Exhortation, August 29

Earlier this month, we celebrated the end of the first year of our existence as Trinity Reformed Church. This occasion gives us reason to pause to reminder ourselves what we hope to do as a local congregation. Since we started Trinity, the elders have been laying out a number of plans for our work, and these are in three specific areas: First, liturgical; second, local ministry; and third, participation in world missions.

In the first area, liturgical, we have not yet made any significant changes in the liturgy that we began with. We agreed when Trinity began that we would keep our liturgy close to that of Christ Church for a year, to minimize any appearance of division. Recently, however, the elders began discussing a number of improvements of our worship service, and we are shooting for Advent to inaugurate those changes. Stay tuned for more on that.

With regard to local ministry, we have emphasized a couple of specific areas. We want to cultivate collegial relations with other area churches, and we have also talked about making contact and cultivating friendships with local civic leaders so that we can minister to them. We have emphasized that the church�s local ministry should be focused on mercy to the needy �Eto the poor, the elderly, the distressed. We want Trinity, along with the other churches of the Palouse, to have a reputation for good works. On some of these things, we have made a small beginning, but there is much yet to do.

With regard to world missions, we have emphasized that the Lord is doing marvelous things throughout the world, particularly in Asia, Africa, and South America. With the two universities on our doorstep, we have an opportunity to participate in the Lord�s work from a distance. Though we have not worked out plans ways to have regular and close contact with international students at the universities, we have had several opportunities to support the work of the church in other areas of the world. The church has given regular support to the Leidenfrosts, and we hosted Blake Purcell from St. Petersburg, Russia this summer. Niki Valchev, from Bulgaria, spent several months here preparing to work in Sofia, where he is now involved in a church plant. We have an ongoing relationship with that work. One of our members, Ian Kern, is, as of this week, working with Servant Group International in Kurdistan, in Northern Iraq, and Jillian Nightingale spent several weeks this summer on a short-term mission to Australia and New Zealand.

In my estimation, we have much to be grateful for. The Lord has blessed this church plant beyond my expectations. But we must never forget that we exist purely because of God�s blessing on Christ Church, and Christ Church�s willingness to pass that blessing on to another congregation. From the very first Sunday, we were a year or two ahead of most church plants, because we all came from Christ Church and have been supported in all kinds of ways by our mother church. So, continue to pray for and give thanks for Doug Wilson and the elders of Christ Church. And beyond that, we should always remember that our continuing existence and any future fruitfulness in God�s kingdom is a sheer gift of God�s grace. We will flourish only if we trust in God�s mercy and rely on His power.

posted by Peter J. Leithart on Sunday, August 29, 2004 at 08:02 AM

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