Pastor’s Corner November 2005

The following was published in our monthly newsletter, the Redeemer Report.

And they sang a new song, saying,

“Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you
ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.” Rev. 5:9-10

This year has been very active for Redeemer’s involvement in missions. We currently support 5 missionary families on a regular, monthly basis and at least two others on an occasional basis. The Youngs (El Paso/Juarez) and the Nortons (Peru) visited and gave exciting reports from their respective fields and we were able to hear from a new missionary, and his ministry in a closed country. Over the summer, Linda Swygard introduced the Voice of the Martyrs ministry to us and we also heard from Kevin Turner, director of Strategic World Impact. Later this month we will welcome Scott and Kathy Craig, missionaries with Border Evangelism and Mercy Ministries as they share their ministry on the U.S.- Mexico border. We had the privilege of sending a Redeemer team to Juarez, Mexico for a week in July, as we have done for the last five years. Susannah Ford traveled to Sri Lanka to work with Mission to the World’s disaster relief team when the Tsunami struck and she recently returned from a medical mission trip to Ethiopia. Woody Woodward traveled to Moldova for a ministry of mercy and evangelism in September. The Hershbergers now have 79% of their support raised to go to Bulgaria and will hopefully be able to go to that field soon. In one of our upcoming Sunday School classes, Elder Scott Creecy will be teaching from John Piper’s excellent book on missions- “Let the Nations Be Glad”. I praise the Lord that He has given us so many opportunities to serve Him and learn of His work across the globe. We are still a relatively young church, with all sorts of “growing pains” still to come, nevertheless, we must continue to increase our involvement in missions, both locally and abroad. An important mark of a church that is maturing in Christ is the growing desire to proclaim the message of grace to the world. May this be true of our church.

To better organize our involvement and efforts in the area of missions, Peter Hart, by appointment of the Session, is reorganizing our missions committee which will begin assisting every member of Redeemer in their awareness and participation in missions. The Redeemer missions committee will be meeting on a monthly basis.

I recently re-read the purpose statement of our mission-sending agency, Mission to the World. It’s worth sharing it with you all:

Mission to the World is the mission-sending agency of the Presbyterian Church in America, helping to fulfill the Great Commission by advancing Reformed and covenantal church-planting movements through word and deed in strategic areas worldwide.

MTW advances the work of the body of Christ worldwide through a wide variety of word and deed ministries by identifying, selecting, training and sending men and women and integrating these into church-planting movements. We minister among unreached people groups in world-class cities as well as hinterland areas, partnering with national churches and indigenous leaders whenever possible. MTW also partners with local PCA churches to glorify God through the discovery and engagement of their unique potential, purpose and passion for cross-cultural ministry.

MTW upholds the doctrines of sovereign grace and the truth that God saves His people as described in the Westminster Standards. The Holy Scriptures are inerrant and authoritative, relating the reliable history of God’s covenantal relationship with His children. In regard to that relationship, it is clear that missions is a divine enterprise in which God commands and graciously accepts the obedience of His children. Our foundation for missions is the dual truth that God chose in eternity those who will be saved and that He also uses us as instruments in the process of saving them.

A church-planting movement is a Spirit-directed, vision-driven, sustained expansion of Christ’s Kingdom among a particular geographic or ethnic people. This is accomplished through indigenously led churches resulting in ongoing church multiplication and renewal that significantly impacts all levels of society—spiritually, socially and culturally. We will advance church-planting movements by partnering with an existing group or denomination that is Reformed and covenantal. When there is no such group we may establish a new Reformed and covenantal denomination. As the Holy Spirit leads we will also take opportunities to impact others from our Reformed and covenantal perspective.

MTW believes that the Church is God’s instrument to complete the missionary task. Our approach is to advance movements of the gospel through the planting of self-propagating, self-supporting, and self-governing churches, which live out a dynamic Reformed and covenantal faith through trained and empowered leadership.

In the Lamb,
Pastor Tony Felich