March 1, 2024
Disciple Heritage Fellowship
Some churches have rejected a turn toward more progressive theology . . .
Articles for tag: Baptism By Immersion
August 3, 2023
THROWBACK THURSDAY: ‘What Our Websites Say About Baptism’ (2012)
In 2012, Daniel Overdorf and two friends examined 250 Christian Church and Church of Christ websites to determine how they presented their view of baptism to the public. Overdorf offers good suggestions for churches.
January 1, 2023
Is There Still a Standard to Be Raised?
By Jerry Harris This issue marks the completion of six years since Christian Standard was faced with its consignment to history. In December 2016, Doug Crozier, CEO of The Solomon Foundation, received a phone call informing him of the impending shuttering of the magazine. First published in the spring of 1866, Christian Standard quickly became the voice of the fastest-growing religious movement of the 19th century; the publication was desperately needed after the ravages of the Civil War. It persevered through division, liberalism, two world wars, and the Great Depression. In 2006, Wicks Group, a private equity firm, purchased Standard
November 10, 2022
THROWBACK THURSDAY: ‘Work of Chaplains in Pacific Area’ During World War II (1944)
Chaplains Charles DeVore and Lertis Ellett share about their service to God while serving in the military in the South Pacific during World War II. "Any man who has the courage and love to preach the gospel in civilian life can also preach it in the Army," DeVore wrote.
May 1, 2022
Is the Restoration Movement Relevant?
By Tom Ellsworth In 1856, postal authorities accepted a new name for a little community in southern Indiana: Santa Claus. Then, in the 1920s, the Postal Service decided there would never be another Santa Claus Post Office in the United States. Consequently, every December, more than 400,000 pieces of mail are routed through the town because of its Christmas-themed postmark. I suspect the community’s founders never anticipated the full impact of the unique name. On a little knoll just a mile or so south of Santa Claus stands quaint, white-framed Mt. Zion Christian Church, the oldest church building in Spencer
August 11, 2020
My Memories of Marshall Leggett
By Ben Merold As I think about Marshall Leggett, who passed away on March 2 at age 90, two personal experiences keep coming to my mind . . .
May 1, 2020
What’s in the Water?
By Michael D. McCann When consumed, it hydrates. When boiled, it disinfects. When we bathe in it, our body is cleansed. This simple combination of hydrogen and oxygen, water truly is a precious, versatile commodity. Similarly, the waters of baptism provide the participant with unimaginable benefits. Baptism floods the spirit with divine blessings. And yet baptism is distinct from our daily uses of water that require no special qualification. Atheist and Christian, male and female, king and servant—we all receive the same benefit when water is consumed. But in baptism, the water produces powerful effects promised only to those who
June 21, 2018
Is the Independent Christian Church Taking Ground?
By Jerry Harris Is the independent Christian church taking ground? That depends on how you measure it. One could measure it by the weekly attendance of affiliated churches, because numerical growth is probably the most common measurement of “taking ground.” By this type of measurement, independent Christian churches are advancing like never before. Our churches fill the lists of Outreach magazine’s largest and fastest-growing churches. Kent Fillinger’s study in our May issue (“Special Church Report Part 1: Megachurches and Emerging Megachurches”) indicates we are building, baptizing, and boldly dreaming like never before. Our mission efforts are also gaining ground as we
February 22, 2018
The Wrong Number
By Michael C. Mack My life started changing while I was preparing for Christmas in 1987. While I was decorating my apartment, trimming my tree, and wrapping presents to celebrate Jesus’ coming into the world, I realized· he wasn’t really in my world. About that time, I took a class on stress and time management. We were to prioritize our “guiding values,’’ those things in our lives—like job security, financial success, good friends, and faith—that are most important to us. I learned that my leading values were faith and creativity, both of which had little to do with my job
April 18, 2016
Opening Doors
“You don”t have to leave the movement to lead beyond it.” Six perspectives on a provocative statement ________ By Jennifer Johnson These leaders love the Restoration Movement and its principles, but they also work and minister “outside” of it with the churches they serve, the partnerships they pursue, and the parachurch ministries they lead. Here are their thoughts on what it means to go beyond the movement, why it matters, and how it can honor God. Brent Storms The biggest question for me is how does one “get in” and “get out” of our movement? We”re coming across planters and church
October 22, 2015
New Testament Church, New Insights on Ministry
By LeRoy Lawson Renewal for Mission: A Concise History of Christian Churches and Churches of Christ W. Dennis Helsabeck Jr., Gary Holloway, Douglas A. Foster Abilene: Abilene Christian University Press, 2009 A Dresser of Sycamore Trees: The Finding of a Ministry Garret Keizer HarperSanFrancisco, 1991, 1993 Priest, Prophet, Pilgrim: Types and Distortions of Spiritual Vocation in the Fiction of Wendell Berry and Cormac McCarthy Todd Edmonds Eugene: Pickwick Publications, 2014 When I was 9 years old, I made my nervous way down the aisle of my home church. I confessed my faith to our minister in front of all those people.
September 30, 2015
Pebbles, Rocks, and Water
By Jim Tune Most readers will be familiar with Stephen Covey”s prioritizing system. He urges us to differentiate the truly important from the merely urgent; the essential thing from the merely marginal. Frequently referred to as the “big rocks” illustration, Covey produces a bucket (which symbolizes our life), a few big rocks (which symbolize our most essential priorities), and a bunch of small pebbles (which symbolize the tasks that seem urgent, but ultimately aren”t essential). Covey pours the pebbles into the bucket, and then invites a seminar participant to try to add all of the big rocks. This proves impossible,
March 23, 2014
Not the Only Christians on Campus
By T.R. Robertson Believers””and nonbelievers””from a wide range of backgrounds gather under the influence of campus Christian ministries. How do they experience and express the reality of this motto? James was raised in a Christian family, part of a rural Missouri church that brought him up to know and follow the teachings of the Restoration Movement. Gary was the product of a church that does not share the legacy of the Restoration Movement. Both James and Gary attended the University of Missouri when they left home, and both became involved with the Mizzou Christian Campus House, a Christian church/church of
April 19, 2013
Interview with Jon Keck
By Paul Boatman Jon Keck is a staff pastor with First Christian Church, Decatur, Illinois, a once-dwindling traditional church affiliated with the Disciples of Christ that has turned around to become a thriving Evangelical congregation. Introduce us to First Christian Church of Decatur. This is a growing church that gathers 1,000 Christians each weekend to worship Jesus. We date back to 1833 and have been historically affiliated with the Disciples of Christ. As changes evolved in the Disciples of Christ, we became an autonomous Christian church affiliated with the Disciple Heritage Fellowship. We are growing at the rate
October 22, 2012
Lesson for October 28, 2012: Philip Baptizes a Man from Ethiopia (Acts 8:26-39)
This treatment of the International Sunday School Lesson is written by Sam E. Stone, former editor of CHRISTIAN STANDARD. ______ By Sam E. Stone Someone has said the book known as “The Acts of the Apostles” could more accurately be titled, “Some of the Acts of Some of the Apostles.” Philip was not an apostle, yet he was a key figure in the early days of the church. He first appears in Acts as one of the “seven men” called to “wait on tables” in the Jerusalem church (Acts 6:1-6). When next seen, he is preaching powerfully in Samaria (8:4-8).
July 26, 2012
What Our Websites Say about Baptism
By Daniel Overdorf I baptized my younger son on New Year”s Day. On a day of new beginnings, we celebrated his new birth. My voice cracked when I asked him to confess what he believes about Jesus. He responded, “I believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.” These words rang sweeter in my ears than the first words he spoke as a toddler. My tears mixed with the baptismal water when I lowered him into the burial of his old self, and raised him as a new creation in Jesus. I experienced the same joy
March 23, 2012
To End, to Follow, to Believe
By LeRoy Lawson Necessary Endings: The Employees, Businesses, and Relationships that All of Us Have to Give Up in Order to Move Forward Henry Cloud New York: Harper Business, 2010 Not a Fan: Becoming a Completely Committed Follower of Jesus Kyle Idleman Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2011 Hannah”s Child: A Theologian”s Memoir Stanley Hauerwas Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2010 Not long ago a friend urged me to read Henry Cloud”s Necessary Endings. It has inspired and instructed him, he said, because as he leads his megachurch into its next phase of growth, he knows he faces some very difficult decisions.
May 29, 2011
The Brush Run Church
By Calvin Warpula In 1809 when Thomas Campbell wrote the Declaration and Address of the Christian Association of Washington [Pennsylvania], he had no plan to start a separate church. He strongly opposed sectarianism and all human creeds and promoted unity among all believers in Christ on the basis of the Scriptures only. His son, Alexander, who arrived from Ireland later that year, agreed with and supported his father”s views. On Saturday, May 4, 1811, at its semiannual meeting, the Christian Association decided to transform itself into a local church because its calls for unity based on Scripture had been rejected
September 23, 2009
Interview with Allan Dunbar
By Brad Dupray When the city of Calgary, Alberta, celebrated its centennial, Allan Dunbar was selected as one of three of the most inspirational people in its history. During 22 years as senior pastor of Bow Valley Christian Church in Calgary, where he had a national television ministry, Allan earned the respect of his countrymen, enough to spend five years on the Canadian Olympic Development Committee while leading the spiritual outreach for the 1988 Winter Olympics. Allan’s respect was well-earned within the Christian world, as well, having served as dean of the Billy Graham School of Evangelism, president of Puget
May 24, 2009
To Know and Speak
 By Joe Bliffen I am a Disciples of Christ pastor. I am “certified by the Christian Church in Ohio”s Commission on Ministry as a clergy person who has standing with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)” (from a letter confirming this recognition dated October 2004). I also believe the 66 books of the Bible are the inspired, inerrant revelation of God and that the 27 books of the New Testament are the only authority for the faith, practice, morals, and ethics of both individual Christians and the church. I believe creation took place over the course of six 24-hour
