The Rev. Jeffrey D. Lang
About
Ministry
I was ordained to the gospel ministry in 1999, and since then I’ve had the privilege of serving small congregations in several states. My commitment to small church ministry began in college and has only deepened over the years.
Congregations are made up of real people: imperfect, sometimes anxious or tired, and navigating a changing and challenging world. Christ has provided the assurance that his church will endure. That promise offers hope for today and tomorrow.
It’s truly a privilege to open up the Bible’s story together, to celebrate the sacraments, and to be welcomed into people’s lives in some of their happiest and hardest moments.
Theology
My theology has been shaped most deeply by the Reformed (or “Calvinistic”) tradition, but many voices across the wider Christian family have also enriched my faith.
With the passage of time, I’ve come to find value in the particular gifts each branch of the Protestant family brings to the common table of faith we all share. The perspectives and practices of others may not be my own, but they have something important to offer to the church, and each in their own way enrich the whole.
I suspect that some intramural questions Christians have debated for centuries, like predestination and free will or the proper mode of baptism, are not likely to be solved by us, are mostly insoluble, and won’t find resolution this side of heaven. Until then, I’m glad to hold my own convictions with equal parts firmness and humility and to ‘labor in the Lord’s vineyard’ with brothers and sisters who see things differently.
Worship
As a Protestant, I am persuaded that worship stands at the center of human life and of the Christian vocation. Worship directs us toward that which we value as ultimately worthy of our loyalty and love, our devotion and trust.
Worship must be guided and bounded by Scripture, God’s revelation. We are not left without a word, indeed, without positive direction, for how we ought to worship the Triune God, Creator and Redeemer.
Biblical worship is centered on the proclamation of the Bible, the celebration of baptism and the Lord’s Supper as the two sacraments instituted by Jesus, prayer, and the singing of psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, and offering the sum and substance of our lives and labor to God.
Born in Michigan, and calling Simpsonville, South Carolina his hometown, Jeffrey Lang serves as the minister at First Presbyterian Church in Glendale. He is a graduate of Montreat College and Erskine Theological Seminary, with additional postgraduate study at the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary.
The Rev. Lang is a minister member of the Cincinnati Presbytery and sits on the presbytery’s Permanent Judicial Commission.
Professional interests include theology, church history, and Christianity’s relationship to Western Civilization.