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Churches

New Trio for Calling Second Missionary to the Philippines - Dec.27, 2015

Mark1615 1The Council of Doon PRC has announced a new trio for calling a second missionary to labor in the Philippines with Rev. D. Kleyn.

It consists of Rev.C. Griess (Calvary, Hull, IA.), Rev.B. Huizinga (Redlands, CA), and Rev.J. Mahtani (Cornerstone, St.John,IN.)

A congregational meeting is scheduled for Sunday, January 3, after the morning service to call from this trio.

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Pittsburgh Mission Updates - December-January 2015

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Once again our Pittsburgh Mission "reporter", Mandy Tolsma, has put together an update on activities and visitors there, this time for December and January 2015. Be sure to check out her news items below - and perhaps plan your own trip to this mission station of the PRC.

  • Our Bible studies met every other Wednesday throughout November and December.  We are discussing I Peter 2 and our duty to submit to our government and show kindness to all men.  We ended the year with a ham dinner and Christmas caroling at our last meeting on December 16.  We will break for a couple weeks.

  • We had a Neighborhood Outreach committee meeting the second week of November and the second week of December.  We are working hard to update our website and our witnessing through the means of social media.

  • The highlight of the month was our Christmas Program after the evening service of December 20.  We had a beautiful narrative written by Monica Nystrom and read by several of the ladies from church which emphasized Christ being born from the line of Isaac and David.  We were treated to a beautiful duet by Titus and Peter Mahtani.  They sang “Oh, Holy Night!”    Corrine Bauman and Monica Nystrom sang “Silent Night” and harmonized very well!  There was an organ and piano duet by Joe Petron and Peter Mahtani.  The Bruinsma family sang “Angels We Have Heard on High.”  These were in addition to the beautiful job our children did.  The school children sang and recited verses telling what the angels announced to Joseph, Mary, and in Luke 2.  The preschool children sang and gave the welcome and ending speeches.  Everyone gave a beautiful testimony that because of the birth and death of Christ, we know He fills our hearts with His Spirit and gives us the ability to sing and quote scripture from the heart.

Dec 2015 1pitts Dec 2015 2

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Church Activities for January:

  • Bible Studies and Catechism will begin again the week of January 4.

  • NOC (Neighborhood Outreach Committee) will meet the second week of January.  We will begin planning our Spring Lecture.

  • The children will begin practicing for a spring program tentatively scheduled for April. 

Local Events for January:

  • Penguins on Parade will be featured at the Pittsburgh Zoo.  Saturday mornings the penguins are outside of their pen and walking around the zoo!  But only if the temperature at 11:00 is 45 degrees or below.  www.pittsburghzoo.org .

  • Go ice-skating downtown Pittsburgh!  http://www.ppgplace.com/directory/the-rink/ .

  • Check out the Carnegie Science Museum.

  • Check out the National Aviary, the largest in the country!

  • There is still time to check out the Nationality Rooms at the University of Pittsburgh!  Open until January 16.  http://www.nationalityrooms.pitt.edu/ .

Our Visitors:

  • Rev. Jim and Joan Slopsema from First PRC.

  • Dave and Bonnie Moelker from Hope PRC.

  • Bruce and Sherri Jabaay from Georgetown PRC.

  • John and Pat Pols from Grandville, PRC.

  • Bern and Linda Zandstra from Southwest PRC

  • Tom VanderWoude from Southwest PRC

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Contact Committee Delegation in the Philippines - Update Dec.17, 2015

As the delegation of Profs. R. Cammenga and R. Dykstra continues their visit to and work in the Philippines on behalf of the PRC Committee for Contact with Other Churches, Rev.D.Kleyn posted on his blog Friday Dec.17 a summary of their work so far. The report contains many profitable pictures with descriptions of their labors.

Below is a glimpse at some of the visits and works done so far; visit the post to find the complete summary.

In response to a request from the PRCP (Protestant Reformed Churches in the Philippines), a delegation from the Contact Committee of the PRCA traveled to the Philippines in December 2015 to begin the work toward the goal of establishing a sister-church relationship between the PRCA and the PRCP.

ProfRC ProvCC Dec 2015 1

On Sunday, December 13, Prof. R.Cammenga preached in Provident Christian Church. Outside the church gate with Bro. Bien Montoya and his son BJ.
ProfRC ProvCC Dec 2015 2
Just before the worship service.
ProfRD BereanPRC Dec 2015
Meanwhile Prof. R.Dykstra was preaching at the Berean PRC and having lunch with the saints there.  After lunch we and some of the members of Provident joined him at the Berean church for a speech on Christian Education.
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On Tuesday, instead of the regular 7M meeting each professor gave a lecture on a special topic, with other men invited to attend (in addition to the pastors who regularly attend 7M).
ProfRD 7M Dec2015
Prof. R.Dykstra spoke on Old Testament Types.
ProfRC 7M Dec 2015
Prof. R.Cammenga spoke on the Assurance of Salvation.
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Covenant Reformed News - December 2015

CPRC News Header

Covenant Reformed News

December 2015  •  Volume XV, Issue 20


Thyatira: A Church of Love, Service and Faithfulness
 

Since many people have a hard time keeping straight the seven churches of Revelation 2-3, I will start with four simple facts about the congregation in Thyatira (2:18-29). First, Thyatira was the smallest town or city amongst those mentioned in Revelation 2-3. Second, though this congregation was in the smallest of the seven cities, Christ’s letter to it is the longest in Revelation 2-3. While Ephesus gets 7 verses (2:1-7), Smyrna gets 4 verses (8-11), Pergamos gets 6 verses (12-17), Sardis gets 6 verses (3:1-6), Philadelphia gets 7 verses (7-13) and Laodicea gets 9 verses (14-22), Thyatira receives a whopping 12 verses. Third, Thyatira was the city of Lydia, “a seller of purple,” “whose heart the Lord opened,” whose household was baptized and who hosted Paul and his companions (Acts 16:14-15, 40). Fourth, Thyatira was the church of “that woman Jezebel” (Rev. 2:20).

So there you have it: the church in Thyatira was in (a) the smallest city yet it received (b) the longest letter; it was a congregation famous for two women: (c) Lydia, her actual name, mentioned in Acts 16, and (d) Jezebel, her “spiritual” name, mentioned in Revelation 2.

The first strength of the church of Thyatira that is highlighted by the Lord Jesus Christ is love: “I know thy ... charity” (19). Whereas the standout, positive feature of Ephesus was labour, persevering labour even in disciplining false apostles (1-3, 6), the main virtue of the congregation in Thyatira was love.

Theirs was a love for the Triune God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. They loved Jesus Christ, who loved them and bought them with His own precious blood. They loved one another, as brothers and sisters in the Lord; they loved their neighbours; they even loved their enemies, desiring their salvation, praying for them and doing good to them.

What a high and beautiful commendation uttered by the Son of God Himself: “I know your love!” Would He say this about our churches? Is the first of the nine-fold fruit of the Spirit evident in our congregations (Gal. 5:22-23)? Do our churches exemplify the love of I Corinthians 13?

The second virtue of the Thyatiran congregation is its service: “I know thy ... charity, and service” (Rev. 2:19). The saints ministered to each other, as Christ’s willing slaves who serve the Lord.

In today’s terms, this would include the members of the church gladly giving others lifts to public worship, serving tea at meetings or bringing meals to the sick, visiting the afflicted, eagerly helping in the various ministries of the congregation, assisting the young mothers or elderly, etc. Their attitude was not: “Do I have to! Surely somebody else could do it!” In the church of Thyatira, the members believed in helping one another and this was their practice too, their holy service as a kingdom of priests, working together in Christ name as a harmonious body.

The source of their service was their love: “I know thy … charity, and service” (19). Because of their Christian love, they were willing volunteers in the service of the Triune God and one another. Because of their love, they wanted others to join them in the worship of the Lord, and so they evangelized and sought to bring others under the preaching of God’s Word, that they too may believe in Jesus Christ crucified.

What about us? “I know their love and their service? Because they love Me, they are a serving congregation.” Is this what Jesus Christ in heaven says about our churches? And what about each of us individually? What service of your fellow saints do you do? How do you assist and aid them out of Christian love?

The third gracious characteristic of the congregation in Thyatira is its faithfulness: “I know thy … charity, and service, and faith” (19). That the idea of the word here rendered “faith” is that of faithfulness is seen from the development of the verse. Out of their “charity” or love sprang “service” which was characterized by faithfulness. In other words, they were faithful in their service because of their love for the living God and their neighbour.

The office-bearers and members of the church in Thyatira were faithful in their loving service in little things, as well as big things. They showed faithfulness towards all the saints, not only the more comely parts of the body but the less comely parts too. The excellent motto of the congregation in Thyatira was “Faithful, loving service!”

What do you think of this church? Would you want to be a member of a church like Thyatira? Perhaps you think that you could do with being served and helped, and maybe you really could do with such assistance. The implied exhortation is that we need to serve others, especially our fellow saints in Jesus Christ, who taught us, “And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many” (Matt. 20:27-28).

This is a high calling of service, the imitation of our Saviour, but it is the calling of every Christian and every member of a true church. The godly Christian life and the life of faithful church membership are not easy but they lead to perfect joy in heaven with the Lord, and great peace and blessedness here below!  Rev. Stewart
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“The Seven Churches in Asia,” 12 sermons on Revelation 2-3 in an attractive box set (CD or DVD), is available from the CPRC Bookstore for £12/set (inc. P&P). Free video and audio of these sermons can be found on the CPRC website and YouTube site.
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Our Old Man and New Man (2)
 

I shall have to summarize the questions asked in this issue of the News, for the questioner sent in more material than we have room for in this article. The issue involves the New Testament concepts of our “old man” and our “new man.” The questions ask for these terms to be identified and the concepts explained.

The questioner especially refers to two texts: Ephesians 4:22-24 and Colossians 3:9-11. The texts seem to convey the idea that in the life of the Christian this work of God is completed (Col. 3:9-10) and yet the believer is admonished to put off the old man and put on the new man (Eph. 4:22-24).

The questioner further says, “This leads to a wider question concerning the nature and extent of the change that has taken place in the believer. What is the believer’s relationship to the old man and the old nature?” He then points out that II Corinthians 5:17 speaks of the believer as a “new creature.” He reminds us that Ephesians 2:3 teaches that we “were by nature children of wrath.” Are we to infer from this that when we were quickened we were given a new nature? If so, where do the struggles of Romans 7 come from?

The questioner ends with saying, “I recognize these are fundamental questions but the answers sometimes given are anything but clear.” To this, I will definitely add a loud “Amen.”

In the last issue of the News, I defined some key terms. I can now go ahead and answer the questions submitted.

In a certain spiritual sense, the regenerated Christian is a schizophrenic person: that is, he has a split personality, as it were. Paul writes of this in Romans 7, a passage appealed to by the questioner, that, although he wants to do the good, he does not do it: “For the good that I would I do not” (v. 19). He also writes that the evil that he does not want to do, he does: “but the evil which I would not, that I do” (v. 19). As any Christian knows from his own experience, both of Paul’s statements are true. Paul does both: he hates sin, but does it; he wants to do the good, but does not do it. And both can and often do happen at the same time. A regenerated Christian finds himself hating sin but doing it, in spite of his desire not to do it; and he finds himself striving to do good, but he sins nonetheless.

I have found that a good way to explain this aspect of the life of the child of God is to use the analogy of the nation of Israel. The nation of Israel was composed of two elements: the elect and the reprobate. The elect were those who served God and the reprobate were the carnal element in the nation who turned the people again and again to idols. Both lived side by side. This situation in the nation is analogous to the regenerated Christian who has a new heart which cannot sin but also a totally depraved nature. Between these two is constant warfare, both tugging the child of God in opposite directions.

Paul describes this bitter and awful conflict in Galatians 5:17, where by the word “flesh” Scripture refers to our depraved natures: “For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.” Before our spiritual renewal, we were “children of wrath, even as others” (Eph. 2:3). Moreover, our old natures remain totally depraved even after our regeneration.

In the nation’s history, the reprobate element were many times in control of the nation and the nation as a whole sinned by doing all the evils that the wicked nations outside of Israel did. The elect were still present, for God told Elijah that he had reserved unto himself seven thousand who had not bowed the knee to Baal (I Kings 19:18). But even the elect remnant did not always remain holy in their lives; they too fell into idolatry. This situation is analogous to the elect Christian who sometimes falls into many sins. His totally depraved nature is dominant in his life. He engages in many sins and seems to be a wicked man. The life of regeneration is hidden by the sins of his evil nature.

But at other times, the new man in Christ has control of his life. He lives in fellowship with God, prays fervently, enjoys His favour and walks in good works. This is analogous to Israel when the elect were in control of the nation and the nation served God, worshipped in the temple, brought sacrifices for the forgiveness of sin and were clearly a nation dedicated to God. Such was the situation in the nation during the reigns of David, Solomon, Asa, Jehoshaphat and Hezekiah. Yet the wicked were still present in the nation.

This is the battle that goes on in the Christian all his life. It begins at the new birth and continues till he dies.

One more point in the analogy. When the nation of Israel as a nation lived faithfully in the service of God, their service was never perfect. Even at the peaks of Israel’s life of obedience to God, there was much that was sinful. And when the wicked had control of the nation and the nation as a whole walked in all the ways of the heathen, the nation was never totally like the heathen, for the elect were always present.

And so it is with the Christian. Even when the child of God lives a worldly life so that one seeing him would think him an ungodly man, the Spirit does not depart from him, but continues his work of grace so that the elect, sinning child of God, repents, turns to the cross of Christ for forgiveness and enjoys God’s favour again.

But when the Christian lives in obedience to God, because of his evil nature, he still is far from perfect. The authors of our Heidelberg Catechism were profound in their understanding of human nature and remind us of two things: even our best works are corrupted and polluted with sin, and we have only a small beginning of the new obedience (Q. & A. 62, 114).

We cannot conclude with our emphasizing that, in spite of the hardships, the regenerated in Christ is always victorious. It is not as if the outcome of the battle is ever in doubt. Nor is it ever true that the Christian attains perfection in this life, as some claim. But I reserve this word of great comfort to the next issue of the News.    Prof. Hanko
 
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A box set of 12 CDs or DVDs of the 2014 BRF Conference entitled “Be Ye Holy: The Reformed Doctrine of Sanctification” is available for £12 (inc. P&P) from the CPRC Bookstore. You can also listen or watch these lectures free on-line.
 

Covenant Protestant Reformed Church
83 Clarence Street, Ballymena, BT43 5DR • Lord’s Day services at 11 am & 6 pm
Website: www.cprc.co.uk • Live broadcast: www.cprf.co.uk/live
Pastor: Angus Stewart, 7 Lislunnan Road, Kells, N. Ireland, BT42 3NR • (028) 25 891851  
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. • www.youtube.com/cprcni • www.facebook.com/CovenantPRC
Ballymena Lecture

God’s Beautiful Covenant of Grace

 God’s covenant with His beloved people in Jesus Christ runs through the whole of sacred Scripture, yet it is often overlooked or misunderstood. So what is God’s covenant? What is its beauty? And how does it comfort and encourage us as the children of God?

Speaker: Rev. Nathan Decker, USA

Wednesday, 13 January
7:30PM

at the CPRC

This lecture will be streamed live on the CPRC website
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S. Wales Lecture

"Our Identity in Christ"

In our Western world, there is a crisis regarding human identity, involving personhood, sexuality and gender, etc., with some reckoning they are merely evolved animals. But what does God’s Word say about the identity of His children in Jesus Christ?

Speaker: Rev. Angus Stewart

Thursday, 28 January
7:15 PM

at The Round Chapel
(274 Margam Rd., Port Talbot, SA13 2DB)

www.cprf.co.uk/swales.htm


ALL WELCOME!
 
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Covenant PRC-NI Newsletter - December 2015

CPRC News Header


11 December, 2015

Dear saints in the Protestant Reformed Churches,

Two Pallets

      On Thursday, 3 December, two pallets of Reformed literature from the US were delivered to the CPRC manse.  They contained many boxes of specific titles:  the last two British Reformed Fellowship (BRF) books, The Reformed Worldview and Ye Are My Witnesses; Federal Vision:  Heresy at the Root and Our Goodly Heritage Preserved from the RFPA; Christ's Spiritual Kingdom from Redlands PRC; our Reformed creeds, both the green hardback and the pink softback versions; A. W. Pink's The Sovereignty of God; three books of sermons by John Calvin; and Don Doezema's three-volume Upon This Rock.  Other boxes were packed with pamphlets from various PR evangelism committees and the daily devotionals from the Psalms.  Besides these were many other individual titles from the RFPA.

rfpabooks dec 2015

      It was a busy day with the opening of the boxes, checking them all off, putting CPRC stickers at the back of the many hundreds of books and pamphlets, and arranging them on our shelves.  Over the next few days, the excess books were transported to church, where some filled out the bookcase in the narthex and others were stored in boxes upstairs.

      Amazingly, though we had deliberately let our stock run low, we did not run out of a single book, but it was getting mighty close.  Now our spiritual arsenal has been replenished!  With the arrival of the beautiful new hardback on Gottschalk by Connie Meyer, we created a webpage to let our online customers know that it is now available from the CPRC Bookstore.

      Our thanks to the staff at the RFPA for packing all these materials for us and taking care of the paperwork for the transportation.  We are also grateful to the saints at AIM (Active in Missions) who gave us $1,000 towards the cost of the shipping at the American end.

Hus Lecture

      This year, 2015, was the 600th anniversary of the martyrdom of Jan Hus, the great pre-Reformer from Bohemia.  I had been looking forward to this commemorative year for some time, as it would give me an opportunity to study this great man, his life and his doctrine of the church.

Jhus 2015

      I gave a lecture in South Wales on “Jan Hus:  His Martyrdom and Ecclesiology” (8 October) with a good number in attendance.  This trip to Wales also enabled Mary and me to meet up with Timothy Spence, a member of the CPRC, who is studying medicine at Cardiff University.

      On 30 October, this speech was given as a Reformation lecture in the CPRC, this time with slides of quotations from Hus and pictures of the key locations in his life, including Husinec (where he was born), Prague (where he was a university lecturer and preacher at the Bethlehem Chapel), Kozi Hradek (the castle where he wrote much of his great work, De Ecclesia), and Constance (where he was burnt at the stake).  We had a fine night.  Advertising included an article in the Ballymena Guardian (29 October), and the English Churchman carried a report of the event (13 & 20 November).  The audio (www.cprc.co.uk/ huslecture.mp3) and the video (www. youtube.com/watch?v=ED8fpNVZ07M) of the lecture are both online.

Other News

      I had a letter exchange with a humanist in the pages of the Belfast Telegraph regarding the redefinition of humanity (9-17 November).  Alongside the evolutionary and politically-correct redefinitions of mankind, persons, marriage, gender, love, bigot, etc., is the redefinition of the omnipotent, holy God as the pathetic god of one attribute: an unrighteous, ineffectual love (www.cprf. co.uk/articles/redefininghumanity.html).

      Recently, the 13 CPRC catechumens had their midyear test; they did well. 

      The church has now set up the minister's pension.  The UK civil government is rolling out a programme that requires all employers to provide a pension to their employees.  Julian Kennedy, one of our deacons, spent many hours arranging this on behalf of the church council.

      “Christ's Intercession” is the subject of the latest CPRC box set of CDs.  It explains the character, extent, content, and mode of our Lord's intercession, as well as errors and mistrust concerning it, in connection with Belgic Confession 26.  Our Wednesday night doctrine class has now moved on to the next article on “The Catholic Christian Church” (www.cprf.co.uk/audio/belgicconfessionclass.htm).  What great and comforting truths!

tapeset dec 2015

      32 translations have been added to our website in the last two months (www.cprf.co.uk/languages.htm):  14 Spanish (baptism and the church), 9 Hungarian (Psalm singing, plus Calvin's sermons on election and reprobation, etc.), 7 Indonesian (Christian education by Brian D. Dykstra of Hope PR School, etc.), 1 Portuguese (God's uncommon grace) and 1 Nepali (Heidelberg Catechism, our 40th on-line language of this beautiful creed).

      The booking form for the 2016 British Reformed Fellowship (BRF) conference (“Behold, I Come Quickly:  The Reformed, Biblical Truth of the End”) should soon be coming out (http://brfconference. weebly.com).  We hope to see many of you at Castlewellan Castle, Northern Ireland (16-23 July)!

      Thank you all for your cards, support, and prayers!

In Christ,
Rev. and Mary Stewart

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Rev.J. Laning Declines Call to the Phillippines

On Sunday, Dec.13, 2015, it was annnounced in Doon PRC (IA) that Rev. James Laning (Hull, IA PRC) had declined her call to serve as second missionary to the Philippines (Nov.23).

May the Lord grant contentment and peace to the Lanings, to Doon PRC, and to the Kleyns in the Philippines. Let us remember this important cause in our daily prayers, now too as Doon's Council seeks to form a new trio from which to call once again.

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