Pastor Donald Shirk, from Grace Baptist Church, Batavia, New York, was engaged in a unique ministry to funeral directors April 30–May 5. Advanced Funeral Service Education Programs was founded by a funeral director friend of Pastor Shirk’s, who asked him to lead two professional development workshops for a Midwest tour in Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio.
“Christianity and Cremation” charted the Biblical pattern of burial and cremation and how historic Christianity understood and implemented the Biblical teaching. Four questions answered in this workshop: (1) Do the Scriptures allow for cremation? (2) Do the Scriptures prohibit cremation? (3) What is the difference between letting the body decay at its own rate as opposed to cremation, when the end result is the same? (4) What has been historic Christianity’s view of cremation, and should that influence our thinking today?
The second workshop, “Healing the Heart of the Funeral Director,” looked at three specific heart needs of the funeral director. Pastor Shirk reports that this opportunity to teach the Bible to these choice public servants was a very purposeful time of significant spiritual ministry.
Pastor Shirk will be taking part in an upcoming Empire State Fellowship Shop Talk titled “Biblical Funerals in a Culture of Death” in Endicott, New York, on May 17, 2007.
