Tomorrow is the Lord’s Day. It is a momentous day for our congregation. This will only be the first vote taken to decide whether to withdraw from the OPC. If the first vote is sustained, then a second vote will be announced and another congregational meeting called for tomorrow to be held on December 15th. But the fact that we are here is significant enough, no matter the outcome of the vote.
This congregation used to be known as Community Christian Church. It was a barely evangelical church, planted in the 1980s by Central Christian Church, and independent (non-denominational) from her founding until we voted to join the Orthodox Presbyterian Church in 2016. Kirstie and I first visited the church, at their invitation, to candidate, in the summer of 2012. We stayed at the Best Western on Apache Trail (it was not a Best Western at the time). I remember going for a run early on Saturday morning. As I ran down the Trail, I was struck by how hot it already was so early in the day. I tried to imagine living here, and I wondered what it would be like if God called us to move.
We flew home on Monday and decided to decline the church’s call. Eight or nine months later, in early 2013, I got an email from one of the elders at that time asking if I would be willing to come out and candidate again. We thought and prayed about it, and I returned alone, this time for a longer stay during the week. I met separately with the elders, deacons, and staff, and then did a Q&A with the entire church on Wednesday evening. I flew back to Atlanta and had not reached my house when my cell phone rang. It was one of the elders with an offer to relocate. We thought and prayed, sought counsel from a couple of other ministers in our area, and declined a second time. The morning after, my phone rang again. “We really want you to come here,” the elder said.
We finally agreed to move to Arizona, even though doing so cost us a lot, and not just financially. I was already becoming persona non grata in the Churches of Christ, and we sensed that our ability to use my place there to advance the gospel was coming to an end. The Lord seemed to be calling us to Arizona, and we wondered what lay in store for us there. I have recounted in other places (HERE and HERE) some of what transpired in the next several years. CCC was the largest church in Apache Junction when I arrived. During the Q&A in 2013, someone asked me whether I was able to lead a church of 900+ people. I told them I didn’t know—I had never done it. One might conclude from the exodus that occurred during our reformation that the answer to that question is no.
When we came to Arizona, we had no plans to join a Presbyterian denomination. I was firmly committed to the five solas of the Reformation and the doctrines of grace. I began teaching on covenant theology within a year of my arrival, but I did not know that in a couple of years I would begin baptizing babies! The Lord was merciful and gracious, but at times his grace and mercy felt a bit more like a bath with a Brillo pad. It was the kind of tough love that one must show when a child scrapes his skin and embeds it with dirt and gravel. Cleaning out the wound is painful, but it is an act of love nonetheless.
We have been, for almost ten years now, a confessionally Reformed church, and no matter what happens tomorrow, that theological identity will not change. Earlier this year I used the analogy of buying a house. A denomination is not a marriage; it is the place where married people go to live. When Kirstie and I got married, we lived in a very tiny apartment, and it served the needs of our family for a few years. As our family grew, we moved into a three bedroom parsonage, then bought that house from the church and lived there comfortably as more children were born. We have lived in several different houses in the last 25 years. None of them were perfect, but we have pleasant memories (and a few unpleasant ones) from each of them.
The question before us tomorrow is what denomination best fits the needs of our family. The OPC is a good church, a faithful church, and it has been a blessing to be part of her for a little over 8 years. If we choose to remain, then I trust the Lord will bless us there. If we depart, then I trust our church family will continue to grow, mature, and enjoy life together in Christ. Every time Kirstie and I have moved to a new house, there have been things that we liked and things that we didn’t. We want to live in a house that is well-suited to our family, but the house is not the family. It is the people in our household that make the house a home.
We have important things to do tomorrow, but voting in a congregational meeting is not the most important thing on our agenda. Before we gather to vote, the Lord will call us to worship, and we will enter the heavenly court and lift our hearts, hands, and voices in praising the Triune God with our brethren both in heaven and around the world. We will confess our sins and be assured of God’s forgiveness. We will be sanctified by Word and Spirit, commune at the Lord’s Table, and be strengthened in the promises of God and the power of our risen Savior and King.
Tomorrow is the Lord’s Day, and I pray our focus will be first and foremost on the significance of that holy celebration. The Church assembles in festal gathering, to celebrate the God of covenant and of grace. We are brothers and sisters in the Father’s family, and in the eternal state, there will be no thought of the OPC, PCA, URC, or CREC. Our identity is, first, foremost, and fundamentally in Christ, and that identity abides no matter the denominational affiliation we may have for a time in this world. Who we are is determined by Christ’s work, God’s covenant, and the Spirit’s presence in our lives. We are called to life and faith in Jesus, and I pray this will always be the determining and driving factor in each of our lives. May the Lord so work to unite our hearts in love and truth, humility and courage, obedience and perseverance.
I never imagined what lay in store when I came to Arizona, but I thank God he brought all of us here and joined us in covenant, life, and love as members of Christ’s Body and of this congregation. Soli Deo Gloria --JME
