A Beginning Vision
The Vision for an effective Evangelical divinity school was articulated clearly by 30 Evangelical Leaders who gathered at First Baptist Church of Flushing-Queens in 1996. These Evangelical Leaders were men and women deeply devoted to the amazing Gospel of the Living LORD GOD’ and his awesome grace. They were invited to FBC-Flushing by Dr. Paul deVries, PhD, and the meeting was hosted there by Dr. Russel Rosser, DMin, the Senior Pastor at FBC.
Right after the opening Prayer, the very first urgent issue was raised by Dr. V. Simpson Turner, D.Min, the Senior Pastor at the Mt. Carmel Baptist Church in Brooklyn. He had been serving on the Governing Board for Gordon College – an Evangelical college in Massachusetts. Dr Turner boldly defined a focus for what was to follow. He asserted that “the new Divinity School and its leaders and students must be “Evangelical in our behavior – and not only for our beliefs!” Instant unanimous agreement marked the awesome beginning to a fertile discussion at that meeting, and going forward in subsequent gatherings of Evangelical Leaders.
NYDS’s Beginning Motto
Another especially noteworthy source of wisdom at that first meeting was Dr. Henry P. Davis, III, D.Min, the young Senior Pastor at Second Canaan Baptist Church in Harlem, which is positioned very close to the northern reach of the mammoth Central Park. In describing his own testimony of growing in deep Godly fellowship, Dr. Davis advocated that all of us be surrounded by God’s presence – as in being “Bible-based, Christ-centered, Spirit-led.” The entire group of 30 Evangelical Leaders immediately endorsed this 6-word phrase as an awesome Godly Motto for the new Divinity School.
By the way, the spontaneous leadership of this meeting guided the group of Evangelical Leaders going forward. Both Dr. Turner and Dr. Davis were invited and served on the original Governing Board. They accepted. And Dr. Davis, a consummate preacher, also taught “preaching” for the Divinity School for a couple years, until Dr. Davis accepted a call to be a Senior Pastor for a church in Baltimore, Maryland.
NYDS’s Behaviors and Beliefs
The Visions Behaviors and Beliefs are mixed into both the Hebrew Scriptures (the Old Testament) and the New Testament. Both are holy collections of sacred texts through which the Holy Spirit guides us into what to believe and how to behave. As a result, holy behavior and right belief are very deeply intertwined in all the segments of the Bible. A telling model of unity is the fact that two awesome monuments in the Bible – one from each Testament – are constructed from the same 10 behaviors and deeply rooted in the same 10 beliefs. This is in spite of the fact that one monumental text was spoken by the Living God and it features nine negatives one positive (“Honor your father and mother…) in the 10 Commandments in Exodus 20. In the New Testament, the monumental Lord’s Prayer in Jesus Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7 is taught by Jesus to be spoken by people and is features just one negative (“Do not let us yield to temptation…”) but nine positives – yet using same 10 behaviors and deeply rooted in the same 10 beliefs as the 10 Commandments!
How to Pray the Ten Commandments … and How to Live the Lord’s Prayer
| 10 Commandments Exodus 20:1-17 | The Lord’s Prayer Matthew 6:9-13 | Notes on Comparisons Behavior & Believing Prayer Aligned |
|---|---|---|
| I am the LORD your God who liberated you. Have no other gods beside me. | Our Father | Both texts begin with deeply personal introductions to the only Living God. |
| No idols. | Who is in Heaven, | Because He is in heaven, no idols can represent Him. |
| No taking God’s Name in vein. | May Your Name be kept holy. | God’s name is to be honored, and not used lightly. |
| No work on Sabbath. | May Your Kingdom come soon. | The Sabbath rest in God’s work and grace is a frequent Biblical picture of God’s Kingdom. |
| Honor your parents. | May Your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. | We learn submission to higher authority first from our parents. |
| No murder. | Give us today our daily bread [food]. | Giving bread [food] actively supports anyone’s human life. |
| No adultery. | Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. | Adultery sins against other people’s bodies, promises, and relationships. |
| No stealing. | Do not yield to temptations. | Temptations often steal other people’s ideas, goods, reputations, or relationships. |
| No perjury. {No false witness against a neighbor.} | Rescue us from the “Evil One.” | The “Evil One” is also the “Deceiver,” the “Father of Lies,” and the “Accuser.” |
| No envy of anything another person has. | For Yours is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory forever. | The best antidote to envy is the recognition that it all belongs to Our Father in heaven, anyway. |
Adding to NYDS’s Behaviors and Beliefs
The deep commitment to Evangelical Behaviors and Beliefs goes beyond the seminary Board and its programs. When Dr. deVries joined the National Association of Evangelicals, they put him on the governing board. Since he is an ethicist, he was assigned to work on the issues that we face as Americans – and to come up with a statement the issues that would unite people. That document then was then called “For the Health of the Nation.” It now includes 8 simple statements, with several supportive paragraphs, and which the whole NAE Governing Board unanimously agreed to in 2004 – and again in 2007 to quell “right-wing,” very vocal critics who alleged that God cares only about the “sanctity of human life” issues, and nothing else.
- We commit to protecting religious freedom and liberty of conscience.
- We commit to safeguarding the nature and sanctity of human life.
- We commit to strengthening marriages, families and children.
- We commit to seeking justice and compassion for the poor and vulnerable.
- We commit to preserving human rights.
- We commit to pursuing racial justice and reconciliation.
- We commit to promoting Just Peace and Restraining Violence.
- We commit to caring for God’s Creation.
The National Association of Evangelicals Statement of Faith is affirmed by about 50 million American Evangelicals and another 50 million Evangelicals who are not yet organizationally connected with the NAE. And there are another 800 million Evangelical people who are a part of the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA). Dr. deVries has not only served on the Governing Board of the NAE for 12 years, and he has written Bible studies and talked at meetings organized by the WEA. The Statement of Faith of the WEA and NEA are essentially the same.
A Statement of Faith
We believe the Bible to be the inspired, the only infallible, authoritative Word of God.
We believe that there is one God, eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
We believe in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, in His virgin birth, in His sinless life, in His miracles, in His vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood, in His bodily resurrection, in His ascension to the right hand of the Father, and in His personal return in power and glory.
We believe that for the salvation of lost and sinful people, regeneration by the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential.
We believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit by whose indwelling the Christian is enabled to live a godly life.
We believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the lost; they that are saved unto the resurrection of life and they that are lost unto the resurrection of damnation.
We believe in the spiritual unity of believers in our Lord Jesus Christ.
[As adopted by the National Association of Evangelicals.]
Conclusion
This profound structural unity of the Lord’s Prayer and the Decalogue is a testimony to the deep unity of holy prayer and holy living – the needed Biblical unity of our Christ-centered and Spirit-led behaviors and beliefs. For an Evangelical Divinity School teaching – and learning, living, and loving – the Gospel of God’s Amazing Grace, it must exude in our Christ-centered Behaviors and be reinforced through our Spirit-led Beliefs. Once again, our Biblical Beliefs must be reinforced through our Godly Behaviors.
Because Godly Behaviors and Godly Beliefs are deeply and Biblically intertwined, NYDS intentionally teaches as much Biblical Ethics as it does Biblical Theology. Being “Bible-based, Christ-centered, Spirit-led,” NYDS choses to live and teach the Gospel of God’s Amazing Grace – and its precious and blessed results in our deeds and in our words.
Romans 15:13
Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Galatians 6:9
So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest if we don’t give up.
2 Timothy 1:7
God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.