Senior Saints and Sensibility

If you have ever heard someone say, “You just had to have been there,” or, “Hindsight is so much better than foresight,” then you are also hearing what senior saints often think in the church. No one knows how seniors think or feel until they’ve become one, and no one sees from their perspective until they’ve been a senior themselves. I turned 67 this year and only feel that I’m beginning to understand what many of these great saints are saying.

Discipleship in the Wilderness

Helping Our Fellow Believers Live Out the Pursuits of Psalm 63 In the July/August issue of The Baptist Bulletin, Dr. Jeff Newman, professor of Biblical Counseling at Faith Baptist Bible College and Theological Seminary, wrote an article titled “Dependence in the Wilderness.” In that article, available here, Dr. Newman explored Psalm 63 and its implications for growth during difficult circumstances. This Faith Pulpitarticle builds upon his previous work by applying the Biblical concepts to discipleship ministries. For a more thorough study of these concepts, you may purchase his most recent book, Dependence in the Wilderness (Regular Baptist Press, 2015).

Improving Adult Sunday School Classes

My purpose in the first article was to call churches back to the priority of adult Sunday School classes because I believe they can do everything small groups can do and more and can provide the best format for discipleship. In short, adult Sunday School has the greater potential for benefit to a church. In this second article I offer some suggestions for how we adult teachers can improve our adult classes so they reach their full potential. 1. Commit to using printed curriculum that covers the Bible systematically.

In Defense of the Adult Sunday School Class

Adult ministries are shifting in churches today. The emphasis seems to be moving away from adult Sunday School classes to small groups. In the first article Don Anderson, professor of Christian Education at Faith Baptist Bible College and Theological Seminary and a veteran adult Sunday School teacher, calls churches back to the priority of adult Sunday School classes. He believes adult Sunday School classes can do everything small groups can do and more. In the second article he offers some suggestions for how to improve our adult classes so they reach their full potential.

Bonhoeffer and the Scriptures

Bible-believing evangelical Christians hold a high view of the Scriptures. Many evangelicals also see Dietrich Bonhoeffer as a Bible-believing Christian. Bonhoeffer, however, accepted the prevailing historical-critical views of the Bible in his day. Therefore, we should be wary of calling Bonhoeffer a “Bible-believer.” The following three examples from his writings support this position. Creation and Fall In Creation and Fall (1932), an exegesis of Genesis 1–3, we find clear examples of Bonhoeffer espousing the historical-critical view of the Bible. In this work he referred to the Biblical author as the “Yahwist.”1

United Families Dividing Churches: An Assessment of the Family Integrated Church Movement

The Family Integrated Church Movement (FICM) is having a growing impact within fundamental Baptist churches—and unfortunately it is not all good. Since the mid-1990s an increasing number of families within fundamental churches have gravitated toward the family-integrated approach. In addition, families entrenched in the movement have been drawn to fundamental churches because of their emphasis on Biblical preaching and conservatism. At first glance the influence of the FICM might seem innocent and even beneficial for traditional churches, but instead it is proving to be problematic for many pastors and churches.

Discipleship in the Details

Counseling has become an important part of church ministry today. As with many elements of ministry, counseling has taken various forms. Faith Baptist Bible College and Theological Seminary is committed to a thoroughly Biblical approach to counseling. In this issue of the Faith Pulpit, Dr. Jeff Newman, professor of counseling at Faith, lays out a Biblical approach to counseling. This article positions Faith in the counseling spectrum and serves as a paradigm for your personal counseling ministry. The mission of Faith Baptist Bible College and Theological Seminary is to train called servants of God to minister the Word of God effectively in vocational Christian service.

The New Spirituality

Like many false teachings, The New Spirituality uses Christian terms and practices but infuses into them meanings far different from what we find in Scripture. Even some evangelicals have embraced various forms and teachings of this movement. In this article Dr. James D. Maxwell III, the president of Faith Baptist Bible College and Seminary, exposes the dangers of The New Spirituality and offers suggestions for how believers should respond to it. What Is The New Spirituality? The New Spirituality as a paradigm for devotion and spiritual formation that utilizes forms and approaches originating from the Bible and from traditions and sources other than the Bible.

The Christian Education Committee in a Local Church

A church’s Christian education program is a large part of its overall ministry. It involves more people and more programs than any other part of a church’s life. How can a pastor effectively organize and coordinate the different parts of the Christian education program? By utilizing a Christian Education Committee. In this issue of Faith Pulpit Don Anderson, professor of Christian Education at Faith Baptist Bible College, explains the value and function of the Christian Education Committee. Christian education is an important part of a church’s ministry.

Definition and Direction Statement, Part 2

FBBC&TS Exists as a Baptist institution of Christian Higher Education. As a Baptist institution, we believe in the primacy of Scripture over creeds and the formulations of councils. We consider the New Testament, especially the Epistles, to be foundational for faith and practice. We hold to the two ordinances: communion as a memorial of Christ’s death and believer’s baptism by single immersion as a public testimony to the truth of the gospel. We believe in the New Testament origin of the Church and so we distinguish between the Church and the nation of Israel.