Step 1: Congregation Votes to Organize (April 21)

At the congregational meeting this Sunday, the congregation will consider three things. First, the Session will seek the congregation’s approval to designate the current membership roll as the charter roll of new congregation. Second, the Session will request the congregation to petition the presbytery to organize the mission work into a new and separate congregation. Third, the Session will express its desire that I would be called to serve as pastor of the new church, but also inform the congregation that if it wishes, the Session can begin a search for a new pastor.

Step 2: Presbytery Approves to Start the Process (May 3-4)

At its May meeting the Presbytery will vote to approve our petition.

Step 3: Process of Organizing is Implemented (May-Early October)

If our petition is approved, the Session will examine and certify men to stand for election as ruling elders and deacons. They will also call and conduct the congregational meeting required to elect elders and deacons, call a pastor, and adopt Bylaws and/or Articles of Incorporation. Additionally, some other presbyters will visit us to help the presbytery consider our readiness to organize.

Step 4: Presbytery Approves our Organizing (October 17-19)

If everyone is satisfied that the mission work is ready to organize, this will be reported to the presbytery and the presbytery will vote to organize the congregation during its October meeting.

Step 5: The Big Day! (Early Nov.)

We have a grand service right here in Tucson in which the presbytery receives us as a new congregation of the presbytery and our church officers are ordained and installed. Then after the service we have a huge feast!

So there you have it. These are the next five steps we will take as we move from mission work to an organized church. These are not hoops to jump through, but important actions we must take with great care and prayer. If you would like to learn more about how we plant new churches in our denomination, you can download Planting an Orthodox Presbyterian Church or read it for free online.

Five years ago, a few families in Tucson started meeting and praying. They prayed that one day God would plant an Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Tucson. Since then, God has been answering that prayer. In fact, it seems that God’s mission work is now just months away from organizing as a new and separate congregation of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church — and we are excited!

But are we ready?

This is a tough question that shouldn’t be taken lightly. Like handing over the car keys to a kid too soon, the result of organizing a church before it’s time can be disastrous.

So to help church planters, congregations, and presbyteries answer that question, the Committee on Home Missions and Church Extension of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (CHMCE for short!) has produced a useful list of questions in their church planting manual, Planting an Orthodox Presbyterian Church, that can help guide us in answering that important question: Are we ready?

You can click the link above to get the original questions, but I’ve reproduced them here with a little bit of editing and reformatting. I think you’ll agree that it’s a solid list worthy of careful reflection. So here are some things to think about:

1. LOCAL UNTIY. Do the members of the mission work love, respect, and defer to one another? If they do not, it will be difficult for them to stand together as an organized congregation in future years.

2. REGIONAL UNITY. Do they understand and love what the Orthodox Presbyterian Church is? Do they share the OPC’s interests and concerns? Are they actively involved in praying for, and financially supporting, her ministries of home and foreign missions and Christian education? Are they appreciative of the work of their presbytery on their behalf?

3. HONOR. Do they respect, submit to, and obey their temporary, presbytery-appointed leaders? Are they simply waiting to be organized so as to get out from under the intrusion and interference of outsiders? If such attitudes are prevalent, the patterns are not yet set for them to embrace and follow leaders whom they have chosen and whom God has called and appointed.

4. WORSHIP. Does their worship of God as a congregation unify them and encourage their hearts? If they hold strong differences of opinion about the elements of worship and are simply tolerating the present order and practice of worship, they may not yet be ready to walk together as a unified body of Christ.

5. ADMINISTRATION. Are there healthy habits and biblical polices in place for accounting, protecting children, organizing social events, distributing information, etc.?

5. GROWTH. Are they growing in spiritual maturity as a result of the ministry of the church? Is Christ being established in them as his word is preached and sacraments are administered?

6. OUTREACH. Are they reaching out to their neighbors, relatives, and friends, and is God using their efforts to gather more of His elect into the church? Are they demonstrating a concern for the needs of those in their community? Do they love their neighbors? It is vital that positive answers to these questions be forthcoming from the members of the mission work about the ministry of the church that God is building there. Otherwise, those who are involved in its establishment may be little more than participants in a theological club or a political interest group.

So what do you think? Are we ready?

As a missionary in Tucson, I talk to people all the time about the gospel of Jesus Christ. Most of these conversations are pleasant and engaging, but I often meet resistance to the gospel.

Over time I’ve come to realize that there are different reasons for this. Some people resist the gospel because they know it and they hate it. Other times, however, people resist the gospel (and the church which preaches it) for another reason: ignorance and bad associations.

Surprisingly, my work as an evangelist may not be that different from the work of a poet laureate. In an in interview in Teachers & Writers with Susan Karwoska, Billy Collins, former U.S. Poet Laureate, said this:

“People have resistance to poetry for good reason. They have a lot of associations with that word, some of which are true and some of which are not. One association is that poetry is too difficult or unreadable or it’s a kind of private language, which it is in some ways. Another association is with sentimentality, and a kind of drippy, bluebirds and bonnets school of thought.”

The same thing can be said of orthodox Christianity. People think the church/Bible/theology is either as intimidating as graduate school or as lame as a 99¢ greeting card.

Unfortunately, there’s good reason for this: the church is intimidating, lame, or both. Billy Collins puts it better:

“SK: Why do you say the “83 percent” [of American poetry] is not worth reading?”

“BC: Well, because it’s either emotionally presumptuous or incomprehensible. And sometimes both.”

So what’s the solution? One answer is exposure. Again, Billy Collins:

So there is alot of reasonable resistance to poetry. I wouldn’t try to talk a high school student into poetry. What I would do — what I did, really, by starting Poetry 180 — is just to expose them to poems.”

Just as you probably can’t talk a high schooler into poetry, a thirty minute conversation about the necessity and importance of church probably won’t do it either (though God is known to use less). When it comes to the gospel, people need to be exposed to lots of the good stuff — namely, winsome, biblical preaching that genuinely offers to the listener the deep grace of God, as found only in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

If you’ve never given Christianity a chance, please, get yourself to a church that cares more about feeding you than coddling you, or, making themselves feel big. Listen to the preaching. Meet some fellow sinners. Take the membership class. And maybe instead of resisting grace, you’ll receive it instead.

***

Here’s the link to the whole article: Susan Karwoska, “Driving a Wedge Into the Prejudice Against Poetry: An Interview with Billy Collins,“ Teachers & Writers 38, no. 4 (2007): 3-5.

Photo Credit: Chris Court

http://www.faithstreet.com/church/covenant-orthodox-presbyterian-church-tucson-az

Click here to learn more about some of the ways we prepare men for pastoral ministry in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.

This week the morning sermon is on Deuteronomy 21:1-9. In this passage we are encouraged to look forward to heaven.

Evening Sermon

The evening sermon is on Galatians 3:10-14. Come and hear why the “law is not of faith” and why that matters so much for your life.

The morning sermon is on Deuteronomy 19:15-21. It’s called “Truth and Justice.” If you are just joining us or need a refresher, here is an outline of the laws in Deuteronomy.

Evening Sermon

The evening sermon is on Galatians 3:6-9, where God tells about the gospel in the Old Testament and how that relates to us today.

Are you interested in learning more about Christianity? You are not alone and we’re here to help. Consider joining one of our Christianity Explored classes. It’s a simple, informal way to investigate Christianity for yourself.

The class takes you through the Gospel of Mark and what it has to say about Jesus Christ: who he is, why he came, and what it means to follow after him.

You don’t need to know anything about the Bible to come, nor will you be asked to read aloud, pray, or sing. You may ask any question you want. If you want more information, just send us an email and we’ll get right back to you.

The sermon this week is on Deuteronomy 16:1-17. Pastor Chelpka will share what the three major religious festivals in ancient Israel mean for us today.

If you are just joining us or need a refresher, check out this outline of the laws in Deuteronomy to get a sense of the context.

Hymns

Here are the hymns for this week. You can get your own hymnal here.

• God, All Nature Sings Thy Glory, 122
• Great Is Thy Faithfulness, 32
• Alleluia! Alleluia!, 283
• Doxology, 731

1. The Sanctuary and Other Religious Matters (12:2-16:17)

a. The Place of Worship (12:2-13:1)

b. Punishing Instigation to Worship Other Gods (13:1-19)

c. Holiness (14:1-21)

d. Periodic Duties at the Chosen Place and Other Periodic Duties (14:22-16:17)

2. Civil and Religious Authorities (16:18-18:22)

a. The Judiciary (16:18-17:13)

b. The King (17:14-20)

c. Endowments of the Clergy (18:1-8)

d. The Prophet (18:9-22)

3. Judicial and Military Matters (19-21:9)

a. The Courts (19)

b. Warfare (20)

c. Unsolved Murder (21)

4. Miscellaneous Laws, Mostly About Civil and Domestic Life (21:10-25)

a. Family Laws (21:10-21)

b. Treatment of the Body of an Executed Criminal (21:22-23)

c. Miscellaneous Domestic Laws (22:1-12)

d. Marital and Sexual Misconduct (22:13-29)

e. Forbidden Relationships (23:1-9)

f. Miscellaneous Laws (23:10-25:19)

5. Liturgical Declarations (26:1-15)

a. The First-fruits Ceremony (26:1-11)

b. The Tithe Declaration (26:12-15)