EPC GENERAL ASSEMBLY (Part I)

I spent last week in Brighton, Michigan at the 29th General Assembly of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. It was a joyous, Spirit and spirit-filled week.

The week began with the Fifth Stated Meeting of the New Wineskins Transitional Presbytery on Tuesday afternoon. After a rousing worship service led by Rev. Carol Rettew of Bay Presbyterian Church in Bay Village, Ohio, the presbytery began a series of break-out sessions to study a plan for “BECOMING ONE,” the next step in the relationship between New Wineskins and the EPC.

Becoming one missional, evangelical, Reformed, presbyterian body that is being used by our Lord to further His Kingdom in the world has been the vision that gave birth to concept of the NWEPC Presbytery within the EPC. It is designed to provide for those churches and pastors who are now members of the NWEPC Presbytery (NWEPC), and those who will in the future become members, to enter into full membership in the EPC.

Existing and entering NWEPC churches and pastors will begin to be received into the geographic EPC presbyteries according to the provisions of the EPC Book of Government beginning today. Our goal is to complete the process by the 32nd General Assembly (June 2012). Congregations and pastors so received will have the option of becoming joint members of both the NWEPC and the appropriate geographic presbytery. For joint membership churches and pastors, the geographic presbytery will be responsible for their ecclesiastical/governance matters, and the primary focus of the NWEPC will be the development of missional practices.

During the presbytery meeting, panels made up of both EPC and NWEPC TEs and REs answered questions and discussed the processes by which NWEPC TEs and REs will be examined and moved, with their congregations into full membership in the EPC.

We were once again blessed by the open and loving reception from the EPC. The Moderator of the 29th General Assembly, RE Allen Roes, the Stated Clerk and Executive Pastor of the EPC, Rev. Dr. Jeff Jeremiah, the Stated Clerk of the Presbytery of the West, and other ordained leaders of the EPC made special efforts to be part of our meeting. The result was that questions were answered and concerns allayed.

And we once again explored the breadth of the EPC’s belief that evangelism is the first business of the Church. Our meeting ended with over 30 minutes of testimony from church after church about the local and worldwide mission and ministry that is being provided to folks who are hungering and thirsting for the good news of Jesus Christ.

And that was just the beginning.

BACK FROM THE EPC GENERAL ASSEMBLY (Part 1)

I spent almost all of last week in Bethesda, Maryland, attending the 28th General Assembly of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. I am still coming down from the high! What a breath of fresh air when compared to the semi-annual antics (being repeated this week)of the PC(USA).

We started with the second stated meeting of the New Wineskins Transitional Presbytery/Support Network ("NWEPC") on Tuesday. The high point of the meeting was centered on pastoral care and leadership. We started with the reception of Reverend Ken Glasier as the Pastor of Londonderry Presbyterian Church (New Hampshire). Ken was called from an EPC church in suburban Denver,becoming the first EPC pastor to transfer from an EPC presbytery to the NWEPC. The Presbytery of New England,(PC(USA), had held Londonderry' request to call a pastor hostage for two and a half years. Because their CIF was complete, the PNC and the Ministry Committee of NWEPC were able to interview three candidates by last February and LPC called Ken in late April.

We then examined four candidates for ordination, approving all pending call. (They all have calls.) In another first, one of the candidates was a woman, despite the scare tactics engaged in by the PC(USA) last year (predicting that the creation of NWEPC was an attempt to end ordination of women).

The candidates were rigorously examined on Scripture, theology, the Essential Tenets of the Reformed faith, NWEPC polity, and the Sacraments. An EPC pastor present commented that it was more intense and detailed than the last exam he had seen in his EPC presbytery. (No more PC(USA) exams in which the hardwest questions are "What is your name?" and "If called, what color will you paint your study?" The required answer to the latter being "Green.")

We also have two mission churches that are well on the way towards becoming functioning congregations in the NWEPC.

God is good, all the time!

More to follow.