Eastern
Home
Missionary
Newsletter
Rev. Jai Mahtani
216 Thornberry Drive
Pittsburgh PA 15235
Tel: (412)
371-2299
E-mail: jaimahtani@msn.com
“Go
ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have
commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”
December
2003
To:
Council &
Congregation of Southwest Protestant
Reformed Church,
PR congregations, denominational
mission fields &
contacts in eastern US
Dear friends and fellow saints,
Greetings from Pittsburgh!
Greetings once again from our family and from our mission to all our friends and
fellow saints and to all others keeping up with eastern mission labors.
Special Worship Services
With this brief newsletter we want to remind you of our special worship services
through the information that is found overleaf. Of
course, by the time you get this letter Thanksgiving Day might be over. But we would like to invite you to join us for our
Christmas, Old Year’s, and New Year’s Day worship services. What a beautiful way
to spend another joyous but busy time of the year! To
be found in God’s house singing His praises, contemplating His goodness, and mutually
exhorting one another — that is a blessed privilege we have as children of God. Besides that, on the mission field we seek to use
these special services to reach the nations with the gospel of grace, and we hope members
and regular visitors to our mission will bring along friends and family.
Reformation Celebrations 2003
We had a good turnout at our Reformation Celebrations 2003 with Professor Engelsma. The focus this year was on marriage and family, a
timely subject for us. The members of the
mission unanimously voted to have Professor Engelsma return to Pittsburgh someday. Besides the lecture Friday evening and the worship
services on Sunday, we also had a Forum on Saturday on the trials and blessings of
marriage. Everyone who attended found this a
very edifying and instructive session. May
God help us as mission and as churches to uphold the truths regarding marriage doctrinally
as well as in our own lives to the glory of His Name and for the spread of the gospel.
Visits with Southwest PRC
Accompanied by a member of the Steering Committee here in Pittsburgh, I returned to
Grand Rapids recently for another scheduled meeting with the Council of Southwest PRC and
with some members of the Domestic Mission Committee.
We now look forward to delegations both from the Domestic Mission Committee and the
calling church to visit the field in December 2003 and January 2004. These visits will include meetings with the
missionary and with the Steering Committee, and family visitation conducted by the elders
of Southwest. We are also focusing our
attention more and more on the preparation of future officebearers for the establishment
of a PR congregation in Pittsburgh if it so pleases the Lord.
Planned Activities for 2004
The Steering Committee is busy preparing our calendar for 2004. Although we have made various tentative plans for
next year, the calendar of activities is not yet ready for distribution. Please look for it in our February/March
newsletter. However, I can give you advance
notice of some of the plans that are being made. Memorial
Day, May 31, we hope to have our annual Memorial Day picnic in a beautiful park located in
the Pittsburgh area. Then, around July 1-4,
2004, we hope to have an eastern missions retreat so that saints in Pittsburgh, PA;
Allentown, PA; Wyckoff, NJ; Lanham, MD, and others interested in eastern missions might
come together for a time of mutual encouragement. Finally,
October 29-31, 2004, we hope to hold our 7th annual Reformation
Celebrations, this time focusing on the Reformation’s influence on Missions. We intend to invite members of the evangelism
committees/societies of our churches so that we can host a Forum on Missions as part of
our Reformation Celebrations 2004. As
mentioned above, these plans for 2004 are tentative, and we will be keeping you informed
in future newsletters. As always, members of
our churches as well as all our contacts are welcome!
