Christ the King Church,

This week marked the beginning of our twice weekly Bible and Music instruction that is offered to our children at Christ the King Church! Both mornings began at 8AM with a 30 minute Matins service followed by splitting the children into two groups for Music and Bible instruction.

With the younger children, I am focusing on memorizing biblical building blocks that will serve them well as they grow in their understanding of God’s word in the coming years.
With the older students, I am working on helping them grasp the big picture of the Bible. I also hope to ground them in a baseline knowledge of the whole Bible. I’d love for all of our older students to be able to answer the question if they were asked, “What’s the book of Numbers about?” or “What happens in 2 Kings?”.

This Bible and Music instruction is open to anyone at Christ the King on Tuesdays and Thursday mornings. If you would like your child to participate in one or both days please don’t hesitate to reach out to me so we can plan for you to join us!

Continuing a common trend, we will have yet another baptism this Sunday! Thus far in 2024 we have had over TWENTY baptisms! This is a very exciting and encouraging season for our congregation. God’s covenant faithfulness is from everlasting to everlasting and his mercies extend to a thousand generations.

As you witness and celebrate the baptism of Zechariah Roderer this Lord’s Day, I encourage you to remember that you have been baptized and to consider God’s faithfulness. In baptism, God promises to save his people just as he saved Noah and his family through the Flood and saved Israel through the Red Sea. Zechariah can stand firm on God’s promises to him in baptism and so can all who have been baptized.

As always, I encourage you to look over the liturgy in preparation for the baptism as the congregation will be asked to take a vow. Additionally, looking over the liturgy ahead of time will help to prepare you and your family to sing and participate more fully.
I look forward to worshiping with you all on Sunday!

In Christ,

Pastor Hansen

Christ the King Family,

Christ the King Family,

It was a joy to be back in worship with you all on Sunday and to rejoice with the Dixon family in the baptism of Eloise!

We will have more baptisms this Sunday as the Woodcook family will take their public membership vows and have their three children, Adler, Pierce, and Aurora, baptized! Please look over the liturgy so you are familiar with the vows that will be taken by the Woodcooks and also so you will be prepared to take a vow as a member of the congregation.

With the month of July coming to an end I wanted to take a moment to go over what will be going on at Christ the King in the coming months.

Beginning the week of August 18th, there will be morning prayer Matins services at church on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8:00-8:30 AM. This service is a paired down version of our Sunday liturgy and includes singing, prayers, Scripture reading, a short (5 min) homily, and a benediction. Matins is open to all and I’d encourage anyone who can make it to join us for morning prayer.

Following Matins on Tuesday and Thursdays, there will be Bible and music instruction open to the children of Christ the King Church. Starting at 8:40, I will teach a Bible lesson to the elementary aged children while Josh Rollins will teach a music lesson to the middle and high school aged students. The classes will switch at 9:30 and I will teach the older students a Bible/theology lesson while the younger kids will have a music and dance lesson. Please reach out if you have any questions or are interested in your children participating.

Sunday School will also start back in early September. I will be teaching a series on the Ten Commandments.

Also starting in early September, I will begin teaching a weekly Ladies Bible Study through the Gospel of Matthew (day of the week to be determined).

In Christ,
Pastor Hansen

Christ the King Family,

I am once again writing this newsletter from Birmingham, AL, while I attend the Trinity Term intensive of the Theopolis Fellows Program. The intensive began last week and will continue through this Friday. The Trinity Term program focuses on Bible teaching (while the Epiphany term focuses on Liturgy). Thus far, I have the privilege to sit under the teaching of Peter Leithart, Alastair Roberts, Jeff Myers, and Mark Brians. Additionally, each day of study concludes with a music practicum led by Paul Buckley. Thus far all of our classroom time has been very stimulating.

While I’ve enjoyed this time of intensive learning and engaging fellowship with the other participants in the program, I am looking forward to being back in Greenville at Christ the King this coming Lord’s Day! Joe Harrell will preach for us once again and I will lead through the liturgy and preside at the Lord’s Table.
What’s more, we have a baptism scheduled for this Sunday. You’ll notice in this week’s liturgy that Eloise Dixon will receive the sacrament of baptism. With the baptism of an infant, we ask the congregation to take a vow to support the parents in the Christian nurture of the child.

I encourage you all to look over the liturgy to prepare your hearts and minds to enter into God’s presence to worship our God and king!

In Christ,
Pastor Hansen

Christ the King Family,

I write this newsletter from Birmingham, Alabama. I attended the Theopolis Ministry Conference on Monday and Tuesday and I will begin the Theopolis Fellows Program this evening.

The theme of this year’s ministry conference was “Sexual Sanity in a Disoriented Age” and featured presentations by Peter J. Leithart, Alastair Roberts, Jeff Meyers, Uri Brito, and several others. The presentations, discussions, and fellowship were all very edifying. I had the opportunity to meet several other CREC ministers in person which is always an encouragement!

The rest of this week and next week I will be in Birmingham for the summer intensive of the Fellows Program. Rev. Joe Harrell has agreed to lead our congregation in worship and preach while I am gone the next two Sundays. Joe will be preaching on the Lord’s Prayer from Matthew 6.

In Christ,
Pastor Hansen

Christ the King Family,

Perhaps the greatest privilege we have as the people of God is to be welcomed to commune with God at the Lord’s Table. It is our practice at Christ the King Church to “pass the peace” while we pass the cup of peace (the wine) during communion.

As we have continued to grow as a congregation, we have run into some practical difficulties in the way we currently pass the peace. Recently, a number of people have missed communion wine due to the general bustle during the passing of the peace. While the deacons do a wonderful job making sure everyone is served bread and wine, the amount of bustle amongst the pews has resulted in people missing communion wine. Because of this, starting this Sunday, I am asking the congregation to remain seated during the distribution of the wine at communion. We will also sing a hymn during this time like we do during the distribution of the bread. We will continue to pass the peace during this time, but we will do so by remaining seated and passing the peace of Christ to those who are seated near you.

This practical issue leads naturally into some theological issues that inform us why the seated posture is most appropriate in the celebration of the Lord’s Supper.

First, we pass the peace after the distribution of the wine because we enjoy peace based on the blood of Christ. As Paul wrote to the Colossians, “19 For in Christ all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.” We can pass the peace to one another because we are partakers of the cup of peace. To “pass the peace” and not partake from the cup of peace misses what the Lord’s Supper represents.

This leads to the second thing we find in the scriptures about our privilege to come to the Lord’s Table. Near the end of the gospels, Jesus observes the Passover with his disciples when he institutes the Lord’s Supper. The gospels note that Jesus “reclined at table with the twelve.” (Matt. 26:20; Mk. 14:18; Luke 21:14). The reclined posture is significant.

In the Old Covenant, the individuals who had the greatest amount of access to God’s presence were the priests. While all Israelites could come to the Tabernacle/Temple to bring sacrifice, only the priests could actually enter into the Holy Place. However, the priests were servants in God’s house. (Heb 3:1-6) Servants stand to serve a king, they don’t recline at the king’s table. Indeed the language used to describe the service of the priests and levites at the Tabernacle is associated with standing before the Lord (e.g. Deuteronomy 18:7). In short, priests stood to serve God in the Tabernacle, they weren’t permitted to sit.

Thirdly, priests did not drink wine in God’s presence. They had access to the “showbread” that was placed in the north side of the Holy Place, but at no point did priests drink wine in their service to the Lord. Leviticus 10 states, “8 And the Lord spoke to Aaron, saying, 9 “Drink no wine or strong drink, you or your sons with you, when you go into the tent of meeting, lest you die. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations.” In the Bible, wine is associated with kingship and rule. Jesus, as the king of kings, turns water into wine. (John 2) The wise king who rules well is not ruled by wine (Proverbs 23).

Thus, when Jesus reclines at table with his disciples and instituted the New Covenant in his blood, some very significant things are going on. Because Jesus is both priest and king (after the order of Melchizedek), he not only serves in God’s house (as a priest), but he is also a royal son who reclines with his friends and counselors at the royal table. Indeed before celebrating the Passover, Jesus tells his disciples, “15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends”

We are friends of Jesus. And as his friends, he invites us to the royal banquet where we have the honor and privilege of sitting at the table of the King of Kings! This is what we do each Lord’s Day when we break the bread together and share in the cup together!

I pray that you all have a great rest of the week and I look forward to worshiping with you all on Sunday.

In Christ,
Pastor Hansen

It has been a busy month for our church in regards to membership and baptism. Since Easter, Christ the King has received 5 new households into membership and had 9 baptisms. It is an exciting time for our church community!

As our congregation grows it is important that we take on a high level of intentionality regarding our fellowship with one another. As new households join our church, I encourage you to reach out and find ways to be in fellowship with one another beyond Sunday morning worship.

One of the ways we are trying to encourage such fellowship is through the fellowship events that are being organized around Greenville this summer. These gatherings are spread out geographically to make it easier for our church to enjoy fellowship with one another. At the same time, these events are open to the whole church so feel free to attend any of them regardless of where you live.

Details for these events and any future events will always be in this newsletter and on the church calendar on our website.

I look forward to worshiping with you all on Sunday!

In Christ,

Pastor Hansen

A couple Saturdays ago, your session spent the day making plans for the upcoming months in our church’s life together. Over the summer, we have taken a break from Sunday school and our weekly fellowship brunches. One of the reasons for this break was to create some space to consider how to best organize things on Sunday mornings.

Our continued growth as a congregation strains the current fellowship space at Christ the King. In the past, we have had a monthly time of fellowship with our “extended brunch”. In an effort to maintain fellowship opportunities while recognizing the limitations at church, we have decided to take a different approach. This summer, various “parish-style” fellowship events are being organized for our congregation. These types of events will continue into the fall and winter months. Look for emails, keep an eye on the church calendar and please plan to join in for these events.

The plan is for Sunday school to return in September. I will be teaching through the Ten Commandments with the adult class. I am also working on finding and/or developing a curriculum for the younger classes that will focus on Scripture and catechism study.

I look forward to worshiping with you all on Sunday and the return of Sunday school soon!

In Christ,

Pastor Hansen

It was a glorious Sunday at Christ the King Church. What a joy to have the Switzer family take their public membership vows and to witness the baptisms of their children! The words of Psalm 100 are fitting to consider the faithfulness of our God from one generation to the next.

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.

We often miss the mark when we consider baptism. We like to think that baptism is primarily about the subject of baptism (the child or adult). Certainly, baptism does concern the person baptized, but it is also about so much more. Baptism is about God who baptizes and his faithfulness to keep all of his promises in Christ Jesus!

For the Christian, every baptism serves as a reminder that you can trust in all of God’s promise. Baptism teaches us that just as water washes away dirt and stains, so God removes all our sins from us because of Christ.

This Lord’s Day, Rev. Kameron Edenfield (Assistant Pastor at Trinity Presbyterian Church, Birmingham, AL) will lead the liturgy at Christ the King and preach from Romans 1.

In Christ,

Pastor Hansen