Happy 12th Anniversary

Why study church history? Today, Stephen Nichols celebrates the twelfth anniversary of 5 Minutes in Church History by reflecting on twelve ways church history has enriched his faith and deepened his understanding of God’s work through the ages.

Well, my good friends, my dear listeners here at 5 Minutes in Church History, tomorrow is a very special day for all of us, maybe more for me than you, but tomorrow is our 12th anniversary. We first aired on August 14th, 2013, and here we are 12 years later. Thank you for being with me and for listening, and for being part of 5 Minutes. I'm so grateful when I get to meet you in person, and I think of you often as I record these, and I appreciate your being on this really fun journey with me. Let's hop into this week's episode and get at 12 reasons why we do this and why I like church history. That's a lot. So here we go.

First, we get perspective. In this world of breaking news and where everything is catastrophized, or conversely, sometimes we can miss really important things. It's so helpful to have the past as perspective.

Second, we get to visit our relatives. Our old intro to 5 Minutes used to say, “This is our family history,” because that's what church history is. This is our family history. And you know how fun it is to hear the great stories about the crazy uncle and the exploits of former family members and accomplishments of family members. Well, church history is our family.

Number three, we are keeping continuity with the Bible. The Bible took place in place and time. It is historical. It's not just propositions dropped from heaven. It's not some visions that are just recorded and given to us. It is real people in real places and real time. It is history. And so we are keeping continuity with the Bible's emphasis on history when we pay attention to church history.

Fourth, we need examples. We need inspiration, and we need courage from examples, and church history is full of examples. To elaborate a little, number five, we need positive examples, and we get plenty of positive examples, folks who were faithful disciples in the time and place where God put them. But we also need, number six, negative examples. We need to guard ourselves from the missteps that have been taken in church history, missteps of heresy. I remember often, especially as younger Christians, newer Christians, maybe not trained in the faith, and you ask them to define the Trinity, and very typically someone may say, well, God has three parts, and at that moment unknowingly, you step into a really detrimental heresy. So sometimes those negative lessons can be more impactful and more palpable.

For us, seven, church history is like going on a journey because it is going on a journey. Historians love to quote the opening line of LP Hartley's 1953 novel, The Go-Between. Now, I don't think anybody then continues to read it, but the first line is very famous and he said, “The past is a foreign country. They do things differently there.” So every time we go into the past, it's like going on a journey into a foreign country.

Number eight, we get a break from the tyranny of the gods of our age. This technology that surrounds us, AI and whatever it's going to do to us and our futures. How refreshing it is to get a break from all that.

Number nine, the Langston Hughes poem's, “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” first line is, “I've known rivers,” and then he says, “My soul has grown deep like the rivers.” Studying church history, we get to know ourself and know our identity.

Number ten, as we jump into church history, we understand theological developments. We know what we believe, and we can become even more equipped to defend and contend for what we believe.

Well, those are a lot about us and a lot about figures from church history, but ultimately the story of church history is about God. And so number 11, we learn God's faithfulness to his church in his own people. It's not so much the courage of people and the boldness of people. That's a huge part of the story, but that's not the ultimate part of the story.

The ultimate part of church history is God's faithfulness to his people. And so finally number 12, we study church history to worship the God of history.

Thanks for listening for 12 years of 5 Minutes in Church History.