Reading the genealogies in the Bible, one begins to realize that all the stories are connected. Abraham’s story flows into Isaac’s story, and Isaac’s story flows into Jacob’s. Jacob’s story flows through Judah all the way to David, whose story flows all the way to Jesus. And, of course, Jesus is the One who ties all the stories together.

Immanuel Reformed Presbyterian Church is a new church in the process of being planted by the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Lafayette, Ind. Like the genealogies in the Bible, her story is built on the work of many people who came before, revealing the faithfulness and power of Christ to keep His promise of building His church.

The story of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Lafayette started in 1965 when Dr. Roy Blackwood drove from Indianapolis to lead a Bible study in West Lafayette. When participants in the study became interested in forming a church, Pastor Ray Joseph was called to plant it and to be their first pastor.

David Long, the present pastor, has built on this early vision for church planting. God has allowed the Lafayette Church to daughter a congregation in Kokomo, Ind., and to be involved in several other church plants. These experiences have taught the congregation many significant lessons and strengthened their confidence in Christ’s ability to keep His promise to build His church. Over the past decade, God has blessed the Lafayette church with spiritual and numerical growth. As the session continued to seek God’s guidance for the ministry of the church, a vision for a more local church plant began to grow.

A long period of preparation and prayer preceded the actual planting process. Pastor Jared Olivetti remembers hearing inklings of the idea before he met with the Lafayette session to consider pursuing the pastorate. While he was interning with the session before going to seminary, their vision became more and more clear. During Jared’s seminary years, the session kept in touch with him, and in the spring of 2004 he was called to be the associate pastor of the Lafayette RPC with a view toward becoming involved in planting the new church. This call was made possible by financial assistance provided by the RPCNA Home Mission Board. Pastor Olivetti was asked by the session to not pursue church planting during his first year in the pastorate. Instead, he gave himself to learning and growing into the role of an undershepherd under the discipling of Pastor Long. There was, however, continued prayer for God’s direction and blessing on a future church plant.

After Pastor Olivetti’s first year, the session began to plan and pray more fervently. An important milestone was a seed-family workshop presented to the congregation by Pastor Keith Magill in September 2005. After the workshop, the entire congregation participated in a survey to aid the session in knowing the mind of the congregation, determining what families were interested in being part of the core group, and seeking God’s guidance about where to plant a church. After much prayer and consideration, the session decided to focus the church planting effort in West Lafayette, the original location of the Lafayette RPC.

Pastor Olivetti met with each of the families who were considering being a part of the new congregation. Not every family felt God’s leading to participate, but 13 families did, and the core group was formed. Eric and Jean Bibby, members of the core group, tell of their experience in seeking God’s will concerning their involvement. They had a burden in their hearts for the new work, but hoped that the church would be planted on the eastside of Lafayette since their home was in the east. When the focus tuned in to establishing a new work in West Lafayette, several obstacles had to be overcome for the Bibby family to be involved with the new work. Obstacles included obtaining a job and a new home in the greater Lafayette area and selling their old home.

“It has been amazing to see God working out all the details, especially the ‘disappointments,’” Eric said. “The things we viewed, at the time, as steps backward were actually steps forward and essential to laying the groundwork for each subsequent step.” Disappointments included God closing the door to several job possibilities before opening the one of His choice, and being told that the only suitable house they had found was already sold. In the providence of God, that sale of the house later fell through. Eric and Jean believe it was necessary for the previous owners to have an offer fall through before they would be willing to consider an offer the Bibby family could afford.

From January to May 2006, the core group met weekly in Sean and Angela McDeavitt’s home for a time of studying the nature and role of the church, evangelism training, planning and brainstorming, and prayer. Pastor Olivetti helped them think through the different ways the church is portrayed in the Bible and to consider why we are Presbyterian, Reformed, and Reformed Presbyterian. The group was especially blessed by the presence of Graeme and Allison Hart and their three children. Graeme, a pastoral intern from Australia, led part of each meeting using the evangelistic Bible overview, God’s Message to You, written by RP Pastor Tim McCracken. In addition to learning such things as what evangelism is and is not and how to ask good questions, the group also learned new words from down under such as fair dinkum (genuine). They also read To Tell the Truth, by Will Metzger, a book that helped them learn to preach the whole gospel to the whole person as whole persons. As they brainstormed and prayed about possible locations, ministries, and people to reach for Christ, they began to grow together with one heart and mind.

It was during the summer that the name Immanuel Reformed Presbyterian Church (IRPC) was chosen from among several names suggested by the group. This name is taken from Isaiah 7:14, “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign; Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” Immanuel means “God with us” and constitutes our greatest prayer that Christ dwelling in us as individuals and as a congregation would reveal His glory to our community.

In September and October 2006, the group began meeting every other week for evening worship in a banquet facility in West Lafayette. Seeing the similarities between the young Colossian church and the young IRPC, Pastor Olivetti began preaching through the book of Colossians. Small groups were formed to meet in people’s homes during the week. Groups were purposely kept small to leave room to invite friends, neighbors, and coworkers.

In November, the core group began meeting for weekly evening worship at the West Lafayette Seventh-Day Adventist Church. Their prayer is that this more traditional and handicapped-accessible facility will feel comfortable to the people who are invited to church in the next few months. Also in November, Pastor Long and Pastor Olivetti took a request for the group’s official organization to the Great Lakes–Gulf Presbytery meeting. The presbytery unanimously approved the request and the date for church organization was set for Feb. 2. The first morning worship for Immanuel Reformed Presbyterian Church is to be held Feb. 4.

When asked about the greatest difficulties in planting this new church, Pastor Olivetti said, “For our group, I believe walking by faith is the greatest challenge. To realize the spiritual nature of what we’re about and understand that numbers don’t guarantee anything has been a challenge. Also, to find a scriptural, unified vision for why we’re establishing a church was a good challenge.” The vision is to establish a local church committed to the worship of God, committed to the God of grace and His doctrines of grace, committed to raising up disciples through one-on-one and family-to-family ministry, and committed to seeing the kingdom of Christ come in West Lafayette as it is in heaven.

God has used several portions of Scripture to keep the congregation’s hearts focused. Besides Isaiah 7:14, they have kept their prayers and hearts focused on the city through Jeremiah 29:7: “But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.” They have kept their need for eyes of faith before them by focusing on 2 Corinthians 5:6-7: “So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith and not by sight.” Additionally, Psalm 67A (The Book of Psalms for Singing) has been a great reminder in song of the great missionary purpose of God.

As a new church, the group has had and will have an opportunity to think and pray carefully about how to do things. Although they have chosen to do some things differently than the mother church, they know that even when they are organized as a separate congregation they will not be completely disconnected. They know well that they owe a debt to their mother church and hope to be as faithful as she has been. As Pastor Olivetti has said, “It is vital for us to realize that this establishment of a new church is the fruit of many, many years of faithful discipleship in the Lafayette RP Church…This is difficult because of the quietness of a disciple-making ministry. It’s not big and flashy and loud, but faithful and quiet and steady. This is the work the Lafayette church has given herself to over several decades. The ability to plant a church didn’t come out of thin air; it came from faithful preaching, sacrificial evangelism, and continuous disciple making.”

Karen Carr is a member of the Immanuel (West Lafayette, Ind.) RPC along with her husband, David, and three sons.