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Pastor's Note |
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Hi and thank you for visiting our website. We hope that you find it useful. At Scofield, our heart’s desire is to know God through the study of His special revelation to us - the Bible. We seek to worship Him, honor Him and to make His name known above all things! We believe that we are called to embrace the life of redemption and celebration that He has called us to through, and in, Jesus Christ. Please feel free to call or email.
Come, know, worship and celebrate Jesus Christ with us.
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Newsflash |
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We want you to feel welcome and know that our door is always open to you. Many people every Sunday find Scofield to be a warm, dynamic group of people committed to following Jesus. We seek to follow Jesus by connecting with God and others, growing in Biblical maturity, and impacting our world through service in ministry.
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Page 4 of 11 Core Ministry Practices of Scofield Memorial Church
In its 125-year history, it is apparent that Scofield Memorial Church has four preeminent convictions that have shaped its ministry.
The Bible is the inerrant, infallible, Word of God
We live in a time when evangelical theologians commonly teach that the Bible is not necessarily without errors, but C. I. Scofield and his friends spared no ink or paper to teach and prove otherwise. Like Spurgeon, the great English Baptist preacher of the 19th century, Dr. Scofield held that teaching and preaching God's Word was like releasing a lion. The Bible did not need to be defended -- it just needed to be loosed. The Bible had power to save and change lives through the working of the Holy Spirit — our duty was to proclaim its message faithfully and accurately.
The motto developed by Dr. Roper for the church was "The Bible as it is for men as they are." The meaning of this statement is that the Bible is relevant to the true condition of mankind in every age and every stage of life, and that mankind through the ages is essentially the same as he has been since the fall in the Garden of Eden. We in this age are not so unique and different from those who have come before us. If we work to understand the message of the Bible, we will always have a relevant message for our world.
Every believer should be a Bible student.
One early distinctive was an emphasis that lay people in the church could learn and teach the Bible. Systematic and disciplined training was for everybody -- not just for the clergy. Dr. Scofield was aggressive in holding regular weekday Bible classes and cottage Bible studies.
During the late 1880's Pastor Scofield began attending the Niagara Bible Conferences, where he was well received by such giants as D. L. Moody, Dr. Nathaniel West, Dr. W. J. Erdmans, Arno C. Gabelein, R. A. Torrey (BIOLA), and James Gray (Moody Bible Institute). Soon he was one of the featured speakers at this conference, and began a national ministry of preaching, teaching, and writing.
Scofield Memorial Church is perhaps the only church in America that has had not one, but two separate Bible study courses written for use at the church published and used by the church around the world. C. I. Scofield's original Bible studies were converted into the Scofield Bible Correspondence course, and were eventually published by Moody Bible Institute. Dr. Roper's Through the Bible Sunday school course eventually became published as a graded Sunday school curriculum that was widely used for decades, and exists today as the Discoverland curriculum published in Colorado.
In 1909, Dr. Scofield published the first edition of a revolutionary study Bible, designed to make the teachings of the Bible more accessible to the laymen of the church. It was published by Oxford Press, and a revision was made in 1917. This edition of the Scofield Study Bible remained one of the most popular Bibles in the world for more than a generation. In 1967, Dr. Walvoord made the first significant revision to the second edition. The Scofield Study Bible has been translated into several languages, and is still available in bookstores today — nearly 100 years after its introduction.
Now there are many wonderful study Bibles available for Christians, but this was not the case in 1909. For two generations of Christians, it was the Scofield Study Bible that helped them discover the wonders of the Bible. Featuring an outstanding topical reference system and high quality doctrinal notes, the Scofield Reference Bible was one of the most important influences on Christian thought for many years.
Not only did Scofield Memorial Church believe in training laymen, but they also wanted educated missionaries and church leaders. Scofield Memorial Church founded two separate Bible Institutes. The Southern Bible Institute was founded in 1940 to give the black community of Dallas an opportunity to get reliable Bible training. This school still exists and flourishes today under the leadership of Dr. Gordon Mumford, who teaches a community of Bible study and has served as an elder at Scofield. Also, Dallas Bible Institute — later called Dallas Bible College -- was founded in 1961, and existed for more than 25 years. Many of Scofield's current or past leaders were either associated with this fine school as teachers or students, including current and former elders.
It would be hard to train the laymen and leaders if the clergy were poorly trained. Pastor Lewis Sperry Chafer began the Evangelical Theological Seminary in 1924, which later became Dallas Theological Seminary. The school has enjoyed a long reputation as an outstanding school with a reliable conservative theology and excellent teachers (many of whom have attended Scofield Memorial Church).
The church should be reaching the lost in its own community and around the world
In the mid 1890's C. I. Scofield was convinced that the Biblical strategy for evangelism should be based on Acts 1:8. According to this verse, we are to be witnesses in an ever expanding circle of influence — first at home, then in the community, then in the region, and lastly in the whole world.
When Scofield arrived at First Congregational Church the first sermon preached was from Psalm 1, and at the end of the service he gave an invitation. It was unusual for churches to do invitations in those days, but Scofield was familiar with the work of D. L. Moody and typically ended all of his messages with an invitation. At the end of the first message, two in the congregation were converted. Through sermons, home visits, cottage Bible studies, and any other means — the church was faithful to preach the gospel and God was pleased to bless. By the time C. I. Scofield left in 1895, 814 people had been accepted into the church, and by Pastor Scofield's estimate, nearly three-fourths of them were by conversion! (The church attendance at that time was over 400, and two satellite mission churches were in operation.)
C. I. Scofield served on the missions program for the Congregational denomination, and the territory he served covered Louisiana and Texas. He considered becoming the mission coordinator for the denomination for the state of Colorado, but turned down that offer to pastor at D. L. Moody's home church in Northfield, Massachusetts, just outside of Boston.
When C. I. Scofield wanted to begin a foreign missions program, his first thought was to begin a mission work in Mexico. He researched the project and discovered that seven different missions were working in Mexico, but no mission work was going on in Central America. As a result, the Central American Mission was born. The first director was Luther Rees, a man who was ordained in the church, and later became one of the interim pastors. Today CAM International is considered one of the finest mission organizations in the world, and it still specializes in ministry to the Spanish-speaking world. CAM recently celebrated 100 years of ministry in Guatemala. Rolando Gonzales, one of our elders, was converted in Guatemala under the ministry of CAM workers there, and he himself has served a long career as a missionary with Wycliffe Bible Translators -- a mission organization that was started by a CAM missionary named Cameron Townsend.
In the years since the founding of CAM International, Scofield Memorial Church has continued to be very missions minded. Many Scofield members have become missionaries who were supported by the church, and the missions program has for a century has been proportionally much larger than most churches.
During the early years of his ministry, Dr. Harlin Roper ministered to the community through his weekly radio broadcast called "Songs in the Night." He had a wider influence to the nation (and the world) through the Bible study curriculum he developed for use in churches.
Scofield Memorial Church held regular Sunday evening services until 1989. Older members remember the Sunday evening service as a time that was a tremendous blessing. Under Dr. Roper's ministry, the church would occasionally do a "street preaching" service after the Sunday night service, giving members the chance to give testimonies and witness in the downtown area.
Another attempt to reach the downtown community was the founding of the Union Gospel Mission in 1949. The mission continues to this day, and is still true to its original mission as a place where unfortunate people can come for help. Active Scofield members are still involved in this mission work, which reaches many people for Christ each year and attempts to disciple them in God's Word. In recent years, Scofield has developed significant outreach campaigns through its women's ministry as well.
Children's Home Bible Clubs were started in 1939 under the leadership of Kate Oliver — the "Aunt Kate" who actively taught in our Sunday school department until the early 1990's. This ministry reached children for Christ through quality Bible lessons, instruction for teachers, Bible clubs, and public school assemblies. In 1964, Aunt Kate and her team reached 16,000 children and conducted religious assembly programs (Christmas and Easter) in 37 different schools. For many years Kate's report of her ministry was a part of the Scofield annual report. Today Scofield Memorial Church has a strong relationship with Child Evangelism Fellowship, and the local director for Dallas is a member of the church and a supported missionary.
Every believer should be a disciple.
"The Bible as it is for men as they are" was the motto of the church during the Roper years, and it is based on the firm conviction that teaching the Bible correctly is the major means for building up the body of Christ. Quality Bible teaching has been one of Scofield Memorial Church's major characteristics for nearly 120 years — since the days of C. I. Scofield himself. And for most of this time, the main curriculum was the Bible.
Not only did Scofield have outstanding teachers in the Sunday school programs, but also the quality of teaching was across all age groups. During most of the Roper years the SS program used the Through the Bible study guides and every class covered the same portions of Scripture each Sunday. (This plan continued until around 1985.) Families could prepare at home for Sunday's lesson, since all were going to do the same lesson. To help the teachers prepare, Dr. Massinger would teach the next week's lesson to the adults who were teachers, and they would make it age-appropriate for the children in their classes.
Sunday School has been one of the church's prominent ministries for nearly 100 years. The quality of the Sunday school teachers was exceptional, and this was one of the major draws to the church. The quality was not just the adult classes, but also extended to the children's ministry. Many of the older saints have said that it was the Sunday school classes — even more than the preaching — that drew them to Scofield. (Rae Lamberton began attending as a single person in 1951, and the teacher of the Adult Single's Class was a young seminary student named Charles Ryrie, who later authored study notes for the widely used Ryrie Study Bible.)
Though the Sunday school program was the main way that Scofield Memorial Church discipled its members, there were other programs as well. In 1937, Camp El Har was founded. According to Dr. Roper's words, the goal was definitely discipleship. "Our prayer was that those who entered its gates would receive from the ministry of God's word and through fellowship a holy thrill that would send them back to their homes never to be the same again spiritually."
Scofield's emphasis on education naturally leads to an emphasis on Christian books. Scofield has never started a bookstore, but Scofield members have frequented the quality bookstores in the area. A member of the church started one of Dallas' first Christian bookstores, with encouragement from Dr. Roper. This bookstore focused on content, and was a great place to go and get high quality books and theological classics. That store closed down when the owner retired, but others have continued the tradition.
In 1962, the church started a Christian day school called Scofield Christian School. The first year the school had less than 20 students. Today, Scofield Christian School is one of the largest schools in the area for grades kindergarten through eighth grade, and consistently has an enrollment of around 280 students. The school is fully accredited, and has an outstanding reputation in the community for quality education and administration, and a loving, nurturing staff. This school continues to hold the same values and standards it had when it was first founded, and it strives to develop Christian leaders by giving them a strong education with a Christian perspective.
In 1964, Scofield Memorial Church began the Southland Keswick Bible Conference, which ran for 11 years. During the conference, some of the finest preachers and Bible teachers in the world would be at the church. Members from that time remember these conferences as mountain spiritual experiences for them — one of the true highlights of their memories of the church.
An interesting survey done in 1932 and a similar survey done in 1997 revealed that the major factors influencing a person's decision to come to Scofield Memorial Church have changed little in 65 years. The two primary reasons for coming to Scofield remain 1) their friends have invited them to come; and 2) the quality of the Bible teaching and preaching at the church.
Scofield Memorial Church has enjoyed a reputation above its peers in the area of quality Bible teaching. This was true in the days of C. I. Scofield, during the days of Dr. Roper, and also during the ministry of Neil Ashcraft. We pray it is true today, and will be the reputation of the church in the future.
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