1)
Mission
Statement
The
mission of Church Bible Teaching Ministry is to teach the Bible to as
many
people as will hear, helping them to form local non-denominational
congregations of the one Church headed by Jesus the Christ, learning
and living
the Christian way of life, doing good to others and teaching others to
do good,
standing up for truth, and holding fast resisting evil, in the name and
by the
power of the one God, the Creator of the Universe.
2)
Foundational
Scriptures:
“Teacher, which is the greatest
commandment in the Law?”
Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord
your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your
mind.’
This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it:
‘Love
your neighbor as yourself’“ (Matt 22:36-39)
Jesus answered, “It is written:
‘Man
does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the
mouth of God’” (Matt 4:4).
For we must all appear before
the
judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for
the things done while in the body, whether good or bad (2Cor 5:10).
3)
Vision
Statement
Church Bible Teaching Ministry works toward
the day when believers everywhere discard their
factions
and fighting and “all come to the unity of the faith and of the
knowledge of
the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the
fullness
of Christ” (Eph 4:13) and when “the
earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea” (Is 11:9).
4)
Long-term
Goals
a)
Produce free
literature teaching the Bible in a way that is easily understandable to
a
variety of people. Such literature would include printed material,
pictures,
recorded spoken messages, music and video productions. Technology has
now
reached the point where individuals can copy all of the above types of
literature many times and still retain a quality product. Those who use
and
benefit from the teaching literature are its best source of
advertising, and
now, thanks to technology, can freely distribute it. The teaching of
simple,
godly truth should have a stark contrast to many religious groups that
make
themselves wealthy by religion.
b)
Produce literature similar to the
above exposing
corrupt religious, government and business practices—helping people who
are personally
suffering from them to understand and escape them.
c)
Provide access to other ministries,
groups and
individuals that are working toward similar goals.
d)
Make the above items available free
of charge through
the mail, catalogued and indexed so that people can find what they need
when
they need it.
e)
Make the above teaching items
available on web sites so
that people can easily find or search for the items they need.
f)
Provide personal encouragement and
help to individuals
as time permits.
g)
Take decisive action as God leads:
openly encourage
true religion, good laws and fair business practices. Confront corrupt
leaders
in religion, government and business. Cast out demons. Help the
imprisoned and
afflicted. Be diligent to find the truth and tell it when others are
afraid to.
h)
Help others to start congregations in
their own area or
ministries similar to this one.
5)
Present
Ministry Activities
a)
Publish Servants’
News, a magazine designed for an audience with years of background
in
Sabbath keeping and Bible Study.
b)
Maintain the Church Bible Teaching
Ministry websites: www.cbtm.info & www.servantsnews.com.
c)
Print
and distribute additional literature offered through the above
publications and
web sites. Major Church Bible Teaching Ministry booklets include: Assembling on the Sabbath, How Does the
Eternal Govern Through Humans?, Biblical Calendar Basics, What Does the
Bible
Say About Eternal Judgment? and Starting
a Local Congregation.
d)
Help other groups to start local
congregations directly
under Christ, avoiding submission to human church hierarchies and state
intrusion via incorporation or “tax exempt status”. Such help consists
of
sharing information, information sources and personal experience.
e)
Travel to speak, as invited, to a
variety of groups on
biblical subjects.
f)
Compose, play, record and distribute
Bible-teaching and
generally helpful music.
g)
Explain Bible principles to
individuals as they call,
write or send e-mail.
h)
Maintain the Living Room Church of
God Directory and
the Local Servants Directory so people looking for congregations and
other
Bible-believing individuals will find them.
i)
Organize Feast of Tabernacles sites
and help others to
do the same.
j)
Write letters to individuals in
government explaining
the wisdom behind Biblical laws and principles (Deut 4:5-9) and
encouraging
them to implement them in our nation. Encourage other believers to do
the same.
(The State should never be used to force people to join or participate
in a
specific religion. But as the State serves its people and punishes
evildoers,
it would be better for everyone if Bible principles were followed.)
6)
Working
with Other Ministries and Congregations
a)
Church Bible Teaching Ministry is one
of many
ministries serving within the body of Christ. It is not a church
congregation,
nor does it “have congregations”. The Church, the Body of Christ, has
many
members. Those members may serve in this or many other ministries and
attend a
great variety of congregations—or attend no congregation at all.
b)
Church Bible Teaching Ministry works
with and
encourages many other ministries and congregations. It is not the
responsibility of Church Bible Teaching Ministry to determine who is
and is not
in the Body of Christ (Christ does that), but at times, it is necessary
to make
a determination as to which groups it is possible for us to work with.
The
Bible teaches believers to work with others who may hold some different
doctrines (Rom 14), but to avoid those with flagrant sin (1Cor 5, 1Tim
3, Titus
1) or serious false doctrine (Rom 16:17-18;
2Jn 1:10-11). Sometimes,
one must
avoid working with other believers because one is unsure if God is
inspiring
their activities or not. All believers must have confidence to do the
work that
God has given them, knowing that Christ will manage His Church.
c)
The main concern of Church Bible
Teaching Ministry is
to see its goals accomplished in a manner Christ approves. Whether the
work is
done through this ministry or through others is less important.
7)
Governance
a)
Currently, Norman Scott Edwards
operates as the one and
only Elder with all the decision-making responsibility for Church Bible
Teaching Ministry. In the future, if other elders become equally
committed to
this ministry, it will be governed via a constitution and agreement of
its
elders. Church Bible Teaching Ministry is not a local congregation or
“church
organization” and is therefore not in conflict with the Bible teaching
that a
congregation’s members choose their leaders (Acts 6:5; 15:22; 2Cor 8:19,
etc.). It is a Ministry of God’s Church, serving God, operating
individually,
as did Stephen (Acts 6:8-7:60), Philip (Acts 8) and Apollos (Acts 18:24-19:6; 1Cor 16:12).
b)
Many people help with the work of
Church Bible Teaching
Ministry by editing publications, writing articles, laying out
literature,
preparing mailings, printing literature, helping internationally and
sending
offerings—the ministry as it is would not be possible without them.
Their
opinions are respected and considered, but at this time they bear
neither
decision-making authority nor liability for actions of Church Bible
Teaching
Ministry.
c)
Church Bible Teaching Ministry is
subject to the
methods that Christ placed in His church for resolving difficulties.
Anyone who
believes that someone representing Church Bible Teaching Ministry has
sinned
against them should apply the instructions in Matthew 18:15-17: 1)
State their
case in person, then 2) state their case in front of other witnesses,
then 3)
bring their case to “the Church”. Normally, “the Church” referred to in
this
scripture would be a local congregation. If the one offended will
accept it,
the local congregation attended by the accused can fulfill this
function. (This
congregation is not controlled by Church Bible Teaching Ministry in any
way).
If the one offended does not accept this congregation as being able to
give an
unbiased decision, then the offended and the accused should pray that
God would
provide them a just “congregation” to hear this problem. Then, each
should
choose an equal number of people from their own congregations, write
their
names on equal-sized pieces of paper, put them in an opaque container,
ask
unbiased individual to draw out half of the names in the container, and
use
those people as the “congregation” to help the issue.
8)
Methods
of Promoting Church Bible Teaching Ministry
a)
Church Bible Teaching Ministry
magazines and literature
b)
Articles, advertisements and letters
to the editor in
other religious as well as secular publications
c)
Church Bible Teaching Ministry web
sites found via
referral and Internet search engines
d)
Links from other web sites
e)
Speaking engagements, seminars and
conferences
f)
Direct mail
g)
Radio and television interviews
h)
Exhibitions at conventions and state
fairs
i)
Joint promotions with other ministries
9)
Funding
a)
Church Bible Teaching Ministry is
funded by brethren
who voluntarily support it (2Cor 9:7). The Bible teaches that those who
teach
for God should be supported by other believers that are able (1Cor
9:6-14). It
also teaches that brethren should determine which leaders are doing a
good work
and support them (1Cor 9:12,
2Jn
1:7-11, 1Tim 6:3-8). The work of each believer will be “tried by fire”
(1Cor 3:11-15). Those who
support groups that
accomplish little for Christ will be saved, but have little to sow at
His
return.
b)
Church Bible Teaching Ministry
operates as a free
ministry under the protection of the First Amendment of the
Constitution of the United States of
America—as
most ministries did before the 1900s. Churches and ministries are
automatically
immune from taxes and regulation without the need for “incorporation”
or
“applying for tax exempt status”.
10)
About
the
Elders
William Alan Buckman has been a student of
the Bible and
history all of his life. He was born in 1946 and became a Christian at
age 12.
He graduated from Augustana Academy,
a Lutheran boarding high school. He attended the University
of South Dakota for two
years and
graduated with a degree in history from Concordia
College in Moorhead,
MN in 1968. He also completed
a B.A. in
theology from a private Christian college, a masters degree in
Classical
History from the University
of Southern California in
1971. He has studied biblical
chronology and archeology since that time and is in the process of
writing a
book that will show how the commonly accepted Egyptian-based chronology
is off
several hundred years. Mr Buckman has been dedicated to serving the
needs of
the elderly and poor, and has assisted with the Servants'
News publication since 1997.
Norman Scott Edwards was born in 1956 to
conservative,
Bible-believing parents. He accepted Christ at an independent Bible
church and
dedicated his life to God when he was 15. While he still had much to
learn
about the Scriptures, the process of seeking to follow God certainly
began
there. He was baptized at age 18 while attending a church-sponsored
college. He
worked for churches and church colleges from 1978 until 1994 writing
computer
programs, church publications and serving on the doctrinal committee.
In 1995,
Mr. Edwards researched and wrote How Does
the Eternal Govern Through Humans?, which explains how concepts of
"ordination";
"clergy and layman"; "deacons and ministers" were forced
into the King James Version—that many verses about these subjects are
translated
differently in almost every Bible translation that is not based on the
KJV. Mr.
Edwards' studies and Christian experience also taught him that there
are
believers doing God's work in many church denominations and without
denominations. He supports cooperation among believers—but not an
ecumenical
human unification of the leadership and practices of church
denominations and organizations. Norman
was married in
1983. He and
his wife have four children, born from 1985 to 1993.
CBTM, PO Box 474,
Port Austin,
Michigan 48467 989-738-7700 e-mail: info@cbtm.info
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