Great Resource

Webinars to be presented jointly by CRC mission agencies promise to be excellent.   You can check it out here.  There are multiple topics and you can choose, but one that looks especially relevant to deacons is the one on "word and deed" ministries and how they fit together.

What's a webinar?   It's a topic presented for learning and discussion, and you can attend at your own computer!  By signing up, you'll receive instructions for how to call in, and how to get the webinar presentation on your own computer.  Your phone and your computer in your home - how could it be any more  convenient?   

The old "word/deed" division has vexed us for many years.   In my opinion, it's just not really a biblical distinction.  Words can demonstrate and deeds communicate.  One without the other is incomplete.  A life of integrity does not divide the walk and the talk.  They belong together.

The mission of God as carried on by the body of Christ on earth is one "wholistic" mission; Jesus' life shows us how.   The Bible never chooses one over the other as primary.  The emphasis may come on either one depending on the context, but both are vitally important, in fact both are essential to the one whole life of mission.  God's WORD is a life of perfect obedience in Jesus.  

Often we fear that emphasis on one may put the other in danger.  We throw around words like liberalism and fundamentalism to describe our fears of over-emphasizing one or the other.  But God's people are always aware of the importance of "body language".  Inconsistencies imperil integrity.  We need to help each other constantly to maintain the wholeness of our body life together.  The tongue can't say to the hand, "I don't need you."   The hand can't say to the mouth, "You are not as important as I am".  In the incarnation the Word became flesh.   We need to work at becoming "whole".   Check out the webinar!