He has also served as NAE legal counsel since 2002. In this podcast, you’ll learn: How different states handled the relationship between church and state in early America; Who were the “religious dissenters” that played ...

There is a lot of conventional wisdom about the origins of religious freedom in the United States that isn't true, says church-state expert Carl Esbeck in Today's Conversation podcast with NAE President Leith Anderson. Knowing the real history helps us better understand our current context and future challenges.

Based out of the University of Missouri, Carl has published widely in the area of religious liberty and church-state relations. He has also served as NAE legal counsel since 2002. In this podcast, you’ll learn:

How different states handled the relationship between church and state in early America;

Who were the "religious dissenters" that played a prominent role in shaping today's church-state framework;

Why the U.S. structure is so unique; and

How early American church-state history applies to our current context.

Read a Portion of the Transcript

Leith: Is the United States the first to do this [disestablishment of religion]? Many European countries still have established churches. Has any country ever had the level of religious freedom that the United States was embarking on in its early century?

Carl: America is unique. In fact, disestablishment of religion is America’s only contribution to political philosophy. America was the first to try items of political philosophy, but they had their origin in Europe like separation of powers. Disestablishment of religion is unique to America. It was thought up here and first practiced here. With just cause, we can say that Americans’ strength in religion — even to this day, even though we’re a modern, industrial nation — is because we disestablished. After we disestablished here in the states, religion exploded and became very strong whereas in Europe, where they continued with established churches, indeed, establishment was bad for religion and religion declined.

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"Disestablishment and Religious Dissent: Church-State Relations in the New American States, 1776–1833" — book edited by Carl H. Esbeck and Jonathan J. Den Hartog

"Thoughtful, Knowledgeable Voices: Amicus Briefs Speak Into Court Cases" — Evangelicals magazine article by Kim Colby

Today's Conversation is brought to you by National Marriage Week.

 

 

Commissioner David Hudson joins Today’s Conversation with Leith Anderson to explain: What most people don’t understand about The Salvation Army; How an organization that was started in the 1800s has adapted and remained relevant today; What the Army has learned about poverty through its enhanced case management program; and How the organization functions as a ...

Many people think they know The Salvation Army. They've seen the red kettles and been to the thrift stores. But those are just a few pieces that speak to the reach of this international, social services and church-based organization.

Commissioner David Hudson joins Today's Conversation with Leith Anderson to explain:

What most people don't understand about The Salvation Army;

How an organization that was started in the 1800s has adapted and remained relevant today;

What the Army has learned about poverty through its enhanced case management program; and

How the organization functions as a Christian denomination while operating significant social services.

Read a Portion of the Transcript

Leith: The Salvation Army has maintained a strong evangelical, biblical commitment and a strong commitment to the poor and social justice since the 1800s. During that time period, there was a reaction among many who are committed Christians to the social gospel. A lot of them said, “You shouldn’t be doing this. Just do the message and not address the poor and social justice issues.” Has that been a challenge for the Army to face some of those criticisms and disagreements and differences on this?

David: Yeah, it certainly has. First of all, I articulated our mission earlier, and so I simply say our mission demands that we respond. When I look to our true founder — William Booth got us going and everything, and God used him — but I say our true founder is Jesus himself. When Jesus was walking the earth, time and time again he met human need when he saw suffering. He went and he met that [need], and he showed care and compassion. The one thing that I marvel at Jesus is that he never asked for pre-qualifiers before he healed or he served. He saw a need and he went. I think Jesus being the role model of what we do, we have to respond to these needs. You know people say, “Miracles are in the past. We don’t see the miracles like we used to.” But you know what? When I go down to some of our centers, and I hear the life stories of people and I see the transformation in people’s lives, I say this is where we have to be. Our mission absolutely demands it.

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The Salvation Army USA

Today's Conversation is brought to you by Belhaven University.

 

 

In this podcast, you’ll be inspired as you hear John share: How God used his illness to strengthen his faith and ministry; What encouragement he offers to those who do not see healing in their future; How the medical crisis impacted his marriage; and How God miraculously healed him. Read a Portion of the Transcript ...

John Stumbo was an avid runner and outdoorsman before a mysterious illness left him bedridden for 77 days and unable to swallow for over a year. John was forced to resign as a pastor, but he now serves as president of the Christian and Missionary Alliance. In Today's Conversation with Leith Anderson, John shares about the lessons he learned during his medical crisis.

In this podcast, you’ll be inspired as you hear John share:

How God used his illness to strengthen his faith and ministry;

What encouragement he offers to those who do not see healing in their future;

How the medical crisis impacted his marriage; and

How God miraculously healed him.

Read a Portion of the Transcript

Leith: Some would say that a theology of suffering is under-developed in the American church and among American Christians. I’m not even sure how I would imagine you would answer this, but if you had a theology of suffering before all this and then after all of this, how do they compare?

John: Well, I love the question, and I embarrassedly admit that as a pastor of 25 years at that point, I really didn’t have a theology of suffering. I was an American, middle-class, white guy that had things pretty easy and had come my way. I hope I had some empathy for people in crisis. We certainly did a lot of good things at the church for those in various life stages of crisis or pain, but I was more of an outsider looking in.

So yes, passages of Bible that I once used as inspired Scripture but never really sank into my soul suddenly began to find their way of nourishment and profound feeding for me. Isaiah 43 is kind of a classic where God says, “I’ve summoned you by name; you are mine. I’ve redeemed you.” And the very next verse says, “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. When you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; they will not set you ablaze.”

We just look at it and say, “Great! God’s going to be with us.” Well, look at it more closely. His summoning us by name, his redeeming us is not a guarantee that we’ll never have rivers and fires. We will have his protection in the midst of them. We’ll have his presence, but we do go through deep waters and very difficult places as his children. So, it’s not a pass from suffering. It’s a strength to pass through the suffering as a deepened person.

I was speaking at a men’s retreat in California a few years back, and I gave this story. A guy in a wheelchair about my age rolled up to me and only said one sentence then rolled on. He said, “John, don’t you feel bad for people who’ve never suffered?” And I thought, “Wow. I get it now.” I didn’t then but there’s a shapening and deepening that comes. That’s all part of this theology of suffering — understanding the presence of God in the midst of very difficult times. And yes, I had to wrestle through that.

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Christian & Missionary Alliance

Books by John Stumbo

Samuel Chiang joins Today’s Conversation with Leith Anderson to discuss the current state of Bible translation and what its future looks like. In this podcast, you’ll hear: How Bible translation is preserving endangered languages; What the most critical needs are for today’s translation ministry; What role orality plays in Bible translation work; and Whether there ...

Today's Bible translation ministry isn't the same as it was a generation ago. New technology and an increased emphasis on partnerships has accelerated the pace. Yet there are still about 4,000 languages that don't have a Bible translation — half of which have not been started.

Samuel Chiang joins Today's Conversation with Leith Anderson to discuss the current state of Bible translation and what its future looks like. In this podcast, you'll hear:

How Bible translation is preserving endangered languages;

What the most critical needs are for today's translation ministry;

What role orality plays in Bible translation work; and

Whether there will be a day when all languages will have a Bible translation.

Read a Portion of the Transcript

Leith: As a student, when I was spending many hours in classrooms learning Greek and Hebrew and studying the Bible, one of the frustrating things was that there are Hebrew words and Greek words where there really isn’t a good English word that says the same thing. You must face that all the time — that there are languages that don’t have, at least for English, our equivalent words for sin, God, salvation and all kinds of other things. Or, the word in our language actually has a completely different idea and meaning in another person’s language. How do you deal with that?

Samuel: Well, that’s both the art and science, but even more than that, the prayer. That’s one of the large challenges that’s faced by the national Bible translators, as well as the Bible translation consultants who are either indigenous to the culture or might be a Western individual. I can think of one language, for example, that’s in Southeast Asia where it took them time to have a sense of the word, “sanctification.” That literally took not five days, not five hours, not five months, but it took them five years to come to a full sense to say that this is the right word for this language and with the understanding that this represents the idea of “sanctification.” So, it sometimes really does take time to discover what the word is that God has provided in that culture that matches the original intent from the Old Testament Hebrew or New Testament Greek.

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Seed Company

"The Good News For Everyone" — NAE Insight article by Bob Creson, past president/CEO of Wycliffe Bible Translators USA