Compass Christian Church

October 12, 2023

We are thrilled to again have Compass Christian Church from Louisville, Kentucky, as a UCA Conference Partner. You may remember Pastor Will Barlow from his interview with Mark Cain on the UCA podcast (50. Church Plant) where he described how God had directed the formation of this new church. He described the process of faithful planning which took many months, coming to fruition in the Fall of 2022.

To connect with their group of husbands, wives, mothers, fathers, engineers, a nurse, soccer coaches, writers, programmers, Bible nerds (just to list a few), follow them on Facebook where they stream their services. And if you’re in the Louisville area, be sure to check out the Sunday morning service or another event at this dynamic, young church. I have been to a few services there, and I love Will’s preaching, the genuine worship, the welcoming believers, and the whole vision of the church.

We are overjoyed to have a local body of believers represented this year as a Conference Partner. May we return the blessing to them through our prayers and support. Be sure to stop by the table at the conference to meet them and find out how this church plant is going.

He gets us because he’s one of us.

February 12, 2023

In present day American culture Jesus has to a large extent become an empty, comic character, a guy who occasionally appears in a robe and sandals who seems nice and harmless, and who is often thoughtlessly co-opted for political gain. This is tragic. We applaud the He Gets Us campaign for highlighting the many noble and endearing human qualities of the Lord Jesus Christ. We agree with them that Jesus is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6), who is coming back to rule the world under God (1 Corinthians 15:12-28). Someday every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:11). Jesus cannot remain an irrelevance.

But the He Gets Us campaign virtually ignores the confused and confusing catholic traditions about the Lord Jesus being a “godman,” an eternal divine person mysteriously united to an impersonal human nature (body and soul), the Second “Person” of the Trinity. This they sum up all-too-briefly by saying that in their view Jesus is “fully God and fully man.”

These traditions clash with the Bible and urgently need to be reformed. The New Testament, rightly understood, does teach Jesus to be “fully man,” i.e. a real human being. But it doesn’t teach that he’s “fully God.” Rather, in the Bible, the Father alone is the one true God (John 17:1-3). And being “fully God” clashes with Jesus being a real man, and with his having some of the very qualities which so endear Jesus to us, such as his faith in God, his victory over real temptation, his cooperation with and empowerment by God, and his real death for us.

Truly, Jesus gets us – and this because he really is one of us, a real human being. To help you to see the real Jesus of the New Testament, clearly distinguishing him from his and our God (John 20:17), we’ve created some short new videos inspired by the work of “He Gets Us.” In them we show how the New Testament Jesus is “One of Us.”

For more about the Unitarian Christian Alliance, see these videos below, or this podcast episode, or the Unitarian Christian Alliance podcast.

Williamsburg Christadelphian Foundation

September 29, 2022

The UCA is delighted to again have the Williamsburg Christadelphian Foundation as a Conference Partner. They state that their mission is to help “individuals and families grow their faith in God and His Son. . . We help nurture trust in God and Jesus that endures through all the ups and downs of life. WCF sponsors programs and special initiatives around the world that:

  • Root faith in the word of God, learning from the faith lessons of faithful people in the Bible
  • Nurture faith by supplying tools that spur a whole faith to develop – one of head, heart and hands.
  • Inspire stronger growth by connecting people of faith, fostering a spirit that edifies all.
  • Show faith to others by enabling generous service for Christ.”

You’ll want to explore their podcasts and videos. Music is another aspect of their work, from original recordings of hymns, to Spotify playlists. They also give vital aid to immigrants, and their White Fields mission initiative has placed “140 volunteers in 20 countries on 5 continents.”

Be sure to stop by the WCF table at the conference to find out more about how this amazing organization is serving as salt and light in this broken world.

A sneak peek into the upcoming UCA Conference 2022

September 14, 2022

Today’s UCA podcast roundtable is about next month’s conference (schedule here), and it’s brimming with information. Anna Brown, Jake Ballard, and I discuss:

  • The paper review process
  • Paper topics listed and discussed
  • Q&A time information
  • Affordances of the larger venue
  • Workshop topics (will run parallel to paper presentations)
  • Evening plenary sessions
  • Meetup topics for Friday afternoon
  • The available baptistry and debate training on Saturday afternoon
  • The Conference Partners
  • Info about our twitter live event postings #UCAcon2022 (follow @UnitarianChrist)

Thanks to Anna and Jake for or a great discussion. Enjoy episode 60 – Pre-UCA Conference 2022 Roundtable!

How do I sign up myself and my church?

December 31, 2020

Thanks to UCA podcast host and Board member Mark Cain, there are excellent, step-by-step tutorials on the UCA YouTube channel. First, how to join the UCA as an individual person.

Second, here is how to add your church, home fellowship, ministry, or internet fellowship.

Please do this today; we want Christians who have reformed their understanding of God and Jesus to be able to find you and your group for fellowship!

Yes – even in your area. As I write this, the UCA has members in 35 countries. But we believe that there are many more unitarian Christians and churches out there. We’re trying to build a sort of online highway to bring people to them.

Real People, Real Stories

December 30, 2020

We are delighted to announce the new official podcast of the Unitarian Christian Alliance: The UCA Podcast. A mix of interviews and original content, it is hosted by the friendly and sometimes impish Mark Cain.

The podcast is off to a very strong start. After some Introductions, we’re invited into The Perilous Trinity Deep Dive. Then we meet a faithful mom and lifelong Bible student and teacher. What happens when your grown kid comes home and announces that he no longer believes in the Trinity or that Jesus is God – and this because of the Bible, not despite it? Find out about the journey she embarked on, and how the situation was resolved (part 1, part 2, part 3). Next, Mark Cain explores when we feel like God has put a lump of coal in our stocking. After this, we meet a smart and ready to laugh young lady who was raised biblical unitarian and yet ended up working for the Colson Center. She finds out about the limits of evangelical ecumenism, and yet has fond memories of her time there.

As you listen, you will no doubt want to leave some spoken feedback for possible inclusion in an episode.

If you’re not sure what a podcast is, here is a beginner’s guide. I listen to many on my Android phone using this popular app; you just search for the name of the podcast and hit the Subscribe button. If you have an iPhone, it comes with a built-in podcast app. Either way, you just need to click a few buttons to subscribe. Many of us love to listen while commuting (playing through the car stereo using Bluetooth) or just working around the house. It is so much better than radio.

And if all else fails, you can just listen through this webpage on any computer or smartphone. Just find a triangular Play button and click it; you know, like ye olde tape recorder.

We look forward to hearing many of your voices and many of your stories!