Greetings,
This program has changed the nature of the people in our little part of the Church. Simply teaching them more of God by teaching them Systematic Theology has led them to more mature faith. Without my asking they have increased their care for others in our local church body and the community. They have volunteered in more ways and increased their giving – all without being asked. And the rest of the church has followed them in their spiritual growth.
I truly believe that the job of a pastor is “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.” Although I’ve always believed the importance of teaching theology to lay people I never expected the amazing results I have seen. These people truly warm my heart beyond description.
Another benefit is that I know them. I know who is ready for leadership (1 Tim. 3:6) and I know who can be trusted with teaching other saints. This is also a wonderful way to help a person who wants to make a career change to full time ministry.
If you have a seminary education in theology (or are well along the way) and would like to use this site to promote a class of your own I will be happy to list your church here. I would love to see every church training its people in this way. You must affirm the Foundational Affirmations of the proposed NBS Doctrinal Statement as reproduced below, (the full text is available on the “downloadable files” page).
Thank you and may God richly bless your work in the Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Rick Henderson
Foundational Affirmations
We affirm these beliefs in common with conservative evangelicalism:
· We believe that the Scriptures, consisting of the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments, are the verbally and plenarily inspired Word of God, inerrant in the original writings, and the final authority in all matters of faith and life.
· We believe that there is one true God who is the infinite, eternal, living, and personal spirit. He created and sustains the universe and all that is in it, possessing complete knowledge of all things, whether actual or potential. He is the sovereign ruler over all creation and works out his purposes both providentially and miraculously. He is worthy of all love, honor, trust, and obedience. God exists eternally in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Each person shares the whole of the one divine essence co-equally and co-extensively.
· We believe that Jesus Christ is true God and true man, possessing two natures joined in one person without confusion of the natures or division of the person. Eternally God, he was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He died for the sins of humanity on the cross, was buried, rose again, and was seen by witnesses. In the same body with which he was crucified, Jesus Christ was glorified and ascended into heaven where he now intercedes on behalf of his people.
· We believe that the Holy Spirit is a divine person who is co-equal with the Father and Son. He shared in the creation of all things and superintended the writing of Scripture. He convicts the world of sin and regenerates and sanctifies believers. At their conversion he places believers into the body of Christ, seals them as God’s possession, indwells them, and gives them gifts for ministry.
· We believe that God specially and directly created human beings in his image. Therefore human life is sacred, beginning at conception. Because God created humans male and female and ordained their union, marriage is a heterosexual union between one man and one woman. All other sexual unions are sinful.
· We believe that the entire human race became depraved, alienated from God, and subject to death as a result of the disobedience of Adam the first human. Salvation from sin and its penalty is entirely by the grace of God through faith alone in the crucified and risen Christ, wholly apart from any human merit or works.
· We believe that angels are personal spirit beings, created to serve and worship God. Their ministries include rendering assistance to believers as God directs. Though all angels were created holy, a large number of them followed Satan in his rebellion against God and continue to oppose him. Christ’s work on the cross defeated Satan and his demons, making certain their judgment and eternal punishment.
· We believe that the universal church, called the Body of Christ, is under the sovereign authority of its head, Jesus Christ, and is visibly expressed primarily through local churches. The purposes of local churches include corporate worship of God, spiritual maturation of believers, evangelization of the lost throughout the world, and observance of baptism and the Lord’s supper.
· We believe in the personal, bodily return of Jesus Christ to establish his kingdom upon earth and in the bodily resurrection of all the dead, both saved and unsaved; the saved to eternal life with God and the unsaved to everlasting, conscious punishment from God.