UCG's Mark Welch writes:
The recent 2020 congregational survey certainly indicated that many of you have had the very same emphasis in God’s Church for many years.
In response to the following statement, “I understand the fundamental truths of the Bible,” 99% of respondents “Agreed” or “Strongly Agreed.” As you may have already concluded, this was the highest percentage of agreement on the survey and could not have been much higher!
I am a bit surprised that the response was that high, but I suppose it is because the vast percentage of those who responded to the survey have been longtime members. We do put a great deal of emphasis on knowing and understanding our fundamental beliefs.
I was even a bit more surprised that 94% of respondents “Agreed” or “Strongly Agreed” with the statement, “I can explain the fundamental truths of the Bible.” I think it is wonderful that we have confidence that we are able to explain these fundamental beliefs, as the scripture says: “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed” (1 Peter 3:15-16).
Of course, how well one is able to explain our fundamental beliefs is important.
Sadly, one of the conclusions drawn from the survey is that most are confident in their ability to explain their beliefs, but few take the opportunity to do so.
It seems that many of us are reticent to engage in explaining our beliefs to others. It is not difficult to understand why that may be the case. I’m confident that many of us have attempted to do so, but we quickly realized that the person engaging us was not really interested in hearing why we believe what we believe. Instead, we found that they wanted to show us where we were wrong and not genuinely interested in considering the truth of the Bible. They already believed they knew the truth of the Bible. Moreover, before long the nice, casual conversation had become a heated, argumentative debate.
Because of one or two experiences like the one above, we may have concluded that it is best not to engage in a biblical conversation with anyone who isn’t already in God’s Church. But where is the balance? Granted, many people are more interested in debating their own beliefs and are not really open-minded to the real truth of the Bible.
One of the comments on the survey from one of our members indicated that they had a similar experience.
“We recently went through a series of Bible studies on the fundamental beliefs, which was very helpful. I do sometimes have trouble explaining to people outside the church what the Bible really teaches. This is especially true when the person I’m talking to is so dedicated to her own beliefs that she won’t believe me no matter how much scripture I can cite.”
Undoubtedly, many people fall into this category. Nevertheless, there are people out there genuinely interested in learning more about what the Bible says. And it is a very big world with billions of people!It is not only the UCG members who feel uncomfortable sharing their faith but is common across the board in the Churches of God. For being the one and only true church, most are not eager to share that with others.
