Southside RPC

Location: Indianapolis, Indiana
Presbytery: Great Lakes-Gulf
Organized: Jan. 12, 1979
Membership: 149 communicant, 55 baptized
Pastors: Gordon Keddie, senior pastor; David Whitla, associate pastor
Website: http://www.southsiderpc.org

In 1975-76, a dedicated core of couples and singles relocated to Southside Indianapolis, intending to plant a daughter congregation of Second RPC, the “Northside” church. Month after month, “mother” and “daughter” labored side-by-side, canvassing neighborhoods to invite people to a variety of Southside Bible studies. Then more families and individuals elected to move to Southside, and eventually worship services began in the home of one of the founding families.

The church was formally organized on Jan. 12, 1979, with 24 adults and 18 children. In September of that year, Pastor Keith Magill began his ministry there and served for 23 years. In 1982, the church purchased a family residence on a large corner lot for its new worship site, renovating and adding to it until its completion as a 375-seat sanctuary in 2008. In 2004, Gordon Keddie became the church’s second pastor, with David Whitla joining the staff as associate pastor in 2008.

Proclaiming God’s truth and our need for Jesus Christ as Savior is central to Southside’s ministry. We worship at morning and evening services on the Lord’s Day, with Sabbath school classes meeting after the morning service. The Lord’s supper is celebrated monthly, and weekly prayer on Wednesday evenings offers the opportunity for personal needs to be shared. Congregational fellowship is promoted through a monthly potluck every fourth Lord’s Day, with newcomers and guests especially in mind.

Discipling our youth is an important focus at Southside. The Christian education program has been carefully planned for nursery through high school ages to cover the Old and New Testaments three times, and to promote skills in Christian lifestyle, personal devotions, and Scripture memory. The youth group meets twice monthly and consists of Bible study, fellowship and fun. The youth also participate in presbytery and denominational activities such as the Fall Ministry Project, Sonrise Party, Winter Conference, ECHO, and Covfamikoi family conference. Southside also hosts the annual Theological Foundations Weekend for the presbytery’s high school youth.

Ministry among the adults and older youth includes a monthly men’s breakfast and Bible study, weekly prayer/Bible study for the women, a nursing home ministry through Close Knit Friends, and urban ministry with Heart Change Ministries. Fellowship activities have begun recently for young couples and young adults. Several times a year, Mother’s Morning Out provides free time for the young mothers. In 2010, our first annual Reformation Indy conference was initiated, with the goal of explaining the Christian faith from the whole Scriptures through the lens of the historic Reformed faith.

Little-Known Fact:

A founding family purposely built a residence with 800 square feet of basement to house the fledgling church. They ended up hosting it for almost 5 years. Every room in the house was used for classes. Imagine having to clean your house from top to bottom for 250 Lord’s Days!

Prayer Requests

• That we may know best how to minister to the visitors who regularly attend our worship services.
• That the Lord would provide for those without work and with serious health concerns in the congregation.
• That we may be faithful in reaching out to our community with the gospel.