The New Testament paints a very hopeful picture of what the church is supposed to look like. Empowered by the Holy Spirit, members of the church are to devote themselves to one another, bear one another’s burdens, forgive and encourage one another, serve and love one another, and pray for one another.
While no local church is perfectly characterized by the above list, we trust that God is gradually transforming us into those types of people and that type of church—the type of church where all are welcomed and none are ignored, where all mature and none stagnate. It’s a beautiful picture and one that we, at Oakridge Bible Chapel, prayerfully hold up as our goal. However, there are a number of enemies to this God-pleasing progress; habits that, if practiced within the body of Christ, can undermine God’s ideal. Today we consider one such destructive activity: Slander.
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Josiah has served the Oakridge Bible Chapel family as one of its elders and one of its pastoral staff members since September 2018, before which he ministered as an associate pastor to a local congregation in the Canadian prairies. Josiah's desire is to be used by God to help equip the church for ministry, both while gathered (edification) and while scattered (evangelization). He is married to Patricia, and together they have five children—Jonah, Henry, Nathaniel, Josephine, and Benjamin.
