Reformed Presbyterian Minutes of Synod 1997 - Rparchives.org

More documents

Recommendations

Info

74 MINUTES OF THE 1997 SYNOD OF THE 1 Ethnic (cross-cultural) mission church By July 27, all eight of these mission churches will have been organized!! And, as you can see from the list above, many more possibilities are on the horizon. For this we give all the praise to our Redeemer "who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth" (I Timothy 2:4). What is even more encouraging is that these new works are spread across five of our six North American Presbyteries and that one of them is a classic "daughter" work. Because of this unprecedented growth, the Board has decided to modify its priorities within our overall goal to the following: 1. Strengthen newer works 2. Develop additional new works which God sends us 3. Evangelism training 4. Develop additional church planters What this means is that our first priority is to look for ways to help the presbyteries strengthen their newest mission churches. This may mean that we may offer additional church planter training opportunities and materials. Presbyteries are encouraged to make suggestions to the HMB. Church Planter/Organizing Pastor Training At last summer's RP International Conference the HMB offered a series of workshops and training sessions for interested church planters, seed families, sessions and other interested people. These workshops are available on tape for your use. There are at least 14 men who are involved directly in church planting that have not yet been able to attend an RP Church Planter Training Conference. In addition, those who have attended in the past have progressed to later stages of the church planting process and could benefit from more advanced training. In light of this, we hope to offer another Training Conference sometime in the next 12 months. Please pray with us about this and give us your suggestions. Evaluating Potential Church Planters The 1995 Synod approved the following recommendation: That Synod encourage the HMB to work with presbyteries in the development of an evaluation process which will enhance the appointment of qualified men to be church planters. The Board continues to see an evaluation process for potential church planters as a useful tool to help a presbytery decide who they should call to a new work. We would like to have a process that is done by Reformed Presbyterians for Reformed Presbyterians with a possibility of some outside experienced help. In order to work toward this goal, we participated in an OPC "Readiness for Reformed Ministries in the '90's" seminar. One of us served as an evaluator and church planter John McFarland volunteered to participate as an evaluatee. As John will readily tell you, it was a positive experience for him as well as for the
REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF NORTH AMERICA 75 evaluator. The OPC has given us an open invitation to participate in their in the future. However, the HMB has appointed a committee to begin developing our own process. A broad based group is being gathered to see what we can come up with which willfit the RPCNA. Our desire is to help presbyteries call men to responsibilities which fit their gifts and experience so that they can be the most productive for our Lord. Finances In 1997 we anticipate giving over $210,000 to the Presbyteries for aiding their new works. Please remember that once a new work is approved for reducing aid, a multi-year commitment is made that can total over $100,000 for each new work. The Board must have a sustained year to year cash flow, as well as some reserves, in order to be faithful to the presbyteries. Last year at this time, we were predicting a deficit by 1998. For 1996 and 1997, the Board "gave up" some of its RPMetM request to meet the needs of the seminary. Thankfully, God has provided the possibility of restoring this from Unrestricted Undesignated Funds. If our request for $95,000 from these funds is granted in 1997 and if our request for $65,000 from RPMetM for 1998 is granted and if contributions to the "Time to Plant Fund" continue , we hope to be able to fund most of the approved aid requests which we anticipate through 1998. We know that "what God orders, He pays for" (Matthew 28:18, 20b) and that He will "supply our needs according to His riches in glory" (Philipians 4:19) and that "we walk by faith and not by sight" (II Corinthians 5:7). With these promises and His clear instruction to "disciple all the nations", we will continue to press ahead. Time to Plant Fund We urge congregations and individuals to continue giving to the Time to Plant Fund. These "above and beyond RPMetM" contributions are essential for the work to go forward. Aid Completed Two works complete their six year reducing aid program in 1997 - Kokomo, IN and Pensacola, FL. These are the first two to "graduate" to self sufficiency from the six year program. Before 1992, reducing aid lasted up to eight years. The shorter program frees up funds for additional new works. Kingdom Builder's Fund The Board has grants available for qualifying new works to help with their first church building. Although funds are available, no applications were received during this past year. Evangelism Explosion The HMB continues to provide scholarship aid for attending EE clinics by pastors and lay people. A number of pastors and lay people participated during this past year. Among them are Pastor Keith Black who has had a particularly fruitful ministry using EE, Charles Leach who participated in an EE training in
Page 1:
M I N U T E S O F T H E S Y N O D a
Page 4 and 5:
MINUTES OF THE 1997 SYNOD OF THE Ro
Page 6 and 7:
Hemphill, Robert L., Westminster He
Page 8 and 9:
6 MINUTES OF THE 1997 SYNOD OF THE
Page 10 and 11:
Page 12 and 13:
Page 14 and 15:
Page 16 and 17:
Page 18 and 19:
Page 20 and 21:
Page 22 and 23:
Page 24 and 25:
Page 26 and 27: 24 MINUTES OF THE 1997 SYNOD OF THE
Page 102 and 103: »00 MINUTES OF THE 1997 SYNOD OF T
Page 104 and 105: 102 MINUTES OF THE 1997 SYNOD OF TH
Page 126 and 127:
124 MINUTES OF THE 1997 SYNOD OF TH
Page 128 and 129:
Page 130 and 131:
Page 132 and 133:
Page 134 and 135:
Page 136 and 137:
Page 138 and 139:
Page 140 and 141:
Page 142 and 143:
Page 144 and 145:
Page 146 and 147:
Page 148 and 149:
Page 150 and 151:
Page 152 and 153:
Page 154 and 155:
Page 156 and 157:
Page 158 and 159:
Page 160 and 161:
Page 162 and 163:
Page 164 and 165:
Page 166 and 167:
f 64 MINUTES OF THE 1997 SYNOD OF T
Page 168 and 169:
Page 170 and 171:
Page 172 and 173:
Page 174 and 175:
Page 176 and 177:
Page 178 and 179:
Page 180 and 181:
Page 182 and 183:
Page 184 and 185:
f 82 MINUTES OF THE 1997 SYNOD OF T
Page 186 and 187:
Page 188 and 189:
Page 190 and 191:
Page 192 and 193:
Page 194 and 195:
Page 196 and 197:
Page 198 and 199:
Page 200 and 201:
Page 202 and 203:
Page 204 and 205:
Page 206 and 207:
Page 208 and 209:
Page 210 and 211:
Page 212 and 213:
Page 214 and 215:
Page 216 and 217:
Page 218 and 219:
Page 220 and 221:
Page 222 and 223:
Page 224 and 225:
Page 226 and 227:
Page 228 and 229:
Page 230 and 231:
Page 232 and 233:
Page 234 and 235:
Page 236 and 237:
Page 238 and 239:
Page 240 and 241:
Page 242 and 243:
Page 244 and 245:
Page 246 and 247:
Page 248 and 249:
Page 250 and 251:
Page 252 and 253:
Page 254 and 255:
Page 256 and 257:
Page 258 and 259:
Page 260 and 261:
Page 262 and 263:
Page 264 and 265:
Page 266 and 267:
Page 268 and 269:
Page 270 and 271:
Page 272 and 273:
Page 274 and 275:
Page 276 and 277:
Page 278 and 279:
Page 280 and 281:
Page 282 and 283:
Page 284 and 285:
Page 286 and 287:
Page 288 and 289:
Page 290 and 291:
Page 292 and 293:
Page 294 and 295:
Page 296 and 297:
Page 298 and 299:
Page 300 and 301:
Page 302 and 303:
Page 304 and 305:
Page 306 and 307:
Page 308 and 309:
Page 310 and 311:
Page 312 and 313:
Page 314 and 315:
Page 316 and 317:
Page 318 and 319:
Page 320 and 321:
Page 322 and 323:
Page 324 and 325:
Page 326 and 327:
Page 328 and 329:
Page 330 and 331:
Page 332 and 333:
Page 334 and 335:
Page 336 and 337:
Page 338 and 339:
Page 340 and 341:
Page 342 and 343:
Page 344 and 345:
Page 346 and 347:
Page 348 and 349:
Page 350 and 351:
Page 352 and 353:
Page 354:
show all

Reformed Presbyterian Minutes of Synod 1997 - Rparchives.org

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?