My Christian Background

As noted in part 1, shortly after we were married, we made the decision to leave Christian Science and find another church. Donna was in favor of a very conservative Baptist church near us (Cheshire Baptist), but that was too far from what I was familiar with. We decided that we needed to find a church that, while it might not totally meet either of our needs, would be a good compromise that we could both live with.  The choice we made was the United Methodist Church in Cheshire.  Unlike the UMC in Northern Michigan which was still trying to cling to the EUB roots, the UMC in Connecticut was fully mainstream liberal.  Not only were there no Bibles in the pews (actually chairs that could be rearranged), but there was no Bible on the pulpit as well.  But we joined the choir and started to make some good friends.  It was a good transition for me, and helped me to make the break from Christian Science, but it was not going to be fulfilling enough in the long run.

In 1975 we moved to Pennsylvania and needed to find a new church.  There was one just a few blocks from the apartment we lived in – a Church of Christ.  We visited a few times, but it was a bit strange.  This was the non-instrumental type of Church of Christ – that was different enough.  But what made it unacceptable was that the decision-making body was all males in the church who were 12 and over – so a single mom with a teenage son could not give any input but her son could.  But since we otherwise were ok with the philosophy, we instead drove to the “other” Church of Christ on the other side of Allentown that was a bit more traditional. 

After getting involved there, joining the choir, etc., I finally reached the point where I was able to realize what it was that was lacking in my life.  I was always the intellectual, always in control, etc.  It was while reading Matthew 19:25-26 that God was able to penetrate the shell that I had around me.  In that passage Jesus has told his disciples that “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”  The disciples were astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?”  Jesus responds, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

That was what I was missing.  I was trying to do it all myself, and it was impossible.  Instead I needed to allow God to do it instead!  At that moment, my life changed.  Now everything that I had been dealing with for the past several years all made sense.  The following Sunday I went forward during the invitation.  As was the custom of that church, my baptism was immediately afterwards.

While we were enjoying the Church of Christ, there were some logistical problems.  Donna had started working at the Lehigh Valley Mall and had to be on duty by 10am on Sunday so she couldn’t get to the morning church service.  As a small church that drew its membership from many miles around, they didn’t have evening services.

Our compromise was to look in the Saturday paper each week and find a church that was having something special that Sunday evening.  We went to a couple of different churches that way.  A few weeks later, a church in Emmaus, Bethel Bible Fellowship Church, was having a special song night featuring Al Smith of Singspiration.  We went and liked the church and the people, so we just kept going every Sunday evening.

After a few months of this we realized that we were essentially regular attendees of two different churches but not fully committed to either.  We needed to make a decision, and so made the decision to commit to Bethel and no longer attend the Parkway Church of Christ.  It was absolutely the best decision!

Unlike some new Christians, I had a couple of decades of Bible reading and knowledge of Scripture.  However, because CS had warped my definition of many Christian terms, I still had a lot to unlearn/relearn.  But this went relatively quickly and I was dedicated to the new-found sense of freedom I now had by relying on God and Christ instead of my own ability.

We also joined the choir at Bethel and got otherwise involved as we were able.  When our children were born over the next couple of years, we stopped by the church on the way home and had our own private dedication service when they were only a day or so old.

In 1982, when I was only 34, I was elected to the Board of Elders of the church.  At that time, we did not yet have deacons, so the Elders did many of the traditional deacon roles as well (preparing the communion elements, getting the baptistery ready when needed, etc.)  All these I took in stride.

Becoming a Christian, and being part of an active, evangelical church, has shaped my life in ways too numerous to mention.

Over the past more than four decades, my involvement in church activities has included a number of different aspects.

I didn’t learn how to sing parts in music (in fact I didn’t even know that I was a bass) until my college years (in the CS Sunday school you only sang unison).  But music has been very much a part of my ministry since then.  At Bethel, Donna and I were part of the choir until it disbanded due to the changes in church music ministry that have affected most churches.  I was also part of a men’s quartet, The New Life Quartet, for nearly 20 years.  And for more than decade I was a member of the Worship Team. When I began having problems with my feet, I had to resign from the Worship Team. However, recently we have restarted a choir and I am again part of a singing ministry.

In addition, I used my detailed skills when I was the membership chairman for a decade or so.  When I took over that position, we had a number that represented our membership but there were no details behind it.  Each year we simply reported the last year’s result, added in new members, subtracted deaths, etc. and published a new number.  I wanted to know what names were behind the current total.  Again, a series of small mistakes had added up to a considerable discrepancy.  One person had joined the church as a teenager, left when her family moved away (but had not been dropped as a member), then rejoined when she moved back to the area as an adult (with a different last name as she was now married).  A couple of people had been dropped from the rolls when they died, but they had never been full members, just regular attendees.  Now we have a spreadsheet that keeps track of all the names of the members that I have turned over to the new membership chairman.

I also started a ministry of working with families.  One of the services that I provide is writing wills/power of attorney/health care directives for these families.  I also have helped a few families who had financial difficulties, primarily because they were not managing their funds properly and didn’t know how to make a budget. 

A number of years ago someone challenged people in the church to have a personal mission statement.  Mine is “To use the talents and skills that God has given me in ways that will advance His kingdom.”  The above are just some of the ways that I am trying to fulfill that mission statement.

A few years ago, I retired as an active elder after 32 years of service on the Board of Elders.  I decided it was time to turn over some of my duties to some of the younger men on the board.  But that does not mean that I will stop serving Him in other ways.