Report of the
Board of Christian Education
The Board of Christian Education met three times during the past year to give oversight to the Christian Education ministries of the denomination. In addition to those members elected to the Board by Annual Conference, two men have been appointed to fill vacancies since last Conference. Ralph E. Ritter has been appointed to fulfill the vacancy left by Daniel F. DeLozier and J. Mark McCreary has been appointed to fulfill the vacancy left by Ronald R.Vining.
Audio-Visual Library
The Video Library continues to be widely used by the denomination. Additions to the Library this year include “Teaching With Style”, “A Biblical Portrait of Marriage”, two more segments of the “Foundations of Faith” series, the “Amazing Book Trilogy “(animated children’s videos), and others bringing the total number of available videos or series to 78. We urge our congregations to make use of this valuable resource by contacting the Library at Bethel Bible Fellowship Church in Emmaus.
Christian Education Training
The 1995 Christian Education Seminar was held March 25, 1995 at Cedar Crest Bible Fellowship Church. Presented that day was Walk Thru the Bible’s “Teaching With Style”. We were pleased that 251 attended from 35 churches. An excellent six-part video series of the same presentation is now available through the Audio-Visual Library as part of the Applied Principles of Learning Teacher Training Curriculum.
The 1996 Seminar is scheduled for March 2 at Nazareth with Dr. Robert Choun of Dallas Seminary as speaker. Dr. Choun will address Christian Education leaders from the Bible Fellowship Church concerning evaluation of current ministries and preparation for ministry in the next millennium.
Pastor, Elder, Deacon Retreat
On November 10-11, Dr. Robert Hicks was keynote speaker at the 1995 Pastor, Elder, Deacon Retreat at Pinebrook In the Poconos. Pastor Ronald Mahurin spoke on Friday evening. The Retreat theme was “Spiritual Leadership In the Home”. There were 203 participants in the weekend. Response was excellent. Plans will be made for a 1996 retreat on November 8-9 at Pinebrook.
The following revised purpose statement for the Pastor, Elder, Deacon Retreat was approved by the Board:
The Pastor, Elder, Deacon Retreat, a ministry of the Board of Christian Education, exists for the purpose of developing and equipping men as spiritually effective leaders for our local churches. We seek to accomplish this by dealing biblically with a man’s character, relationships, spiritual life and ministry. All pastors, elders, deacons, and men seeking to prepare themselves for church leadership are urged to attend.
Youth
Expanding ministry to teens in the Bible Fellowship Church has been a driving force in the Youth Sub-committee of the Board of Christian Education. God has blessed our churches and our ministries with an ever-increasing number of young people. We are pleased to assist local congregations in providing teaching, fellowship, and challenge for the church of tomorrow.
Thanksgiving Youth Rally
This BFC tradition continued with almost 400 teenagers involved in an afternoon of activity throughout the Lehigh Valley culminating with a concert and pizza at Cedar Crest Bible Fellowship Church. Considerations are being made for methods of strengthening this event in 1996 due to the size of the group and the activity approach to ministry.
Sno-Glo
In spite of the “Winter of ‘96″ which caused one weekend to be cut short and another to be cancelled, we were pleased to provide 1 2/3 weekends of exciting ministry for 745 young people from the Bible Fellowship Church! Special thanks to Pinebrook Bible Conference for its flexibility and graciousness. Speakers Ryan Roush and Rod Arters provided excellent teaching.
Sno-Glo ‘97 is already scheduled for exclusive bookings at Pinebrook Bible Conference for the first three weeks of 1997. In addition, consideration is now underway for a Summer “Sun-Glo” that would provide a summer activity and teaching time for BFC teens.
Youth Leadership Seminar
Due to changes on the Board of Christian Education, the seminar was cancelled for 1995 but is rescheduled for September 14, 1996.
We are grateful for the generous contributions from the local churches that allow us to provide training, fellowship, and youth ministry to the denomination. It is a joy and privilege to serve in this way.
In response to the Committee to Clarify the use of “Laymen” and “Laypersons”, we are open to the nomination of women to serve on the Board of Christian Education.
The Board of Christian Education: Richard T. Paashaus, Chairman; J. Mark McCreary, Secretary; Edward W. Ahlum, Jr., W. David Armstrong, Clyde D. Bomgardner, Jr., Robert S. Commerford, Bruce A. Kellerman, Richard B. Ravis, Jonathan D. Reynolds, Ralph E. Ritter, Gary W. Saggio, David N. Schoen