Heritage Presbytery is a regional presbytery of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) located in Delaware, the Eastern Shore and North Eastern Maryland, and Southeastern Pennsylvania. There are currently 18 churches and two missions in the presbytery.
Allow me to introduce you to a friend of mine and a fellow minister in our Presbytery. He is Rev Jim Powell and he is the American director for the “Happy Life Children’s Home” in Kenya.
This orphanage was started several years ago with the goal of finding adoptive families for abandoned babies in Kenya. They run an orphanage for the children as well as try to adopt them into Christian Homes. The children are available for adoption! Contact Rev Powell for more information.
For about the cost of a cup of Coffee a day you can support the home.
For further information, see their web page at
www.happylifechildrenshome.com
Reality Factor - Young Adult seminar is coming Oct 26 to 28, 2007.
Please see their web page for more information on speakers, special music
etc.
http://www.realityfactor.org
The next Presbytery meeting is Saturday, November 11 at the Cornerstone Presbyterian Church in Kemblesville, PA.
Click for map of 109 Gypsy Hill Rd Kemblesville, PA 19347
Among other items, we will have the elections & re elections of committee memberships. In addition, we will elect the officers for 2007. We are currently looking for a minister to serve as vice-moderator.
Please note that the Presbytery “Askings” (aka Partnership shares) is $5 per member for Presbytery operations and $9 for Church planting in our area. We fell far behind budget this past year and ask for your assistance toward meeting the budget for 2007!
The following churches will bring their annual report in November:
New Covenant
Providence
Redeemer
Shore Harvest & Trinity
Their minutes are also due for review.
Harvest USA is presenting a Seminar on “Sexual Brokenness In YOUR Church: The Shape of Redemptive Ministry.”
This “Second level” seminar addresses how the Gospel is relevant to sexual struggles, what types of dynamics inhibit of assist churches in addressing these issues and how churches can specifically implement plans to do ministry.
This will be October 16, 2006 in Philadelphia. For further information, call Harvest at 215-482-0111 or from their web site at http://www.harvestusa.org (Note: The web site did not have information regarding this seminar as of the publication date of this posting.)
We live in an encouraging day. Please allow me to share my dream for Heritage. We formed 15+ years ago as we (with GA approval) spun off from Delmarva Presbytery, PCA. We wanted to be more geographically compact. Our goal was to have a more effective ministry of Presbytery, more focus upon essentials like church planting, ministerial accountability, fellowship among pastors, etc. Dr. Bob Auffarth really pushed new Presbytery through. Now, as we all know, Bob has passed on after serving EP church for years and then in “retirement” as a Pastor at large, traveling & encouraging Pastors throughout our region.
Where will we be in next decade? This is worthy of our reflection! Undoubtly there will be many changes. Most likely I will be gone. So will many of you. But our churches will remain. God willing, may they be still healthier & more vibrant in sharing the gospel of Christ with the peoples in our area. May we particularly outgrow our white middle to upper class ghetto and reach out to all peoples of our region, especially the new peoples moving in.
Currently we have 18 churches & missions in our Presbytery. We are nearly to the GA mandated minimum size to consider splitting again! May I be so bold as to suggest that if we can aggressively plant some more churches that we will be in a position to have another “split” in a decade or so? May I suggest that the boundary may be New Castle County and the Chester County sliver of our Presbytery in one Presbytery and the remainder of the Delmarva Peninsula in the other Presbytery? (The C&D Canal has traditionally been the dividing line between upstate & down state Delaware. However, due to recent housing growth the area in New Castle County north of canal is now part of metro Wilmington.) After this division in a decade or so we should still focus upon planting healthy churches. But I do not believe the geographical area will be so large to necessitate another division.
Healthy churches are our goal. Of course, this presupposes Biblical churches! But that does not mean identical churches. There will continue to be large and small churches. Contemporary & traditional churches. There will be different philosophy of ministries in place. But one thing we will have in common is deep commitment to Reformed Christianity. Rock solid orthodoxy with Biblical freedom.
Let’s Bring God as much Glory as we can as faithful stewards of the Mystery of Christ! Let’s give Him the honor He deserves! Let’s plunder Satan’s Kingdom & rescue those held captive in self-delusion! To God be all the glory!
Heritage Presbytery’s Equipping Committee held a retreat for its leadership (Pastor’s, ruling elders and spouses) at the Harvey Cedars Retreat Center in New Jersey on February 1-3.