Calvin Synod Herald, 2004 (105. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

2004-03-01 / 3-4. szám

4 CALVIN SYNOD HERALD Reformed Discipleship A market must exist for books on discipleship. At least the publishers who send books to the Christian Observer must be­lieve in such a market; they keep using discipleship in new titles. The concept always puzzled me. What is discipleship and how does one do it? The closest to a satisfactory answer to come my way was a line Bill Iverson gave me one time, “Get some men and do it.” Far be it for me to sound presidential, but I wanted to know the meaning of do. I am still asking, however, along the way I discovered something which works for me. Father and I tried a range of church-building techniques. Nothing satisfied us or produced results which could withstand the hostile Washington climate. One day Father suggested we simply drop back to basics. Try doing what our family had been doing since the Reformation; give Biblical Calvinism a try. Not long after that conversation a man came to my office seeking counseling. In the area where I live there must be more Biblical counselors than preachers and every minister who gets a divorce opens a new shop. I explained I couldn’t counsel but I would be willing to help him look for answers in the Bible. I am a Bible teacher and studying the Bible is something I under­stand. The poor man was so desperate he was willing to give it a try - until I told him he would have to pay. You can imagine the conversation which followed. It started something like, “If I could afford a real counselor I wouldn’t...” When the man calmed down I explained that I wanted his time, not his money. Since this is Washington, the idea never (Continued from page 3) in Columbus. Following is a tentative schedule: Mayl. 10 a.m. -12 p.m. Registration 12 p.m -1 p.m. Lunch 1 p.m.. - 4 p.m. Program and Discussion Groups 4 p.m. - 5 p.m. Discussion Group Summary 5 p.m.-7:30 p.m. Free Time 7:30 p.m. -11 p.m. Dance at church May 2. 9 a.m. Breakfast at church 11 a.m. English service with youth participation 12 p.m. Lunch followed by short business meeting and farewells We are looking into a motel now, probably at 1-71 and Grove City which is only about 15 minuter from the church. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact: Rev. Ötvös - 614-444-1473 or zsoltotvos@vahoo.ca Janet Lawton - 614-875-0727 (after 6 p.m.) or artmarlin6862(«>earthlink.com We hope to see you then! Rev. Zsolt Ötvös, Minister Janet Lawton, Vice President of Church David Kovács, Youth Leader Hungarian Reformed Church 365 E. WoodrowAve »Columbus, OH43207 crossed his mind. Having a painful problem (and all the time he needed to worry), he was happy with the plan. I spent an hour in the Scripture teaching him how to find answers and he spent three hours doing things I couldn’t get done myself but which he could do for me. Did I mention that I wasn’t getting some pastoral things done because I was working a full-time job on the side to sup­port myself and my congregation? There is only so much you can pack into a 20-hour day. The man’s life began to balance and soon he was teaching other people to use the Online Bible to work out solutions for problems. He also rolled a few drunks for Jesus with TULIP tracks. That is my preferred evangelistic tool because drunks don’t need help understanding Total Depravity or Unconditional Election. Drunks make great Calvinists. Actually, I have acquired expertise in a wide range of sins by searching for people with tears in their eyes. The plan worked so well I began to search for losers with lots of pain. Such people pay attention and they don’t give me a hard time about the trouble I have understanding apologetics. The time came when the congregation complained that we did not have enough officers and therefore we should elect some of the men in the church to be officers. Father did not like the idea; “When God wants us to have officers He will send them.” I could understand his point. The instructions for selecting offic­ers in 1 Timothy suggest the elders and deacons should be se­lected from among people doing the job. What stood in the way of assuming the Bible gave sufficient direction on the selecting officers? The congregation prayed and the Lord began sending people who did things officers do. As people realized that officers must be apt to teach we sud­denly had a set of men interested in developing the Sunday school. Several overworked mothers smiled and indicated they would be happy to help provide openings for potential officers. Men will do what it takes to get their career tickets properly punched, even if it means charming two-year-olds and taking nursery duty. Doctrine was a more complex matter. Grown men do not want to learn catechism like children. Besides the Shorter Cat­echism has 107 questions: the Heidelberg has 129. At the same time the catechism provides a simple, measurable gauge for progress. When a man recited his answer I marked off the ques­tion in his little orange booklet and started on the next one. Not having any better plan, I treated these men as if they wanted Biblical counseling. I started meeting with them and working one question at a time on a weekly basis. I liked the breakfast meetings best, but I met with anyone who wanted to study anywhere that was available. Some students went on by themselves much faster than I was ready to handle. Others had different ideas. Nearly everyone made it. Along the way I asked each man to do one thing I was not getting done. When we fin­ished about two years after the program began I had a solid officer-candidate set. I still meet with these men to make certain they have enough work to justify their titles of elder. Since I am a writer I am pleased to report that people who know the Catechism learn to like reading books about doctrine. To my delight, the church

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