Walton RP Church

Location: Walton, N.Y.

Presbytery: St. Lawrence

Organization Date: 1861

Membership: 47 communicant; 7 baptized. Oldest Member: Astrid Boye, age 94. Youngest Member: Nicholas Abraham Johnston, born June 16, 2005.

Pastor: Brad Johnston

Web Site: www.waltonrpc.org

Our Roots

W.M. Glasgow’s History (1888) records that “in the [Walton] vicinity Francis Gailey made some disciples in early times. A few families lived in this community and held their memberships in the Bovina congregation until the spring of 1861, when they received a separate organization.”

Descendants of those “few families” such as Bruce Henderson, Joan Bronson, and Carol LaTourette remain faithful to the covenant, and the Lord of the harvest keeps drawing others to Himself as we are faithful to proclaim that gospel.

Walton, N.Y. (pop. 6,000), is nestled in the foothills of the Catskill Mountains three hours northwest of New York City. Pastor Brad Johnston was installed as the 12th pastor in Walton RPC’s history on Sept. 17, 2004.

Our Labors

The Sabbath worship of God and the teaching of His Scriptures form the core of our church’s ministry. One member writes, “Each week there is the friendly hum of fellowship over coffee between worship and Sunday school. Hartley, Renny, and Bruce’s Bible teaching is outstanding. With fine sermons morning and evening and a 40- minute Sabbath school class, it’s a good day in the house of the Lord. Each week I see dynamic transactions with God taking place there.”

One unique feature of WRPC ministry is student evangelism through the Walton Released Time program. A New York State law releases public school students one hour per week for religious education, and Walton RPC has maintained a Christian education program for over 50 students from the local elementary school. Each week church members—mostly retired teachers—employ Reformed Sunday school materials to focus each child’s attention on Christ and their need to obey Him. Pastors Brad Johnston and Jim McMahon visit these families in their homes, and have found many opportunities to bring Christ’s gospel.

A second unique ministry: In March our church hosted the inaugural Deaconos ’05, a “theological boot camp” aimed at forging college-aged RPs into passionate servants in Christ’s church. Six college students from Indianapolis invested their spring breaks in this “study center experiment” integrating spiritual renewal with practical service, theological training, and leadership exercises. Refl ections from Deaconos ’05 are at http://video.uspatriots.us/walton_ report.html.

Prayer Requests

1. That the Lord would teach us “orthodoxy of community” coupled tightly with the content of the historic Reformed faith.

2. That through the released-time ministry to local students we might reach families with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

3. That new Christians would be thoroughly established in their faith, and that each member would serve Christ with vigor in our vocations.

4. Please pray for us as we seek to minister grace to an aging population where economic woes make good jobs hard to find, and to a culture that needs to see examples of covenant marriage.