What is the purpose of Exploring God's Word?
by David Churchill [EGW editor’s note*]
This question covers a topic I’ve addressed elsewhere in different places on this website, but I don’t mind gathering the information together here. Some of the following information is accessible from the header menu above by clicking the “About Exploring God's Word” and the “What to expect when you visit the church of Christ” links. At the bottom of the “Exploring God's Word --current articles--” menu are links to copyright information and terms of use. If your congregation received promotional literature from David Churchill, then that literature provided you with a link for subscription information and instructions.
• The
bare essentials: What, who, where, why, how
The on-line version of Exploring
God's Word is published by David Churchill and is made
available to you by members of churches of Christ, possibly one
meeting in your area. (The directory of subscribing
congregations is at www.exploringgodsword.co/churchesofchrist.)
We hope you will join us in our goals of studying the Bible
together objectively for the facts and lessons it provides about
God’s religion and then using those facts and lessons to
improve our own lives.
As a publication, Exploring
God's Word is the design and product of myself, David
G. Churchill, 309 - 3rd Avenue NE, Watertown, SD, 57201, USA.
Its overall purposes are (1) to encourage people to
become Christians according the pattern revealed in the New
Testament; (2) to strengthen and edify Christians in their
knowledge and application of the Bible; (3) to provide local
churches of Christ economical opportunities to promote themselves
on the internet with both local information and a growing library
of teaching materials. There are also several other worthy
hopes, privileges, and goals associated with this effort. Some
of these desires are more interesting or more motivating than
others depending upon one’s role as reader, subscriber,
author, or editor. However, these desires are of second
importance and come after accomplishing the three overall purposes.
Depending upon your particular
study needs at given time, you can either chose selections
from the new articles published each month or else search our
growing library by subject, title, feature column or the site’s
search engine. You’ll notice that each feature column has
its own presentation style, general theme, and expectation level
of your familiarity of the Bible (or at least of your willingness
to be familiar with the Bible).
Please understand that we are
challenging all our readers to grow for themselves in knowing
and applying God’s instructions from the Scriptures. We
are trying to point people to the Bible for God’s
answers in all religious matters — as a result many of you
will feel we are pointing you away from your religious background,
instruction, or denomination. Our audience includes both
Christians and non-Christians — the same article that is
acceptably fitting to one person may seemly overly basic or overly
advanced to another. As people begin sharing our efforts
to agree with what the Bible says is right, some begin
noticing whether others agree or disagree with the Bible. Our
responsibility includes making you aware of these challenges.
How you handle and respond to these challenges is your
own responsibility.
• Encouraging people to become
Christians according to the pattern revealed in the New Testament:
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Would you accept some help and encouragement letting the Bible interpret itself? |
If you answer “yes” to any of these questions, then we have something in
common with each
other. Would you join us in exploring the Bible as we seek to understand and practice God’s religion — as the apostle Paul encourages us to do in 2 Timothy 3:16-17? “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
• Strengthening and edifying Christians in their knowledge and application of the Bible:
As Christians, we plead for all who would follow Christ to obey the original pattern of Christianity as revealed in the Bible. Since the Word of God is the seed of the Kingdom (Luke 8:11), when it is planted in the hearts of men it will produce the same fruit today as it did in the first century.
As Christians, we earnestly plead for the unity of all believers on the scriptural platform of no creed but the Bible, no name but Christ’s, no organization but the church, and no worship but that authorized by God’s Word. This is the only real answer to Christian unity and fellowship in Christ (Ephesians 4:4-6; 1 Corinthians 1:10).
As Christians, we respect the Bible as the fully inspired Word of God (2 Peter 1:21; 1 Thessalonians 2:13). The Bible is the complete and only authority in true religion (2 Timothy 3:16-4:5; 1 Peter 4:11). Since the Word of God is the all sufficient rule of faith and practice, expect us to reject all human creeds and man-made bindings (Galatians 1:8-9; Revelation 22:18-19). We believe that to follow and bind traditions of men is to worship God in vain (Matthew 15:8-9).
Because of our respect and confidence in the Bible as God’s Word, we study the Bible regularly as congregations and as individuals. We encourage you to do the same. Through Exploring God's Word we are happy to share with you the fruits of our studying and suggest that you talk with your family and friends about what you learn from the Scriptures. We welcome your Bible-related questions and want to hear your comments and suggestions about EGW.
As Christians, we are common ordinary people with an uncommon unity in God’s Word. We have varying backgrounds, experiences, and different stages of knowledge and spiritual growth. We need and submit to God’s will. We are not perfect and do fall short at times. We come together understanding that as sinners we need the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ.
• Providing local churches of Christ economical opportunities to promote themselves on the internet with local information and a shared library of teaching materials:
Would your congregation like to have a highly functional and easy-to-navigate website on the internet…
… presenting your local information and a growing library of reliable Bible-study articles and materials?
… requiring very little extra of your time to maintain, yet still offering new and thought-provoking articles each month motivating visitors to return regularly?
… costing far less than the hundreds of dollars investment in setup and update fees usually required of a professionally-maintained website?
The
Exploring God's Word website is designed to provide
your local church of Christ an economical means to present
itself on the internet using a customized homepage that
provides both local contact information and access to a library
of articles shared by other local churches of Christ.
The navigation interface for Exploring
God's Word was developed over a three-year period and
reflects over twenty-three years ongoing experience creating
professional multimedia and print presentations. If
you have ever been frustrated using slow or confusing internet
sites, you’re in for a pleasant surprise. Articles
in the shared library can be easily located by feature
column, subject, title, and the site search engine. The
library’s unique design allows a user to locate and
begin reading any article in six mouse-clicks or less with the
most recent articles available in just one or two clicks. EGW
is for information and not entertainment, so files download
quickly with a minimum of time-consuming graphics.
Another benefit is that users are
reminded of the local church, because they access the
EGW main library using a local church’s homepage.
A third incentive is EGW’s
low cost. For less than the average phone bill,
your congregation can be promoting itself with a professional,
informative, and growing website.
Another advantage is a simple easy-to-use
internet address. This address is “www.exploringgodsword.co/”
plus the initials of the state plus the name (or initials) of
the city (and plus the local name of the congregation, if the
second or later congregation to subscribe). For example,
“www.exploringgodsword.co/sd/sample” or “www.exploringgodsword.co/sd/samplemystreet”.
Most importantly, all articles
in Exploring God's Word, except for one feature
column, are prepared and edited by Christians with years of trained
experience studying the Bible and preparing Bible-study
materials. As the exception, the column “With an Open
Mind” presents unusual articles selected for their denominational
authors’ rare and noteworthy efforts to seek out
Bible teaching even when it challenges their denominational backgrounds.
• Here’s how to contact EGW:
If you have suggestions for
articles or for improving readability, we want to hear them.
Feel free to write me or the congregations, especially
about any biblical questions you might have. EGW
is for you, our readers, and we want to meet your Bible study
needs as best we can.
Please email your bible-related questions
to me at biblequestions##@##exploringgodsword.co. (Be sure to remove the “#”
symbols before emailing.)
For all other issues concerning this
website, you may email me at egweditor##@##exploringgodsword.co. (Be sure to remove the “#”
symbols before emailing.)
By postal mail, you may contact me at:
Exploring
God's Word
David
Churchill, Editor
309
- 3rd Avenue NE
Watertown,
SD 57201
United
States of America
• Have
we missed anything?
If your local church of Christ
is missing from our directory of subscribing congregations, …
… please send me the
necessary information to contact them and I will ask them about
becoming a sponsor of Exploring God's Word in your
area.
One more thing I should bring up
as editor and publisher before I close, …
… I do not solicit or
beg our readers to generate financial support for EGW.
I do not authorize soliciting or begging our readers to
generate financial support for EGW. I do
contact congregations and interested individuals and ask them
to become subscribing sponsors. The website may occasionally
offer purchasable items, the sale of which would help support
Exploring God's Word. Concerning donations,
I prefer instead that those individuals willing to help financially
support Exploring God's Word would simply sponsor
new subscriptions on behalf of congregations they’re familiar
with. I do reserve the right to refuse any subscription
if I believe doing so is in the best interests of the publication
or of our readers. This is as close as I come to soliciting
our readers. All reader correspondence, including subscription
inquiries, should be sent to the address above.
[*EGW editor’s note:
This article was prompted by reader response to the two-part
article “What
is Sin?”. When the first half of that article
was published under this feature column, the initial reader feedback
indicated some confusion understanding the topics worded as questions
and some confusion as to the intent & reasoning of the article.
After considering this feedback, I made some clarifying
changes to the article and then relocated it to the feature column
“Plowing the
Fields unto Harvest” where asking lots of little questions
is part of the study process. Also, I extended the reader’s
questioning of the article’s intent to questioning the intent
of the Exploring God's Word site in general and
prepared this Q&A article to handle that as well.
Please keep sending us your questions,
comments, and other input so we can continue improving our on-line
efforts to help meet your Bible study needs. (Back
to beginnning of article)]