94 :: St. Giles Evangelical Presbyterian Church

This morning, we worshipped at St. Giles Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Charlotte. This was my second time at St. Giles and Beth's first. I visited St. Giles in 2004 to see my friend Jamie preach. Jamie is a long-time friend whose friendship and guidance have always been an important part of my walk with Christ. He and I are still in frequent contact.

St. Giles is a congregation of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, one of the many denominations that carry the Presbyterian designation. The EPC has around 125,000 members in the US and it is definitively in the Reformed branch of Protestantism (more on that below). The EPC overall, and St. Giles in particular, is open to the manifestations of the spiritual gifts such that the denomination could rightly be called "charismatic." 

Before describing our visit, a quick reflection on my visit to St. Giles in 2004. 

As mentioned above, my first visit to St. Giles had everything to do with my friend Jamie Henderson. Jamie left consulting in 2002 to get his MDiv at Gordon-Conwell Seminary in Charlotte. During his years at Gordon-Conwell Seminary, Jamie made a connection with a man named Percy Burns, who was the Pastor of St. Giles at the time. Percy occupied that pastorate for more than twenty years, he is currently the church's Pastor Emeritus. 

In 2004, Percy asked Jamie to preach at St. Giles during one of their Sunday evening services.

During that first visit to St. Giles, I witnessed an enthusiastic kind of worship that was unlike anything I had ever seen before. I also saw manifestations of spiritual gifts that night, including people speaking in tongues. That was a first. I found it very different and also very interesting.

I very clearly recall another aspect of that night. 

My oldest son Liam was ten years old at the time, and he was playing baseball during his first and only season in that sport. He was struggling mightily at the game. My love for him is, of course, very deep and that love came out during the worship that night. I recall that I was praying with Jamie and his wife Sarah at the front of the church during a segment given to intercessory prayer. My heart broke for Liam. To be clear, it broke in a really good way. 

I remember God putting a great deal of emotion on my heart for my eldest son. It was co-mingled with the difficulty he was having at baseball, and my knowledge that this was but one of many challenges he would struggle with over the fullness of his lifetime.

I remember that at one point Jamie whispered to his wife Sarah to find some tissues for me to wipe my nose. I was having a deep cry of gratitude for my son that surely looked somewhat sloppy.

It's interesting how memories work. I recall that evening and that cry in a very profound way.

I never forgot that experience, nor the nature of the worship that I witnessed at St. Giles. St. Giles has always been as one of the churches that we planned to visit as part of this spiritual journey. And we made that visit today.

Of note is that the Percy Burns sat behind us this morning and introduced himself to us. I mentioned to Percy that I was a longtime friend of Jamie Henderson and he smiled, recalling Jamie very clearly.

So, back to the church visit...

St. Giles is in a neighborhood filled with brick homes that were built after World War II. It is about ten minutes from our home. We arrived at the church for their 10 am service. As we sat inside, the sanctuary steadily filled up. Beth took note of the fact that some of the people weren't wearing shoes, observing the practice of going barefoot into church, a tradition that is thousands of years old. This was the first of many noteworthy things that we noticed at St. Giles. 

One of the pictures below shows a barefoot congregant.

The band was made up of four people at the front of the church. They sang modern praise songs that we recognized, but in more of an acoustical and folksy style. The music was great. People worshipped with their hands elevated. 

Here are some pictures of that:

Then a young couple had both of their daughters baptized. It was during the baptism that the church leadership made a distinction between baptism of a child versus the baptism of a new believer, which are separate things. They said that every believer can experience both forms of baptism. 

This was a touching part of the service. At one point, the church gathered around the family. There was laying on of hands, as well as singing. It was really a wonderful thing to witness.

After that, Percy was invited to the stage and spoke about an evangelism campaign that St. Giles was part of to present the gospel to young people amidst the growing tide of skepticism in our culture. Here's a video of Percy speaking, he is standing next to Pastor Nate Atwood [link]:

Nate Atwood

Based on the address that Percy mentioned in his message, this effort toward evangelism might involve a collaboration between St. Giles and The Gate. This definitely caught our ears. 

The segment that followed was very potent. 

Two women from the church spoke about abortion and the church's commitment to fighting abortion. They spoke not only about their commitment to taking that stand against the practice, but also to create strong families that can take care of children, as well as taking care of woman in crisis pregnancies or who struggle with guilt from a past pregnancies that they ended. This last message was delivered gently and without judgment. They emphasized the completeness of God's forgiveness against all transgressions.

Whew.

This is the one of the very few churches that we have visited that spoke in such clear and frank ways on this subject. We believe it was the only church we have visited that stated a church-level commitment of direct action against abortion and helping the women, children and men impacted by it.

Then came the sermon. It was delivered by Associate Pastor Tim Carey. It was on Fear.

Pastor Tim offered a thoughtful exploration of the phenomenon of fear, something that in recent years has seemingly been at an all-time high. A memorable analogy that Pastor Tim drew related to the enjoy cinnamon that he had started to included in the smoothies that he makes in the morning. His high enjoyment of cinnamon prompted him to use more and more cinnamon in his smoothie over time. Then Pastor Tim did some research, discovering that in limited amounts, cinnamon is healthy, even therapeutic. But he was surprised to also discover that cinnamon can be toxic and dangerous when ingested at higher levels.

This discovery about cinnamon was thematically mapped back to fear. When applied in the right amounts that match the imperatives of a given situation, fear can be very helpful. We are actually called toward fear in various Bible verses. Examples include Proverbs 9:10-11, Psalm 111:10 and Luke 12:5, among others. When we cross the street, we look both ways because we it is an exercise of caution, and one could argue that caution has an element of fear in it. 

But Pastor Tim also spoke about another kind of fear, the kind of fear that freezes people from growth and healing. That kind of fear paralyzes people so that they don't have an ability to take a single step forward. And he pointed out that fear can do frightening things to groups of people. We have certainly seen a fair bit of that in recent years.

The sermon was insightful. We left with an expanded appreciation of the idea that each and every potentiality that humanity can either be harnessed for good or for evil. Fear is clearly one of those things that fits that description. There is good and healthy fear, and there is destructive and corrosive fear. We would do well to make an effort to always distinguish between the two, fostering the former and eschewing the latter.

Then the band got back on the stage and performed one last song, this time a more traditional hymn. Here is that:

As the service wrapped up, we found a very warm and generous congregation. We had multiple people introduce themselves and ask questions about us. One of the most endearing attributes of any church is the way that they show hospitality. St. Giles has hospitality down, it is a very accommodating and warm place.

As we stood by the exit, Pastor Nate was good enough to engage with us, as well. 

I learned from him about the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, which he actually headed up in recent years. 

The EPC is growing in terms of the number of congregations that are part of the denomination, while there has also been some reduction in membership. The EPC's numerical peak was in 2016, where they had 602 congregations and 150,042 members. By 2020, the EPC had 637 congregations with 122,216 members. This reduction may have some correlation to different factors like the aging of America's white population (the EPC is overwhelmingly white), the rise of Covid, and even other variables that could account for these numbers. Despite this drop off in members in recent years, the denomination had only 19,000 members in 1982, when the EPC was founded. The growth curve has been significant over these last forty years.

When I asked how Covid had impacted St. Giles, Pastor Nate said that the church had actually grown during that time, and that Covid had also provided an opportunity to step back and renew the church's focus on who they are and what they believe. 

"We're Reformed and the last two years helped us to be clear on what we believe," he said.

Pastor Nate explained an aspect of Presbyterian theology that is often misunderstood, that of election. Many people often make a quick statement about Presbyterian theology by saying that Presbyterians "believe in pre-destination." Pastor Nate explained that Reformed theology teaches that humanity suffers from the curse of sin to such a degree that we are utterly unable to make the choice for our own salvation. In a stance that is contrary to Arminianism, which states that our free will is at the foundation of our choice for God's salvation, Reformed theology and Calvinism state that God puts a calling on each of us and that this call is the foundation of how we may receive the deliverance that is the very essence of the cross's salvific output.

He made the point that the logical extension of Arminianism is that God could have died on a cross and no one would have chosen to receive the salvation that it offered. He explained that God made the provision to ensure that people would be saved by the cross by having a dimension of election, where believers experience a divine calling on their hearts. 

I cannot claim to understand the finer details of these different Protestant theologies, but I am sure I understand some of it better by virtue of our brief interaction with Pastor Nate Atwood. It was clear that he is extremely learned on these subjects. He gives a clear and concise representation of the Reformed understanding, it was helpful. 

If the reader sees any inconsistency or inaccuracy in my above summaries, please inform me, I welcome correction.

As we headed home, we noticed that the congregation stood out front and engaged in conversation with each other. The place was humming with authentic, face-to-face human interactions, something that stands in wonderful contrast to our increasingly digitized world. This hum of conversation is such a great aspect of a church congregation and St. Giles has a great sense of community. 

Thanks to St. Giles for this fantastic visit, all of these years later. It was great to be back. This is clearly a place we will speak highly of to people looking for a church of this ilk. 

So good!

93 :: Redeemer Presbyterian Church

 

This evening, we worshiped at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in South Charlotte, a congregation that is part of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC). Redeemer meets in the chapel on the campus of Reformed Theological Seminary, which is around the corner from our home. RTS has a clear alignment with the PCA (Presbyterian Church in America). I have met some of the professors at RTS, and I believe they are all PCA church attendees. It is no surprise that an OPC church is on the campus of RTS, as the OPC is a strictly Reformed branch of Presbyterianism, a theology that is deeply rooted in Calvinism.

This was a noteworthy church visit in that it invigorated my already-high interest in Presbyterianism and its labyrinthian denominational pathways. 

Before we dive in to particulars of our visit, let's cover a bit about the myriad forms of Presbyterianism.

The Presbyterian family tends toward disunion more often than other denominations. There is PCA (Presbyterian Church in America), PCUSA (Presbyterian Church of the USA) , EPC (Evangelical Presbyterian Church), ECO (Evangelical Covenant Order), ARP (Associate Reformed Presbyterian) and OPC (Orthodox Presbyterian Church). 

And that is only in the US! This tendency toward schism runs deeply within the collective psyche of Presbyterianism, to say the least. 

Here is a picture of what Presbyterianism can look like through an historical lens:

The multiple parts of Presbyterianism are experiencing different demographic shifts. All segments show some numerical growth, with the exception of the PCUSA, which has lost more than three million members since 1965. The PCUSA is likely to go below one million active members in the next few years, a first for the denomination.

The Orthodox Presbyterian Church [link] came into being in the United States during the 1930s. The rationale for this group of Presbyterians to break off from the larger body of Presbyterianism goes back to a theological dispute over modernism. I learned from my research that the OPC came into existence to stand against societal standards that were starting to change that time. The OPC came into being to protect conservative doctrines from what were perceived as vacillating and unorthodox movements in the larger culture. 

Today, there are slightly over 30,000 members in OPC churches.

The changing demographics in the US are also impacting Presbyterianism. At the founding of the United States, about twenty-five percent of the population was Presbyterian. Now it is around two percent. To learn more about the demographics of Presbyterianism in the United States, see this article [link], from the OPC website. 

This stuff is really interesting to me. 

Beth was raised as a Methodist, which was her father's denomination. Her mother grew up in the First Christian Church, Disciples of Christ. I grew up Congregationalist, but was raised by two parents who were both brought up as Presbyterians. My parents attended a Presbyterian church in Florida during the latter years of their marriage, before my father's passing. My mom still sporadically attends that church from time to time. And I attended a Presbyterian church for twenty-five years. 

As such, the description of how Presbyterianism has diminished, flourished (in pockets) and changed over the last century is part of my personal story and my family's story. Without presuming to speak for them, my candid assessment is that my siblings have no connection to Presbyterianism at all. I don't believe any of my children have an active connection to the denomination at this phase of their lives.

With all of this knowledge as a backdrop, Beth, MC and I walked into Redeemer Presbyterian Church at 5:30 this evening. This was the evening worship, as the congregation had had worship in the morning, followed by their Sunday school hour, which ended mid-day. 

About forty-five people were in attendance. Most everyone was in a familial group, with some older single people. There were about ten children in attendance. We were handed a bulletin and took our seats in the large chapel that had chairs lined up in rows. 

One thing that was noteworthy was the way people were dressed. Several of the men had suits and ties on. Most of the women were wearing long skirts. It was a traditional presentation that can be a bit harder to find these days. Despite its reduced frequency, such formality at a church service can definitely still be found.

The service lasted about one hour, with piano music accompanying the hymns throughout. One interesting fixture of the church was when the pastor asked the congregation what music they would like to sing. People called out a few hymn names and numbers from their seats, and the congregation sang those hymns. 

That was very unique.

Here are a couple of the hymns that we sang, in video format:

The preaching was two-fold, with Licentiate David Vogel giving an overview of the Westminster Confession of Faith's stance on baptism. In it, he elaborated why immersion in water was not an essential facet of the act of baptizing. He also explained why it is acceptable to baptize an infant, liking it to circumcision - something that we do on a child's behalf to  welcome them into the community of God, but not something that we do based on the consent of the child.

Beth and I discussed this, and we do not conform to this understanding. Water baptism is symbolic, but it is also an essential milestone in a salvation experience. There are literally dozens of Bible verses that address the issue of baptism, both baptism in water and baptism in the Holy Spirit. The one that is most impactful to me is John 3:5, in which Yeshua says, "Truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God." It doesn't seem likely that water baptism could occur without your awareness and consent, while the baptism in the Holy Spirit would require your awareness and consent. It would seem that both must be a choice and both are essential parts of being "baptized into Christ" (Romans 6:3). 

Nonetheless, this was an interesting exploration of both Reformed and Presbyterian theology.

The sermon was given by Pastor Cliff Blair. It dug into Psalm 119 and the section that correlates to the Hebrew letter vav. As a reminder, Psalm 119 is the longest Psalm and it is broken up into multiple sections that correspond to each of the twenty-two letters in the Hebrew alphabet. Vav is roughly equivalent to the letter V, although it can be used as a vowel sound for ee, oo, and oh with only minor modifications via a niqqud dot.

Pastor Blair spoke to these verses:

May your unfailing love come to me, LORD,

    your salvation, according to your promise;

then I can answer anyone who taunts me,

    for I trust in your word.

Never take your word of truth from my mouth,

    for I have put my hope in your laws.

I will always obey your law,

    for ever and ever.

I will walk about in freedom,

    for I have sought out your precepts.

I will speak of your statutes before kings

    and will not be put to shame,

for I delight in your commands

    because I love them.

I reach out for your commands, which I love,

    that I may meditate on your decrees.

Pastor Blair elaborated on the concepts of freedom and liberty, pointing out the stark difference between what freedom means in the Bible versus what it means in the world. He also detailed out the multiple ways that the word "word" was used in the original Hebrew.

It was an excellent and interesting sermon. Pastor Blair kept appealing to the congregants' "biblical understanding" as a way of unpackaging the meaning of Psalm 119. We felt pretty certain that all of these people did indeed have a solid "biblical understanding".

At the end, we had a benediction and a small section of music, then everyone got up.

As sometimes happens during a church visit, these people showed a great deal of interest in us. Pastor Blair and multiple other people stood around us and asked many questions, showing particular interest in this blog and our spiritual journey. We carried on a comfortable and affable conversation for quite a while, then we departed and the three of us stepped out into the Carolina spring evening.

If you have picked up from this post that I found this to be a very interesting church visit, you would be correct. For me, the Presbyterian denominations are a very interesting subject. I always feel a special affinity with each and every part of it. And there is precious little that coheres the various branches of Presbyterianism to one another, so why I feel this connection so broadly is a bit of a mystery.

One observation that Beth made really struck home. These Presbyterians were not worldly Christians. They were modest and understated in every way, except for their intelligence and friendliness. They were kind people with a time-tested liturgy that has yet to embrace the contemporary approach. 

But a question does arise - is there a price to be paid by going into the contemporary church format?

My bias is to say, "No, modernity in format and orthodoxy in theology makes for the optimal combination. We need to harness the mandate of the Great Commission with everything we have available to us, while never compromising the message." The future vitality of the church will require us to use all of the technology and production capabilities that the world has to offer. By doing that, we can make the gospel visible to more people. 

With that said, it also does my heart good to know that there will always be traditional, gentle and mild congregations in the Body of Christ, like Redeemer Presbyterian Church. This congregation is definitively those things.

Thanks to Redeemer for our enjoyable visit to their fine church.

92 :: Christ Church Charlotte

This evening, we observed Ash Wednesday at Christ Church Charlotte, an Episcopal congregation in South Charlotte. As I have mentioned in other blog posts, there is a corridor of large and prosperous churches along Providence Road and Randolph Road. This is one of those churches. From my research, I learned that Christ Church is one of Charlotte's largest churches, having made the list of Charlotte's "Top Sixteen Large Churches" on one website. I am unclear why they chose the number sixteen.

Below is a combination of pictures that I took myself (the ones at night) and some pictures that I got off of the internet to give you a sense of the place. 

As is the case with so many of the churches that we have visited locally, I've been driving past Christ Church's campus for decades. Christ Church's campus has always turned my head. To me, it has the kind of beauty that evokes the word "regal." It's a really stunning place, very much aligned with the kind of aesthetics that I appreciate.

This Episcopal Church visit follows two other Episcopal Church visits - Saint Paul's in Key West [link] and Saint Peter's in Charlotte [link]. I won't reiterate what I wrote in those other posts, please feel free to take a look yourself. In those posts, I point out that the Episcopal Church is the American branch of the Church of England and that it is generally very liberal in both the political and theological spheres, often putting a primacy on intellectualism and social justice. The denomination is also in a rapid numerical free fall. It is said that at the current rate of decline, there will be no more American Episcopalians by 2040. 

Christ Church had three Ash Wednesday services, one in the early morning, one at noon and one in the evening. We attended the evening service.

The church was about one third full, and virtually everyone was unmasked. This is a sign that Covid countermeasures are clearly diminishing. We also received ashes and took communion in close proximity to other people without masks. This is quite a change from Denver Baptist Church [link] in May of 2020!

Here are some pictures of the service bulletin, the sanctuary of the church, as well as the choir processing. The church has a very spartan interior.

The music that Christ Church performed in tonight's service was simply spectacular. It was ancient, traditional, liturgical, as well as filled with beautiful words.

Here are a couple videos that give you a sense of the music. Really listen and take it in - it was fantastic:

The brief sermon was given by Connor Gwin, the Associate Rector of Family Ministry. It was a very thoughtful and also pretty humorous sermon. He spoke about the importance of now being misled by the idea of being the person you think you "should be." 

Gwin referenced two books that are on his bookshelf, in a very conspicuous spot in his home. One title is Infinite Jest, a book that is clever and has enjoyed some popularity in recent decades. Gwin acknowledged that with two children under three years old, he was "likely never to read this book." But he admitted that he was perfect fine if people had the perception that he was the kind of man who read books like Infinite Jest.

Laughs all around.

His larger point was that living in a state of authenticity is an essential component of your relationship with God, who knows each of us completely already. If you want to know where you can deepen your relationship with God, be the whole version of yourself and don't dwell in the illusions of who you think you should be.

Good message. 

We also had the imposition of ashes on our foreheads, which we maintained at our dinner date after the service.

A few observations from tonight's service. There is a great deal to say, so I will keep it to two thoughts.

First, Christ Church showed us a form of worship that is declining as a facet of the American ecclesiastical landscape. Fewer and fewer churches are gathering for the kind of worship that we saw tonight. I think it will be only a couple more generations before the style of worship that we witnessed this evening becomes a very small and niche phenomenon. 

Is this pending disappearance a cause for concern? 

In the sense that we will lose things that have aesthetic value and are rightly described as beautiful - yes, this will be a loss. God created beauty and to see this particular form of beauty go extinct can be seen as sad.

On the other hand, it may be the case that the Episcopal Church is meeting fewer and fewer people's spiritual needs. Before anything else, the church exists to help people understand what they are, whose they are and once that is done, to point people to reconciliation with God through redemption in Christ. 

Multiple churches we have visited are bursting with growth, which makes the case that a large number of people remain open to changing their lives and pursuing God. It may make sense for the world's numerically declining churches to evaluate their different fortunes and consider adapting to better meet the needs of more people in this sin-weary world. 

It may be fair to consider that what people need most right now is transformation and not ritual.

Second, we can consider if there is an important part of this kind of worship. If there is, it is almost certainly the idea of encountering the "still small voice of God."

How do people encounter God? Let's look at the Bible.

God has many ways to reveal Himself. He communicated through a whirlwind in Job 38:1. He announced His presence through an earthquake in Exodus 19:18. He spoke in a voice that sounded like thunder in 1 Samuel 2:10, Job 37:2, Psalm 104:7 and John 12:29. In Psalm 77:18, God's voice sounded like a combination of a clap of thunder and a whirlwind. In Revelation 4:5, we see lightning and thunder emanating from God's throne in heaven.

And...

We also see in 1 Kings 19:12 that Elijah experienced an earthquake and a fire, and the verse says, "...and the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire, there was the sound of a low whisper."

God can and does speak in the quiet places.

To know me is to know that I am currently a fire and earthquake worshipper. But tonight's service made clear that there is also space for quiet and placid encounters with God. Beth certainly feels this way.

***

This is our second and last Lent season as part of this spiritual pivot. This will be a special time where our deepened faith will enable us to truly soak in the forty days of reflection and deprivation, to be punctuated by the celebration of the Resurrection at the end, on Easter Sunday. We'll be in Florida that day, stay tuned!

May this be a pensive and transformative Lent for you, as well.