Tag Archives: church of God

Jan 05 2018
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Lent Devotional

Holiness: A Lenten Devotional

Click here to download this free, electronic Lenten devotional on the topic of holiness.

Twenty Church of God ministers have combined their efforts to create “Holiness: A Lenten Devotional.” The purpose of this project is to provide the Church of God with a high-quality, easy-to-engage set of devotionals for the season of Lent. This project intends to remain focused on God and the scriptures while speaking words of life to the people of the Church of God.

This project explores the concept of holiness from a biblical perspective. Combining theology with practice, daily devotionals from Ash Wednesday (February 14) through Easter Sunday (April 1) cover four major themes:

  • God is Holy: theological foundations
  • Holy Ground: biblical instances of holiness
  • Holy People: our call to live holy lives
  • Holy Week: the journey to the cross and empty tomb

Each theme is introduced by additional reflections from professors at the Anderson University School of Theology and Christian Ministry and is accompanied by original artwork from one member of our team.

Unique to this project is a practical reflection on each Sunday during Lent. Instead of a regular devotional on Sundays, you will find pragmatic ideas of how to live out the concepts of holiness that you have considered through the week.

We hope that this resource will help you, your loved ones, and your congregation to draw closer to God, to be holy as God is holy, and to imitate the holiness of Jesus during this upcoming season of Lent.

These daily devotionals are available as a single PDF file (click here to download), and each will be posted daily on this site from February 14 through April 1.

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Jul 13 2015
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Sermons Audio

SCOTUS, Sexuality, and Sheep vs. Goats

Download: 2015-07-05_SNS-Evang3_KeepFocus

On July 5, 2015, in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage in the United States, Shannon New Spangler preached on Matthew 25:31-46 in her local ministry setting, Harvest Point Church in Lordstown, Ohio.

“This decision … needs to be discussed so we know what our place is.”

“When we say no to loving, to being graceful, to being merciful, we set limits on who is worthy of God’s love, and that’s an indictment not on them, but on us. And God says, when you do this, you are a goat.”

Please listen to this important sermon. (download or play below)

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Jun 30 2015
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Convention 2015

Change in the Church of God

Real, substantive, meaningful change. That’s what we are hoping for, and that’s what we began to see in the Church of God Convention last week in Oklahoma City.

This was the second year in a row that the major CHOG Convention was held outside of our home base in Anderson, Indiana. Attendance was up, excitement was up, unity was up. Mean attitudes or doubting spirits were less present this year, compared to last year when the change was still fresh and not well understood. Continue reading →

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Jan 20 2015
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The "Why" Questions

Our Focus As We Move Forward

We (along with the rest of the Church of God Movement) have been commissioned to answer three very important questions. All three hope to address the more pressing question: why do we exist as a Movement? Jonathan posted about the purpose of the Church of God movement and Joe shared in response to query about the Church of God’s unique contribution to the Kingdom. The third question is this:

Upon what should the Movement focus going forward?

This is the question I was asked to explore. But how can I be so bold as to propose the focus for the whole Church of God as we move forward into the future? I began to sweat as I thought about what I could possibly suggest. But then it hit me. The question could just as well be “where should my focus be?” As I live my life as a follower of Christ and as a Church of God Pastor, where should my focus be? Because the truth is, if I can’t get on board with the answer to this question (or the others) that we are asking for the Church of God at large, than why am I part of this Movement?

And so, for better or worse, I approach this question for myself. As I move forward (in life, in ministry, as a believer) what is to be my focus? As I think about this question it occurs to me that I don’t have to come up with something new or brilliant. Jesus laid out for us the perfect focus for now and for our future: make disciples (Matthew 28:19). If this was the focus of the Church of God – the world would be changed. If we spent our time and energy on this call – we could transform the lives around us.

I am aware that this focus should be the focus of all churches and not just the Church of God, but I find myself wondering why we have to separate ourselves out before we get to doing the work that God called us to. Wasn’t the whole point of why the Church of God came to be? To “come out of denominational Babylon”? Isn’t that why the Movement was formed? And here we are once again trying to define our uniqueness in the family of God rather than just accepting that we are part of it and that we have work to do.

There are so many people who are truly lost (outside of relationship with God) and we’re worried about our Movement being lost in the tide of denominations. There are so many lost people (people who God created and who God loves) who are separated from God. There are so many people who are dying and need what we have.  We are so distracted about things that don’t matter that we’ve forgotten why we do exist – and it’s not to be unique. We exist because we know God and we want other people to know God too.

So for me, what has to be our focus as we move forward is those lost people and the work that still needs to be done. We cannot lose sight of the mission that we are called to:  19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you (Matthew 28:19-21).

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Jan 06 2015
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The "Why" Questions

The Purpose of the Church of God Movement

If you could capture in one sentence, “What is the purpose of the Church of God Movement?” what would it be?

Over the last half century there may be no question more important, with greater impact on the Church of God Movement, than this one. How we define our purpose carries implications for what we do, how we do it, and why we do it. With this one sentence comes a telos (end, purpose or goal) for the rest of the movement. A purpose statement is a powerful thing; it guides and directs where you go and how you get there. It informs why we exist and why our existence matters.

Well, now I feel completely inadequate to answer the question… Oh well, we press on.

Continue reading →

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Jan 05 2015
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The "Why" Questions

The “Why” Questions

Our denomination, the Church of God (Anderson), is doing some introspective investigation these days. We have been in existence since the 1880s, and our self-understanding has shifted and changed through the course of time. We now stand “at the crossroads,” as it were. Our leaders, from General Director Jim Lyon on down, are asking three important questions about why we exist as a body of believers.

These are crucial questions, and we hope to contribute our answers to them:

(A) If you could capture in one sentence, “What is the purpose of the Church of God Movement?” what would it be?

(B) What is the unique contribution that the Movement makes to the Kingdom in the world today?

(C) Upon what should the Movement focus going forward?

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Oct 29 2014
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At the Crossroads

A Holiness Church: A Response

“I am continually struck by the idea that our understanding of holiness has become very worldly….” – Jen Carney

I love that line from Jen’s post about being a holiness church. I find the irony compelling; what was sacred and separated out has become profane and mixed in with everything else. How are we to understand holiness when our perception of holiness has been warped by the world? This ‘worldly holiness’ is an emphasis on purity, cleanliness, and sterilization against the dirty, tarnished, tainted parts of life. The more holy we become, the more we are required to remove ourselves from everyday life in our community. If we do not retreat from it, we will be risking our holiness. We could accidentally rub up against unholy things, activities or people and cause our fall from grace.

But isn’t this completely antithetical to the call of God? Continue reading →

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May 20 2014
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At the Crossroads

A Kingdom of God Church

“Seek first the kingdom of God, and its righteousness…”

Throughout this series, we’ve been looking at the significant beliefs that make up the DNA of the Church of God. In his book, Vision for the Church of God at the Crossroads, Gilbert Stafford makes the bold claim that while it’s true other groups in the wider church consider themselves Gospel churches, or Bible churches, or born-again churches, or holiness churches, or unity churches, or Kingdom of God churches, or missionary churches, it’s the equal commitment to all seven attributes that makes the Church of God unique.

If this is the case, then I would like to suggest that it is the fact that we are a Kingdom of God church that actually holds all seven together. When we neglect the Kingdom of God, I believe we tend to separate the other six elements out, as though they function independent of one another. Continue reading →

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May 16 2014
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At the Crossroads

A Unity Church: A Response

Unity, not uniformity.  Diversity, not division.  Jonathan’s two main points about the nature of the church are well taken.  God intends for churches, movements, and denominations to be marked by these characteristics.  And yet I wonder if we can push this in a different direction:  toward the local church.

Continue reading →

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May 12 2014
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At the Crossroads

A Unity Church

That the Church should be one is not debated.  The Bible makes it pretty clear that God’s intention for the Church is oneness.  Jesus, in the garden before his betrayal, fervently prays that his followers will all be ONE (John 17:21).  Paul makes it pretty plain in his letters that all believers are baptized into ONE Church, part of ONE body (1 Cor. 12:12-31; Eph. 4:1-16).

But, while we do not doubt that the Church should be one, we seem to have a lot of questions and disagreements over how we get there, and what that looks like practically.  Well I can’t pretend to have all the answers, but I can throw out some food-for-thought and maybe encourage further discussion.

Continue reading →

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