Fall 2013 Outreach Newsletter

7/27/2019 Fall 2013 Outreach Newsletter

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FALL 2013 • www.ona-arp.orgAssociate Reformed Presbyterian Church

outreach newsletter

onaOutreach

North

America

And

Jesus cameand said to them

All authority

in heavenand on earth

has been given to me

Go therefore andm ak e

disciples of all nations baptizing them

the name of the

F a t h e r

S o n

H o l y

S p i r i t

teaching them to observe allthat I have commandedAnd behold with

you

y o uI am

always to the

to the end of the ageMatthew

28:18-20 A R P

c h u r c h



Prayer on

September 1Rev. Allen DerrickUnion ARP Church, SC

The Union Session, following Syn

suggestion of using September 11 time for prayer and focus on the

pressed, extended an invitation to

entire community to join us. So, we

just that. I sent a special invitatio

every church in our area. We had th

formation in the local newspaper.

up some posters in several places aro

the community.

Since the service was to included

entire community, I carefully c

some others to participate. One spe

was a well-loved retired school teacAnother was a re chief who was l

right outside New York City on Sep

ber 11, 2001. He was one of the rs

sponders who rushed into the city

day and lost three of his men.

My message from Luke 4:16-21 foc

on Jesus reading from Isaiah 61 and

nouncing his mission to preach the

pel to the poor, heal the broken-hear

deliverance to the captives, sight to

blind, etc. The message and the pr

included the oppressed, espec

Christians who are being persecute

many places.

Rev. David GrifnGreenville ARP Church, SC

Our prayer time

September 11

held in our san

ary for half an

and was attende

a small group of members; yet, it a good time of fervently petitioning

heavenly Father on behalf of our C

tian brothers and sisters facing var

degrees of persecution for their

in Christ. A simple printed guide

provided, one that noted a few de

about persecution internationally

Egypt, Syria, and China, as well as

cent incidents of the persecutio

Christian business owners in the Un

States. We prayed for these matters

also for our ARP missionaries in Pak

and Turkey. †

Church Planting Leads

to Church RenewalRev. Clint DavisCatawba Church Extension Chairman

The more I talk about

church planting and

the ARP Church’s need

to be more commit-

ted to planting more

churches, the more I

encounter the ques-

tion, “Why should we

plant more churches

when we already have

many churches who could use extra

members and are in desperate need of

enewal?” That is a great question. And,

my answer is simple. Church planting

eads to church renewal.

Tim Keller has written, “The vigorous,

ontinual planting of new congregations

s the single most crucial strategy for) the numerical growth of the Body of

Christ in any city, and 2) the continual

orporate renewal and revival of the ex-

sting churches in a city. Nothing else…

will have the consistent impact of dy-

amic, extensive church planting.”

As you can see, Keller argues that the

works (church planting and church re-

ewal) exist in a both/and relationship.

t seems to me that a lot of church-

men think of the relationship between

he two works in a completely opposite

way— an either/or relationship. That isimply not the case. Let me give you ve

easons why I, along with other evan-

elicals, hold to the conviction that a

ommitment to church planting leads to

hurch renewal.

. New churches bring new ideas to the

whole body of Christ. The best way to

each established and older congrega-

ions to reach new generations and new

ocial groups is to expose them to the

kills and methods developed in new

hurch plants. Church plants possess the

freedom and necessity to be innovative.

As the saying goes, “Necessity is the

mother of invention.”

2. New churches develop strong, cre-

ative, and adventurous leaders for the

whole body of Christ. New congregations

are full of adventurous people whose list

of core values includes creativity, risk,

and innovation. These people are usual-

ly heavily vision-oriented and attractedto congregations in which they can as-

sist in shaping the vision of the church.

Established churches and denominations

will benet greatly from an infusion of

vision and energy.

3. New churches challenge established

churches to go through the process of

self-examination. The numerical and

spiritual “success” challenges older

congregations to evaluate themselves

and their ministries in signicant ways.

This self-examination often results in aredenition of vision, values, and iden-

tity within the older congregations.

4. New churches function as an “evan-

gelistic feeder school” for the body of

Christ. Most people in new churches

are within the rst ve years of their

Christian walk. These “new” Christians

benet the body of Christ in a variety of

ways. They are passionate about sharing

their faith with non-believers. There-

fore, they want to be trained to do so.

And then, many new church attendees

end up in older churches as their life

situations change. Therefore, they bring

their passion and training into estab-

lished churches.

5. New churches give the established

churches, which support them, a reason

to get excited about the advancement

of Christ’s kingdom. Established church-

es get renewed in spiritual excitement

when they hear of the work of the Lord

in new churches.

So, a passionate commitment to plant-

ing new churches is the best way to

grow the body of Christ, and it results in

a renewal of established churches. †

1 Tim Keller, “Why Plant Churches?” http://

download.redeemer.com/pdf/learn/re-

sources/Why_Plant_Churches-Keller.pdf

Keller’s paper on church planting has become

a standard resource on the reason for plant-

ing churches. My points above are largely

structured after his discussion.

1



Teamwork forSummer Missions

This was the second summer that White

Oak ARP in Georgia sent a team on a

summer mission trip to help Hill City

Church in Rock Hill, SC. Rev. Mackay

Smith kept a blog for the week if you’d

like to read more:

whiteoakarp.org/Blog.html

Rev. Mackay Smith, White Oak ARP

Partnering with Hill City was a uniquemission trip experience. Rather than

crossing oceans or vast economic di-

vides, we were a church going to an area

very similar to our own, to provide them

with labor to carry out a mission in their

community that they otherwise would

not have had the man power to accom-

plish. From the outset, I think there was

less of a motivation of “Wow, this will

be a cool experience that I can post on

Facebook.” amongst our team, and more

of a “We’re going to help these people”

idea. We were able to closely focus onevangelism and personal ministry.

This year, we spent our rst night with

Hill City families, which gave our folks

a great chance to get to know them. It

allowed them not only to be stretched

socially, but gave them more reason to

own the mission. We helped Hill City put

on a VBS for the week at a local park. I

think some of the best moments came

when a few families who had been in the

outer orbit of Hill City were able to en-

gage and connect with some of the core

folks, as everyone picked up/drop

off kids. I heard at least one dinner

being made.

After VBS, all the kids, their pare

and Andy Stager (the Hill City pa

enjoyed hot dogs in the park. As

were winding down, a lady asked m

interesting question. She asked, “

do you measure success?”

I thought for a brief moment before

sponded. How do we measure succe

our ministry at VBS and at White Oa

it some number, whether a numbe

attendees or a number of children

answer a question regarding their sa

tion in a particular way? Is it how m

we learned? Is it how good we felt d

what we were doing? Is it whether

City was encouraged?

My response was simple: our trip

successful if the gospel was cleproclaimed. It doesn’t matter if we

any immediate fruit (even though

always nice to see it!). It doesn’t ma

how many children came. If one pe

was confronted with the saving re

of Jesus Christ, we did our job. I

were faithful to the Great Commiss

conducted ourselves worthily, and di

shrink from the opportunities before

we have accomplished what I would

sider a successful “mission trip.”

Think about that next time you’re

sidering a church event, or the “

cess” of Sunday morning worship.

you looking for a number? Are you a

a certain “feeling?” May all of our m

tries be guided by the simple prese

tion of the gospel, which, as Paul

us, “is the power of God for salvati

May each day of our lives be “mis

trips” where we seek to do exactly

same thing. †

If your church is interested in doi

mission trip like this, contact ONA:

Tessa Taylor, [email protected]

Tessa Taylor, ONA Staff had the privilege of recently attend-

ng Engage the South, a church planting

onference put on by the Acts 29 Church

lanting Network, in Birmingham, Ala-

ama. While it was marketed for church

lanting, I thought it would be relevant

or not only church planters and their

ore groups, but also pastors and ses-

ions, or anyone interested in making

isciples for Christ this day and age. I

would denitely encourage more people

o attend next year!

Ray Ortlund, Bryan Loritts, Matt Chan-

ler, Kevin Smith, and David Platt

poke about the need in this country

or churches that embrace theological

larity, churches that plant churches,

hurches marked by humility and holi-

ess, churches committed to ethnic

iversity, and churches serious about

vangelism and conversion.

elow are some application points from

David Platt on how to be intentional,ot accidental, about making disciples

or Christ.

. “Profession of faith without transfor-

mation of life is not biblical conversion.”

We live in a place lled with people who

hink they are Christians but aren’t. In

rue conversion, God will “remove the

eart of stone from your esh and give

ou a heart of esh” (Ez. 36:26). As a

esult, we have radically new wants and

ntirely new wills.

. “Pastors, we need to expose the idols

f the heart as we expound the Word of

God” (Ez. 14). We can’t just manage our

ehavior because the root of disobedi-

nt action (sin) is disbelief in the heart.

. “We need to equip people to spread

he gospel of God to sinners as they

rust the power of God to save.” The

overeign grace of God is our sole con-

dence in evangelism. We need to com-

municate the gospel and God will save

is people.

4. “Let’s be conscious of the inextricable

connection between personal conver-

sion and global mission.” We are not the

center of God’s universe. His purpose in

saving us is “the nations will know that I

am the Lord” (Ez. 36:23). †

For more information visit:

www.gotothehub.com/acts-29-engage-the-south/



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$News

Bethesda Presbyterian Church in Johnson city, TN is ac-

tively recruiting a church planter. Interested parties can con-

tact Randy Foster ([email protected]) or David Corley

([email protected]).

Virginia Presbytery is actively recruiting a church planter

for a new mission work in Virginia and will work with

the mission developer in identifying a target location.

Interested parties can contact the chairman, David Vance,

at 540-449-3620 or [email protected].

City Church of Asheville in Asheville, NC has a new

website: www.citychurchavl.org.

Pray for the ONA Search Committee as they search for a

new director.

Donate to ONA online at www.ona-arp.org/donate or mail

checks to 1 Cleveland St. Ste. 110, Greenville, SC 29601.

Outreach Newsletter for your church! Contact the ONA of-

ce if you would like this newsletter to be sent in bulk to

your church.

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Fall 2013 Outreach Newsletter