Zero to 35 in 12 months
Joining the advance of God’s Kingdom … the story of the EPC’s newest presbytery
The Layman, September 17, 2012
From zero to 35 in 12 months would be slow if talking about a new car, but when talking about a new presbytery, it’s unprecedented acceleration.
In September, the Presbytery of the Alleghenies of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC) celebrated its first anniversary. In 2011, the new presbytery was created by carving out portions of three existing presbyteries; a part of the Presbytery of the East (Western Pennsylvania and Western New York), a region of the Presbytery of the Mid-West (Central and Eastern Ohio) and elements of the New Wineskins Transitional Presbytery. The new presbytery began with eight congregations. A year later that number is 35. Another 20 churches are in conversation with the presbytery about joining the missional movement known as the EPC’s Presbytery of the Alleghenies.
“It is exciting,” said Dean Weaver, one of the founders of the New Wineskins Association of Churches and now Chair of the Ministerial Committee of the Presbytery of the Alleghenies. “The Lord is growing His Church and adding to our numbers daily,” Weaver shared.
That new growth includes congregations transferring in from other denominations, but it also involves a high level commitment to church planting. Memorial Park Presbyterian Church (EPC), where Weaver is senior pastor, is planting a church in partnership with the presbytery in downtown Pittsburgh, called New City Church.
“The EPC places a strong focus on church planting,” claims Rodger Woodworth, founding pastor for New City, “that was the focus of our most recent General Assembly, and that is the focus of the Presbytery of the Alleghenies.”
Other congregations in the presbytery including First Presbyterian of Beaver, Pa., and Bay Presbyterian (outside of Cleveland) are also actively planting churches and the Presbytery’s Church Development Committee has targeted three additional communities in the region for church plants in the coming year.
The presbytery is also responding to the calling of God to work their “Judea/Samaria” to the “ends of the earth.” As its first joint mission endeavor, the Presbytery of the Alleghenies is partnering with the emerging EPC Mission in Sierra Leone (EPCMSL) to plant churches there.
Pastor Betsy Rumer, pastor of spiritual formation at Memorial Park, and a member of the EPC’s World Outreach Committee traveled to Sierra Leone last year and helped to baptize 198 Muslims who are now followers of Christ. “We are running to keep up” declares Rumer. “The Lord is way out ahead of us in this thing and we are privileged to be a part of it.”
In less than two years the EPCMSL has grown to ten congregations and two Engage 2025 sites. These communities have been identified as being comprised of populations of Muslim people who are 100 percent unreached with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Weaver and Rumor both acknowledge that “the excitement is building” as congregations and ministry networks of the presbytery begin to make plans to engage the communities. Those who are interested should contact the presbytery about the exploratory trip for pastors and mission leaders in the Spring of 2013.
With an acceleration from zero to 35 in one year, one wonders how the new presbytery is handling church leadership transitions, examination of candidates, and the kinds of things that Committee on Ministry might ordinarily address. Weaver says, “With the rapid growth of the presbytery has come a significant number of congregational and pastoral exams. We’ve formed ministry networks and we’ve focused on the building of relationships.” He describes a ministry network as “a cluster of six to eight churches that meet regularly for pastoral support, elder training, joint mission work and,” he says of one of the groups, “to take in a Pittsburgh Pirates baseball game.”
This October, the Presbytery’s Ministerial Committee will be hosting its first retreat for pastors entitled, “Relationships and Restoration: A Time of Intentional Soul-Care.”
The Presbytery of the Alleghenies may be only a year old, but it is growing rapidly as a part of God’s Kingdom advance. “We are working hard and having fun,” said Weaver, “and it has only just begun.”