Pastor's Message

As pointed out on our home page, "Our two non-negotiables are the Lordship of Jesus Christ and the authority of the Bible." Jesus is the Head of the Body of Christ, the church. (Col. 1:18) We take that seriously here in Clintondale. Jesus is our leader. No one has final authority in the church except Jesus.

Jesus is the Word of God. (John 1:1,14) All truth must be submitted to Jesus and it is tested by the Holy Spirit. Jesus said:

"I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you....But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you....But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come." (John 14:16-17,26;16:13, NASB)

And with the illumination of the Holy Spirit, the Bible is an infallible guide to all truth, all we need for knowledge of faith and practice. As it states in an older edition of our Faith and Practice.

It has ever been, and still is, the belief of the Society of Friends that the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament were given by inspiration of God; that, therefore, there can be no appeal from them to any other authority whatsoever; that they are able to make wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Jesus Christ. "These are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through His name." (John 20:31) The Scriptures are the only divinely authorized record of the doctrines which we are bound, as Christians, to accept, and of the moral principles which are to regulate our actions. No one can be required to believe, as an article of faith, any doctrine which is not contained in them; and whatsoever any one says or does, contrary to the Scriptures, though under profession of the immediate guidance of the Holy Spirit, must be reckoned and accounted a mere delusion.

We believe with the apostle Paul,

All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16,17)

With the Lordship of Jesus and the authority of the Bible being non-negotiable, everything else is open for discussion. Without compromising on the essentials, we leave a lot of latitude for individuals to search out their own relationship with God. While we believe that one's relationship with God must be centered in Jesus and based upon biblical truth, we also believe that honest people can disagree honestly on how they see various matters of doctrine. While proclaiming a rather large and definite body of truth, as witnessed by our Faith and Practice, we recognize that no one's salvation is dependent upon theology or doctrine, but rather upon a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Regarding the sacraments or ordinances of communion and water baptism we allow liberty. We agree with the historic Friends testimony that communion and baptism are essentially inward experiences and no outward observances can replace the experiences. However, for most of us the use of bread and the fruit of the vine in communion and water in baptism help convey, by grace, the inward experiences. We seek to be obedient to the commands of Jesus by remembering him in the Lord's Supper and going into all the world to make and baptize disciples. (1 Corinthians 11:23-25; Matthew 28:18-20) We hold with Paul that "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love" and "neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation." (Galatians 5:6; 6:15) Therefore, we seek to be obedient to the Lord in observing the sacraments of baptism and communion, and encouraging our members and attenders to do the same. No one is saved through the sacraments, but the sacraments speak volumes about the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We are an independent Friends Church, having left our former yearly meeting in 1995. Originally recorded as a minister of the gospel by Indiana Yearly Meeting, and recognized as such by New York Yearly Meeting, from 1993 through 2005 I held credentials with Elim Fellowship. However, today I am recognized as a minister of the gospel by Clintondale Friends Christian Church. We are not officially connected with any larger body, including the Religious Society of Friends. My Quaker connections early on in life were with Friends United Meeting, the denominational organization with which our church has had the closest historic ties. This web page has a Quaker Links page where one can see many other Quaker sites.

Clintondale Friends Church is truly a community church. Clintondale, New York is a small hamlet in the Mid-Hudson Valley, located equidistant between New York City and Albany, eight miles west of Poughkeepsie. Most of the people worshiping here do not come with a Friends background. Although our worship service reflects the openness and simplicity of a Friends meeting, we seek to offer a solid Christian witness to which any believer in Christ could relate. In one of our brochures a few years ago we described ourselves as "a Christian community in the Quaker tradition."

We truly believe that every Christian is a minister. I am not the minister of the church, only the pastor. We have many, many ministers in our church, and their areas of ministry include the church, their families, neighborhoods, workplaces, schools - any place they find themselves. I have the great privilege of working with these fine ministers on a weekly basis, seeking to encourage them and equip them for their work of ministry. Jesus has given

some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. (Ephesians 4:11-13)

We believe in the universality of ministry and invite all who wish to join with us in it. It is by working together as ministers that we will be able to extend the Kingdom of God in our communities.

If you are near enough to visit us, please drop in. If you don't have a church home, drop in and see if we might be yours. If you do have a church, be sure to take part in its life.

You may e-mail me at Dan Whitley

My snail-mail address is Clintondale Friends Church, P.O. Box 105, Clintondale, NY, 12515. The church telephone number is 845-883-6456.

Dan Whitley, Pastor, Clintondale Friends Church

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