Some dear friends left their life in the city and moved back home a few years ago. They live in his Mom and Dad’s place in the Sandhills of Nebraska. North Platte (pop. 23,000), a hour to the south, is the nearest . . . Continue reading →
Church Planting
Two Big Events In The Life Of A New Confessional Reformed Congregation
In Matthew 28:18–20 our Lord gave a mission to the visible, institutional church: preach the gospel, administer the sacraments, and make disciples. He did not give that mission to a million evangelical para-church organizations. He gave it to the visible church. The . . . Continue reading →
Why Communism Is Not The Answer
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New Reformed Church In Vancouver, WA: Peace URC
Peace United Reformed Church, Vancouver, WA held her first worship service last Lord’s Day and 94 people attended. The introduction below is written by the Rev. Chris Coleman, the church-planting pastor. Chris is graduate of Biola University and Westminster Seminary California. He . . . Continue reading →
Where Are They Now? Fikret Bocek And The Reformed Mission To Smyrna
Long-time listeners to Office Hours will know the name Fikret Bocek. I interviewed him back in 2010. Here we are nine years later, and Fikret is still with us. That is no small thing, as you will hear. He is a 1998 . . . Continue reading →
Gig Harbor URCNA Church Planting Kickoff Meeting September 14, 2018
Under the supervision of the Lynden URC a new URCNA congregation is forming in Gig Harbor, WA. They holding an organizing meeting at 7:00 PM at the Rosedale Hall: 8205 86th Ave NW, Gig Harbor, WA. Rev Mark Vander Pol will be . . . Continue reading →
Fulfilling The Great Commission In Cape Town
Guest post by the Rev. Simon Jooste, church planting pastor in Cape Town, South Africa. Reformed Church Southern Suburbs (RCSS) began as a Bible study of Reformed Church Bellville (RCB) in April 2012 with Rev. Jooste and his family in Rondebosch, Cape . . . Continue reading →
Office Hours: Bringing A Living Hope to Waterdown, Ontario
At Westminster Seminary California, since our beginning in 1980, our primary mission has been to prepare men for pastoral ministry. We have graduated more than eleven hundred students about 70% of whom go on to pastoral ministry. Indeed, some of our earliest . . . Continue reading →
Good News In And From Missoula
Pastor Jared Beaird from Covenant Reformed Church (URCNA) in Missoula, MT sends some encouraging news from the congregation: They have a new family by transfer from the PCA. This year we have seen an increase in visitors and stayers. None of them . . . Continue reading →
Why Should We Plant Reformed Churches?
As true churches of Jesus Christ, the URCNA are obligated to fulfill our Lord’s Great Commission to make disciples: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in . . . Continue reading →
With The Presbycast On The Lost Sheep
The USA is a vast place and there are relatively few confession Presbyterian and Reformed Congregations. You can find many of them listed via NAPARC. Regularly confessional ministers get the question: what do I do when there is not a confessional P . . . Continue reading →
Meet Phil Baiden: A Confessional Presbyterian Pastor In The UK
The HB tends to focus on advancing the Reformation among the Reformed and Presbyterian churches in North America but we know that it is happening elsewhere. One example of the recovery of the Reformed theology, piety, and practice is the Rev. Mr. Phil Baiden, pastor . . . Continue reading →
Confessional Presbyterian Church Plants In The UK
Recently I learned about a relatively new church plant of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in England and Wales in Sheffield, Leeds, and Manchester. The pastor is the Rev. Dr. Kevin Bidwell. In addition to the work in Sheffield, they are also actively working . . . Continue reading →
Good News From Charleston, SC
Jon Payne, pastor of Christ Presbyterian Church (PCA), sends word of good news about this church planting work in Charleston. Not all the church news that comes over the transom is good news but this report is encouraging. Jon writes: Christ Church . . . Continue reading →
Growing Reformed Churches: Doing The Simple Things
Church growth is a thorny subject. First there are the thistles of rationalism in which self-proclaimed experts offer to sell to pastors and churches a three-point program which will transform their average congregation to a super church. Back in the late 80s and early . . . Continue reading →
The One And The Many United In Christ
Office Hours: Reaching A Spanish-Speaking Population
The United States has experienced several great waves of immigration in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. At this writing the United States is experiencing another such wave, this time of Spanish-speaking immigrants. This language-cultural group is noticeably under represented in confessional . . . Continue reading →
A Reformed Church Plant Initiative In Richmond, VA
Not Your Opa’s GR
Most think of Grand Rapids as a bastion of Dutch Reformed identity. Again, the reality is somewhat different than the image. Right now, about 20% of the population is of Dutch ancestry, 80% is not. Sadly, while the Dutch (my own heritage, . . . Continue reading →