Here is the latest quarterly update. If you missed the last one about our move to S. Jersey and my new endeavor to go full time with RPM, you can read it here.
For more information about RPM or to make a donation, click here.
Archive for the ‘Parochial Strategy’ Category
RPM November Quarterly Update
Posted in Parish in American Context, Parochial Strategy, Reformed Parish Mission (RPM) Posts on December 28, 2023| Leave a Comment »
RPM: Drunk despair & a shoe on the other foot!
Posted in Parish in American Context, Parish Theory & Practice, Parochial Strategy, Reformed Parish Mission (RPM) Posts on December 20, 2023| 1 Comment »
Over the last few weeks, I’ve made more progress door-to-door in Woodbine. It’s got some character to be sure. There are some nice, even stately old homes alternating with run-down and abandoned shells. The one below had the front door completely knocked in to the ground. With poorer judgment, I could have just walked throughout the place.
I’ve encountered and visited with a number of Spanish speakers here in Woodbine. One had me inside. And not long into this first round I’ve discovered just how many African Americans there are. And their relatively openness to talk and comparative friendliness from past experience elsewhere has been mildly surprising–and definitely encouraging.
One of my most recent encounters was with “Dequan.” As I walked up to his house, he stood there, music blaring from his car. He looked late 20s, dressed in typical urban street-wear. As I introduced himself and handed him a leaflet, he very quickly got exercised and said that there was ‘no forgiveness for him–he killed a man!’ I noticed beer on his breath. Hard to say whether he was serious or not; but I had little reason to doubt him as the conversation progressed. I spoke to him of the infinite love of God in Christ who willingly died for wicked sinners like him and like me. I told him, as for his despair of pardon, that there was a great believer in the Bible who killed a man, and yet God forgave him. “Moses!” he replied. I was thinking David. (This fellow probably had a Christian upbringing, maybe even a godly mother or grandmother still praying for him. O, let us never despair of our prodigals!) So now Dequan had two witnesses of divinely pardoned murderers, and “in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established.” I was grateful that he did not brush me off for who I was, and I certainly treated him with the dignity he deserved as a human being. But, I explained to him, he and I were both in the same boat. We are helpless sinners in desperate need of mercy! I got his phone number. Then I asked if I could pray with him? He had quite calmed down by now. As I prayed for Dequan, he volunteered an arm around me. So touching, and I responded in kind as I led our poor souls to the throne of grace.
(more…)Another prescription for community renewal
Posted in Free Church of Scotland, Missiology, Moral Suasion, Parish in American Context, Parish Theory & Practice, Parochial Strategy, Social Byproduct, Social Issues, The Gospel & the Poor, Theology of Community, Theology of Place, Thomas Chalmers on August 25, 2023| 1 Comment »
Community is dead. R.I.P. This short article by Dr. Carl Trueman laments the evaporation of community–at least in the West–and of its historically Christian nexus, the Church. He then offers a strategic prescription in the rediscovery of hospitality, no doubt in the spirit of Rosaria Butterfield. I couldn’t agree more. If we are embodied souls living in real places with zip codes and GPS coordinates, we as Christians need to love our neighbors in very tangible ways for their salvation — and as a happy byproduct, recreate community.
But I think this malady requires more than one prescription. Thomas Chalmers (1780-1847), the pioneer of the Free Church of Scotland in which Trueman spent many years, was even in his day deeply troubled at the disintegration of then-modern community. The Industrial Revolution had forced masses of country folk into the slums of Britain’s factory-choked cities. It grieved him to his core that these people were living in grinding poverty and were completely falling through the cracks of the Church of Scotland’s traditional spiritual care, forming a bloated underclass of unchurched “home heathen.” And the mechanized web of misery only strengthened its grip by the complete and utter absence of community. His assessment is surprisingly contemporary: “As the matter stands, juxtaposition forms no security whatever for acquaintanceship—insomuch that the members of distinct households might live for years under the same roof, unknowing and unknown to each other.”
(more…)Hometown or career?
Posted in Contemporary Parochialism, Locality & the Law of Residence, Parish in American Context, Parochial Strategy, Theology of Place on April 30, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Reformed parish missions: “Gentil-inclusión”
Posted in Authored by Site Admin, Contemporary Parochialism, Covenant Theology, Family Religion, Gospel Proclamation, Gospel Tactics, Locality & the Law of Residence, Ministerial Fidelity, Missiology, Ordinary Means Ministry, Parish in American Context, Parochial Strategy, Reformed Parish Mission (RPM) Posts, Social Byproduct, The Church in America, The Gospel & the Poor, The Visible Church, Theology of Community, Thomas Chalmers, Transgenerational Faith on May 23, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Years back, my heart got large for missions — especially urban missions to those on the ‘other side of the tracks.’ At about the same time, I became Reformed (a high octane, old school Presbyterian no less!), putting me in a a sub-subset of a subset. My life and ministry has ever since lived somewhat in the frontiers the unlikely and the implausible. A straightlaced, tall gringo Presbyterian goes out among immigrants, trying to evangelize in broken Spanish and recruit sinners to the “outward and ordinary means” in a humble, little Reformed church 15 minutes to the south. And to sing Psalms. Without musical accompaniment. In English.
I admit that there are all kinds of problems with this model, from a human perspective. But it is actually more plausible than one might think. Yet before I deal with the plausibles, let me first set forth some principles.
The first principle is principle! Principle precedes the practical. We must first determine whether something should be done before we decide whether or not we think it is practical. We ought to go out and bring the Gospel to all. None excluded. Politics quite aside, we may and must not discriminate based on sex, ethnicity, gender, or for that matter even sexual ‘preference.’ By the mandate of our King, we must go and tell them. Yes, as Calvinists, we know that not every “all” means “all.” But “every creature” does in fact mean “every creature.” Even if they don’t look like us, eat like us, or even use our language. It doesn’t matter whether they ‘have papers’ or not, vote Democrat or not. How they got here and whether they should by law be here, is a separate issue for a different discussion (and full disclosure: I lean quite “red” when it comes to immigration policy!). But that they are here means they are here for us to evangelize. And not just gripe about and avoid them as much as possible.
(more…)RPM: Spring forward & mas ayuda … tomorrrow!
Posted in Parish in American Context, Parochial Strategy, Reformed Parish Mission (RPM) Posts on May 7, 2022| Leave a Comment »
So, I’ve begun another season in my two parish districts. It’s been pretty interesting so far — definitely a Spring forward!
The very first day back in the S. Providence parish, the very first multi-family house, I was welcomed into the apartment of a retirement-age woman, “Ximena” (not real name). She was morbidly obese and quite home-bound; I normally don’t accept offers to come inside to visit a single woman without my wife, but this I figured was safe enough. The poor woman had quite a tale of woe; and she was rather anxious about various individuals in her life plotting her harm. Then, she confided her fears about paranormal activity. Clearly, this poor woman needs Jesus, the Liberator from all our sins and miseries, real or contrived. I read to her from the Gospels about this blessed Deliverer. She claims to be a Christian and even demonstrated a certain Bible knowledge that would point to a greater exposure to evangelical Christianity. But whatever her case, she was clearly very lonely and would easily welcome anyone to care for her soul. If you would like to be a part of that, reader, let me know. A Christian couple or mature Christian woman would be ideal.
(more…)Retaining children & aggressive missions
Posted in Audio Resources, Authored by Site Admin, Contemporary Parochialism, Covenant Theology, Experimental Religion & the Cure of Souls, Family Religion, Fatherhood, Gospel Proclamation, Gospel Tactics, John Murray, New England Puritanism, Parish in American Context, Parochial Strategy, Pastoral Theology, The Kingdom of God, Visitation Evangelism on April 26, 2022| Leave a Comment »
I try to avoid promoting my own sermons very often. But after giving a short series on the doctrine of hell, I continued with a second short series on the subject of biblical, Reformed church growth, something very near my heart. Specifically, I spoke from Matthew 16:18 about building up the church from within by training up, winning over, and thus retaining our baptized, covenant children. We must promote and encourage Christian child-bearing and so helping populate the (visible) Kingdom through these “federally holy” sinners, a mission field in its own right. Then, I laid out in the final messages a call and battleplan for aggressive, local and regional missions. As Prof. Murray said when personally engaging in church-planting in New England, we must “go where the people are, not where you hope they will come.”
As we are planted in southern New England and are involved in a church plant in New Jersey, I call us to pray earnestly and labor believingly for the extension of confessional Presbyterianism here in our northeastern “Samaria.” It may be spiritually ‘rocky soil,’ but God can create sons of Abraham from these stones. He did it before! If things go from bad to worse, a strategic retreat is possible. But let us not give up the Messiah’s ground without a fight! And who knows? Perhaps the Lord will make this “desert to blossom as the rose” again, and restore the pure worship of our godly Puritan forbears.
Do you live in the northeast — in New England, New York, or New Jersey? Are you committed to the old paths of the Puritans and Presbyterians? Do you long for a Third Great Awakening today? Would you be interested in hosting special meeting in your area? Please get in touch with me at 515-783-5637 or mjives dot refparish at gmail dot com.
And if you don’t live in the northeast, would you pray for us? And maybe even consider joining us, if Providence opens a door?
RPM: Spanish Outreach Broadcast
Posted in Parochial Strategy, Reformed Parish Mission (RPM) Posts on January 12, 2022| Leave a Comment »
In recent months, we have begun a monthly livestream broadcast on the 2nd Lord’s day evening of each month at 7:00 p.m., especially to reach Spanish speakers in my parish and beyond. The Morales family has joined us, and Pr. Luis Morales has been translating for me. So grateful for his labors and his fellowship in the Kingdom-building.
God willing, I hope to take him out in the parish to visit my more receptive Spanish-speaking contacts, in the hopes of getting them to come to our regular services where we now have translation facilities. My hope and prayer ultimately is to see the Spanish side of my parish mission blossom, folks attending the our regular services, and our monthly bilingual meeting expanding and moving to the next level of usefulness. Again, the Reformed faith is a heritage too rich and full to be confined to white middle-class churches. So, all you Westminsterians and Three-Formers, let us take this to the city. ¡Vámanos!
To watch more of these broadcast messages, visit here. And learn more about RPM here.
Parish the thought!
Posted in Locality & the Law of Residence, Parish Theory & Practice, Parochial Strategy, Thomas Chalmers on March 9, 2021| Leave a Comment »
The following quote from Thomas Chalmers in his Lectures on the Establishment and Extension of National Churches (1838) captures his ideal for domestic missions. The ‘parish’ is not a synonym for ‘congregation.’ Rather, it is the defined sphere of pastoral and even missionary activity by a minister and his elders. This is the local or territorial principle.
* * * *
“Now the specific business which we should like to put into the hands of a Christian minister is, not that he should fill his church any how—that he may do by the superior attractiveness of his preaching, at the expense of previous congregations, and without any movement in advance on the practical heathenism of the community: But what we want is, to place his church in the middle of such a territory as we have now specified, and to lay upon him a task, for the accomplishment of which we should allow him the labour and perseverance of a whole lifetime; not to fill his church any how, but to fill this church out of that district. We should give him the charge over head, of one and all of its families; and tell him, that, instead of seeking hearers from without, he should so shape and regulate his movements, that, as far as possible, his church-room might all be taken up by hearers from within. It is this peculiar relation between his church, and its contiguous households, all placed within certain geographical limits, that distinguishes him from the others as a territorial minister. And let the whole country be parcelled out into such districts and parishes, with an endowed clergyman so assigned to each, and each small enough to be overtaken by the attentions of one clergyman—we should thus, as far as its machinery is concerned, have the perfect example of a territorial establishment.”
Webinar: Reformed Parish Mission
Posted in Locality & the Law of Residence, Parish in American Context, Parish Theory & Practice, Parochial Strategy, Reformed Parish Mission (RPM) Posts, Thomas Chalmers on January 22, 2021| Leave a Comment »
Would you like to get a basic introduction to Thomas Chalmers’ parish mission theory? And are you up to learning about how I’ve been applying these principles in South Providence, a multi-racial working class area?
I’m offering another live video presentation tomorrow (Saturday), at 1:00 p.m. Eastern lasting about 25-30 minutes, followed by questions and answers. Because I will be showing photos of a number of personal outreach contacts from over the years, I’ll be doing this by invitation-only via Zoom. So if you’d like to be invited and participate, please drop me a note at mjives dot refparish at gmail dot com. Or reply in the comments below with your e-mail address.
West Port Experiment 