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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 11 of 11 General Observations
Every time Scofield Memorial Church has gone through a transition time, the church suffered from some uncertainty and loss of church members. The worst of these times was after C. I. Scofield left, but the most recent transition was a very difficult period for the church. However, Scofield has rebounded well from the periods of fear, uncertainty, and doubt. We are confident that God will bring the church through the current time of difficulty, too, and are greatly encouraged as we see signs that recovery is imminent.
How Has Scofield Memorial Church Changed in 125 Years?
In many ways, Scofield Memorial Church has traveled down a road with the entire American church, and has not been immune from the trends and difficulties of "our time" — as historian Dr. David Wells would put it. Many of the same social characteristics of our time have affected this local church in a similar way that other churches have also been affected.
However, in defense of the church, Scofield Memorial Church has faired better than most churches against the onslaught of worldliness, complacency, and apostasy. Alistair Begg has preached that a church will be successful if it does the basics well most of the time. We do not need fantastic numbers, huge budgets, or showy programs to have ministry that has eternal consequences. Time has shown that Scofield has been able to keep focused on the basics.
Over the years, Scofield Memorial Church has clearly invested the majority of its energy and time in attempting to preach the gospel and teach the Bible as faithfully and as well as possible. Their reward for this effort is a church that has had unusual impact on the world and the community, even though it has never been a mega-church. The church ministered so effectively to its own flock that many stayed for 40, 50, or 60 years! God honored His Word, and lives were changed.
However, the other reward for the emphasis on faithful Bible teaching and preaching was the amazing record of longevity and faithfulness to the original calling from every single one of the Scofield Memorial Church ministries. It is unheard of that a church can be committed to the same core beliefs for 125 years. It is encouraging to see that every single ministry started by the church remained faithful to the core beliefs of the founding organization.
Major denominations have been ravaged by liberalism, but the real downfall never begins as apostasy. The first downfall is worldliness, which eventually leads to carelessness, then ignorance, then indifference, and finally apostasy.
In the light of our desire to please God and have a ministry that will continue faithful to Scripture in the future, Scofield Memorial Church in 2001 adopted the following Vision Statement:
We desire to know God,
to glorify and worship God who alone is worthy,
to experience loving fellowship in the Family of God, and
to embrace all who seek after God.
We will communicate the reliable and relevant Word of God with conviction
and equip for service believers in Jesus Christ
so that
everyone is learning as a student of the Bible,
everyone is living and growing as a follower of Christ, and
everyone is sharing the good news of salvation by grace through faith.
"The Bible as it is for people as they are"
If we are faithful to our Savior and faithful to this vision, then it will be possible for our grandchildren and great-grandchildren to grow up in this church and still be transformed by the glorious gospel of Christ. Let us pray that we have the wisdom, courage, and conviction to make godly decisions.
Dean Zimmerman, 2004 Board of Elders
This paper was the result of a study conducted during 2001 as a part of a visioning project by Scofield
Memorial Church. The original sources for this paper include: Church manuals and annual reports from 1877 to the present, 120th Anniversary documentation compiled by Pastor Paul DeHaven
Historical paper on Scofield and the Scofield Reference Bible by Dr. Glen Goss
100 Year Anniversary history of the church written by Ella Parker (1976) C. F. Lincoln, 30-year reflection on the ministry of Harlin Roper (1957) C. F. Lincoln, Ella Parker, and John Witmer history of the church (1977) Charles Trumbull biography of C. I. Scofield
BeVier biography of C. I. Scofield, a Master's thesis at SW Joseph Canfield biography of C. I. Scofield
Personal interviews with members of long standing
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