Please pray for Dr. Gabe Fluhrer, Associate Minister of Discipleship at First Presbyterian Church in Columbia, SC. During a recent illness, a CT scan revealed a 2 cm mass on his kidney. As a result, he is having surgery now, Tuesday, November 12, to remove this growth and determine what it is. Please be in prayer for Gabe and his family.

Please be in prayer for David Warf, pastor of New Lebanon ARP Church in Sinks Grove, WV. He had a massive heart attack on Sunday, November 10, and is still in critical condition.

Orphan Sunday November 10

Bonclarken Conference Center Newsletter

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Give with a Thankful Heart

Twice each year at Thanksgiving and at Easter, the ARP Church collects a special offering to support some of the ministries of our denomination.  The Thanksgiving Season Special Offering is for the benefit of:

• Christmas Benevolent Fund – A longstanding ministry of the ARP Church, this fund provides monetary gifts to retired ARP ministers and widows of retired ministers.
• Outreach North America – This agency of our denomination assists in the planting of new ARP churches and the revitalization of existing congregations.
• Erskine Theological Seminary – As our church’s only institution of theological education, the seminary equips men and women for Gospel service through a variety of master and doctoral level programs of study.
• The American Bible Society – This organization strives to make Bibles available to people
  throughout the world.

We ask that each congregation provide an opportunity for your congregation to participate in this special offering.  While no specific date is set for the collection of the offering, we ask that proceeds be sent in by December 31, 2019 so that distributions may be made in a timely manner. Please return the Special Thanksgiving Offering Report to the ARP Center with your church’s contribution or you may give online by clicking here.

Nominations for Erskine’s Board of Trustees

The General Synod of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church and Erskine College and Seminary are working collaboratively to place gifted individuals on Erskine’s Board of Trustees.  We are seeking your assistance in this effort. 

We would like for you to thoughtfully and prayerfully consider submitting one or more names for consideration as a future member of Erskine’s Board of Trustees. To give you a better understanding of the expectations for trustees, we encourage you to review the following documents:

• Mission Statements of Erskine College and Erskine Theological Seminary
• The definition of an Evangelical Christian adopted by the General Synod of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church (originally adopted June 1976, updated June 2008.)
• A Theological Commitments Questionnaire adopted by the General Synod on June 7, 2012.
• Statement of the Philosophy of Christian Higher Education of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church as adopted by the General Synod June 2018.
• Statement of Trustee Responsibilities, adopted by the Board of Trustees on February 28, 1986.
• Erskine College Trustee Profile, adopted by the Board of Trustees on October 26, 1990.
• Conflict of Interest Policy from the Erskine College and Seminary Board Policy Manual adopted May 18, 2012.

Given our desire for Erskine’s long-term success, we are asking you to share names of individuals that would serve Erskine’s best interests at any time in the future.  We also ask that you extend our request to others who would be willing to share name(s) for consideration with us.

Please submit the name of individual(s) for consideration (using this form) no later than December 1, 2019 to Ms. Cindy Scott (cscott@arpsynod.org) or via US mail to:

Committee on Nominations c/o Ms. Cindy Scott
918 S. Pleasantburg Dr, Suite 127
Greenville, SC 29607

At a later date, we may need to contact you for further information regarding the individual(s) you have submitted. Thank you for your assistance in this vital effort.

Sincerely,

Joey Donahue, Committee on Nominations
Jill Gazzaway, Board of Trustees        

Click here to read the latest ARP Magazine. 

Be sure to read the Moderator’s Challenge on Healthy Churches on page 3. The feature article by Jonathan Kuciemba on adoption is on page 6. ARPinterest will have a change coming in 2020 so enjoy CC’s last article on page 22. A testimony of church attendance is on page 26 by Lorri Crawford.

Contact our office if you would like to receive a complimentary print copy. A subscription to The ARP Magazine makes a great gift so be sure to share the joy. A subscription form is on page 18.

Organizing Worship Service Of Shem Creek

Join us Sunday, November 20, at 5:30pm as we organize as a church of Catawba Presbytery in the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church.

This service will be held at the historic Darby Building at 302 Pitt St, Mt. Pleasant, SC. I hope many of you will be able to join us as we celebrate God’s work at SCPC. We will have light refreshments and fresh coffee before the service at 5pm.

Many of you have been faithfully praying and supporting Shem Creek Presbyterian Church over the past several years. Thank you for your prayers and support – SCPC would not be here without your gifts and prayers. As we prepare for this important evening worship service, here are a few of ways you can help us.

1. PRAY – Continue to pray for our young church. Pray that we will grow spiritually and numerically in the months ahead. 

2. GIVE – God has blessed us financially as a young church over the past several years. He has been faithful to us and has provided for all of our needs. We announced in May that we needed to raise $30,000 this year and we are over halfway there. Would you consider a one time gift to SCPC to help us reach our financial goal? You can give securely online or by sending a check to SCPC, P.O. Box 160, Mt. Pleasant, SC 29465.

3. TALK – Please continue telling others you know about our congregation. Please let your friends or family in the Charleston/Mt Pleasant area know about Shem Creek Presbyterian Church. 

Ben
shemcreekpresbyterian.org

Save the Date

WORSHIP SERVICE AT HISTORIC OLD BRICK CHURCH (OBC) on REFORMATION SUNDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2019 at 3 PM

Service Leader, Rev. Greg Slater, Retired ARP Minister
Music, Centennial A.R.P. Church Choir
Address: 11235 State Highway 213, Winnsboro, S. C., 29180 (14 Miles West of Winnsboro)

The historic house of worship was built in 1788, but there was a congregation in existence before the American Revolution. The original name was Ebenezer Meeting House. Over the years the church has become known as the Old Brick Church. The most important event in the church’s rich history occurred on May 9, 1803. It was then that the Associate Reformed Synod of the Carolinas was organized at Ebenezer to become one of the four synods that constituted the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, which had been earlier organized in 1782 in Philadelphia. By 1822 the Synod of the Carolinas, which had grown beyond the Carolinas, became the Synod of the South. Though the northern synods formed a new denomination in 1859 (United Presbyterian Church), the Synod of the South retained the name, Associate Reformed Presbyterian. Damaged by Union troops in 1865, the church was repaired and remained in active use until 1920. Catawba Presbytery formed the OBC Commission in March 2007, to oversee the building and its properties, and to organize a special worship service at least every 5 years. This unique gathering serves to remind us of the role this church played in the founding and life of our denomination. Therefore, please join us for worship on Reformation Sunday, October 27, 2019, at 3 pm.

Bonclarken Conference Center Newsletter

Want to know what’s going on at Bonclarken Conference Center? Click here to subscribe to our email newsletter and receive monthly updates. The first edition arrives November 1!

Psalm Sing in Florida

Union Psalm-sing on November 3 at 4pm. Hosted by First Presbyterian Church Avon Park with music led by First Presbyterian Church Lake Placid. Music and fellowship at an hour-long joint service followed by refreshments, desserts, and finger foods. Congregational singing will be accompanied by piano, organ, and a small orchestra, and will be interspersed with short, devotional reflections on the Psalms. Click here to find out more.

For those of you near Greenville, SC, there will be a Flu Shot clinic on Friday, October 11, from 10am-2pm at The ARP Center (918 S. Pleasantburg Dr.). CVS will provide a licensed pharmacist and a technician. All you need to bring is your insurance card or cash. The shot is free with Insurance and $32 without.

Reverend Kyle Sims, pastor of First ARP Lancaster,  is resting at home following surgery on his foot this morning. Pray for him and his family during his recuperation.

Some of the ARP Center agency emails are not working today. If it is an urgent matter, please call 864-232-8297.

Ecclesiastes 3 reminds us that there is a season for everything. Five years ago, that season saw us bring Rev. Mike Jones on as the Executive Director of Outreach North America. Mike had been planting and pastoring Hope Church in the Tampa area in our Florida Presbytery. We saw the way that he was gifted by the Lord in that work. Having an experienced church planter and Senior Pastor to lead ONA carried on the tradition set by Dr. Alan Avera and Dr. Jim Corbitt.

Being the Executive Director takes quite a unique set of skills. The Director of ONA must have leadership skills to lead the board and the denomination proactively into all the areas that Synod has commissioned ONA. Those areas are New Church Development, Church Vitality, Evangelism Strategies, enhancing the ARPC National Presence and Administration. The Executive Director is our face for recruiting church planters. He is our liaison to presbyteries. He carries a strong presence in national organizations and he must be an excellent administrator for our staff and a superior steward of the Lord’s finances.

Mike has done all these jobs with excellence. During the last five years, ONA has drawn alongside ARP presbyteries to plant nearly 20 churches in 9 of our presbyteries. Mike and his staff/team have developed a funding and vision plan to responsibly plant up to 66 churches over the next ten years! In addition, Mike has also recruited and groomed Rev. Wayne Frazier as Church Vitality Coach and together they have developed a reproducible church vitality program that is unique to the ARPC. The Framing the Future of your Church and Ministry approach (FFCM) is a 12 month, leadership team based approach to church vitality no matter where a church is on the church life cycle.

Financially, Mike has led us to greater sustainability and increased our bottom line significantly with an emphasis on getting more DMF dollars into the field. Mike has tirelessly promoted ONA church vitality an expansion to members and churches in the ARP so that he might be able to fund the work that God had called him to. He has also introduced “Gospel Conversations” to the ARPC with an emphasis on sharing the Gospel with clarity to those in closest proximity.

But as I said, there is a season for everything and Mike’s season of leading ONA has come to a close. Even though he has enjoyed the last five years at ONA, he realizes that he is first and foremost called to be a pastor. He will be heading to Fort Myers, Florida where he had been called as an Associate Pastor at New Hope Presbyterian (EPC). We will desperately miss his leadership at ONA, but with the Lord’s leading perhaps we can build upon the fruits of his labors for many years to come. I would ask that you would please join us in prayer for Mike, Gina and his family as they transition on Jan. 1, 2020 to the new ministry. And please join the ONA Board as we pray for the next season of ministry at ONA. It is my goal in the next 30 days to have a succession team established and to have discussion regarding any changes that might need to be made to the existing job description for the future ONA Director. Please keep our ONA staff in your prayers as well.

In the grip of His grace alone,

Jan Sattem
ONA Board Chairman

Rev. Wayne Frazier will continue his work as Church Vitality Coach. Office staff Erin Hipps, Connor Hipps, and Tessa Taylor will continue their work as well. 

www.ona-arp.org

There are two 5th Sunday Psalm singing opportunities for this Sunday. If you live near Bethany ARP Church, Clover, SC, they will meet at 5pm and have a covered dish following. Tennessee Alabama Presbytery is hosting a Psalm singing at Fayetteville ARP Church at 4:30pm with a covered dish supper to follow.

To learn more about the ARP denomination and singing Psalms, read The ARP Magazine article Singing Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs by Dr. Mark Ross. Part 2 will be printed in the next issue. You can find the article by clicking here.

Save the Date

WORSHIP SERVICE AT HISTORIC OLD BRICK CHURCH (OBC) on REFORMATION SUNDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2019 at 3 PM

Service Leader, Rev. Greg Slater, Retired ARP Minister
Music, Centennial A.R.P. Church Choir
Address: 11235 State Highway 213, Winnsboro, S. C., 29180 (14 Miles West of Winnsboro)

The historic house of worship was built in 1788, but there was a congregation in existence before the American Revolution. The original name was Ebenezer Meeting House. Over the years the church has become known as the Old Brick Church. The most important event in the church’s rich history occurred on May 9, 1803. It was then that the Associate Reformed Synod of the Carolinas was organized at Ebenezer to become one of the four synods that constituted the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, which had been earlier organized in 1782 in Philadelphia. By 1822 the Synod of the Carolinas, which had grown beyond the Carolinas, became the Synod of the South. Though the northern synods formed a new denomination in 1859 (United Presbyterian Church), the Synod of the South retained the name, Associate Reformed Presbyterian. Damaged by Union troops in 1865, the church was repaired and remained in active use until 1920. Catawba Presbytery formed the OBC Commission in March 2007, to oversee the building and its properties, and to organize a special worship service at least every 5 years. This unique gathering serves to remind us of the role this church played in the founding and life of our denomination. Therefore, please join us for worship on Reformation Sunday, October 27, 2019, at 3 pm.