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Volume 73,
Issue 9
Go Ye Into All the World Organization of Covenant Protestant Reformed Church in Northern Ireland Mr. Pattison, a Telecommunications Engineer for Nortel, is a member of CPRC in Northern Ireland. On Wednesday, July 24th 1996, the Covenant Reformed Fellowship met in the Town Hall, Ballymena, to organize as the Covenant Protestant Reformed Church in Northern Ireland. Without doubt, this was an event of the greatest significance for those of God's people who have persevered with such patience in the struggle to begin the work of establishing a soundly Reformed denomination in Northern Ireland and the British Isles. Of great encouragement to the members on this happy and solemn occasion was the attendance of witnesses and friends from the Republic of Ireland, England, and Wales. Significant also was the presence of a large contingent from the Protestant Reformed Churches in the United States of America, including representatives from the eldership of the Hudsonville congregation and a representative from the Mission Committee. This combined presence serves to underline the strength and closeness of the bond which had developed between the people of the Covenant Reformed Fellowship in Ballymena and the PRC in the past number of years.As a small group of believers, the Covenant Reformed Fellowship first met in Larne in January 1988. After a six month visit from Pastor Ken Hanko, the Fellowship eventually acquired official status as a mission field of the PRC in June of 1990, with Hudsonville being appointed as the calling congregation. Tangible support was given to the Fellowship in the form of a series of visiting ministers, culminating in the acceptance by Pastor Ron Hanko of a call to come to Northern Ireland as a Protestant Reformed missionary. Pastor Hanko's transition was smoothed by the presence of the Rev. Gise VanBaren, then engaged in a pastoral visit which had begun in October 1992. Pastor VanBaren remained in Northern Ireland while the new family settled in. He had by this time begun the fortnightly Covenant Reformed Newsletter, a work which has been one of the Fellowship's central tools of contact, and one which the Lord has blessed in Pastor Hanko's hands with growth in stature and geographical extent: the distribution list is currently in excess of four hundred, with recipients based throughout the British Isles. In response to an invitation by the fellowship, Prof. David Engelsma, of the PR theological seminary, led the organization service, an invitation made as a gesture of thankfulness for the support which Prof. Engelsma has extended to the fellowship since its inception. After a call to worship, singing of: Psalms, and prayer, Prof. Engelsma read from Holy Scripture Matthew 19:13-28. Choosing verse 18 as his text, Prof. Engelsma then preached a sermon centered on Christ's words, "I will build my church." Beginning with the foundational conception of the church as the invisible body of the elect and bride of Christ, Prof. Engelsma spoke of three marks of this body: its catholicity; its holiness, and its apostolicity. He went on to show that, though the passage speaks of the invisible body of the elect, yet the mention of the keys of discipline in verse 19 demonstrates that Christ also had in mind the visible form of the church as it manifests itself on earth in the local congregation. Notable burdens of Prof. Engelsma's sermon were his refutation of both the Roman Church's doctrine of apostolic descent through Peter and the Arminian conception of the church as self-building through the will of man. Drawing conclusions from the words "I will build", and "my church," Prof. Engelsma demonstrated the safety of the church in her, belonging to Christ, and the inevitability of the completion of her construction and final triumph against, the opposition of the kingdom of Satan and Antichrist. After the sermon there followed public confession of faith by those in the fellowship who had applied to be received into membership of the Covenant Protestant Reformed Church. Man-and-wife representatives from seven families as well as eight individuals were asked to confess their faith publicly by answering four questions: 1) Do you acknowledge the doctrine contained in the Old and New Testaments and in the articles of the Christian faith and taught here in this Christian Church to be the true and complete doctrine of salvation? 2) Have you resolved by the grace of God to adhere to the doctrine, to reject all heresies repugnant thereto, and to lead a new, godly life? 3) Will you submit to church government, and in the case you should become delinquent (which may God graciously forbid) to church discipline? 4) Insofar as you are able do you testify to the faith and godly walk of the brothers and sisters gathered here this evening purposing to be instituted together as a church of Jesus Christ? After formal reception into membership, the male members then took part in the election of church officebearers, with ballot counting being undertaken by Mr. Henry Boer and Mr. Pete Miedema of Hudsonville. As a result, Mr. John Clarke and Mr. Desmond Callendar were elected to the office of elder and Mr. Jonathan McAuley and Mr. Ivan Reid to the office of deacon. After the reading of the Form for Ordination, the officebearers were ordained by laying on of hands; and after prayer, each read and signed the Formula of Subscription. Prof. Engelsma then read the declaration of Institution: "In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I declare that the Covenant Protestant Reformed Church in Northern Ireland is now instituted as a true church of Jesus Christ on earth." In closing, letters of greeting were read by various representatives from the PRC; Mr. Henry Boer for Hudsonville PRC; Mr. Al Rau for the Mission Committee of the PRC; and finally, Prof. Engelsma for both the Synod of the PRC and for Prof. and Mrs. Herman Hanko. The service was closed by Pastor Ron Hanko in the pronouncement of the benediction found in Numbers 6:24-26. The people of Covenant Protestant Reformed Church are thankful to their God for His dealings with them over the past eight years. He has led them further into a knowledge of His precious Word. He has preserved them through difficulty and disappointment, and he has given them a faithful and gifted pastor whose ministry and labour of love have been used of God to teach, strengthen, and admonish both themselves and others. The Lord has been good. May He bless us yet by using our tiny and flawed witness for the building of His church and the establishment of a strong and courageous Reformed and biblical denomination in the UK. Truly we are at best but unprofitable servants. We are small, weak, sinful, and despised, but our help is in the name of Jehovah who made heaven and earth. |
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