Teaching Truth
Courses and Lectures for the Greater Community By Bill Wilder Director of Educational Ministries
INSIDE Parents and the Study Center Amazing Grace
Praxis V11 N1
Spring 2007
Pr a x i s
God's Calling in Life's Decisions
in the geographical sense mentioned above. By way of one-time lectures and seminars, biweekly discussion groups, four-part lecture everal miles from the Grounds of the series, and full-blown courses we engage a University of Virginia, nearly two whole host of Biblical and cultural issues on dozen adults benefit from weekly cours- a number of different fronts. This semester es from the Center for Christian Study that alone, for example, has had lectures on parensupport the ministry of local church congretal authority, Bob Dylan, and contemporary gations. cultural authority (as personified by Oprah), The seminary-level classes, co-sponsored among others. Amidst this flexibility and flux, with the churches, draw recent college gradu- however, can be found two fixed points. ates and other adults who work in and near One is a grounding conviction that seriCharlottesville. The courses help the Center ous and sustained Christian reflection is not fulfill its mission to the wider community, just for an elite coterie of seminary-trained offering for-credit seminary courses to laypeo- pastors and theologians. We believe that it is ple and expanding the reach of the Center’s vital for all believers to grow in their underhigh-quality teaching. standing of a Biblical worldview and, increasThis work is in addition to the Center’s ingly, to see all of life and culture from that well-established and dynamic outreach to vantage point. University students. Our building is a hub Our second fixed point is what we might of student ministry and activity: we host call the core curriculum of our educational a residential program for undergraduates; ministries: the trio of courses we offer in sponsor three graduate student fellowships; Biblical studies, church history, and systematic and befriend, counsel, and serve students in a theology. These are seminary-level courses host of other ways. As the former director of (indeed, seminary credit is available for two graduate ministries, I have great appreciation of them through Reformed Theological for these ministries. Seminary-Washington, D.C.). While many of But the educational dimension of minisour educational offerings must shift and adapt try — not just the courses, but also the six to rapidly changing cultural challenges, these lecture series each year, and numerous other three courses provide the immovable center lectures — are equally vital to our larger from which all theological and cultural reflecvision. University students do enroll in these tion must proceed. Thus, the Biblical courses, programs, but their value extends far beyond which I teach, convey a strong sense of the way in which God’s creation and redemptive purposes for his world come to their climactic completion in Christ and his church. The continued outworking of those purposes in the life of God’s people since the apostolic age is the theme of Scott Amos’s rich survey of church history. Wes Zell provides a systemScott Amos teaches his course Apologists, Fathers, Monks, atic summation of Christian Scholastics: The History of the Church to 1500 teaching with sensitivity to both Biblical and (photo by Carl Briggs) theological precedents. the Grounds. Indeed, we have frequent conThis vision of a broad-based Biblical and tact with friends of the Study Center in theological education for all believers has other states who visit our website to listen worked itself out in encouraging ways over to lectures and read course materials we post the years. As evidence, one could point to the online. sheer diversity of those taking these courses. Thus, educational ministries at the Study (Last semester, nearly three dozen students Center cover a lot of territory — and not just enrolled in the three courses.)
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Ministering to Parents Establishing the New Parents Council By Shelly Pellish Director of Development, Alumni, and Parent Relations
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s the Study Center continues to grow, we have been thinking through how we might better serve parents of University students as well as more efficiently coordinate parent volunteer activities at the Center with the help of a new parent service group. Over the past year, parents and board members have been helping to develop a long-range planning for an expanded ministry to Study Center families. In support of this ambitious goal, a new volunteer group, the Parents Council, has been established under the leadership of Nancy and Steve Skancke (Parents, ’09). We hope that parents will find this new parent advisory group useful and will also consider becoming involved in its activities, either by serving on the Council or on one of its committees, as described below. Parents have always been a tremendous help to the Study Center. Up to this point, most of our parent volunteer opportunities have been provided on an ad hoc basis related to coordinating specific undergraduate student/parent outreach events at the Center such as for our annual Move-In Day Lunch. Parents have also helped us host regional outreach gatherings in areas like Northern Virginia, Atlanta, Charlotte, and Richmond, where we have a strong network of parents, alumni, and students. This year, parents helped us with two new annual events: a first-year families dinner during UVA’s Parents Weekend and a parent/student football tailgate event. In the next few Nancy and Steve Skancke with months, our goals are to their daughter, Carolyn, a secondformalize the structure of year student at UVa. (family photo) the parents program with the help of the Parents Council and to form committees under the Council, with the ultimate goal of becoming a resource both for Center staff and for parents. In particular, through its committees the new Parents Council will help coordinate many of the activities we are already doing. The Council committees will also provide additional resources for the Center to stretch our hands to meet other needs for UVA students and parents, and to spearhead new projects. We have been, and continue to be, unusually blessed by a great group of dedicated parents. However, we know that to-date only a small group of parents have had the chance to be involved in Center activities, and we expect that many more parents would like to become involved. Some parents have already agreed to serve on the Parents Council or its committees, and others continue to assist in individual events. The Center is currently
looking for additional parents who are willing to serve on the Council (a two-year commitment) or who are interested in serving on a Council committee (with potentially a more limited commitment). If you are a parent interested in assisting in these efforts, please email Nancy Skancke at
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Spring Reunions 2007 UVa Darden Alumni Weekend
The Darden Christian Fellowship is pleased to join the Darden School Alumni Reunion festivities during Darden’s Field Day.
Saturday, April 21, 2007 1:30 – 2:30 p.m. Barbee Gardens, Flagler Courtyard at Darden (Rainsite: TBD)
2007 UVa Law Alumni Weekend
The Law Christian Fellowship is pleased to join the Law School Alumni Reunion festivities during Alumni Field Day.
Saturday, May 5, 2007
12:00 – 1:30 p.m. Class of 1950 Dining Room Patio, UVA School of Law (Rainsite: Class of 1950 Dining Room) Families and non-reunion year alumni are also welcome. RSVP: Shelly Pellish, shelly@studycenter.net or 434.817.1050
2007 UVA Undergraduate Reunion Weekend
The Center for Christian Study is pleased to join UVA Reunion Weekend with an all-class Reunion Reception.
Saturday, June 2, 2007
3:30 – 5:00 p.m. Pavilion VI Upper Garden (Rainsite: Center for Christian Study) Families and non-reunion year alumni also welcome RSVP: UVA Alumni Association, www.virginiareunions.com or 434.243.9000
Reunion and Class Giving Beginning this year, you can give to the University of Virginia’s Alumni Association, specifically earmarking a portion of your gift for the Center for Christian Study, and your gift will also count toward UVa’s Capital Campaign and your class giving total. Parents of Class of 2007 students may also participate and help their children reach their class giving goal. By making a gift to the Center through the U.Va. Fund, your gift helps both the Center and UVa achieve their financial goals. This is another way the Study Center can serve the University. For more information about the U.Va. Fund and making a donation, please e-mail Shelly Pellish at shelly@ studycenter.net, or call her at 434.817.1050.
Determining God's Calling Amid Life's Challenges By Jay Campbell President, Darden Christian Fellowship
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s I take time to reflect on this year, I am excited about what God has done so far and look forward to what He has in store for the rest of this semester. The Darden Graduate School of Business Administration program is very demanding, and as a result requires vast amounts of time and physical and emotional energy. When other demands are placed upon students, such as family, finding a job, extracurricular activities and building deep relationships with other believers, it can feel as though it is too much to handle. When we kicked off the year in the fall, we read together Hebrews 10:25: “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let Jay us encourage one another — and all the Campbell more as you see the Day approaching.” That verse is exactly what this year has been about — fellowship and meeting together as the body of believers in order to encourage and support one another through this period in our lives. By this measure, the year has been a success. In our large weekly meetings, we have had some excellent speakers come and talk about being a Christian in the business world. About 40 students, faculty, and staff heard a Vice President from Goldman Sachs Investment Bank, Jim Holmberg (Darden ’02), give a thought-provoking talk entitled “God’s Calling in the Midst of Career Decisions” that challenged us to think about our priorities and
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how we evaluate our own success, based on how God views us or how the world views us. The fall retreat drew a large turnout and allowed students to begin building a network among believers. In December, we sang Christmas carols and gave a reading in Darden’s Piano room of the Gospel of Luke’s account of the birth of Christ as a means to share the Christmas story and bring together the body of Christians within Darden. We also have had a weekly Bible study covering the foundational beliefs of Christianity, which has strengthened and challenged us. However, the greatest successes of this year have been in small group fellowships. One such Bible study provides fellowship and a support network to female students and wives of Darden students. Through this study, the women have really bonded, laughed, cried, and spiritually grown together. We have also seen two fellowship groups form within the student body that allow students to get together, share with one another, and encourage each other in making life decisions and growing in
Members of the Darden Christian Fellowship spouses' group celebrate a Christmas dinner at Splintered Light Bookstore.
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J uly 2007
Apologists, Fathers, Monks, Scholastics: The History of the Church to 1500
y in > r a -in Sem mmer Su the
July 16 - 21 6:30 - 9:30 p.m., Monday - Thursday; 9:00 - 4:00 p.m., Friday and Saturday
Instructor: Scott Amos Reformers, Rationalists, Modernists, Evangelicals: The History of the Church Since 1500 July 23 - 28 6:30 - 9:30 p.m., Monday - Thursday; 9:00 - 4:00 p.m., Friday and Saturday
Instructor: Scott Amos These two one-week courses may be taken for seminary credit; this is optional. Credit is offered through Reformed Theological Seminary - Washington, D.C. Details are available from Carl Briggs, carl@studycenter.net, 434-817-1050, and the website, www.studycenter.net. Dr. Amos is Assistant Professor of History at Lynchburg College.
Teaching Truth, continued from front There are, of course, the motivated undergraduate and graduate students who audit these classes in addition to their other coursework. But most of those taking the courses are people who find a morning or evening each week — or perhaps even a week or two during the summer — in the midst of lives filled with working, parenting, volunteering, and ministering in their neighborhoods and communities. Some are members of the various churches that host our
Students in Bill Wilder's course A Story in Search of an Ending: Interpreting the Old Testament Within History and Scripture (photo by Carl Briggs)
courses in the area (Trinity Presbyterian Church, PCA; All Saints Anglican Church, ACA; and Meadows Presbyterian Church, PCUSA). For the last three years, some enrolled students have been participants in a local church "Fellows program" or church internship — intensive nine-month courses in mentoring and ministry for recent college graduates that share our commitment to rich, sustained Biblical and theological training for all believers. At the Center for Christian Study we hope to be just that: a center for Christian study in the broadest sense of that phrase. When the students reading for their classes or studying for their exams or working on their dissertations around our building do those things ‘as unto the Lord’, we fulfill our vocation as a center for such “Christian study” in a very special way. Yet it is also true that we hope to provide a “center for Christian study” in our educational ministries as well, one which begins with intensive reflection on all the resources of our Christian faith and moves out from there to engage all of creation and culture. That’s a vision we hope all of our students will catch.
Determining God's Calling, continued from previous page the faith. As I reflect upon the year and see how God has been moving at Darden, I am extremely excited and optimistic about the growth that results when the body of believers comes together, in the midst of battling priorities, and seeks fellowship and accountability, and wants to bear one another’s burdens.
THE STAFF & CENTER . . . Bill Wilder is teaching a 10-week series on Ephesians at the Circle Teaching Fellowship of Trinity Presbyterian Church, Charlottesville. . . He spoke Feb. 23 to the Chinese Christian Fellowship of the University of Virginia on chapter two of the book of Acts. . . Bill spoke Mar. 9 on The Gospel of Judas at the Senior Center in Charlottesville, and presented a two-part lecture series, Conformed to the Image of His Son: Image, Sonship, and the Christian Hope, at Crozet (Va.) United Methodist Church Mar. 20 and 27. He also gave those lectures at the C.S. Lewis Institute, Springfield, Va., Mar. 24. . . Justin Holcomb lectured on Christology at Reformed Theological Seminary - Washington, D.C. Dec. 8-9 and 15-16, and lectured on Reformation views of Scripture at Reformed Theological Seminary - Orlando, Fla. Jan. 15-18. Justin spoke Jan. 27 at the C.S. Lewis Institute, Springfield, Va., on the book of Galatians, and spoke Feb. 16 at Western Albemarle High School (Va.) on Christianity. . . He participated Mar. 4-10 on the spring break mission service project to the Dominican Republic with students in Law Christian Fellowship. . . Drew Trotter led a movie discussion Dec. 2 of the film Yesterday, sponsored by the Charlottesville office of the ministry organization Food for the Hungry. . . Drew spoke Mar. 16 at Western Albemarle High School on The Bible: What Is It, and Where Did It Come From?. . . Drew will attend the April 14-16 meeting of the Consortium of Christian Study Centers, in Ithaca, N.Y. . . . He will speak June 25 at Patrick Henry College in Purcellville, Va.
Ministering to Parents, continued from first inside page njskancke@gkrse-law.com, specifying your area(s) of interest. As we move ahead on further expansions to the parents program, we welcome your input for making this program meaningful for University families. We anticipate further using our website and PRAXIS to communicate special opportunities and provide new resources for parents. Our goal is to enable any parent to participate in, and take advantage of, the Center’s activities based on his or her interests, time, and talents. To that end, please send your thoughts and suggestions on how we might best serve you to Shelly Pellish by phone at 434.817.1050 or by email at shelly@studycenter.net; she will share your ideas with the staff and with the Parents Council. Above all, the staff of the Center is so grateful for your continued support and prayers.
F r o m photo by Eric Kelley
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Movie Memories
am always amazed, when I get together with my sons, how many movie lines they can recite from memory. As most of you know, I do quite a bit of lecturing on movies and their impact on our lives. Accordingly, I have watched a lot of films in my day, and consider myself pretty well-versed in the medium. My sons can always stump me, though, and usually pretty quickly. Great lines from movies have always afforded a fascination for Americans. The American Film Institute has even done one of its famous lists — “One Hundred Years…One Hundred Movie Quotes” — letting us know that its participants found Rhett Butler’s final dismissal of poor Scarlett to be the most famous movie quote of the first one hundred years of movie history. (Don’t know it? Well, excuse my french, but it’s “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn,” from Gone With the Wind.) Amazing Grace, a movie I hope all of you have seen by now — in fact, I hope you have seen it multiple times — has three such lines for me. In the midst of a superb script filled with absorbing dialogue, these three stuck out, and I believe they provide food for thought from which all of us can benefit. The movie is the biopic of the 18th-19th century British politician William Wilberforce, released recently on the two-hundredth anniversary of Wilberforce’s triumphal vote in England’s parliament abolishing the slave trade throughout the British empire. The film follows him from the early days of his being persuaded to take up the cause in 1787 until he finally wins the victory twenty years later. He campaigned for another twenty-six years to abolish slavery altogether, a victory he also saw happen three days before his death. Never has a man been more dedicated to a cause. And what pushed him to persevere? The movie implies that his wife had much to do with it, but there is little evidence of that. What seems to have driven Wilberforce to work all those years against what seemed, at first, insurmountable odds was a strong sense that, as he wrote in his diary on October 28, 1787: “God Almighty has set before me two great objects: the suppression of the slave trade, and the reformation of manners”. The movie portrays Wilberforce as saying this to himself at one point, while chopping wood outside his manor house in the pouring rain. Whether this happened or not, it seems a good summary of what the diminutive parliamentarian had to tell himself over and over: he didn’t have the right to quit. These were God’s marching orders for him, and he had no alternative but to do his best to carry them out. The film actually changes the language of the quotation slightly, but in a way that probably brings home the meaning of Wilberforce’s charge more clearly than
his own diary entry does. In the film, he says he has before him the reformation of “society,” not “manners.” In early 18th-century England, though, “manners” did not have the narrower meaning we would give it today of polite or well-bred social behavior. It included that, but also referred to every sort of behavior, including sexual, political, gastronomic, etc. Wilberforce took it upon himself to reform an England that was often grotesquely licentious in its practices, and sought to change everything from the abolition of hanging as a form of capital punishment to the way his countrymen treated their pets (he helped found the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) to the elimination of prostitution. His vision was no less than to reform the whole of society. The second quotation is the longest and least clear in my mind, and this one, too, failed my examination to uncover it in actual records of Wilberforce's life. Again, though, the quote states a truth that Wilberforce certainly faced, if perhaps not in these words and from the person the movie indicates. At a dinner party staged for Wilberforce with some Methodist abolitionists, the radical fringe of 18th-century England, Wilberforce, suffering under the delusion that to go into ministry was the only way to serve God and strongly considering giving up service in Parliament, is confronted by Hannah More, a poetess and good friend. She says, “I understand you say you are trying to decide whether to serve God, or to work through political means to abolish the slave trade. The question I have for you is this: Why not do both?” Why not do both, indeed. That moment was a powerful statement to me of what we are trying to instill in every fellowship meeting, every discussion group, every class we ever have at the Center for Christian Study: God is building His kingdom, and He calls all kinds of workers to accomplish that task. If you don’t understand what you are doing at this moment to be service of God, the clear call of the Bible is for you: “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ” (Col 4:23-24). The last quotation from Amazing Grace was the most poignant, and in many ways, the most memorable. An aging John Newton, friend and confidant of Wilberforce for much of his life, says to him, at one of Wilberforce’s consultations with the great hymnwriter: “Although my memory’s fading, I remember two things very clearly. I’m a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior.” No further commentary is needed.
— Drew Trotter
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Prax´• is, n. The practical application of a branch of learning.
Praxis
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Visit the Center's Web Site at: www.studycenter.net
The Center for Christian Study is a non-profit education and outreach ministry serving the University of Virginia and Charlottesville-Albemarle region since 1968. Through programs, ministries, and partnerships, we provide opportunities and resources for the corporate and individual investigation of the truths of the historic Christian faith. Some of the ways we do this include courses, lectures, seminars, student-run fellowships, internships, mentoring opportunities, discussion groups, and special events. We proceed believing that men and women will be transformed by the Truth, which will be reflected in their thoughts and actions, both in their private lives before God and in their public lives as members of society, the family, and the Church. Center for Christian Study 128 Chancellor Street Charlottesville, VA 22903 Phone: 434.817.1050 www.studycenter.net Praxis is published quarterly for our friends and supporters. Carl Briggs, Editor carl@studycenter.net University Christian Ministries, Inc. (dba Center for Christian Study) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation EIN 51-0192618. The Center for Christian Study pledges financial accountability through our membership in the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability.
Supporting the Center By Shelly Pellish Director of Development, Alumni, and Parent Relations Thank you for making December one of the best months of giving the Study Center has experienced. We are continually blessed by a strong community of students, alumni, parents, and friends who pray for us and give generously of their time and resources. This year is no exception. With a little more than four months to go, we are happy to report that the Center has met 67 percent of its Annual Fund goal for the 2006-07 academic year. Annual Fund Goal: $852,000 (July 1, 2006 – June 30, 2007) Gifts Received: $570,969.21 (Gifts and pledges from 429 donors as of February 12, 2007) Annual fund gifts have an immediate impact on the Center’s operations, providing 90 percent of its yearly ministry support.
As we enter the second half of this semester, we will need additional supporters to provide the remaining third of our ministry funding by June 30, 2007. If you would like to make a gift to the Study Center’s Annual Fund, please visit our online giving page at www.studycenter.net, or send in the reply envelope on the inside of Praxis. For more information on specific giving opportunities, please contact me by phone, at 434.817.1050, or by email at shelly@studycenter.net.
Giving Through the University If you are planning to make a gift to the University of Virginia, you can actually make a contribution to the Center for Christian Study by giving directly to and through the University. Details on how to donate to the Center though the University of Virginia’s Alumni Association are on the left inside page of this issue of Praxis.