Category: Christian Leadership

The Apostles’ Creed

When I considered my personal Christian growth study options for 2021, I was struck by the need to dive deeper into The Apostles’ Creed.  That led me to my One Word focus of “Basic”—a return to the fundamentals.

I appreciated the analogy Matt Chandler used to describe The Creed.  He pointed out that the Moon is not a light source.  Rather, it reflects the light of the Sun.  In the same way, The Apostles’ Creed is not our source, but it reflects Scripture—our source of truth and life.

J.I. Packer explains, “If life is a journey, then the million-word-long Holy Bible is the large-scale map with everything in it, and the hundred-word Apostles’ Creed is the simplified road map.”

And as Ben Myers put it, “The Christian faith is mysterious not because it is so complicated but because it is so simple; and the Creed captures the simplicity of our basic beliefs.”

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Believers, Thinkers, and Founders: How We Came to Be One Nation Under God

Did you know that Monday marks the 400th anniversary of the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers in Plymouth, Massachusetts (December 21, 1620)?

Descendants of the Mayflower formed the Old Colony Club and established Forefathers’ Day on December 22, 1769, “to honor the forefathers.” Fun fact: when adjusting the date to the Gregorian calendar, the anniversary of the landing was mistakenly calculated to be December 22nd instead of December 21st.

As we consider both the founding and forming of the country, it’s a good time to consider the work of Kevin Seamus Hasson, who wrote Believers, Thinkers, and Founders: How We Came to Be One Nation Under God.

America has chosen—from the Declaration of Independence on—to accept the premise that it is “self-evident” that we are “all…created equal” and “endowed by [our] Creator with certain inalienable rights.” The Declaration further teaches that the proper role of government is to “secure” the people’s rights. Not to “bestow” or “grant” those rights, but to “secure” them. The rights already exist.  That God is the source of our rights is an idea deeply rooted in our national identity.

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