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Who is BWF
BWF PUBLICATIONS
Research
& Commentary on Key UCC Concerns
THE
WITNESS
Speaking
the Truth in Love . .
EVENTS
Opportunities for Face to Face Fellowship
Evangelical
Resources
Equipping the Local
Church for Faithful Witness
Christian Education Materials
Biblical Messages for
Spiritual
Growth
BWF Executive Director:
Message on Peace
BWF President: Dr. William E. Boylan
FINDING A GODLY PASTOR
Connecting
Search Committees and
Pastors
www.PastorReferralNetwork.com
Mission Renewal Network
Connecting the
Local Church to God’s Global Mission
UCC Friends for Life
Pro-Life
advocates
Networking for Renewal
Ecumenical ties to
evangelical Christian groups and organizations - and ties to our own
denomination
ARE YOU
LOCATED IN NEW ENGLAND?
Then you live where:
*Only 3% of church attendees speak
to non-believers about Jesus Christ
*The
average worshipping congregation is 60
*
90+ % of all “growth” is transfers of
Christians from one church to another If you want a dynamic,
transforming opportunity for transformation in your church then
CONSIDER:
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CONSPIRACY UPDATE:
"Do not call conspiracy everything that
these people call conspiracy; do not fear what they fear and do not
dread it." > Isaiah 8:12
The conspiracy kooks in the UCC who have
attacked those of us who work for reformation and renewal as puppets
of a mysterious far right scheme frequently include an accusation
that BWF and other renewal groups are connected or funded by a far
right billionaire ogre named Richard Mellon Scaife. We must confess
that we had never even heard of Richard Mellon Scaife before the
conspiracy kook attacks began, and have never received as much as a
call or a card, much less a check from Mr. Scaife or his associates.
But recently it came to our attention that Mr. Scaife is indeed
involved in the machinations of influencing the public square and
associating with someone we have all come to know well. Curiously,
we aren't sure how this lines up with being "far right," but it's
happened nonetheless and we have the proof.
(Click Here)
HAVE YOU
BEEN DUPED BY RELIGION?
(Check
out the BWF Blog)
GOD IS STILL SPEAKING
FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS
From the Executive Director
Do you need Biblical encouragement in your walk? These are messages
from a series on the person, power and purpose of the Holy Spirit by
our Executive Director, Pastor David Runnion-Bareford. It is our
prayer that you may find them to be helpful in your walk with Jesus
Christ, and your passion to see His church truly be His body.
Read more
RENEWALL
News Service of the Association for Church Renewal
There
is a new weekly e-newsletter with the latest in renewal-related
mainline news, edited by BWF Executive Director David
Runnion-Bareford. To subscribe, email:
Renewall.acr@gmail.com
LET THE LIGHT SHINE!
- FROM THE BWF EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR -
It has been a season of silence
for BWF. In part because there was nothing left to be said. Our
witness to the churches, the media, the denominational leadership
and the world has been clear and loud. With the idolatrous decision
in the summer of 2005 to attempt to tell God that marriage was
whatever we, in our human delusions, wanted it to be placed the UCC
beyond the boundaries of reality. We called for the president’s
resignation, reiterated our witness that Jesus is Lord, the Bible is
true, human life and human sexuality are sacred and, well what more
could we say?
(read more
)
RENEWING THE HISTORIC
CHURCH
OUR
CRISIS:
The
church of Jesus Christ in the United States faces a crisis of
relevance and authenticity like none we have faced in our lifetime!
Declining participation, aging congregations, failing leaders,
clergy shortages, and an anti-Christian spirit in our culture are
forcing us to rethink everything about church. For 25 years people
have said that the conflicts we faced as people with a heart for
renewal were peculiar to our involvement with the United Church of
Christ. Both friend and foe told us we should sensibly leave the UCC
to join some other branch of the church. We replied . . . .
click for full article
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WOW! A MAJOR CHANGE IN BEHAVIOR?
" We will not allow anyone to undermine or destroy the ministries of
any of our congregations in order to serve their own narrow
political or ideological ends."
- UCC Pres. John Thomas
- March 15, 2008
(Defending Jeremiah Wright and Trinity UCC)
~
The Online Witness
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UCC
PRESIDENTIAL FIELD NARROWS
August 15, 2008 - Under the assumption that the UCC would nominate
its first woman for General Minister & President in 2009, a number
of prominent UCC clergywomen have been mentioned as likely
candidates. Now the field seems to be narrowing as Retired Chicago
Seminary President Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite recently
removed herself
from consideration and former Massachusetts President and
Conference Minister Nancy Taylor has come under embarrassing
criticism for her support of
anti-Jewish Sabeel,
and the renegade Catholic group "Womenpriests."
We have also received the sad news that Davida Foy Crabtree,
Conference Minister of Connecticut, widely thought to be the most
likely nominee, has been recently
diagnosed
with Breast Cancer. Your prayers on her behalf is much needed and
appreciated..
UCC
Renewal Leader Apologizes to Roman Catholic Diocese of Boston
In
an open letter to Boston area Catholics sent to Archbishop Sean
Cardinal O'Malley, Rev. David Runnion-Bareford, Executive Director
of the Confessing Movement in the United Church of Christ,
apologized for the "division and confusion" caused by former
Massachusetts UCC President Rev. Nancy Taylor and the UCC related
Church of the Covenant who recently welcomed and hosted a schismatic
"ordination" by the group "Womenpriests."
Rev. Runnion-Bareford, in a separate letter to Rev. Nancy Taylor,
cautioned, "you must be aware from your position of leadership that
your divisive statements and behavior appear to violate the
Minister's Code of the United Church of Christ, which says, 'I will
be a responsible representative of the Church Universal and
participate in those activities that strengthen its unity, witness,
and mission'." He went on to ask, "Can we infer from your actions of
this last week that you would approve of groups who have justice
issues with the United Church of Christ carrying out their own
ordinations of individuals they believe valid regardless of our
church's standards and protocols?"
Archbishop O'Malley Letter
Rev. Nancy Taylor Letter
Apology Unofficially Accepted?
UCC,
TRINITY CHURCH, FORCE OBAMA OUT
Barack
Obama resigned this week from Trinity Church and the United
Church of Christ after 20 years of faithful membership because
what he called "divisive backward looking rhetoric." In June
2007, Obama elevated his campaign for the presidency with a
speech to the General Synod of the United Church of Christ in
which he gave his personal testimony about coming to faith in
Jesus Christ. The relationship, however, has deteriorated over
the past year.
read more
CONFESSING MOVEMENT CALLS UCC
TO SUSPEND DIALOGUE ON RACE
The following statement by BWF Executive Director David
Runnion-Bareford was released to the press on May 14, 2008:
Given the present reality of our church and society, we call
on the leadership of the United Church of Christ to suspend plans to
initiate a church wide “dialogue on race,” scheduled to begin May
18th! Read
entire statement:
UCC EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE RESOLUTION PRONOUNCES BOLD NEW DIRECTION
FOR UCC
After decades of pursuing agendas that have been politically
driven and heavily defined by special interest groups, the
controversy over Jeremiah Wright and Trinity Church has provoked
the UCC Executive Committee into a bold new
resolution
that affirms the witness of faithful local congregations! We
particularly applaud the affirmation of paragraph two and pray
that the Executive Committee will follow up with overtures of
repentance and apology to the many African American
congregations who have left our denomination because their
prophetic voice was rebuffed and ill treated by denominational
bodies and officials. (link to the " Memorandum."
God is still speaking!
1. We stand in solidarity with and
support of the local congregations of the United Church of
Christ as they live out their charge to be prophetic witnesses
to church, community and society; and
2. We affirm the long-standing
Protestant and African American practice of pastors exercising
their prophetic roles in the pulpit, in their communities and on
the street; and
3. We resist having the
mission of the United Church of Christ defined by political
agenda(s);
New York Times AD is a Fib and Fairytale
Wednesday, the United Church of Christ plans to respond to the
publicity generated by Barrack Obama and Pastor Jeremiah Wright with
an advertisement in the New York Times. The content of this ad is
available on the UCC website.
http://www.ucc.org
David Runnion-Bareford, Executive Director of Biblical Witness
Fellowship has released the following statement to the press, noting
that as the oldest and largest renewal movement in the UCC, BWF
speaks for a significant minority of
evangelical/conservative/orthodox/traditional Christians in the
United Church of Christ.
April 1, 2008 - If the United Church of Christ were indeed to be a
church of “open ideas, extravagant welcome and evangelical courage”
it would be a phenomena worthy of great joy. (click
here for full statement)
THE UNITED
CHURCH OF CHRIST, BARACK OBAMA, & JEREMIAH WRIGHT:
The Christian church found
itself more centrally in the public square in the U.S., last week
than ever.. The messages of UCC Minister Jeremiah Wright at first
thought by some to be one man's personal issue, brought mainline
"progressive" theology under unusual scrutiny.
(more here)
JOHN THOMAS, UCC SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY NETWORK AFFIRM CREATION
In a pastoral letter timed to coincide with the "celebration" of
"evolution Sunday" by a number of mainline churches on the first
Sunday in Lent, UCC President John Thomas & his co-authors
resoundingly affirm a universe and humanity created by God. Calling
scientific discoveries, "new windows on creation," the letter
identifies God as creator, human beings as creatures. "We believe in
God, not in some cosmic force or impersonal designer. We trust in a
loving Creator who is personal and relational, who seeks our
companionship, and who comes as Christ incarnate," Thomas writes.
Ironically, the National Center for Science Education hailed the
letter for its support of evolution, but the very section they
quote, "Evolution helps us see our faithful God in a new way. Our
creator works patiently, calling forth life through complex
processes," is hardly a ringing endorsement of materialistic
neo-Darwinism as the NCSE would like it taught in public school.
Thomas even endorses, albeit poetically, the Genesis account as
creation revelation. For a full text of the letter go to
www.ucc.org
GOSPEL CREATES CRISIS FOR OBAMA
UCC member, Barack Obama, having boldly testified to his personal
faith in Jesus Christ in his landmark speech before the United
Church of Christ Synod in June 2007,(read
more here)
Barack Obama’s Testimony (read
more here)
"IS HATING HATER'S HATEFUL?
This is an insightful and helpful essay on the challenge of
authentic engagement
with the issue of human sexuality, by Dr. Scott Lively, a pro-family
advocate.
The author invites its distribution. (read
more here)
UCC
HAS LONG HISTORY OF PROMOTING SEXUAL LICENSE
When,
thirty years ago, BWF was formed in reaction to the 1977 General
Synod passage of the landmark Human Sexuality Study affirming
abortion and homosexual, bisexual, and transgender behavior, the
UCC's current emphasis on being open and affirming was already
deeply embedded. Check out our chronology that finds this activism
of UCC clergy has roots in the beginnings of the denomination.
Witness article (page 7)
Timeline
BWF
News Archives
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