Faith Statement
I believe in the Triune God, to whom we must serve, worship, and put our trust in. I believe in God as the Creator and giver of life, who works through all things, seen and unseen. God created the earth and everything it encompassed and proclaims it good. I believe in God who refused to forsake human kind even though human beings turned from God and fell into the depths of sin. God’s grace abounds.
I believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God and savior of humankind, whose life, death, and resurrection is the redemption of the world. Through Christ, God came into the world, fully human, fully divine, and, through his sacrificial love, died on the cross extending grace to the world. Through Christ’s crucifixion, death, and glorious resurrection, we as Christians are given new life. Hallelujah!
I believe in the Holy Spirit, sustainer of life. The Holy Spirit lives in and among us, gives new and abundant life, and leads us to paths of righteousness. It is the Holy Spirit, not ourselves, that our faith and its assurance proceeds from. The Spirit, personally at work in all creation, is the breath of life and source of all wisdom and creativity.
I believe in the authority of Jesus Christ, the Word of God made flesh, as witnessed in the Holy Scriptures. The Scriptures are the foremost testimony for the witness of God’s purpose for humankind that is made known to us in the life of Christ. The Scriptures are written by humans and should be interpreted in the light of human fallibility and the social-historical context of the culture in which they are written. The Scriptures are universal, meant for all people, for all the ages, all realms, nations and tongues. The Scriptures are not simply a witness to the workings of the Holy Trinity, but rather a witness without equal.
I believe the purpose of humankind, created in God’s image, is to glorify God by seeking justice, loving kindness, and walking humbly with God. This purpose, however, is unattainable. Because of the fall, humankind is inherently sinful and therefore can do nothing to fully glorify God or earn God’s love and grace. We are wholly reliant on the mercy and grace of God, which God freely and abundantly gives. We can do nothing to relieve ourselves of our sinful burdens except to follow the Holy Spirit as we love God and confess Christ as our Lord and Savior. It is in grateful thanks of the gift of grace that we offer ourselves, in life, labor, and worship, to our God who has forgiven us.
I believe the Church is the body of Christ, and Christ is the head of the Church. As a community of believers and followers of Christ, the Church is called to keep faith forever, execute justice for the oppressed, give food to the hungry, set prisoners free, open the eyes of the blind, lift up those who are bowed down, watch over strangers, and uphold the orphans and widows. We as the Church do this by spreading the love of God and Gospel of Christ to people of all nations.
I believe that the sacraments are outward signs of inward grace. We follow Christ to the waters of baptism where we are claimed by God and sealed by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit leads us to the table, set for us by God, where we partake in a feast above all feasts. The bread of life and the cup of salvation nurture and sustain our souls as we remember Christ’s love for us.
Theology of Pastoral Care
Humanity is dependent upon the grace of God for existence. Through God’s love for creation, we are imprinted with the imago Dei. This image of God, breathed into us at creation, is what gives each person intrinsic value and worth. We can see ourselves as individuals worthy of love and respect because that is exactly how we are seen in the eyes of God. We are also called to see the image of God in others as well, called to love others as children of God. We are called to do this, yet consciously and unconsciously we spectacularly fail to do so.
The love and joy in which God created is not fully recognized or available to us in this age. We witness a litany of human sufferings and distresses, all of which perpetuate the immortal question of “why”? If God loves, why do so many evils exist today? If God is love, why do we hate? The evil we experience throughout this life is an experienced reality, but not a reality that God wills or wants. The sovereign God of all creation suffers when we suffer, and weeps when we weep. By suffering and dying on the cross, God shows us solidarity in suffering. In resurrection, we are assured of our ultimate victory over sin and death.
The wholeness and completeness of humanity is shown in the life of Jesus Christ, who lived a life of compassion and love. Wholeness comes not in living a life for oneself, but rather living a life for others, following the path of Christ set before us. The completeness of humanity is achieved in living into the original, perfect creation. It is living into the perfected, communal Triune love. With out inability to do so, we rely solely upon grace and hope; grace in our inability to live perfect lives and still be radically loved, and hope that one day all things will be renewed and reconciled to God.
Humanity is restored to a new, reconciled life through Christ, the definition of true humanity and the embodiment of true divinity. It is through love that reconciliation between God and humanity was achieved; it is only in love that reconciliation among humankind can be attempted. In pastoral care, we seek to revive that love and remind others of the reconciled life we are freely given. In a finite period of time, we seek to recreate a perfect community of love with people we have never met before and begin the process of healing and wholeness.
My theological worldview in providing pastoral care is rooted in a theology of hope. My Christian hope arises from the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ that is the incarnate presence of God on earth and promises the final victory of life over death. It is my hope that the reality we experience in our present situations is not the reality of the Gospel. I believe the reign of God has already been proclaimed at the resurrection, but it has yet to be fully realized.
By God’s love, we have been freed from the shackles of death and excused from the shame of sin. In response to that freedom and love, we are called to live our lives for Christ. The belief that God is present with us and that God’s reign grows stronger as we move into the future excites our hopes and awakens our fears. The future of God holds unlimited possibilities that originate not in our perception of our present, but in the limitless creativity of God.
This worldview leaves us stuck in a theological grey area, in which the reign of God is already but not yet, and we as human agents are active participants in bringing in the kingdom but also unable to force a divine action. The tension is great, and present situations often succeed in crushing the hopes of even the most faithful individual. In this grey present, we are called to continue to follow Christ’s footsteps as we work, and search for the liberation of all peoples. In our strive for liberation, we will experience rejection, but like Christ, we continue our efforts “to bring good news to the poor, release to the captives, recovery of sight for the blind, let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
I say all of these things as a young, white male, who has never truly had to stand up against oppression. I have stood against oppression from afar, attending protests, writing letters, and offering care to the victims of oppressive violence or systemic prejudices, but that which I stand against has never been aimed at me. It is a grey area within a grey area. A place where my faith has led me to, but also a place that I am unable to fully experience. The best I can do is offering myself in solidarity, recognizing the oppressor in myself and in my history.
I’m a faithful person, but also recognize that faith and hope can only go so far. For a person suffering from depression to cancer, a stroke to suicidal thoughts or attempts, there is a need for medical intervention beyond spiritual care. The two, however, are never mutually exclusive. Science answers different questions than faith. Both have a place in bringing about health and wholeness of an individual. Doctors and nurses are as much apart of the process of healing as chaplains and pastors are, they just have a different focus and often a different mentality. A patient might only be a patient to a surgeon, but to us, the patient must always be seen as a beloved individual, with feelings, goals, dreams, and family.
The most basic concept of providing care is meeting people where they are. It does little to no good, for oneself or one’s patient, to spout lofty theological ideals about the sovereignty of God or the coming reign of God when “every tear will be wiped away”. To meet people where they are, is to companion a patient in the liminal space in which they have found themselves. It is here that they need support and care, and hopefully where they will feel God’s presence.
The power and sovereignty of God exists only in the overwhelming power of love. That power is transferred to humanity in that “we love because God first loved us.” Through the persuasive, not coercive, power of love, we are given the ability to bring about change, in systems and in individual lives. In pastoral care, we are called to be agents of love, ambassadors of God in being, and pastoral companions in action.
“In gratitude to God, empowered by the Spirit, we strive to serve Christ in our daily tasks and to live holy and joyful lives, even as we watch for God’s new heaven and new earth, praying, “Come, Lord Jesus!'"
Theology of
Christian Education
“Christian education is distinct from other kinds of education in that its aim is the transformation of the whole person into the likeness of Christ. Christian education is the process of accomplishing this aim.”
Colossians 1:28 says that we must proclaim Christ, warning and teaching everyone, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ. In order to know and proclaim Christ, we must first realize that Christian education is distinct from other educational processes.
Christian education is not about knowing simple facts or Bible trivia, but rather the reliance upon the Holy Spirit to guide people to change their behavior in accordance to what is realized through the Scriptures.
Through this realization and edification of Biblical stories, prophetic teachings, and the historical context within the books of the Bible, we can form a strong biblical foundation. Rather than a student needing education for knowledge as a means to an end, students of Christian education’s needs are for discipleship so that they may apply this knowledge and put it to use in their daily lives. Proclaiming Christ as our Lord and Savior and living out the example set forth as taught to us by Christ, while never fully obtainable, enables us to grow and mature as Christians and as humans.
As a Reformed believer, I call upon the Holy Spirit and look to Scripture and the Confessional Statements that detail doctrines of Christian faith so that I can better understand what it means to be a disciple of Christ in my context and the context of the author.
In doing so, the hope is that I can “pay it forward” as a disciple to teach and help the future church understand what it means to be a disciple of Christ. Through this discipleship, we become apostles who lead the church into the future, teaching what we believe, but also allowing room for growth in each other, with hopes that those we impact will too become apostles to lead the church.