"How shall we labor with any effect to build up the church, if we have no thorough knowldege of her history, or fail to apprehend it from the proper point of observation? History is, and must ever continue to be, next to God’s Word, the righest foundation of wisdom, and the surest guide to all successful practical activity."
—Philip Schaff
For me, this quote is true. Learning the history of the church is a sufficient guide to all of its workers in the church. When a worker of the church knows the history of the church, he would have an idea on how to uphold the church effectively. In other words, learning the history of the church helps a lot.
ReplyDeleteYes Nolan, I agree with what you said. True enough church history is sometimes neglected especially by most church workers. We have to know more about it and give importance to it as an example.
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Deleteyes,. Nol,. that is also true. one way for a person to be effective in ministering to other people is know there context. that involves "history". because in that way you may grasp and somehow understand how come they had come to that kind of the way they are living. their history matters.
DeleteI agree but somehow, I find it wrong to believe that knowing church's history upholds the church. Clarify what you mean about "uphold the church"...
DeleteThank you guys for harmonizing with my comment. I just want to clarify what "uphold the church means". In encarta dictionary, uphold means to give somebody support. In learning the history of the church, a worker will be an effective support to the church. The worker will not just have a sufficient guide in handling the church but he will also be an effective support to the church. I hope i clarify my thought.
DeleteI somehow agree with your statement but it's quite confusing in that statement "upholds the church effectively by knowing the History of the Church. Can you give an example on how the workers can be effective in upholding the Church by knowing the History?
DeleteFor me, this is true. We need to know the history of the church when it started and how it operates. As church workers, it is important so we can know how to relate and appreciate how the Lord work all things out and we can also share it to others whom we are ministering and we can be more effective in whatever we will do.For me, I don't find it so much interesting when it comes to history but this statement reminds me the necessity of knowing church history and try my best to learn more about it.
ReplyDeletei agree with you, Soy. knowing the history is really important coz it's the reason why churches exist today and whether we like it or not, history is part of the church. without it's history, their is no church existing today.
DeleteFailure of knowing the history is like doing what a person says without listening to the instructions, yes we've done something but we fail to do it right. History is what guides us in understanding better the nature of the church and its situation. Without the history, we will never fully know and understand what they've been through and why they are what they are right now. As a result, we'll be having a hard time becoming relevant and effective to its needs. Knowing the history will help us tour to its history itself. It becomes alive to us. It makes us become determine to help the church be a better one and desire to see it grow every day.
ReplyDeleteTrue, history guides us in understanding more about a certain church. The situation and how to understand the congregation they are in. Failure to do so would put you into a situation you feared most. God forbid! So better stop, look and listen.
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ReplyDeleteIn one sense, I think its true because history will repeat itself if people will not learn from it. The damage has been done as it is evident today but there is still hope. We can rectify history's mistake and emancipate the people of today. But there is no single thing next to God's Word for everything else falls in that category.
ReplyDeleteAgree, One book says, "...he who ignores the errors of the past is bound to repeat them."
Deleteyeah its true on another angle..that one should know history may be not in a very detailed sense (that one should need indeed to master every single facts about history) but rather needs to know about the general sense, those important things happened in history basically as what the Bible had stated already: work of Jesus and of the Apostle. what i mean is that history could serve as an evidence on how God works in this very wicked world.but the Bible still is our very guide no other else. if we consider other things as our guide that may vary base on how we see things, thus with regards to history, indeed we can learn a lot from it, but lets not forget that the Bible serves still as our sole standard for successful life..
ReplyDeleteyeah, the bible is our very guide and no other else. it is the best historical book. Anything that we discover or find from other sources of history must be in line of what the bible says especially on the history of the church.
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ReplyDeleteI, too, agree. Concerning past ideals, culture and relational scheme of the church, it is indeed essential to learn and trace what is the relevance to current issues. Failure to do this will not help them but càuses chaos or worse, faction or division.
ReplyDeleteWhy we want to know their past lifestyle is because we want aid them in making decision based in the Bible significant for a great change. We also want to strengthen helpful ways.
I agree May Ann this is very important especially when we are serving new people, new invironment and evrything is new to us.
DeleteYes I agree. As ministers we should have to be up to date of knowing and following histories. They are very essential to us because we are ministering people. History keeps us connected. When we know what happened before we could understand why it is happening now. By knowing them both we can help the church in some way and serve them effectively. History could also help us prepare ourselves in the battle field.
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ReplyDeleteIn doing the ministry, we will encounter a lot of questions from the people who is curious of what we are doing and one of these questions will be about the church and we need to answer them. Learning It's history, we can explain to them why the church exist, What is the church, When did it start, where did it start, and how did it start. History is one of the best way in clearing the mind of the people and in bringing them to Christ.
ReplyDeleteNice idea Fretch! I agree with you. But im very curious to know how to bring the person to Christ through history? That is according to your last sentence of your statement. Can you give one specific example? Im very excited to know one. :)
DeleteBeing able to know about the history of the church can help a worker think of methods that will enable them to move forward. A worker must and should know the church very well. By moving forward, it includes settling the disputes, planning for church programs and activities, having a good relationship to the congregation, “especially the board of deacons”, haha, knowing the worker where his/her strength is also a big blow to the ministry (in a positive way). It is just like interpreting a passage, do hermeneutics first before jumping into conclusions about the passage.
ReplyDeleteI agree, If you know the History of the Church you will also know how to understand and handle it. That's why it is important that you will know it in order for you to know what method that you will used. It also widens the scope of the person in handling the Church most especially when conflict arises.
Deletei agree, it widens idea on handling church situation and issues. relationship matter most in church, it may guide to relate and understand the culture more.
DeleteI agree with that statement because for me, "the failure to understand the history of the Church is a failure to understand today's Church". And its quite interesting to know that most of the workers today doesn't have that knowledge about the history or the origin of the church. That statement written by Philip Schaff is interesting as well as challenging that I should be intentional in telling people about the history of the Church.
ReplyDeleteI agree with these statement. For me it is a fact that we really need to know the history of a thing for us to know why it exist, or what is the purpose of it. Knowing the history of the church is also understanding the church. It will also help us to learn more not just methods but also principles.
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ReplyDeleteyes i agree, knowing the history of the church is very important as christian workers, we must know where it began and how it started. fail to know it is just like building a house without proper foundation, and when adversity came without doubt it will be destroy, in other words knowing the foundation is very important so that we will know how it will be strengthen.
ReplyDeleteAgree to the statement, it's true. to know history is to see amazing thing God has done to the preservation of the church until to day. it guides to effectively relate to the issues that churches have to day and can help to handle it. the fact of how it started is to value its importance.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Ms. Grondiano, God's powerful being is being revealed through history, even in the history of the church. It help us see God moving in the church from the time it started until now. We really do need to value its history.
Deletei agree with the idea of reymund, that it is like interpreting scripture that we must not jump to the conclusion right away but we must study the context, the historical, geographical, and cultural background of the text. so also in church history we must also know the background..
ReplyDeleteThank you guys for all your thoughts. I really hope you will all be able to see the value of interacting with the thoughts of those around you. and i hope we will all grow in our appreciation of God's Story in the life of His church.
ReplyDeleteJust a quick reminder, please write a thoughtful paragraph or two and don't limit your posts/comments to the minimum.
May Ann, I only see 1 post from you.
With all their comments, I realized God's wonderful wisdom making all things experienced by the church valuable. It is whether full of tears, pain, hurts or brokenness and persecution that caused division. It is all for the betterment of the future and the furtherance of the kingdom.
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