Nearly four hundred years ago, Pastor Thomas Shepard and Missionary John Eliot labored for Christ and the gospel in the early American colonies. 

Shepard, a well-known pastor in Massachusetts, was a founder of the town of Cambridge. His preaching and theological work had a profound impact on the colony’s religious life. Eliot was among the earliest American missionaries to the Native Americans. He would eventually translate the Bible into the Algonquian language. This Bible was the first to be printed in North America.

In their respective fields of ministry, Shepard and Eliot saw the value of education and advocated for a college, the first institution of higher learning established in the American colonies. Initially called “New College” when it was started in 1636, the institution’s mission statement was clear: “To be plainly instructed and consider well that the main end of your life and studies is to know God and Jesus Christ.” 

Today, that institution, now called Harvard University, is known as a bastion of liberal philosophy and practice. The current president of chaplains at Harvard, Greg Epstein, is a self-professing atheist. 

How did an institution that began with the motto “Veritas Christo et Ecclesiae” (“Truth for Christ and the Church”) morph into what Harvard is today?

The answer is simple: drift. Like a ship without an anchor, Harvard drifted from its founding purpose and principles. 

The story of Harvard has been repeated countless times throughout two millennia of church history. Whether it be a local church, an institution, a family, or an individual, there will always be a tendency to drift from the truth.

The apostle Paul was aware of this tendency, and he warned Timothy, his son in the faith, to guard against it: “Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us” (2 Timothy 1:13–14).

“Hold fast”—these two words are essential for Christians who desire to finish their lives and ministries with the same convictions with which they started. And this instruction is vital for churches and for Christian ministries as well. 

Thirty years ago, a local church voted to begin a Bible college with the purpose of “training laborers for His harvest.” The theme was from Matthew 9:37–38
where Jesus said, “The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.” That church was Lancaster Baptist, and the institution that was started was West Coast Baptist College.

Since the very beginning, WCBC has been a ministry of a local church ministering to other local churches as they send students to be trained for the work of the ministry. 

As WCBC turns thirty this year, we remain committed to our founding mission of training laborers. In fact, this phrase hold fast embodies our goal as a local church ministry to hold fast to our founding doctrines and purpose. And they embody our prayer for our alumni to remain faithful to Christ and His Word. 

This fall, as we began our thirtieth year, I instituted the theme “Hold Fast” to encourage our students to stand strong in biblical doctrine, Baptist distinctives, godly music, personal soulwinning, world evangelism, and other core areas of scriptural ministry. 

What does it mean to “hold fast”? And how is it accomplished over the decades? Second Timothy 1:13–14 shows us the way: 

Hold Fast to Truth 

Paul exhorted Timothy to “Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me.” These sound words were not merely Paul’s advice to Timothy. As an apostle and one through whom God gave direct revelation, Paul is speaking here of Scripture itself. 

God has blessed us with abundant access to His revelation in our Bibles. The doctrine we find in Scripture is as sound today as it was in Paul’s day. We must actively, purposefully, and diligently hold fast to the truth of the faithful Word of God. 

Paul gave similar advice to Titus: “Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers” (Titus 1:9). Our words mean little. God’s Word is everything. 

Throughout his ministry, Paul held fast to the truth so closely that he was able to instruct the church at Corinth, “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1). Similarly, he could tell the church at Philippi, “Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample” (Philippians 3:17). 

Could you say the same? If people follow your example, will they be following Christ? Will they be led closer to the truth of God’s Word? 

One of the challenges ministry leaders face is in choosing the examples they follow. There is a tendency in ministry for leaders who are not seeing the fruit they would like to see to change their beliefs and biblical practices. Paul challenged Timothy to instead “hold fast” to the form (pattern) of sound words that he was taught. 

This is not to say that every person who at one point led us toward Christ will also hold fast. I’ve had my share of disappointments from mentors who turned from what they had once taught me or who were exposed as having lived a duplicitous life. But during one of those seasons early in my ministry, the Lord used passages like 2 Timothy 1 to assure me that my convictions must be firmly rooted in His Word, and then I must hold fast to those doctrines. Without these moments of conviction and decision, we will drift from the sound, life-giving, holy Word of God. 

Hold Fast with Tenacity 

It takes courageous faith to hold fast when the world is dead set against God and His Word and when other Christians are abandoning the biblical principles and practices they once professed to believe.

After all, it is easier to drift than to stand; it’s easier to let loose than to hold fast. 

But we have two resources available to fuel our tenacity—genuine faith and sincere love. This is why Paul told Timothy to “Hold fast…in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.” 

Without faith, we will not long maintain a hold on truth and a passion for Christ and souls. And without love, our ministry is ineffective. 

Our highest motivation for faithfulness is a love for the Lord Jesus. We need to love Christ more than self, more than ministry success, and more than the approval of others. We must be able to say with Paul, “For the love of Christ constraineth us…” (2 Corinthians 5:14). If we are living for self, we will move from the truth. If the ministry is about us, we will be willing to compromise. We will only be able to hold fast with tenacity when our faith and love are firmly rooted in Jesus.  

Hold Fast to the Testimony

Paul’s exhortation to hold fast finishes with a final instruction: “That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us.” This “good thing” is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul referred to it in verse 8 as “the testimony of our Lord.” 

If we are to hold fast, we must take a definite stand for the gospel message. We must be willing to boldly and unashamedly preach the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ as the only way to a relationship with God and a home in Heaven. We must unapologetically stand on the truths that the Bible is the very Word of God and true and right in its ways. 

Thankfully, we have the indwelling Holy Spirit who will enable us to hold fast to this testimony, come what may. This is why Paul told Timothy to keep what was committed unto him “by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us.”

We cannot effectively minister for Christ without the Spirit’s enabling. Only the Holy Spirit can illuminate, prompt, and strengthen us as we need. Thus, we must daily “walk in the Spirit” (Galatians 5:25) if we would experience His sustaining power to hold fast.

Hold Fast to the End

Second Timothy was the apostle Paul’s final instruction to Timothy before Paul would be martyred. He began in chapter 1 with an admonition to Timothy to “hold fast.” But what, humanly speaking, made his instruction so weighty was that as he neared the end of the epistle he could honestly say, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7). He had held fast. 

I’ve often said that my great desire is that at the end of my life I will still be in love with Christ, my wife Terrie and our family, and the local church. I want to be able to echo Paul’s words and to have “kept the faith.” 

Meanwhile, my prayer for every student and every graduate of West Coast Baptist College is that they will, with a humble heart and Spirit-filled walk, hold fast—to the truth, with tenacity, and to the gospel itself.