Psalm 32:6-7: “For this cause everyone who is godly shall pray to You in a time when You may be found. Surely in a flood of great waters they shall not come near him. You are my hiding place. You shall preserve me from trouble. You shall surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah.”
The past 16 months have been fraught with difficulties for Christ’s church. The global COVID-19 pandemic not only brought life to a standstill, but revealed cracks in the churches and forced us all to pivot and adapt to what seemed like a constantly changing situation.
Sadly, various divisions within the church began to appear, with different opinions regarding the priority of worship and adjustments to circumstances. Our adversary was hard at work mounting a series of attacks internally, leaving whole presbyteries battered and bruised. Yet through it all, Christ has remained faithful to His bride. Challenges came with ministry opportunities. As some departed, others arrived. Congregations were closed. New plants were opened. King Jesus has blessed us with an abundance of His grace and wisdom, purifying His church.
Statistics are somewhat difficult this year. Synod did not meet in 2020 and disruptions in worship interfere with certain numbers. Nevertheless, the picture emerges of slight growth. This past year we saw a 0.04% increase in membership (three communicant members). While modest, it is still positive, which is an encouragement after a difficult year in which other churches are unsure if their members will ever return. Attendance is 83.6% of total membership, a good number in a normal year (up from 83% in 2018), highly encouraging in our present circumstances. Thirty-seven men are under the care of their presbyteries, which is six less than the previous year. Meanwhile, quite a few men have left the ministry, either into retirement, or for other reasons; so we must continue to pray that God raises up more laborers for the harvest.
This tiny virus brought a halt to many things, most notably travel. The Lord graciously cared for and used His laborers around the world to continue His mission efforts. We give thanks to God for the loving protection afforded to those laboring in South Sudan and for His continuing to raise up men for training in ministry. Through this pandemic, God has provided opportunities for His people to demonstrate the loving care of Christ to the saints and neighbors, and we are thankful for the mercy ministry efforts of our brothers and sisters in South Asia. The Lord has opened new avenues of combating isolation via technology, and we are so thankful that the saints in Japan have been able to leverage this technology to see the work of their churches and Kobe Theological Hall continue, and that we have been able to observe and participate from afar via this technology. God, through this technology, was pleased to give us these instruments to lessen the sense of isolation, allowing God’s Word to be proclaimed and His Psalms sung and for His people to come together to gather from around the world to approach His throne in prayer. Yet for all the technology, we’ve also come to increasingly treasure real, in-person fellowship with the saints.
Old debates have resurfaced. Questions of the origins of life caused Synod to reaffirm and more clearly explain the church’s stance on Creation. Meanwhile new discussions of the nature of church membership and incarcerated persons stretch our thinking.
Looking forward, we rejoice, recognizing the maturity of the Canadian congregations, now moving closer to forming their own national church, and taking their place at the table of the RP Global Alliance. We see a similar blessed division of church courts in other realms of the RP world, too, more cause for rejoicing. As life returns to “normal” in 2021, we pray for wisdom, as the world emerges from its dread fear of death. May we seize new opportunities to glorify our Savior, and declare His grace around us.
––Paul Brace (chairman), Matt Filbert, Philip McCollum
State of the Church Committee of the 190th Synod
(Photo courtesy Bryan Schneider)