Covenanter Witness Vol. 86 - Rparchives.org

saw that Jesus Christ is King and that Hispeople must live as a covenant communityunder His Lordship not only as a churchbut in politics, etc. Much of our thinkingand activity has rested on a fundamentaldualism which perceives of the worlddivided into Nature and Grace. In thisdualism the saving and creating work ofGod effects a response in man which isgenerally limited to a spiritual aspect oflife. The rest of- life — political, social,economic is temporal or secular andtherefore neutral.However, the norms of God's Wordgive us a vision and perspective for all oflife. These norms must control not only ouractivities but also our thinking andorganization in the economic, political,and educational tasks of life. Many peoplein the Christian community believe thatthe Word of God necessitates theorganization of educational societies,labor movements, and social protestorganizations that are founded upon anddirected by the Word of God. This enablesthe Church to be the propaganda arm ofthe Kingdom, evangelizing and instructingbelievers. But that instruction will obligatebelievers to organize covenantally in otherareas so that they may be relevant witnessesfor Christ in all the areas of life.FormatBegin the meeting this evening by thesinging of Psalm 48:1,8-10, p. 122 and areading and discussion of John 17 andEphesians 4:11-16.Ask such questions as:What principles are set forth in thesepassages concerning Christian unity?How can we express visibly our unityin Christ with other brethren?How can we bear relevant witness forthe Kingship of Christ in areas of politics,economics, education, race relations, etc.?What is your personal reaction toBible-believing Christians formingseparate organizations, apart fromhumanistic organizations?If you are opposed to this, whatalternate form of witness do you suggest?Should Christians ever unite withnon-Christians to accomplish just ends?Close the discussion time by singingPsalm 62:1-4, p. 152.Prayer Time:It is important that at least half of thetime be spent in prayer. It might be helpfulto divide the group into smaller prayercells with individual leaders. It issuggested that you have two areas of attentionfor prayer — first of all the individualand congregational needs. Allowpeople to share personal prayer needs, andask the Sabbath School Superintendent,Clerk of Session, W.M.S. President toshare congregational needs. Have asecretary for each prayer group keep a listof these requests. Secondly, compile a listof Christian organizations outside ourchurch and supply a list of these to eachprayer group. It should include suchorganizations as: The National ReformAssociation, Christian GovernmentMovement, National Union of ChristianSchools, The Christian Labor Association,and The Christian Action Foundation.During this second time of prayer weshould pray for the grace and wisdom tobear witness for Christ beyond the usualchurchly functions.CORRECTION!Editor of the Covenanter WitnessDear Dr. Dougherty,Today the January 13th CovenanterWitness arrived with my article on GeorgeGillespie on pages 8 and 9. Alas, my letterof correction of an error in the articlecould not have reached you in time, as Isent it only a day or so ago.On page 9 I state that Gillespie wasamong the commissioners of the Church ofScotland who prepared the Solemn Leagueand Covenant, "and he went to Scotlandfrom London to explain it to the GeneralAssembly of Scotland, which adopted it."This is absurd.How I entertained this mistaken ideawhen writing the article I cannotremember, but I soon discovered in myreading it later that poor Gillespie — whodid commute between London andEdinburgh on church business quite often— had been unjustly involved in my trafficblunder.Dr. J. G. Vos states in his history ofThe Scottish Covenanters that AlexanderHenderson prepared the Solemn Leagueand Covenant for the General Assembly ofthe Church of Scotland, which adopted iton August 17, 1643, and then sentit to theEnglish authorities. After some changes,the Solemn League and Covenant waspublicly sworn and subscribed by theHouse of Commons of Parliament and theWestminster Assembly. George Gillespieas one of the Scottish Commission no doubthad a part in explaining the Covenant tothe government of England.Sincerely.Sam BoyleTHIS CANADIAN HOMEIS A FOREIGNMISSION STATIONWhat foreign mission stations reachseveral foreign fields in one week? Yetnever have to pay travel expense oroverseas passage for their workers.Need no support for residentmissionaries, but give support to indigenousgroups instead.Send no missionaries to languageschool but teach their own language instead.Never slack during furlough timebecause the missionaries never leave theirfield and plan no furloughs for the rest oftheir lives.If these statements sound like animpossible dream to church leaders whohave spent thousands of dollars on foreignmissions, they should visit one of themission stations. Hundreds of Christianfamilies in North America now serve asforeign missionaries at home. By reachingsome of the multiplied thousands offoreign nationals who visit among us, theyhave turned their homes into foreignmission stations. Roy and Delia Shawof Toronto are a typical example. Threeforeign students from Hong Kong stayed inthe Shaws' home all summer. Roy andDelia helped them with their English bystudying the Word of God with them. Andsoon these Chinese came to know JesusChrist in a new and living way.A brilliant Japanese scholar who isdoing research in Boston visited Torontowith his wife. Ron Marr arranged for themto stay at the home of the Shaws. Therethey had a face to face encounter withJesus Christ.The Shaws do not stop with justwinning foreign visitors to the Lord. Theylead them on to maturity in faith andexperience, preparing for the day whenthese nationals will be going back to startindigenous groups overseas. The localassembly of Christians attended by theShaws on (Sabbath) have had visitorsfrom all the world join them in thebreaking of bread including born againbelievers from such closed lands asAfghanistan, Nepal and Tibet.Canadian Conquest for ChristSHARON WILL CELEBRATEThe Sh aron congregation willbe celc bra ting their 125th anniversaryon July 17 and IS, 1971.