Article 20191024
PPCF – The Who & the What, the How & the Why (& the Where) of our Vision & our Mission – Rich Cloud, PPCF Chairman
Part 1: Our Vision
As I complete the writing of this article and the next two in this series, which
describe Pikes Peak Creation Fellowship's (PPCF) Vision and Mission, I have just
given a presentation on fossils at our October (2019) monthly educational
meeting for PPCF. As I reflect back on that meeting, I believe that what
occurred there was a clear expression of the Who, What, How
and Why we at PPCF exist as a ministry. My thoughts, which follow,
are intended to outline what it is we at PPCF are doing to fulfill our Vision &
Mission, how we do it and most importantly why we do it.
My hope is that you, as either a regular viewer of this
website or as a first-time visitor, will sense our commitment at PPCF to share
the message of Biblical Creation (BC). But beyond this, my hope is that
you would consider the challenge to personally step out and be involved by
serving in this ministry area as God draws and leads you to do so. Thus,
as I outline our ministry goals below (our Vision and Mission) and in the
following two articles, I would submit that we each seek to know what God has
for us in this ministry area.
The Importance of Biblical Creationist (BC) Teaching
Colorado has seen in recent years an upsurge in both
the formation and the growth of BC ministries. For many years the primary
ministries in Colorado have been Rocky Mountain Creation Fellowship in
the Denver area (Littleton & the associated RSR radio program) plus Alpha
Omega Institute in Grand Junction. Both of these ministries have been
faithfully active for 20+ years in BC ministry.
However, since 2016, three new groups have formed and
are active in BC teaching: the Denver Society of Creation (2016),
also in the Littleton area, the Northeast Colorado Creation Group (2018)
in the Ft. Morgan area and this ministry and the Pikes Peak Creation
Fellowship (2018) in Colorado Springs. We have also been blessed by
the recent presence of a newer national ministry: Biblical Science
Institute, founded in 2017 by Jason Lisle, whose home is also located in
Colorado Springs (see our Links page on this site for
all these mentioned ministries).
While there have likely been other previous movements
for this intention in Colorado, many of these may have been for a one-time
purpose or of short-term duration or done locally and at selected times within
individual churches. Thus, this recent formation and development of
BC-based, regional ministries is a new attempt to bring these biblical truths to
multiple locations in Colorado and especially within the front range region.
One can look to the national growth and expansion of ministries like Answers
in Genesis, the Institute for Creation Research and Creation
Ministries International (plus other state & regional groups) as key sources
and resources, which have helped to fuel this resurgence (again, see our
Links page on this site).
From the introductory comments above, the following
outline brings us to the reason(s) and purpose for PPCF. My hope is to
convey our conviction and calling by which the leadership of PPCF has sensed
God’s direction, as we reach out with this effort. I also will describe
the means of how we will seek to reach out to the Pikes Peak region (our
Jerusalem and Samaria) in the following two articles.
Who & What are we (i.e. PPCF as a BC teaching ministry)?
Any organization, by simply existing, needs to
determine and define Who they are and What they desire to accomplish. This
intentional act provides the foundational basis to know and implement the key
aspects of its identity and its reason for existing. This is especially
true of any Christian ministry, which seeks to undertake their God-given calling
and role, so as to fulfill that assignment by helping to build His kingdom.
Our primary outreach at PPCF is focused on the Pikes
Peak region. Our specific intent is to be used by God to help support the
mission of the local churches located in this region. Thus, and of first
importance, all Christian ministries must share the Good News of Christ.
But while doing this, their uniqueness as a ministry must also shine through.
Each ministry must utilize their passion in sharing their faith in Christ.
This calling to ministry must originate with God, and by which both its
direction and passion have been instilled within those doing the ministry
through the infilling of the Holy Spirit.
For PPCF this passion is to provide Creation-based,
Apologetical teaching on key topics of science and theology related to Biblical
Truth. We specifically do this while focusing on the factual truth of
Scripture as recorded in Genesis 1 to 11. Our ultimate desire is to
demonstrate the truth of this Scripture and to refute the conventional teaching
of secular-based origin science being taught within the public classroom.
When this classroom teaching is focused on origin-based subjects, our role at
PPCF is to counter this teaching by seeking a proper understanding of the
subject and evidence, an understanding consistent with the Biblical Truths
recorded in God’s Word.
Thus, we seek to challenge and persuade those who may
for the most part lack the necessary knowledge and clear understanding of this
Scriptural foundation provided in Genesis 1 to 11. By doing this, we
intend to be a conduit where we can present a creationist perspective of the
scientific issues being discussed. By countering this naturalistic
teaching and by utilizing an understanding of the scientific evidence based on
Scripture, we seek to impart a different perspective and understanding of the
evidence. We truly believe that this approach will provide a much more
consistent and more reasonable explanation of this evidence, related to
discussions within the origin’s debate.
The Foundation of PPCF – The Word of God is our basis, with a focus in Genesis 1 to 11
PPCF is a BC ministry, which is fundamentally based on
the foundational belief that God’s Word is fully inspired, authoritative and
truthful in all that it contains. However, this understanding is not
limited to only the stated doctrinal truths of our faith -- which provide the
basis for understanding the means of salvation and the offer of eternal life.
But what is of equal importance is the premise that the entire content found in
the words of Scripture is affirmed as containing factual truth. From this
perspective of God’s Word, we would then firmly hold to the view that all
Scripture content recorded in Genesis 1-11 contains a fully accurate account of
history. Thus, each event, each person, each location and the timing
provided for each recorded account contains accurate and truthful statements of
fact.
For us to complete this vision for PPCF, we need to
carefully examine and consider the content of God’s Words and then apply this
knowledge to the concepts and understanding that would exist within this
important area of apologetics (1 Peter 3:15) – i.e. Biblical Creation.
Each concept and every thought must be intentionally evaluated by the words and
truth of Scripture. By proceeding in this way, we seek to best assure that
all teaching plus any outreach initiated by this ministry will intentionally
provide the most correct biblical understanding intended by God in His Word.
Our Vision Statement
Incorporating the above thoughts, the Who and
What of our ministry at PPCF is summarized within our Vision statement
below. By including the words ‘Biblical Creation’, we are stating the
basic premise of Who we are as a ministry within a larger Christian
context. By including the encompassing phrase of "sharing the (historical)
truth of Biblical Creation from God’s Word", we are affirming our intent as to
What we intend to do so as to carry out this calling. Let me end
article 1 with our Vision statement.
PPCF Vision
“To share the truth of Biblical Creation and other key related events of history,
as recorded in God’s Word, to the Greater Pikes Peak Region.”
The following two articles in this series will focus on
the complete Mission of PPCF1. To inquire more about the Vision
& Mission of PPCF, or if you have questions about PPCF, please contact the
author.
Rich Cloud, PPCF Chairman
1 The second and third articles in this series will further expand on
this subject by providing the implementation of our Vision. These are
titled:
Our Vision and Mission as a Biblical
Creationist Ministry: Part 2 (2nd
Article)
Our Vision and Mission as a Biblical Creationist Ministry: Part 3 (3rd
Article)
Copyright © 2019 Pikes Peak Creation Fellowship