Text Box: In the past month I have had a number of conversations about what makes a church group a cult. Much of this has come from the group that wrongly claimed that the world was ending last month. One sure sign of cult like behavior is when a group claims to be the only one with the truth. The true test of a cult is what they believe about the Trinity, Jesus and salvation, but there is dangerous behavior that make one suspect a group may be a cult. One dangerous teaching is to believe that one’s group is the only religious group that has the truth. Some good churches are tempted to believe that they are the true believers. While being proud of your house of worship may be natural, one must always remember that the kingdom of God is much bigger that our traditions and faith practices. Jesus prayed that his followers would be united. John 17:20,21 says, “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” Unfortunately, Christians have too often been divided. Some divisions are legitimate, but many are over minor issues. It has been noted that truth precedes unity. We may be able to unite with other religious groups on morality issues in our culture, but we can never compromise on our mission to invite all people to come to saving faith in Jesus Christ. Recently I have been blessed with many friendships with other pastors. Our men’s lunch has a couple of pastors who stop in on occasion. I work with a few other pastors on our “Faith and Reason” television program and I enjoy fellowship and prayer Text Box: with a Franciscan brother from time to time. Our church has also become host to a number of other churches. In July we plan to add a Cantonese worship service every Sunday which will be the fourth language used to worship Jesus on Sundays in our building. I am thankful for the friendships with these other pastors who share our facility. In that we are the only church with a baptism tank in Fort Lee, our building also hosts other churches for baptismal services. Two churches used our facility for a baptismal in May and two others are scheduled for June. It is always a joy to rejoice with other churches where they have members taking a step of obedience in being baptized by immersion. This summer a group of evangelical churches will gather together for an outdoor worship service. First Reformed, Bethany Well and Maranatha Grace are three other evangelical churches in Fort Lee that share much in common with our church in terms of beliefs and style of worship. We have received approval to meet at the Middle School field to join together for a worship service on the Sunday morning of July 3rd. The rain date will be July 17th. This worship service and meal to follow will be a great expression of united faith to our community. We are praying that our nonbelieving neighbors will take note of Christians united around the person of Jesus Christ. Our hope is also that our congregation will be encouraged by that fact that we are not the only church called to be salt and light in Fort Lee. We have many brothers and sisters in Christ who we have yet to meet. Let us see God’s kingdom as being much larger than our little church. -Pastor Rick

Yard Sale

2

Men’s Mini-Retreat

2

Faith & Reason

2

June Events

3

Youth Trip

3

Community Service

4

June Calendar

 
Text Box: We Are Not the Only Church Text Box: June 2011 Text Box: Fort Lee Gospel Church Text Box: Gospel News