Report of the Executive Director of Church Extension
Daniel G. Ziegler
Seed to the Sower and Bread for Food
Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. (II Corinthians 9:6)
I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow … The man who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. (I Corinthians 3:6,7)
The hard-working farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops. (II Timothy 2:6)
Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. (II Corinthians 9:10)
Agriculture is the idea and invention of the Lord God. He created plants and designed that they should reproduce and multiply by means of seeds (Genesis 1:11-13). He gave the plants to humans for food (Genesis 1:29). He put Adam in the Garden of Eden “to work it and take care of it” (Genesis 2:15). Even before the Fall, the Lord designed that through labor man should have part in producing his food.
After the parents of us all sinned and the ground was cursed because of their sin, they found that “through painful toil you will eat…” (Gen. 3:17) and “By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food” (vs. 19).
A large proportion of the Scriptures deals with agriculture. In addition to what the Bible says about direct, literal farming and related agricultural pursuits, sowing and reaping are also used to describe such other human activities as evangelism, new church formation, moral and immoral behavior and the giving of offerings for the Lord’s work.
Agricultural Principles
In the process of sowing and harvesting, whether in literal plant culture or any of the other areas of our lives that are likened to it in Scripture, there are principles that will constantly and invariably hold true. Some of them are:
1. Each variety of seed will produce after its kind; “A man reaps what he sows” (Galatians 6:7).
2. The quantity of the harvest is in direct proportion to the quantity of seed sown; “Whoever sows sparingly will reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously (II Corinthians 9:6).
3. Though there are factors that affect the harvest, in any of the activities, that are out of the control of us humans and subject only to God’s control (such as temperature, light and rainfall), yet the harvest and its benefits are in proportion to the labor expended;” … each (laborer) will be rewarded according to his own labor” (I Corinthians 3:8).
II Corinthians 9:10 brings together the seed and the harvest, the Lord and the laborer in a beautiful way. The Lord supplies “seed to the sower and bread for food.” He provides both of these out of the self-same harvest. The grain that will become the seed for the next year’s harvest (seed grain) is not different from that which will be ground into flour to make the bread we eat.
The Lord supplies the harvest, yet it is through the labors of the planter, the waterer and the harvester.
The person who takes all the credit for the harvest is a fool (Luke 12:20). “So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow” (I Corinthians 3:7). But the man who wrote those words says in the next sentence that “each will be rewarded according to his own labor” (vs. 7) and elsewhere that the hard working farmer benefits from his work (II Timothy 2:6).
A True Synergism
In the area of evangelism/church starting and financial giving, there is a true synergism, a “working together.” The Apostle writes, in a discussion of church planting, “For we are God’s fellow workers (Greek: synergoi)” (I Corinthians 3:9). In his comment on this verse, Godet says, “The meaning therefore is ‘We are at work with God Himself.'”
There is no synergism in salvation, for “Salvation is the work of God, from its commencement to is consummation” (Article XVII, p.19, FAITH & ORDER). We are not saved by or because of anything we do; nor can we keep ourselves saved by what we do. It is all of God and of Him alone.
But understanding the synergism in sowing and reaping, we know that our labor may and should be productive. Imagine a farmer who would say, “All that matters is that I work hard. I have no need to be concerned about the results, the quantity of the harvest, the bottom line.” He knows that the right kind of seed, planted in the right quantity at the right time with his hard and properly focused work, will produce. While there are the factors that he cannot control (but God does) that will affect the harvest, the farmer, if he thinks rightly about his work, knows he works together with his God. So he plows and threshes “in the hope of sharing in the harvest” (I Corinthians 9:10). Hope, in the biblical usage, is in no way “iffy” — but rather filled with certainty about that which is to come.
If we say sometimes, “God doesn’t expect us to be successful, only faithful,” we run the risk of rationalizing our own lack of labor or our pointless “busy work” that may amount to no more than “spinning our wheels.” When it comes to evaluating our church planters, who work with a minimum of resources in a task that is truly labor intensive, we know that they have to produce or they’ll be out of the business. The baby church must grow or that work will be closed. The church planter — like the farmer — knowing the synergism, works in hope and by faith, and together with his Partner brings in a harvest.
I counsel each of my colleagues-in-farming, don’t be a fool and take credit to yourself for what God produces. Neither, however, buy into the notion that the quality or quantity or direction or wisdom of your labors are of no consequence. The Lord of the harvest has called you to be a laborer with Him. And He has said to you, “Let’s not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:10).
Saving and Sowing the Seed
A most important part of the farmer’s work, for which he bears full responsibility, is to separate out of the harvest, and carefully to conserve that part of the grain that will be the next year’s seed. Because it is just like the rest of the crop, he might use it for bread if he gets hungry enough or sell it if he is poor enough. But if he plans to continue to farm, he will resist those temptations absolutely. He must not eat the seed grain.
The seed grain of the Bible Fellowship Church, which will produce future evangelism, new churches and the growth of the brotherhood, is our offerings for church extension.
The farmer knows that if he wants to increase his harvest next year, he’ll have to increase the amount of seed grain he saves from this year’s harvest.
On the family farm, the younger generation learns from those who have worked the farm before how much seed to save so that the fields may be adequately seeded. Through the generations, our forebears were very constant and faithful in their provision of the seed grain. For at least 80 years, they set aside 5-6% of their total church offerings and invested it in church planting evangelism. Starting in the mid to late 1960’s, our generation came along and began to eat some of the seed grain. We did this by spending the money we should have reserved for church planting evangelism for other things. At first it was just a wee bit, but gradually we became more hungry, or more poor, or more greedy or more foolish. We proceeded to eat more and more of the seed. The last year that our churches in aggregate gave 5% of the total offerings for church extension was 1965. The last year they gave 4% was 1967. In 1973 we fell below 3% for the first time and we have never returned to that level of giving. Three times in the 80’s we fell below 2%. Our all-time low was 1.91% in 1984. By 1988, perhaps sensing that we were heading toward bankruptcy, we conserved more seed — up to 2.59% of our offerings. But then temptation overtook us and the feeding frenzy was on again.This year we may again have fallen under 2%.
MANAGING THE FARM: Planning for the Harvests
Bible Fellowship Church Giving for Church Extension, 1962-1992
(percentage of total offerings)
We have forgotten the instruction and examples of our spiritual parents, grandparents and great grandparents. We are eating the seed grain. Because we are, we are sowing sparingly. And the divine agricultural principle is that as we sow sparingly we shall reap sparingly.
At this Annual Conference, we rejoice that we may recognize two more particular churches — Edison, New Jersey and Holmes, New York (both started ten years ago), and receive them into Conference membership. We have added to Conference membership four new churches in three years; nine in eight years! But in a few years, the pace of these new church recognitions will likely slow and cease, for we are eating the seed grain.
From 1974 through 1990, there were 25 new missions opened, an average of over three churches every two years. Last year we opened one, this year none. And there will likely be few in the years ahead, for we are eating the seed grain.
Other evangelical denominations are experiencing God’s blessing on aggressive programs of new church development. Some of these are the Christian and Missionary Alliance, the Church of the Nazarene, the Assemblies of God, the Church of God in Christ, the Vineyard Movement, the Calvary Chapel Movement, and the Missionary Church, which includes our former Western Conferences. Their successes demonstrate that there are receptive people and communities in North America among whom new churches can be planted. But the Bible Fellowship Church may reap sparingly while others gather abundantly. We are sowing sparingly because we prefer to eat the seed grain.
We have been learning how better to identify, select and recruit effective church planters. But what good is that knowledge or what use is it if there is no seed to sow and therefore no harvest to reap?
We have demonstrated that the present is a time when the telephone can be used effectively to reach people with the Gospel and plant churches. This fruitful method is being by-passed by the Bible Fellowship Church because we are eating the seed grain.
We send harvesters out into whitened fields, where they ought to invest all their time and energy in gathering the sheaves. But they cannot do so because we do not support them. We choose rather to eat the seed grain.
Our sovereign God is sending an amazing variety of peoples from all over the globe, in large numbers, to the USA. The Bible Fellowship Church is not evangelizing these people and forming churches among them. We are denying them what we owe them — the Good News of the Savior — because we’d rather eat the seed grain.
In 1983 and 1984, the Bible Fellowship Church set some exciting goals for itself — to massively increase its farming operations and gather a much greater harvest. The Church commissioned the Church Extension Department to open 39 new churches in the WIDER HORIZONS years (1985-2000). Some of the churches planned to start daughter churches. Together the churches resolved to double their church extension offerings to enable the Church Extension Department to plant those new churches. If the churches had met their goal and doubled their 1983 offerings by 1985, and then maintained the ’85 percentage, they would have given over $760,000 more than they have in the last seven years to extend the Church. That sum could have planted a lot of churches! But rather than discipline ourselves to meet the goal, we have eaten the seed.
What Might Have Been
There are now 20 Bible Fellowship Church congregations worshiping God, proclaiming the Gospel, making disciples and edifying the Lord’s people that were not in existence in 1970. Had the WIDER HORIZONS faith goals to this point been achieved, we would have 11 more new congregations and as many as 1000 more members than we have.
We should not be surprised that, because we have been eating the seed rather than planting it, we have reaped less. It’s merely a demonstration that God’s agricultural principles hold true.
If our churches had only learned from our forebears to preserve 5% of the harvest for the next year’s seeding (as was done in 1965), and if we had done this each year since 1965, we could have expected that our Lord who said, “Everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance” (Matthew 25:29), would have enabled us significantly to have exceeded the WIDER HORIZONS goals. We might count 40 to 50 congregations that would have been begun since 1970 with perhaps 2000 to 3000 more members then we now have. But you can’t eat your seed, decrease your sowing and reap a larger harvest. The Lord says the reaping will be diminished, and so it shall be.
A year ago we had to take one of the saddest and most difficult actions that we could imagine — to close Pinebrook Junior College. We were forced to do it, and it has surely diminished our morale and our ministry as a denomination. If we had had 25 more young congregations and 2500 more members than we do, would we have had to close our school? In my 1986 report, I demonstrated that the young churches give proportionally greater support to our denominational ministries than the older congregations (Report of Executive Director, 1986 Year Book, pp 59-61). The outcome could have been quite different. But you cannot reap generously unless you have sown generously and you can’t sow grain which you have eaten. The choices we make have consequences, which may be good or bad, sad or happy.
We all rejoice in the way the Lord is calling members of the Bible Fellowship Church to become foreign missionaries. If He continues to call them, will the financial support be there for them from our churches? We may see more and more people, moving here and there ever more actively, for increasingly long time periods, doing deputation work to find fewer and fewer dollars for their support. Increasing numbers may have to decide to withdraw from candidacy because their support cannot be raised. I have talked with several visionary brothers among us who can see this happening and who are deeply concerned. Oh that we had those added congregations and members to help to support our growing missionary family. But grain was eaten rather than sown . . .
What Should Have Been
In the three decades between the 1960 and 1990 censuses, the population of the United States grew 38.7%. Compared to that growth percentage for the nation, what would you think should be the minimum acceptable growth percentage of the Bible Fellowship Church? Wouldn’t you expect our growth in membership to exceed the national growth? By how much?
Don’t you believe our Lord would expect us to grow faster than our nation grew? What would He be pleased with? He said He will build His Church (Matthew 16:18). He commissioned us to make disciples (Matthew 28:19).
Surely there were times of good opportunity and receptivity to the Gospel during those thirty years. What growth rate should we have seen? The fact is that our growth was just about exactly that of the United States — 39.2% just 1/2 of 1% above the national figure.
As we ingested more and more of the seed and planted and sowed for ever decreasing harvests, is it surprising that we grew no faster than our nation grew?
As a spokesperson for my generation, those born before World War II, I confess that all of this happened on our watch. As we ascended to the leadership of our Church, we broke rank and faith with our forefathers and foremothers. We nibbled away merrily at the seed grain. And when the decade of the eighties came, the “me” decade of self-centeredness and self-indulgence, we were right there conformed to the world, and we led our church into its lowest commitment ever for sowing and reaping in the USA. We have put the future of this farm in jeopardy.
And who told us to keep our denomination within such tight geographical boundaries? Certainly not the One who called His disciples to be His witnesses simultaneously “in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Who directed us to keep the Bible Fellowship Church so ethnically, racially, linguistically and culturally homogeneous? Not the One who bade His followers to “go and make disciples of all nations …” (Matthew 28:19).
Over the last thirty years, most of our churches have been located in areas with growing populations. And they are close by great metropolises which have been neglected and abandoned by the evangelical church. When we should have been saving and sending increasing stores of seed so that those masses might have opportunity to partake of the Bread of Life, what have we been doing? We’ve become “recreational seed chewers.” Whose idea was that? Clearly not His who said, “For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world” (John 6:33).
Maybe there’s still time in the waning years of our lives and ministries for our generation to reverse what we’ve done. Lord, help us to do it.
To the generations on the rise, don’t follow our example. Be the right kind of farmers. Have the vision of the harvest ever before your eyes. Earnestly desire to be a partaker of that harvest. And know that the only way to enjoy that outcome is by diligently saving, sending and sowing that seed.
Churches that Save, Send and Sow
I must report that we who are involved in sowing your seed in the United States and gathering the harvest are grateful for the support of the churches. But this year there was a decrease of more than $4200 in giving from the churches on the heels of a $4000 drop a year ago. I suspect that these are attributable to some of the churches being unable to give what they had planned or would have liked to have given due to the effect of the difficult and protracted recession. The Lord provided a dramatic surge in gifts from individuals this year, which filled the gap and enabled us to pay all bills.We are committed to taking whatever the churches give for extending the Church and managing it into as large a harvest as we can. We will not give up and walk out of the fields — we have no permission from the Lord of the harvest to do that.
Some of the churches give largely for church planting. An analysis of 1991 giving revealed that five of the churches gave 5% or more of their total offerings for extending the Church. No seed grain eating there! And two churches gave more than 10%. They may have experienced some hungry days as they disciplined themselves to increase their store of seed.
Our analysis showed that the group of churches with the greatest proportion of their harvest allocated for seeding (3.03%) was the 19 middle sized congregations, whose total offerings ranged from $60,000 to $150,000. Of the largest nine, whose offerings exceeded $200,000 each, only one, Emmaus, gave over 5%. There was none other over 2.8% and as a group, they averaged 1.9%. These churches, because of their size and relative affluence, could provide for the sowing of a lot of fields. By the low proportion of their harvest that they allocate for sowing, combined with their high visibility, they probably somewhat dissuade each other and the rest of the churches from greater commitments to increasing the harvest.
The mission at Pleasant Valley, New York, was not dissuaded. One of our smallest in size and budget, Pleasant Valley is like the Macedonians of New Testament times, for “their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity” (II Corinthians 8:2). They gave 7% of their offerings for seeding. They did not give in order to be commended by other people.
We know that the Lord’s criteria for commendation are the attitude (“God loves a cheerful giver.” II Corinthians 9:7) and the proportion (the tithe is His idea), not the “bottom line.” The greatest gift ever given by any human and one that Jesus arranged to be remembered forever, was a pittance deposited in the temple treasury by a poor widow who “out of her poverty put in all she had to live on” (100%).
One of the most touching gifts that came to our office during this year was a check for $1255.20 from an elderly widowed saint, who shall be anonymous. She lives on a small fixed income, which she manages very carefully. She loves the work of church extension, she loves me, and she prays for us every day. She has learned to sow bountifully, and where her treasure is, her heart is also.
If you think that I am trying to play the churches off against one another to stimulate their giving — I plead guilty! If you think there is something wrong with that, let me say that I learned it from my mentor, Paul (II Corinthians 8). And the Holy Spirit, who prompted him to write it, saw that it was included in His Holy Word for our benefit. Furthermore, I would delight to be able to induce our churches to look at one another more often and more closely, to draw closer to each other and become wholly committed to the Bible Fellowship Church as a movement and to the things we do together. If individual believers may “spur one another on toward love and good deeds” (Hebrews 10:24), why shouldn’t churches do so also?
Possibility of Great Harvests
Dr. C. Peter Wagner states his view that ten healthy, wholesome churches ought to be able to start one new church each year. Assuming that we have 30 such churches, with others on the way, we should be able to open at least three new congregations per year. Our analysis of the 19 middle size churches shows that they receive average offerings of about $100,000 a year. If ten of these average Bible Fellowship Churches would save and send 5% of their offerings as “seed grain,” the total would be $50,000. The cost of a pastor’s salary, health insurance and housing presently runs about $38,000. That could be met from the $50,000. I believe we could seek to raise the initial start-up program costs, perhaps $20,000 to $25,000 from individual givers. In the second year, the $12,000 remainder from the ten churches’ seed money could be augmented by designated support giving for the planter to meet the needs of the organizing pastor’s family which are not yet being met by the mission congregation. Thus the ten could sustain a schedule of a new opening each year. As they grow and continue to give their 5% seed money, they can keep pace with increases in pastoral support needs with some additional money toward administrative costs and eventually more new starts. Some of the ten will decide to mother a new daughter church. And so the pace will increase. The new churches and the presently smaller and weaker churches will become stronger and will soon add a fourth cadre of ten to the “new church a year” club. Growth will accelerate. Possibly, the WIDER HORIZONS goals will yet be achieved by the year 2000!
The Department is structured for growth. To be faithful to the mandate that the churches gave us in WIDER HORIZONS to plant 39 churches in 15 years (2.6/year) we had to restructure. Our Development Office is doing great work. It has upgraded our communications, added over 400 names to our mailing lists, added over 150 new or lapsed givers since it has gotten up and going, and it provides numerous services to our organizing pastors and missions.
Our development efforts have been used of the Lord to raise about as much in new giving as were the added costs in this first full year of a full-time Director of Development and Communication.All the rest of the output is bonus.One of the most important results — probably the most important — is the greatly increased volume of intercessory prayers through improved and more widely circulated prayer letters, our photo prayer packets and our monthly prayer bulletin, “The Extension CALL.”
We have heard from some who feel that we have too much administrative cost — to high a proportion. It is difficult to compare us to other mission operations, for fully one-half of what we call “administration” expenditures are for field and personnel work, which few if any of the missions attribute to home office or headquarters administration.
We believe we could take on the supervision and support of about twice as many congregations and missionaries as we now have without increasing costs any more than 10%. That would be a total of 22 churches and missions and 24 to 26 pastors. This would just about cut our dollar cost for administration per unit in half.
The percentage of expenditures for administration this year dropped from 38.4% in 1990-91 to 37.1% in 1991-92. If and when the churches are able to save and send 5% of their total offerings for seed sowing, that percentage figure would drop to about 20%. If we can continue to expend half of our efforts on field and personnel work, the real “overhead” will be 10%.
How to Assess Your Church’s Seed Saving
If you wish to calculate your church’s percent of offerings for extending the Church, it is very easy to do. Enter into your calculator the church extension giving for the year just ended. You can take that from the report of the committee on statistics or from the table in the back of the Year Book. Then divide (÷) by your total offering figure and punch the equal button. Your answer will probably have a decimal point in it. Move the decimal two places to the right. Round off the first number to the right of the decimal and you have your percentage, to the tenth — for example, 4.2%
Planning for Larger Harvests
Increasing your store of seed grain will not be as easy as making the calculation. You will need to do some careful planning and exercise some tight management. You may need to plan several steps, for example adding 1% or 0.5% to the budget line to bring say a 3% proportion up to 5% over two or four years.
You might be thinking, “Oh, our people don’t know enough about Church Extension (or don’t care enough) to do that.” There are two keys to changing that. The first is faith — on the part of the leadership — to believe that the Lord wants us to have a greater harvest and then to add hope — biblical hope — to your faith.
This scriptural principle is explicated in such texts as, “According to your faith will it be done to you” (Matthew 9:29); “And He did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith” (Matthew 13:58) — remember the synergism here — and “O Jerusalem, . . . how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!” (Luke 13:34) and “You do not have because you do not ask” (James 4:2).
The second step is the action step. Again James writes, ” … I will show you my faith by what I do” (James 2:18) and the writer to the Hebrews fills a great chapter with what real people did by faith (Hebrews 11). This step is to begin to reserve a larger portion of your harvest and see that it gets out to the fields for sowing. At first thought, this may sound backward — to commit the giving before the awareness and concern are there. But this is Jesus’ way, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21). Stop being “seed grain junkies.” Give it up and send it on, and your peoples’ awareness, concern and prayers will come to be there, for the heart follows the treasure.
As your people pray, instruct them concerning Jesus’ directions to His disciples in the face of ripened harvest fields (they’re on the way, for God has declared that our bountiful sowing will lead to bountiful harvest), “ask the Lord of the harvest … to send out workers into his harvest field” (Matthew 9:36).
We may expect the Lord to call some of the sons of our churches to be church planting evangelists and some of our couples to be summoned also to be Priscilla and Aquilla teams to help form churches. Why have so few of our own members been called to be missionaries to extend the Bible Fellowship Church in North America? Have our consciences been stirred about this eating of the seed grain? Have we believed God and acted on that belief? Have we sent our treasure? Are we praying for harvesters? If our treasure is there in the fields, and our hearts have followed, we’ll be delighted to send our sons and daughters to where our hearts and treasures are. Some of us might also go ourselves.
If your church does this, you’re going to find incredible blessings, for in the work of this generous treasure-sending and seed-sowing, our Father gives one of those overwhelming assurances, that He “is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work” (II Corinthians 9:8). In another context about giving, the Lord says, “… see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it” (Malachi 3:10).
You might say to me, “Dan, aren’t you being awfully literal and mechanical about this? Haven’t you failed to acknowledge the sovereign grace of God in this?” I believe wholeheartedly in the absolute sovereignty of God in salvation — all of Him, none of us. But in this seed-sowing and harvesting, there is a synergism. Surely, God will save whom He chooses to save. But if we fail to do what He desires of us, we shall miss out on the harvest — or at least enjoy only a little gleaning of a few stalks when there are sheaves to be brought in.
Counting-out and giving the tithe is mechanical. Separating and saving the seed grain in the amount needed is literal and mechanical — as is sowing it at the right time and in the right place.
Let’s “trust and obey” and I believe we shall be amazed at what He will do in and through the Bible Fellowship Church in the next eight years.
Travel Plans
It is my desire to visit with as many of my fellow pastors as I can during this 1992-93 year. I want to hear your thoughts, ideas, criticisms, suggestions for extending the Church. What can we do better? Where are there great open doors for us to enter with the Good News? What is your church doing to evangelize the lost in your community and to make disciples.
And I’d like to talk with you about your church’s plans to save and send that seed. And maybe I could meet with the appropriate budgeting group(s). I’d like to have you invite me to come. For those who do not, I’ll try to contact as many as I can to arrange to visit as many as I can by the most efficient travel plans, from late winter through early summer, 1993.
To those who will save and sow the seed grain through giving, the Lord says, “You will be made rich in every way, so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God” (II Corinthians 9:11). Can you ever begin to imagine what that could mean for the Bible Fellowship Church? Can’t we be sure that that overflow of thanksgiving will be richly pleasing to our great and gracious God?
A YEAR OF GOOD PROGRESS
1991-92 has been a year of good progress for the 11 churches and missions in the Department. There were many highlights in the programs of our congregations, including vital children’s and youth ministries, special outreach projects, new and enjoyable traditions. There were a good many glorious baptismal services.
Four of the churches/missions have made major organizational transitions.
Organizational Development
Two of the congregations achieved the primary step of electing elders. Faith Church of Holmes, New York, elected John Dawson, Al Cocker, Allen Light, Alexander Mitchell and Harris Snowdon. The church has had at least three baptismal services, received numerous new members, welcomed a steady stream of visitors, developed and presented vital and attractive programs and seen steady growth in average attendance at worship and Sunday School.
Christ Community Church of Edison, New Jersey, became the first organized mission to elect elders and deacons at the same time. The newly elected elders are Joseph Adavai, Robert Matthey, J. Richard Vroman and Kenneth Zimmerman. The deacons are Clark Griffith and William Kriney. Worship attendance at Edison averages about 120.
We expect both churches to seat their delegates as members of this 109th Annual Conference. Each will substantially decrease the amount of financial assistance it will draw from the Board of Church Extension in 1992-93.
Two of the missions, Somers Point, New Jersey and Spencer, Massachusetts, met with their assessment committees this year for the committed family assessments. Both were found to have about ten credible committed families and were approved, by the Board at its last meeting, to form membership rolls and become organized missions.
During the year a fine charter presentation service was held in Ocean County, New Jersey.
Property Matters
Our two newest missions are nearing their first anniversaries and are involved in the process of obtaining buildings.
The South County Mission began public worship in Dudley, Massachusetts, last December. After meeting for a time in a home, they were able to obtain use of the Dudley Town Hall auditorium for a limited time, which ended on September 27. Worship attendance has recently been averaging in the mid-30’s, with seven to nine families demonstrating faithful commitment.
A diligent search for a suitable meeting place in the Dudley-Webster area turned up nothing. There is, however, a fine attractive and well located 4000 square foot former restaurant building for sale just over the state line in Thompson, Connecticut. Along with Dudley and Webster, Thompson, which is immediately contiguous, will make up a three town target area with a large population and dearth of evangelical churches. If the locus of the work shifts to Thompson, it will bring us back into the Nutmeg State after a three year absence since the congregation at New Fairfield was dissolved.
The mission in the Upper Perkiomen Valley in Pennsylvania has taken the name Community Bible Fellowship Church. Having rapidly outgrown its original meeting place in East Greenville, it moved last December to larger quarters in an office building in Red Hill. On December 1, 1991, the pastoral team began its ministry in the Valley.
The Lord provided a competent and experienced lead organizing pastor in an unusual manner. Ron Denlinger is a missionary with the Rural Home Missionary Association, Inc. (RHMA). He and his wife, Joan, have two special needs children, Kari and Ryan. The intense and constant care of the children and their need for special medical attention made demands on Ron and Joan that did not allow them to continue at the church Ron had planted in Lebanon, Connecticut. They took a leave of absence and returned to Lancaster County where they had grown up and their families lived.
To shorten a long story, the Lord put the Denlingers and the Church Extension Department in touch with each other just when each was ready for the other and just as He had provided a committed Christian caregiver, Lois Woolston, to take on ministry with Kari and Ryan and thus to enable Ron to return to church planting.
Our mission in the Upper Perkiomen Valley is a partnership with RHMA, a fine parachurch ministry that is thoroughly compatible, in belief and church formation methodology, with us. RHMA provides the Denlingers’ support package and we provide the housing. We have primary direction of the work which will be a Bible Fellowship Church. We are delighted with this new partnership model.
The Board of Church Extension has called D. Thomas Phillips, a veteran with us, as associate organizing pastor, to serve bivocationally. The team is working harmoniously, happily and fruitfully.
God has generously enabled us to purchase a fine 15,000 square foot building in Red Hill. In its wisdom, the Resolution Trust Corporation, acting in the interest of the taxpayers of the United States, turned down our contract offer to purchase the building and decided to offer it for sale at a large public auction. We went to the auction in Philadelphia on June 25 and were successful in buying the property at a saving of over $75,000 of the Lord’s money. Closing of title occurred July 28. The building is in virtual “move-in” condition. After the required municipal approvals, the congregation met for its first Lord’s Day there on October 18. A dedication service is planned for the afternoon of November 15. We estimate that the building can comfortably contain a full program of a congregation of at least 250. Recently worship attendance topped 100 nine of ten consecutive Lord’s Days.
Our growing and lively congregation in Newark, New Jersey, has outgrown its present building, leading to an intensive search for a new facility. Preliminary negotiations have been opened with another denomination toward the prospect of acquiring a large church building about two blocks from our current Clinton Hill location.
The Edison, New Jersey, church is also actively exploring options for acquiring a “next step” place in which to meet.
Working Groups
This was a year for work crews from established churches to come and help the young churches. This was particularly evident in Staten Island, New York.
A crew of seven men came from Emmanuel Church, Sunbury, Pennsylvania, July 17-19 for two days of intensive work on the grounds and a Sunday morning of ministry.
On Friday afternoon and Saturday, August 21 and 22, a total of about 50 persons from Faith Churches in Harleysville and Spring City, Pennsylvania, descended to work. Exterior work continued, including the construction of a new concrete basketball court, while several large interior areas were magically transformed with paint and paint brush.
A group of ten from Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania, returned this summer to Ocean County, New Jersey, to provide leaders and workers for a VBS. Together with workers from the host church, they presented a fruitful and effective children’s program.
These incidents of mission teams for ministry hold great promise for future replication.
The Future
One of the strategic provisions which we are making for future growth is the Board’s Memorial Fund. Provided by gifts in memory of loved ones and friends who have gone on to glory, the fund is reserved to help young churches with real estate acquisition and construction. Revolving loans help those churches and build up the principal of the fund so that it grows and will go on helping new congregations to get established till the Lord Jesus returns. During the year, memorial gifts totaling $155 were received in memory of Edward Stortz and Edith Hall.
We have great hopes (in the biblical sense) and expectations for our dear young congregations. And we yearn to see many more start up in the years just ahead.
May the Lord of the harvest grant us to be good seed savers and sowers and may He give us the joy of beholding a great harvest of souls and new churches — to His glory, thanks and praise. Amen!