Location: Harrisonburg, Va.

Presbytery: Alleghenies

Membership: 18 communicant; 24 baptized

Pastor: Paul Martin and Tom Reid, regular pulpit supply

Website: GraceAndTruthRPC.org

On June 25, 2013, the Presbytery of the Alleghenies received a core group of families in Harrisonburg as a mission church. Harrisonburg is situated in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley about two hours southwest of Washington, D.C., and about two hours northwest of Richmond, Va. Harrisonburg is home to two universities and a nearby college.

Grace & Truth RPC began meeting as a congregation on Aug. 4, 2013 in a Christian school where we continue to meet. At that time, we met for corporate worship only two Sabbaths per month. However, in God’s providence, we were blessed with weekly corporate worship by December 2013. At our inception we had five families, and have now increased to seven.

We have been very blessed by Rev. Paul Martin’s preaching on the Christology of the Psalms, Rev. Tom Reid’s preaching through Mark, and Orthodox Presbyterian (OPC) Rev. Bennett Wethered’s preaching through Jude and Titus. Occasional pulpit supply has been given by other ministers from the Presbyterian Church of America (PCA), OPC, and RPCNA, and by RP Seminary students.

All of our families are transplants into the RPCNA. Because of this, Revs. Martin and Reid are co-teaching a Sabbath school series giving an overview of the history, distinctives, and offices of the RPCNA, in order to help unify a diverse group of families. Other visiting ministers are using the Sabbath school time to teach through the Westminster Shorter Catechism.

We attempt to reach out to the community corporately and individually. Corporately, the congregation reaches out through its Lord’s Day activities (worship, Sabbath school, monthly fellowship meal), which it advertises through the local newspaper and social media.

Individually, members of the congregation engage in friendship evangelism, Muslim outreach, hospitality, international missions, and discipleship. Two members are on the board of a mission organization called Treasure Jesus, Inc., which sends Puritan and Reformed books to study centers in Africa that train pastors. One member has made friends with a Muslim and was invited to the Harrisonburg Mosque to interact with one of their imams. Another member teaches the gospel to inmates at one of the local jails.

The roots of Grace & Truth are tied to a weekly study of the Westminster Confession of Faith, which four of the men from the congregation (then in the PCA) held for around a year. Other means of outreach to the community have included a study of Michael Bushell’s Songs of Zion, a Koine Greek class, and psalm sings.

We are thankful for the spiritual oversight of our Temporary Governing Body (TGB), consisting of the following men: Paul Martin, Tom Reid, and Pastor Joel Wood (Trinity, Md., RPC); and ruling elders Tony Gazo, Dave Merkel, and Brad Stewart. In March 2015, the TGB authorized the establishment of a steering committee, composed of the heads of households, to work toward managing the affairs of the congregation, calling a church planter, and electing local elders and deacons.

Prayer Requests

• That God would continue to bless the preaching and teaching of the Word and preserve our ministers (some of whom drive around five hours each way)
• That the Lord will bring more local families to take membership vows and grow us into a unified RPCNA body
• That Christ will bless our many young, covenant children with the knowledge of Him
• That our outreach would glorify God, edify saints, and draw lost sheep into Christ’s fold
• That the steering committee will come to a common foundation, managing the affairs of the congregation well, and working toward the calling of a church planter