Location: Manhattan, Kan.

Organization: Dec. 11, 2013

Membership: 32 communicant; 10 baptized

Pastor: Jonathan Haney

Website: manhattanreformed.org

To an outside observer, Manhattan Reformed Presbyterian Church (MRPC) is not impressive. A peek inside the windows of the senior center, where we meet on Sunday mornings and evenings, reveals a relatively small gathering of people. Oftentimes, our worship service is punctuated with crying from our precious (but sometimes noisy) children. In the evenings, a chorus of barks and howls from the nearby puppy-training class “enhance” our psalm singing and Pastor Haney’s preaching.

A few years ago, you would have been greeted by just one family with older children, a few couples, and a scattering of college students. Now, the above picture shows how God answered our prayer to “increase us like a flock” (Ezek. 36:37).

Upon entry to the senior center, the delighted squeals of the numerous children will greet you. They might invite you to play with them and petition you for a piggyback ride. On a typical Sunday, there are around 8 children under the age of 6. And 5 babies are on the way!

On Sunday morning, you will also probably see people from several nations worshiping with us. Our newest member is a recent convert from China who professed faith and was baptized in our church. We also have attendees from India and Malaysia. Since MRPC is in a college town, students from multiple countries are just minutes away. Pray that we will make good use of this opportunity to spread the gospel with the nations at our doorstep.

If you stay through worship service and Sabbath school, you’re likely to experience refreshing fellowship and one, if not several, lunch invitations from families.

Small groups meet on Wednesday and Thursday nights. If you decide to join one, you might end up sharing a meal with us, power-washing a fence, studying the Bible, attending an Irish-themed party complete with Irish dancing and a four-leaf clover cutting competition, caroling at a nursing home, attending a game night, or cleaning out someone’s gutters.

MRPC also has a jail study and a campus evangelism group. At jail study, you join with 1 to 17 inmates for Bible study on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month. For campus evangelism, you meet with your assigned partner on Monday nights to engage in spiritual conversations on the Kansas State University campus and report back to a larger group. In the winter, a group meets at a local Subway restaurant to discuss how each person’s relational evangelism is going. You will be asked to turn in your homework, which might consist of preparing a speech about Islam, writing your own personal testimony, or writing a letter from an atheistic perspective and then responding to it from a biblical perspective.

If you are a college student, you can meet other like-minded college students at Kansas State University Reformed Fellowship. Friday nights are full of social events ranging from lip-syncing battles to a radio theater event, as well as a monthly Bible study led by Pastor Haney. You could even join a discipleship group, where a mature believer will mentor you.

Our congregation is not without flaws, challenges, and discouragement. There is the sin in our own hearts that tempts us to live for ourselves. There are tearful late-night phone calls. There are interruptions, and the exhaustion that accompanies having more needs and than people to meet them. There is the frustration of ministry in which efforts are expensive and results are not always immediate. Please pray for us! If you happen to pass through Manhattan, Kan., know that you are invited to join us in any (and all) of our weekly events. Know that we pray for many of you.

MRPC congregation is not impressive. But we serve an impressive God who delights in using His weak children to demonstrate His own glory. Praise God for His work here in Manhattan, Kan!