Herzlich Willkommen
bei der
Freien Protestantisch Bischöflichen Kirche
JESUS spricht:
Darum gehet hin und lehret alle Völker und taufet sie im Namen des Vaters und des Sohnes und des Heiligen Geistes! Und lehret sie halten alles, was ich euch befohlen habe! Und siehe, ich bin bei euch alle Tage bis an der Welt Ende. (Matthäus 28:19-20)
Jesus sagt gehet hin ...
... dies kann man heute auf die unterschiedlichsten Arten tun. Als örtliche Gemeinde gehen wir hin um den Menschen, in unserem Ort, die frohe Botschaft zu bringen. Als Teil der weltweiten Gemeinde des HERRN gehen wir hin und verkündigen überall wo wir eingeladen werden die frohe Botschaft. Als Menschen die es gelernt haben mit den modernen Kommunikationsmitteln zu arbeiten benutzen wir das Internet um zu allen Menschen zu kommen. Gerade mit dem Internet erreichen wir zur Zeit Menschen die in mehr als 30 Ländern leben, darunter Länder wie China, Vietnam, die gesamte ehemalige UDSSR, Korea, Indien, alle früheren Ostblockstaaten und die USA. Alle diese Länder benötigen Gottes Wort und eine gesunde Lehre. Deshalb sagt die Bibel:
... lehret alle Völker ...
... und dies soll die Aufgabe unserer Kirche sein. Wir möchten Mitarbeiter im Reich Gottes sein und das, was uns der Herr gegeben hat, mit den Menschen in unserer Stadt, in unserem Land und mit den Menschen der ganzen Welt teilen. Wir haben die Erfahrung gemacht in unserem über 100 jährigen Dienst für den Herrn JESUS das viele Gemeinden eifrig sind ein Teil der Lehre JESU zu verkündigen. Obwohl das ein guter Anfang ist möchte der Herr JESUS mehr von uns, er sagt:
... lehret sie halten alles, was ich euch befohlen habe!
... hierin sehen wir unsere Aufgabe. Als Kirch und Schule sind wir keiner Organisation angeschlossen, also eine freie Kirche/Schule. Obwohl wir, als Kirche/Schule, natürlich viele Freunde in unterschiedlichen Gemeinden haben soll sich unser Lehrplan allein an dem was die Bibel sagt orientieren. Wir wollen wirklich alles lehren was JESUS sagt, was in Gottes Wort geschrieben steht. Wir wollen nichts hinzutun und nichts weglassen. Wir vertrauen darauf das die Bibel Gottes unfehlbares Wort ist, was ER heiligen Menschen gegeben hat um es für uns niederzuschreiben.
Natürlich sind wir in so einer Onlinebibelschule auf Eure Hilfe angewiesen. Denn wir haben einen wichtigen Punkt in unserem Leittext bis jetzt ausgelassen:
... und taufet sie ...
... Taufe ist eine Aufgabe die die Jünger JESU an denen die das Evangelium angenommen hatten, vollziehen sollten. In der Bibel finden wir immer wieder, dass die Menschen auf den Namen JESUS zur Vergebung ihrer Sünden getauft wurden, nachdem sie die frohe Botschaft gehört hatten. Wir werden also einen Weg finden müssen, jeden so wie die Bibel sagt, zu taufen.
Diese Kirche/Schule ist eine große Herausforderung und für uns, menschlich betrachtet, unmöglich zu tun, aber wir haben keine Angst den Befehl JESUS zu gehorchen, denn er sagt uns als Trost und Ermutigung:
Und siehe, ich bin bei euch alle Tage bis an der Welt Ende.
... Diese Gewissheit, dass JESUS bei uns ist gibt uns Kraft dieses Werk zu tun, bzw. weiter zu tun. Diese Gewissheit, dass JESUS bei uns ist und uns diesen Auftrag erteilt hat macht uns froh zu wissen, dass Gott die Herzen der Schüler berühren wird und aus etlichen von Ihnen Mitarbeiter auf Gottes Ackerfeld werden lässt.
Die Bibel sagt uns dass die Ernte bereit ist, aber es an Arbeitern fehlt. Mein und Dein Gebet sollen sein: Herr sende gut ausgerüstete Arbeiter in Deine Ernte! Dein und mein Gebet sollten sein: Herr hier bin ich sende mich! Dein und mein Gebet sollten sein: Ich aber und mein Haus wollen dem Herrn dienen.
Der Lehrplan unserer Bibelschule ist nicht angelegt aus Dir einen brillianten Redner zu machen, sondern einen Mann Gottes, eine Frau Gottes, der/die Gottes Wort versteht, es liebt, es tut und daran Freude hat mit Gottes Wort zu leben.
Grundsatz: "Wer von der Religion nichts versteht, der kann das Politische nicht begreifen", der bis zum heutigen Tag nichts von seiner Aktualität eingebüßt hat.
Gott segne Euch! In Liebe +Horst-Karl
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Church discipline is too often unpractised. What should the church do with a person indulging in delinquent behaviour? It seems that only sexual sin prompts immediate action, when sins like greed, envy, strife, deceit, gossip, arrogance and disobedience are all overlooked. Neither do I tend to get serious about "hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissension, factions and envy." Many of these are common in most churches, especially in board and congregational meetings. These sins may be hurting the health and witness of the church. So what do we do when we are faced with violations of godly attitudes, the lack of humility, honesty, morality or integrity?issues to which the Bible clearly speaks? How do we help these people?
Rather than caring enough to confront, we tend to allow much error to go on and on. Only if a scandal breaks we begin to express concern. Usually, by this time it is too late. God calls us to a better way.
Paul told the Galatians that if a person is caught in any trespass or sin, those who are spiritual ought to seek to restore such in the spirit of meekness (6:1). Discipline in the church is always to be redemptive in nature. Its aim is not to show that we are right and others are wrong. A child is corrected to save him from delinquency and to help him grow into maturity. The Galatians text sees the person as caught in sin as the victim of a trap set by the evil one. The call for the church is to "rescue the perishing."
Neglecting a confrontation might contribute to our brothers downfall and even indirectly cause serious injury to the other person(s) and the church involved.
If, however, we allow someone to grow distant from our fellowship without trying to find out why, there is little basis for later confrontation or healing.
"When all else fails, read the directions," we often say. The words of Jesus
(Matthew 18:15-17) give us clear directions on church discipline, which I like to call guidelines for redemptive love in action. Too often, leaders within the local body, charged with the responsibility of discipline, either are unfamiliar with these instructions or treat them as irrelevant.
If your brother sins, go and reprove him in private.
This calls for an open fellowship where people can honestly talk about differences, shortcomings and sins. When I sense there is sin, it is a loving act for me to take action. Every counsellor knows that where wrongs have taken place in a relationship and no communication follows, that fellowship is on the road to failure.
The person who feels offended may have misunderstood. This is the time to gather information and to learn. It is not the time to gossip, an act which brings injury to the church family. In a healthy church, this first step of private reproval is common practice.
When a fellow member of the Body of Christ approaches us about any matter, the Matthew passage says we have the responsibility to listen: "If he listens to you, you have won your brother." This is the level where 90 percent of discipline should take place.
When Im confronted, my first tendency is to inwardly say, "Here we go again!"
and then raise my defence mechanisms. I immediately want to justify my actions. Learning to listen stretches us. One of the things that have helped me is disciplining myself to listen so carefully that I can summarize to the person what he has said.
I ask him to correct my summary so he knows I have really listened.
By this process I have learned a great deal. My attempts to listen to reproof have been good for my character, an aid in my development and a bridge-builder in our churchs relationships.
If he does not listen to you, take one or more witnesses.
If the first step does not bring the needed response, it is time to move into a small-group process. This is level two, where about 9 percent of cases can be settled.
The new people are not there to substantiate our prejudices, but to bring new objectivity as God gives them spiritual insights. Again, the emphasis is on listening. God wants us to strive to understand what is being communicated. The risk is greater now, and it always must be remembered that the motivation remains redemptive. Although moving into the group process is scary, it does improve the attention level.
The winning of a brother is not apt to be a simple one-time contact; it will most likely require a series of contacts. Restoration takes nurturing.
And if he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church.
Our local church bylaws must reflect this practice and people must understand this when joining the church. Thus, the church is protected from legal action being taken by a distraught member.
I am not certain that there is one way to "tell it to the church." Scripture seems ambiguous about this part of the procedure. When this happens, I am convinced we are allowed cultural flexibility in carrying out principles. In the churches we served, we used the elder board. Two or three cases reached this level each year. When our elders dealt with discipline cases, we reported it in our bulletin along with other agenda items. Names should be used only in extreme cases of excommunication.
If he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax-gatherer.
An out cast. This means that you treat the person as a no believer, because he is not walking as a believer. Love him as Jesus loved the publicans and sinners. Reach out to him in witness, but not to relate to him as a member of the Body of Christ. Like all evangelistic outreach, the goal of TIFPEC is to bring a soul to Christ and back into the functioning Body.
This is an extremely heavy responsibility. But Jesus says in this passage, "Where two or three have gathered together in my name, there I am in their midst," and this action which the church must take?loving discipline?is agreed upon in heaven (Matthew 18:18-19).
The New Testament makes it clear that the exercise of church discipline is for those "who are spiritual" (Galatians 6:1), and that discipline is to be carried out in a spirit of "meekness," realizing our own vulnerability. Every incident of serious discipline is an awesome reminder to me of my own weakness.
I want to treat men and women the way Id want to be treated when needing reproof: I would desire the absence of harshness or condemnation, and a pre eminence of the very spirit of Christ, who, as our living high priest, would put His arm around us and say, "I know, I understand. I once also lived as a man."
Where this is true, there will always be the extending of forgiveness up to "seventy times seven," and the very character of Jesus Christ will be the marks of His Body, the Church.
Isnt it time for the living church to return to this basic ministry of resolving those entrapped by sin? Let us embrace them with truth and bring them with us to the all-forgiving Lord!
TIFPEC Book of Discipline lists the following chargeable offences that could lead to the termination of a laypersons membership: immorality, crime, disobedience to the Order and Discipline of The Free Protestant Episcopal Church, dissemination of doctrines contrary to the established standards of doctrine of TIFPEC, racial harassment, sexual abuse, sexual misconduct, sexual harassment or child abuse.
These chargeable offences are more often enforced on wayward clergy, but they apply to lay members as well.
TIFPEC providing a ministry of encouragement, consultation and leadership development to churches across the World
God Bless
+Horst-Karl, TIFPEC
|
|
Please read, act and help us circulate Bishop Riah?s message. It is very urgent.
Thanks to all.
Rania R. - 01 August 2006 -
Dear Friends,
When I wrote to you last Friday, I could not have imagined that a second Qana Massacre in a decade would be carried out by the State of Israel on Sunday when they dropped two bombs on a house, crushing at least fifty-six people, including thirty-four children and twelve women. They suffocated under dirt and debris, virtually buried alive in the make-shift bomb shelter where they had had little water and food and no toilet. ?In 1996, one of the deadliest single events of the whole Arab-Israeli conflict took place there?the shelling of a United Nations base where hundreds of people were sheltering. More than one hundred were killed and another one hundred injured, cut down by Israeli anti-personnel shells that explode in the air sending a lethal shower of shrapnel to the ground,? reported Martin Asser of BBC News, Beirut.
With expressions of ?deep sorrow? from Prime Minister Olmert, this tragedy of epic proportions is not enough to stop Israel?s attacks on the people of Lebanon. Today, the Israeli Security Cabinet approved a widening of the ground offensive in the South. Yesterday, Israel violated their agreement to stop the air offensive over Lebanon for forty-eight hours which would have allowed humanitarian aid to reach victims and
residents stranded in the South could have traveled more safely to the North. Olmert announced today that the end to the war is not in sight. While tens of thousands are without food and medical supplies, the U.N. reports that their convoys have been turned away and cancelled by the Israeli government. The short journey from Tyre to Qana is delayed for hours because the roads have been destroyed. Aid trickles in.
?Amid the despair and the grim task of removing the victims, there is deep anger at what
many here regard is the callous indifference of the West,? reports Ilene Prusher of the Christian Science Monitor in Lebanon. The offering of condolences from President Bush, Secretary Rice, and Prime Minister Blair to the Lebanese people for Israel?s murder of innocent children seems hollow, with no condemnation of Israel?s repeated and flagrant disregard for human life and the values of civilized people everywhere.
I have read the letter sent to The President of the United States signed by my brother in Christ The Most Rev. Frank T. Griswald, Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal church of America and fourteen other Christian leaders in which they say ?This violent conflict has created a grave humanitarian crisis, and no hoped-for benefit should outweigh the cause of saving innocent lives.? The letter continues with a plea, ?Your presidential leadership and the full weight of the United States, acting in concert with the international community, must be applied now to achieve an immediate cease-fire and to launch an intensive diplomatic initiative for the cessation of hostilities?. I regret that the President has ignored this call.
Last week in Lebanon, Israel bombed and destroyed a U.N. observation post on the border in Southern Lebanon killing four peacekeeping observers. U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan expressed indignation that Israel appeared to have struck the well known, established, and clearly identified site deliberately. The bomb made a direct hit on the building and the attack continued even throughout the rescues and recovery mission. The Security Council?s statement excludes condemnation of Israel at the insistence of The United States.
The war rages on into the third week. If fighting does not cease, the homeless count in Lebanon will soon reach one million people. Families and communities continue to be ripped apart. And, the offensive against the Palestinians in Gaza has been relentless. This week when Jan Egeland, the U.N.?s Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs visited Jerusalem, he focused much of his attention on ?the tragedy happening in the Gaza Strip?. He does not understand what benefit Israel will gain from punishing 1.4 million people by cutting them off from their sources of electricity and jobs, from running water in their houses and from fresh food. ?What is the message that the residents of Gaza receive from the sight of mountains of tomatoes tossed out on the side of the road at the border crossings into Israel? That they should be more productive and support peace??
Saturday, after waiting two and one half hours at the checkpoint, our delegation visited Gaza on a mission of mercy, taking medical and relief supplies to hospitals and shelters. Israel Defense Forces tanks had pushed back before dawn, just one day after ending an unusually deadly incursion that killed thirty Palestinians over three days. According to an Associated Press count, in the past one month period, Israeli troops have killed 159 Palestinians since they started their relentless attacks on the Gaza Strip in response to the capture of soldier Cpl. Gilad Shalit. I have seen the Caterpillar bulldozers and the orchards of oranges uprooted by them. I saw an apartment building where forty families were given forty minutes to leave before it was demolished into a pile of rubble. I have heard the concern of the Director of our Al-Ahli Arab Hospital regarding medical supplies, staffing shortages, and lack of fuel to run the generators essential to critical care. And, I have seen children playing near mountains of garbage which are the breeding ground to rats and the threat of cholera, a disease that I watched devastate India when I lived there.
We must not become complacent or be desensitized by the images of this human tragedy. Continue to appeal to your government representatives to demand an immediate cease-fire. It is time that The United Nations and the world community see to it that Israel complies with U.N. Resolutions 242, 338, and 194, so that compliance with Resolution 1559 can be enforced. We must find an end to this madness. Killing and the destruction of the environment is not a war against nations, but it is a war against God.
In, with, and through Christ,
+The Rt. Rev. Riah H. Abu El-Assal
Bishop
The Diocese of Jerusalem
Palestine, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria
Verantwortlich für den Inhalt dieser Seite ist ausschließlich der
Autor dieser Homepage, kontaktierbar über dieses Formular!