26 Feb

PRC Congregational, Classis, and Mission News - February 26, 2017 *(Updated)

Published in News

On this final Lord's Day of February 2017, the following PRC news roundup can be given:

Zion 2017
The new congregation (February 2017) of Zion PRC, Jenison, MI

Congregational News:

The Council of Zion PRC has formed a trio of Rev. G. Eriks (Hudsonville, MI), Rev. C. Haak (Georgetown- Hudsonville, MI), and Rev. R. Kleyn (Covenant of Grace- Spokane, WA.) The congregation plans to call on Tuesday, March 7.
UPDATE: SW PRC's Council has formed a new trio from which the congregation will call a new pastor. The ministers are Rev. Steve Key (Loveland), Rev. William Langerak (SE), and Rev. Jon Mahtani (Cornerstone). The congregation will vote after the Prayer Day service on March 8.

Classis News:

Classis West will meet this Wednesday, March 1, in Hope PRC Redlands, CA. On the Classical agenda are requests for emeritation from two pastors, in addition to subsidy requests and voting for synodical delegates and classical committees. We pray for safe travels for the delegates and for wisdom in their deliberations.
Classis East - OFFICE BEARERS CONFERENCE: On May 9, at 7:00 pm, the Byron Center PRC Council invites all past and current office bearers to an officebearer's conference to hear a timely speech regarding an increasingly important issue in the world around us, but also behavior that has found its way into God's church. Professor David J. Engelsma has agreed to speak on "Pastoral Treatment of Spousal (wife) Abuse in the PRC". A time for Q & A and fellowship will follow the speech. All men desiring to serve in God's church are also welcome, regardless of having previously served. Please mark your calendars to keep this date open.

Mission News:

Byron Center PRC has formed a new trio from which to call a home missionary. It is made up of Revs. C.Haak (Georgetown PRC), S.Key (Loveland PRC), and W. Langerak (SE PRC, Grand Rapids, MI). The congregation will call this evening after her service. UPDATE: Rev. W. Langerak received this call.
The Classis of the PRC in the Philippines met this past Saturday, February 25, in Maranatha PRC. Reports from the PRCP bulletins indicate that the business was routine.
From Provident Christian Church's bulletin we learn that new missionary-pastor D. Holstege is leading both services today. In addition, we read: "This Thursday evening Bible study class is scheduled for this week (March 2) at 7:30 pm. Rev. Holstege will continue the exposition of the Canons of Dordt beginning at Head I, Article 14."

DHolstege family 2017

Did you know that the Holstege's also have their own blog on Philippine life and labors? Check it out for another perspective like that of the Kleyns.
And from Maranatha PRC's bulletin we read this note: "Today Rev. D. Kleyn will lead our First and Second services. He will continue the lesson on Church Order." [For their afternoon Bible study]
May God continue to bless the labors of our two missionaries in that part of the world. Are we remembering to pray for them?

22 Feb

Covenant Reformed News - February 2017

Published in Covenant PRC Ballymena, Northern Ireland

Covenant Reformed News

February 2017 • Volume XVI, Issue 10

God’s Longsuffering and Our Suffering

Our covenant God is longsuffering towards His people in their suffering. David confessed this comforting truth in Psalm 86. After telling the Lord about his persecution by the ungodly—“O God, the proud are risen against me, and the assemblies of violent men have sought after my soul; and have not set thee before them” (14)—David consoles himself with these words: “But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth” (15).

Similarly, Jeremiah prays, “O Lord, thou knowest: remember me, and visit me, and revenge me of my persecutors; take me not away in thy longsuffering: know that for thy sake I have suffered rebuke” (15:15). That is, “Do not, in thy longsuffering over me, permit my enemies to persecute me so long that they succeed in destroying me!”

In Christ’s parable in Luke 18:1-8, the widow is the object of great injustice and ill-treatment at the hands of her oppressor. Even the unjust judge, wanting to get rid of her, eventually vindicates her (4-5). Jesus draws this lesson from the parable: “And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with [i.e., is longsuffering towards] them?” (7).

How is this longsuffering possible for the unchangeable and ever-blessed God? The answer is that God shows empathy and is longsuffering towards His people, especially in their sufferings, through Jesus Christ who is both God and man in one divine Person. As God, Jesus cannot suffer. As man, our Saviour is “touched with the feeling of our infirmities” (Heb. 4:15).

Our calling is obvious: “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (16). Like the widow in the parable (as well as David and Jeremiah), we “ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke 18:1), even when we are oppressed and afflicted by the ungodly, for God suffers long and empathizes with us in Jesus Christ.

Isaiah 63 teaches the same truth, though without using the word “longsuffering”: “In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old” (9). This refers to the “love” and “pity” of the impassible God who was “afflicted” in “all” Israel’s “affliction” in “the angel of his presence,” Christ, who is God’s special divine angel (i.e., messenger) who “redeemed” and “saved” them. Again, as a man, our Saviour is “touched with the feeling of our infirmities” (Heb. 4:15).

Isaiah 63:9 declares the same message as Exodus 3:2. Where is Christ, “the angel [or special messenger] of the Lord”? In the burning bush, in the midst of the church experiencing the fiery afflictions of Pharaoh’s persecution. This means not only that He is “afflicted” in Israel’s “affliction” (Isa. 63:9). It also means that it is Christ’s presence in the Old Testament church which preserves it so that, though “the bush burned with fire,” it “was not consumed” (Ex. 3:2).

After the elders of Israel were told of God’s longsuffering towards and with them (in Christ), they were struck with awe: “when they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel, and that he had looked upon their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshipped” (4:31).

Moving from the Israelites who were forced to make bricks without straw, James 5 refers to Christian employees who are abused in the work place and defrauded of their wages (4, 6). What is the exhortation God gives to His people in this Scripture? Join a labour union? Go on strike? Overthrow the “capitalist pigs”?

No, exercise the grace of longsuffering in light of the bodily return of Jesus Christ! “Be patient [i.e., be longsuffering] therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience [i.e., is longsuffering] for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient [i.e., be longsuffering]; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh … Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience [i.e., longsuffering]” (7-8, 10).

Notice the two examples given here of patience and longsuffering: first, a farmer waiting for the harvest (7) and, second, the Old Testament prophets who endured suffering for the truth they preached (10). The saint from Uz is then set forth by James for our emulation: “Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy” (11).

Hebrews 6 exhorts us to show Christian “diligence” to the “end” (11), “That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience [i.e., longsuffering] inherit the promises” (12), like Abraham (13-14), who was tested severely and, “after he had patiently endured [i.e., been longsuffering], he obtained the promise” (15).

We must not grow discouraged or bitter with our sovereign God because of our afflictions. We must not huff and throw in the towel. We must not protest, “But I have already suffered long enough!”

The teaching of James 5 and Hebrews 6 is that Christians will and must suffer, but that we must, by God’s grace, be longsuffering in our suffering! Why? Jesus Christ our Saviour is coming again to punish the wicked and deliver us! This hope in the fulfilment of God’s promise of perfect salvation and joy is our spiritual motivation to be patient and longsuffering in our afflictions and hardships. Rev. Stewart

Does Solomonic Authorship Befit the Song of Songs?

A reader writes, “I was reading the Song of Solomon and I wondered why the Spirit of God chose a man like Solomon, who flagrantly abused the marriage covenant, to write the book most interpret as exemplifying the one-flesh union between a man and his wife, and between Christ and His bride. Perhaps it is just another way of showing how the type always fails, unlike the antitype! I would be very interested in reading a good Reformed book on the Song of Solomon bringing out all it teaches of God’s covenant. I don’t know if there has been one.”

Sadly, many, even within the Reformed camp, have denied that the Song of Solomon, sometimes known as the Song of Songs or Canticles, is an Old Testament metaphorical song celebrating the marriage relation between Christ and His church. One author, a former classmate in college, called it “An Erotic Love Song.” A former professor in a Reformed seminary denied that it was canonical; that is, he denied that it had a place in Scripture because it could not have been inspired by the Holy Spirit.

Nevertheless, the questioner is right. It does exemplify the truth of marriage that husband and wife, as earthly pictures of Christ and His church, presuppose an underlying earthly figure. That underlying figure is the institution of marriage that dates from Paradise. And the underlying type is Solomon himself. David was a type of Christ as the warrior that destroys the enemies of the church to prepare the way for the kingdom of heaven. Solomon, in all the wealth and beauty of his kingdom, was a type of Christ who brings about, through His cross, the everlasting kingdom of righteousness.

Solomon married 700 wives and also possessed 300 concubines (I Kings 11:3). It was indeed a mockery of the institution of marriage. Solomon paid the price for this, for his foreign wives led him into idolatry.

I have no interest in justifying Solomon’s sin. But it must be remembered, nonetheless, that before the coming of Christ, who, by His death and resurrection, made possible the true heavenly marriage, the earthly picture in the old dispensation was only a picture and thus defective. And so God permitted polygamy and concubinage because the earthly picture was not very clear in its depiction of the reality. It was like a very bad photo of a royal figure taken with a cheap camera. The picture was fuzzy and blurred; the details could not be clearly seen. When God reminded David of the many things He had given him, one of those was his many wives (II Sam. 12:1-14). But those in Scripture who were married to more than one wife inevitably had family problems: Abraham, Jacob, Elkanah, David, Solomon and many of the kings in both Israel and Judah.

It ought also to be remembered that, although the historical books of the Old Testament do not mention Solomon’s confession of his sin, it is almost certain that Solomon’s book Ecclesiastes is his confession.

Finally, Solomon, though it was sinful, was carrying on a custom which monarchs in his day practised. Harems, sometimes huge, were common in palaces throughout the Middle East. Many wealthy men had harems.

Now to the question itself. The question seems to me to assume that no wicked man could be used by God in inspiring the Scriptures. But all the men whom God used in writing the Bible were sinners. Nevertheless, when they wrote, they were “holy men of God” (II Pet. 1:21). Their holiness was not a total and complete alteration of their entire nature from depravity to sinlessness. David, after all, committed his sins of adultery and murder after writing Psalm 23. It does mean that, in writing the Scriptures, they were kept by God from any possible error. And it means that all who participated in the writing of Scripture were God-fearing men, consecrated to the Lord and His cause. This was true of all of them, including Solomon.

David was a dreadful sinner, as well as his son Solomon. David sinned against the seventh commandment, as well as Solomon, and added the sin of murder to hide his adultery. Before his conversion, Paul committed the dreadful sin of persecuting Christ’s church.

I realize that the questioner meant a little more than the fact that God used sinful men to write the Scriptures: he meant to say that one who broke the marriage bond was used by God to write about that marriage bond. How can one who defiled marriage write about true marriage, especially the marriage of Christ and His church?

It seems to me that we ought to reframe the question in this way: Is not Solomon, the forgiven sinner, in the best possible position to be used by God to write a song on the beauty and wonder of the marriage between Christ and His church? He knew better than most how wicked he was (and we are), and how even saints corrupt an institution that is so sacred and holy. And so he looked at the true marriage of Christ and His bride the church, and saw in it the redemption of the marriage state among God’s people. That is, he saw what a marriage here on earth ought to be when it reflected the reality of the true marriage. So he sang a song about it by the inspiration of the Spirit of Christ. He did so as an expression of hope for the future, when the figure would disappear to make room for the reality.

One more point on the truth of inspiration. God, in His marvellous wisdom, did not pick men at random to write the Bible. From eternity, He conceived in His own mind the one sacred Scripture in which God in Christ is fully revealed. The Bible is a portrait of Christ. From eternity, God also chose those men whom He wanted to write the various parts of Scripture. As if that were not enough, God sovereignly determined all the preparation that each man needed to be able to write what He had determined for him to write. If one does not include in the doctrine of inspiration both predestination and divine providence, he is bound to go wrong. So Solomon, weak and sinful as any man, was chosen to write parts of Scripture (Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and the Song of Solomon). Throughout his life and forty-year reign, God was preparing him for this work. Solomon seems to me the ideal man to write this beautiful song about marriage—here on earth but especially in heaven. It was a longing for the reality, and who can better write about the reality than one who knew how he had corrupted the figure? Prof. Hanko

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

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South Wales Lecture

Thursday, 2 March, 2017
at 7:15 PM

The Round Chapel
274 Margam Road, Port Talbot, SA13 2DB

The New Calvinism and the Reformation Compared

What is the New Calvinism? How does it differ from (old) Calvinism? What is its relation to the Reformation (which is in its 500th anniversary year)? And what is our calling as Calvinists and Reformed people?

Speaker:
Rev. Angus Stewart

All welcome!
www.cprc.co.uk

Be Ye Holy:
The Reformed Doctrine of Sanctification

by David J. Engelsma & Herman Hanko
(180 pp, softback)

What is sanctification? How is it related to justification? What is the error of antinomianism? What is the role of the law in sanctification? This book covers all this and much more, and exhorts us all to holiness!

£5.50 (inc. P&P)

Order from the
CPRC Bookstore
on-line, by post or telephone
7 Lislunnan Road, Kells, N. Ireland BT42 3NR
(028) 25891851

Make cheques payable to “Covenant Protestant Reformed Church.” Thank you!

18 Feb

PRC Congregational and Mission News - February 19, 2017

Published in News

sacrifice of praise

On this third Lord's Day of February 2017, the following PRC congregational and mission news items may be provided.

Congregational News:

Zion PRC formed a trio of Rev. G. Eriks (Hudsonville, MI), Rev. C. Haak (Georgetown- Hudsonville, MI), and Rev. R. Kleyn (Covenant of Grace- Spokane, WA.) The congregation plans to call March 7.
A program for Rev. Arie denHartog to recognize his emeritation from the ministry and thank him for his years of service to the Protestant Reformed Churches, will be held Friday, February 24, at 8 PM at Southwest PRC. You are invited to attend. The program will be live-streamed.

Mission News:

Byron Center PRC has formed a new trio from which to call a home missionary. It is made up of Revs. C.Haak (Georgetown PRC), S.Key (Loveland PRC), and W. Langerak (SE PRC, Grand Rapids, MI). The congregation will call Sunday evening, February 26.
From the Foreign Mission Committee: Rev. Allen and Crysta Brummel and Elder Alan De Boer returned home safely [Feb.14] from their visit to the Philippines' Mission. They write: “We are very thankful for our missionaries and their families and the pastors and saints of the PRCP. Please continue to remember them, their work, and families in your personal and congregational prayers and with email notes.” Below are some more pictures and notes from the Kleyn's blog. Visit the site to see more.
The Classis of the PRC in the Philippines is scheduled to meet this Saturday, February 25, in Maranatha PRC.

2017 Deleg ProvidCC
Group picture at Maranatha PRC, where Rev. D. Holstege and Rev. A. Brummel each preached once and the men met with the consistory.

7M Poimenics BG 2017
Tuesday, February 7, was the meeting of 7M, held in Provident Christian Church. Rev. Kleyn lectured on the Church Order and they watched a video of Prof. Gritters lecturing on Poimenics (pastoral care).

18 Feb

Covenant PRC, N.Ireland Newsletter - February 2017

Published in Covenant PRC Ballymena, Northern Ireland

Covenant Protestant Reformed Church
Ballymena, NI

16 February, 2017

Dear saints in the Protestant Reformed Churches,

Church Visitors

CC visitors CPRC 2017 Rev. and Sue VanOverloop (Grace PRC) and Sid and Lisa Miedema (Byron Center PRC) stayed with us at the CPRC manse from Friday 12-Saturday 21 January. It is especially enjoyable when our annual church visitors come with their wives!

As well as preaching at both Lord’s Day services, Pastor VanOverloop led a Tuesday morning Bible study on “Paul’s Prayers for the Ephesians” and gave a Wednesday night lecture on “Content With Who I Am in Christ.” The Ballymena Guardian and the Belfast News Letter carried articles promoting this speech. The congregation and visitors appreciated Rev. VanOverloop’s ministry.

Building the wall in Nehemiah 3 was the theme of this year’s official church visitation with the CPRC Council (Monday, 16 January). What a great example to the church of all ages: In Nehemiah’s day, everyone joined in the work despite the opposition of the ungodly!

Our congregational dinner in the Ross Park Hotel was a good night of fellowship (Friday, 20 January). Our thanks to William Graham for his fine work as the after-dinner quizmaster. Besides our four church visitors, most of the congregation, and a good number of friends, our nephew Travis Hanko (Grace PRC) was also present at the dinner, having flown to Northern Ireland for a couple of days during a university course in the Netherlands.

Alicia Prins and Dana VanDyke (Trinity PRC) were in Northern Ireland in late December, staying with David and Kirstin Crossett. Our thanks to them and the church visitors for bringing over a good number of books for our church.

Rev. McGeown’s New Book

The CPRC Bookstore has been getting out a lot of RFPA literature of late, including Prof. Hanko’s excellent book, Corrupting the Word of God: The History of the Well-Meant Offer.

McGeown Called Watch 2016 Our current bestseller is Rev. McGeown’s Called to Watch for Christ’s Return (www.cprf.co.uk/bookstore/ calledtowatch.html). Apart from our BRF Conference books, which we sell at a very low cost, no other book has sold so many copies in such a relatively short period.

Our biggest difficulty lies in keeping up a stock of them through couriers travelling from Grand Rapids to the CPRC or the Limerick Reformed Fellowship (LRF). For the present, I am holding off sending articles on Called to Watch for Christ’s Return to the Ballymena press because we are running low.

Three weeks ago, I e-mailed a piece to newspapers in the Cookstown area of Northern Ireland, where Pastor McGeown was brought up and where most of his family live. The Mid-Ulster Mail put it on their website and linked to it from their Facebook account. They also published it in full and prominently in their weekly printed version, along with two photos of the author and his book (2 February). This garnered more sales than any such article we have had published in any (secular) newspaper before. Hopefully, some of the new people reading this superb book on Matthew 24-25 and the end times will develop a spiritual taste for the truth of the biblical and Reformed faith, and will want other materials from the CPRC Bookstore in the future.

Others

The ministry of the blessed Word continues in the CPRC in various forms. On Tuesday mornings, we have been tracing the Old Testament’s teaching on holy wars from the Pentateuch through the historical books, especially Joshua and Judges.

We recently concluded six Wednesday night classes on “The Government of and Offices in the Church” (Belgic Confession 30). We refuted Charismaticism, Episcopalianism, and Anabaptism by insisting on only and all the three permanent, ordinary, and biblical church offices: pastors, elders, and deacons. On this scriptural basis, we then considered church office-bearers in connection with the Spirit of Christ, good order, and broader assemblies (www.cprf.co.uk/audio/belgic confessionclass.htm). It was good to have with us in the class two visitors from the Republic of Ireland, one from Co. Wexford and one from Co. Limerick, Colm Ring of the LRF.

Last Sunday's services included the 31st sermon on “The Life of Jacob,” the longest series I have preached (www.cprf.co.uk/ audio/OTseries.htm). Stephen Murray has already produced two of the three box sets on Jacob (CD or DVD), covering sermons 1-12 entitled “Jacob’s Birth, Blessing, and Young Family” (Gen. 25-31) and sermons 13-22 on “Jacob’s Enemies: Laban, Esau, and the Canaanites” (Gen. 31-35).

Jacob sermons CPRC 2017

The last two months have been very quiet on the translation front, with just 10 added to our website: 5 Spanish, 2 Hungarian, 2 Indonesian, and 1 Portuguese (www.cprf.co.uk/languages.htm). However, we have also received our first ever subtitled video. Tibor Bognár, who was at the 2016 British Reformed Fellowship (BRF) Conference, added Hungarian subtitles to a YouTube video of my sermon on “The Sovereignty of God (I).” This video is atop our special Hungarian page, which contains some 185 translations (www.cprf.co.uk/ languages/hungarian.htm).

With 2017 being the 500th anniversary of the great Protestant Reformation, the CPRC is delighted that Prof. Engelsma has agreed to come to Northern Ireland to give some speeches in October and early November, and to preach on three Lord’s Days. We are holding a mini-conference on Saturday, 21 October, DV, the week before the PR Seminary conference in Grand Rapids. This also means that I am released to preach for the LRF on Sundays 29 October and 5 November, when Rev. McGeown is to be in the US to speak at Reformation conferences in Michigan and Colorado, respectively.

May the Lord be with all His believing children, the children of the Reformation,
Rev. & Mary Stewart

16 Feb

Are You Receiving and Reading the "Standard Bearer"?

Published in Reformed Free Publishing Association
By Terpstra, Charles J.
Be the first to comment!

Are you are Standard Bearer subscriber and reader?

Perhaps you do not know anything about this distinctive Reformed magazine (cf. the cover image of the latest issue).

Here is a brief discription from the SB website:

The Standard Bearer is a semi-monthly, 24-page print magazine devoted to explaining and defending Reformed doctrine, promoting the Reformed life of the Church and believer, and combating old and new errors that threaten to disrupt the Reformed faith and life. For over 85 years, the Standard Bearer has boldly and unashamedly testified to the faith of the Protestant Reformation. This periodical was the first of the RFPA’s publications, first published in 1924, and today has more than 2,300 subscribers worldwide.

An annual subscription includes 21 issues of the Standard Bearer (only one issue for June, July, and August).

The Reformed Free Publishing Association, publishers of the SB, has a goal of 3,000 subscribers by 2018 and would like to see your name added to that list.

If you are not currently receiving the SB, contact them at the website link provided here. You may also receive a free sample copy at that page.

Below is the latest RFPA flyer promoting the SB. Why not sign up to start receiving this profitable Reformed and biblical periodical today?!

RFPA SB flyer Feb 2017

12 Feb

PRC Congregational and Mission News - February 12, 2017

Published in News

Ps119 37 For this Lord's Day of February 12, 2017 the following news items from the PRC congregations and her mission fields may be noted:

Congregational news:

Rev. A. Lanning (CERC-Singapore) announced today his decline of the call from First PRC, Holland MI to serve as her next pastor.
Rev. R. Kleyn (Covenant of Grace PRC, Spokane, WA) announced today his decline of the call from SW PRC, Wyoming MI to serve as her next pastor.

May the Bridegroom of His church assure these manifestations of His bride of His presence with them and of His provision for them in His time and way.

Mission News:

Rev. J. Mahtani (Cornerstone PRC, Dyer, IN) announced today his decline of the call from Doon PRC to serve as third missionary to the Philippines.
Rev. Allen and Crysta Brummel and Elder Alan De Boer, who are representing the FMC and Doon consistory, are visiting the missionaries and churches in the Philippines as part of the annual delegation. The Kleyns posted some pictures this week of the visit to that point (see below). The visitors plan to return this Tuesday, February 14. We pray for God's blessings on this visit and for traveling mercies for the delegation on their way home.

EDeBoer greetings Feb
Elder DeBoer extending Christian greetings from Doon PRCA

meeting Bulacan PRC Feb
Meeting with the consistory of the PRC in Bulacan

10 Feb

Zion PRC Organization - February 8, 2017 (Updated)

Published in Zion PRC Jenison, MI

Zion PRC Organiz Feb 2017 1

On Wednesday, February 8, 2017, at a special service held in her sanctuary, Faith PRC gave birth to a new daughter congregation - with the chosen name of ZION PRC.

The plans and preparations for this stretched back into 2016 (and beyond), when the Council of Faith PRC encouraged some of her members to form a new church, to help ease the space limitations due to her steady growth. Soon a number of families committed to doing this, and began holding worship services at Heritage Christian School in Hudsonville, MI. In a matter of months the Council-set goal of 40 families was reached to seek organization as a new PRC.

At the meeting of Classis East in January of this year, the delegates approved the request of these families and individuals from Faith and from a few other local PRCs to proceed with organization, Faith's Council being entrusted with the final steps and organization service. The date of February 8, 2017 was set and on that date the organization was carried out.

Rev. C. Spronk, pastor of Faith PRC, led the service, preaching the message "The Life of a Spirit-Filled Church" from Acts 4:31-32. Following the regular portion of the service, a special congregational meeting was held, in which Zion's male confessing members chose her officebearers from the nominations Faith's Council has approved. Chosen as elders were Gary Kaptein, Howard Pastoor (three-year terms), Randy Dykstra and Brian Decker (two-year terms); chosen as deacons were Justin Koole, Scott Van Uffelen (three-year terms) and Rodney Rau (two-year term).

Zion PRC is still temporarily meeting at Heritage Christian School (miusic room in the NE corner of the building), holding worship services at 9:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. Rev. J. Slopsema is leading the morning services and teaching the Heidelberg Catechism. The evening services are supplied by ministers from Classis east and from the PRC Seminary. The congregation cordialy invites you to join them in worship on Sundays and in fellowship at her weekly Bible studies.

HCS Huds 2016 1

We rejoice in God's gracious provision of a new congregation in our denomination, and pray that His richest blessing may rest upon her as she seeks to serve the Lord in her worship and fellowship, to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, and be a faithful witness in the community in which God has placed her.

"Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King." Psalm 48:2

"Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion: build thou the walls of Jerusalem." Psalm 51:18

Additional pictures:

The Zion PRC congregation in the Heritage CS gym

Zion 2017

The newly formed Council

ZionPRC Council 2017
From left-right: Scott Van Uffelem, Rodney Rau, Justin Koole (deacons); Gary Kaptein, Randy Dykstra, Howard Pastoor, Brian Decker (elders)

07 Feb

Myanmar Report of Rev. Titus - December 2016

Published in Myanmar Labors (Hope PRC, GR)

Through the Council of Hope PRC (Grand Rapids, MI) comes this December 2016 report from Rev. Titus concerning his labors in Myanmar (Burma).

Titus pastor family

Dear brethren,

Greetings in our sovereign covenant Lord's name. I believed that for His mercy you are doing well in this cold winter there.

Here also temperature went down up to 65 DF, so many people caught cold, and myself also got a very strong cold, coughing the whole night, could not sleep well, doctor gave me some injections as well as pills. Last Sunday my congregation had to bear with me my rough voice for too much coughing, but thankfully Lord's Day worship went well.

So, I need to be short this time of report, but very interesting improvement in our government's reforming the country, the Lord willing, next month I will report.

In His providence care we can still have Tuesday Bible class, and we still discussing "Essentials of Reformed Doctrine." We reached lesson 14. We had a great deal of discussions with our reformed truth and our country's so-called Christian view, which is sometimes very different.

I am still very busy, editing my KJV Burmese translation. I started editing the book of 2 Thessalonians and I preached every week from out of that editing. And I reached translating chapter 23 of the book of Deuteronomy. Evening services Heidelberg Catechism, now I reach LD 11.

And every week put out Sunday Digest. I am still translating "For They Truth's Sake" by Prof. Hanko, now I am still translating "Believers and Their Seed." And I reached "Come, Ye Children," by Gertrude Hoeksema, "Ehud Left-handed Judge." Catechism classes, younger one, we started Heidelberg Catechism, by Rev. Wilbur Bruinsma; this week we reach lesson 11. Older youth, I am teaching "Essentials of Reformed Doctrine, A Guide in Catechetical Instruction by Rev. Herman Hoeksema, revised by Prof. Herman Hanko." We are now re-discussion on the points that the youth have to know more, so we kind of free-hand discussions, youth asked me from lessons that they like to know more about or things they did not very clear the first time.

I start translating a new book, "Unfolding Covenant History," by Homer C. Hoeksema, I am translating the chapter "The Creative Work in the Beginning."

Thank you very much for supporting my ministry till today, without your help I cannot do all the things that I do for His people. Please, continue to pray for us, so that the name of the Lord will be glorified here in this land. I and my family also pray always for all of you and your families and congregations. The Lord's blessings to you all.

Your brother,
Rev. Titus

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PRC Congregational, Classis, and Mission News - February 26, 2017 *(Updated)

Covenant Reformed News - February 2017