Notes and News of the Primitive Methodist Church

PRIMITIVE METHODIST CHURCHES$NOTES AND NEWS$February, 2008
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From The President’s Desk: Spring is only three weeks away. I am sure our brothers and sisters in our Wisconsin Churches will be happy as they have seen record setting snowfalls. Another great event we are all anticipating is the celebration of our Lord’s passion. As I write this paragraph, God placed in my heart the song, “And Can It Be” as the chorus sings out “Amazing love, how can it be. That Thou my God, should die for me?” How can we ever begin to praise God for this amazing love? How sad it is, for the many people in our communities, who do not know this amazing love. May God’s Spirit touch you with a renewed zeal to worship Him and share that love with others. God bless you and your ministry as you celebrate! Because of Him! By His Grace, Rev. Kerry Robert Ritts, President Pastor Gro In the last issue of “Outreach” magazine, a Gallop Poll tells us that 9 out of every 10 Americans believe in God. Yet the polls also reveal that 86% of American state, “I believe I can have a good relationship with God without being involved in Church.” Another shocking poll reported that only 17% of Americans attend church. That number is expected to drop to 14% by 2020 (Source: “Unchurched Study” LifeWay research). All measures point to the fact that the church, in the USA, is losing ground. We could become very pessimistic with this news yet as evangelicals we have room for optimism, for we now have greater opportunities for the Gospel. Within the “Outreach” article, “The Changing Face of Evangelism in America,”(March/April), we find some ideas and dreams of tomorrow’s evangelical leaders. Here is a quick look: Dave Ferguson, Community Christian Church (communitychristian.org) “I see a renewed energy, especially among young, emerging leaders - and a huge appetite for church planting.” Church planting is one of the most effective ways to reach new people for Christ – a first generation of Christians. The ministry of the Primitive Methodist National Mission Board is of vital importance to the growth of God’s Kingdom and the future of the PM denomination. We need to uphold this board in our prayers. We need to sacrificially give to this ministry of church planting and redevelopment. We need to PM family to unite behind this ministry. More quotes: Kerry Shook, Fellowship of the Woodlands, (fotw.org) said, “The Church does not exist just for us, it exists for those who are not part of us yet.” Greg Teselle, Shale Harbor Church (Shaleharbor.com) states, “Instead of asking, ‘What do we need to do to get people to come to church?’ We ask ‘What can we do to serve and bless our community?’” Another poll found that 64% of people came to faith in Jesus as a result of “conversation.” Basically, that is Christians going out into their communities and “intentionally” desiring to reach the lost – the same mission that Jesus had, “to seek and to save the lost.” God has placed PM Church ministries in vital parts of America. 86% of the people in our communities are waiting for someone to “talk with them about Jesus.” Will it be our church ministry? *Editor’s note:* Our “Life Victory Church” (Mayfair) has gone through a “restart” under the guidance of the National Mission. We are giving them some extra space so you can see what is happening and pray specifically for this exciting new ministry. LIFE VICTORY CHURCH UPDATE Praise GOD!!!!!! We just had our Grand Opening Celebration and what a celebration it was! We celebrate the goodness and mercy of God as He filled His church with His people! Acts 2:46-47… And continuing with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they shared food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved. We give God all the glory as we are seeing the book of Acts come alive at Life Victory Church, in Philadelphia! We had over 100 People for our grand Opening Service! (Over 75 more people than last week!) 2 adult professions of faith and 3 re-dedications!!! I say adult because we also saw 3 children accept Jesus as Lord and Savior as well 2 re-dedications!!! We had a total of 10 children in our Kidmo program! So that means HALF the Kids responded in some way to the Holy Spirit!! That’s a grand total of 5 commitments to Christ and 5 Rededications today alone!!! In addition, we had multiple families AND individuals telling us, “This is our new home church”! If that’s not enough, we had a great time of fellowship after the service, when we all met in our fellowship hall with a full spread of lunch items. You would never have guessed we were a small, new church as more than 60 people joined in on the fellowship!!!! I am at awe at what I see before my eyes. To see how God is working is truly a miracle!! Words cannot express my excitement in what is transpiring at Life Victory Church! But, with my feeble attempt, I will try: Praise God! Ahooo! Awesome!! Amen!! Hallelujah! Alright!!!!! Cool!!! (Did I say Awesome?).... Thank You Lord! God is not only blessing the Sunday service, but he is growing our midweek “Living Room Experience” Bible Study as well! We have grown from 6 to 18 persons in just 4 short weeks! This is designed to be a small group study. I don’t know what God is doing, but as it grows, we may have to move to a larger space in our building and break out in several small groups!! Assimilation Plans 1.Christian Support Group; March 2008 God is also in the process of raising up a leader to launch a Christian Support Group, which we hope to start next month. Our hope is to provide a “safe” place where a person can come with their struggles and find alterative ways in dealing with them that lead to positive change. In other words, to put the Gospel message back into the 12 step programs of organizations such as Alcoholics Anonymous and apply biblical truths to everyday struggles. Why go in this direction? God has already provided a group of over 50 persons, who attend an AA meeting in our Community Center and we are now seeing a clear movement of the Holy Spirit as several of the men have assimilated into our Sunday Worship Service! Not only has the Spirit moved them into our service, but He is also getting them saved! The fields are ripe and it’s harvest time! 2. Life Victory Park; March- April 2008 “Hey Mayfair Philadelphia! Life Victory Church is alive and we bring a message of hope and we want to share it with you! Jesus has given us a ‘Life Victory’ and we want to same for you!” Our plan is to convert our lawn and yard into a useable area for our community, in order to give us an opportunity to say just that! This conversion will include a complete overhaul of the landscaping. We will install public benches, picnic tables and an outdoor stage for community gatherings. Phase 1 has already been completed with the removal of the old fencing. Phase 2, beginning in spring, would include the benches, tables and landscaping, followed-up with the construction of the outdoor stage as well as new lighting throughout. Having this “Park” on our property will allow us to communicate to the community through simple fellowship, with the hopes of opening doors for the sharing of the Gospel. Outreach Plans- Partnership 1. Harvest Crusade, with Greg Laurie, in October 2008 Currently, we are working with the Harvest Crusade Team in Philadelphia, which is gearing-up for the Harvest Crusade, with Greg Laurie, scheduled to take place in October 2008. We have the awesome blessing in being a part of a ministry that has the potential of sharing the Gospel to over 150,000 people! Our church will be very mobile for Christ in our community. Sunday services will be only the “icing on the cake”, as I plan to lead our church into the streets of Philly during the week to share the Gospel message. Everyone is expecting to see thousands come to know Jesus as Lord and Savior during the Crusade, with many more rededications, all of which will need a good Bible teaching church. 2. “Cry out to Jesus” Crusade, April-May 2008 We hope to have multiple Park Outreaches where we would have live concerts, carnival rides, face painting, games and food. Our first event will be held on our property with our second event at a local park a few blocks from our church. We already have several local artists who will partner with us in sharing the Gospel such as; Four24 (www.four24.com) and Brokenvesselz (www.brokenvesselz.com) along with other local musicians who want to help stop the violence in Philly! Five to show He’s alive in Philly!! Our small church plans on making a BIG impact in Philly, but we need your help. God is performing an amazing work at Life Victory Church, as you can see, but our resources our very limited. Up until this point, the National Mission Board has been our biggest and, quite frankly, our ONLY support in helping us become a viable Missionary Church in Philadelphia. God has placed our church in an area that has been rated the #1 area for violent crimes in the country! There are many lost and hurting souls and they all need a Savior! Money and programs only address the “cuts on the surface” when Jesus addresses the issues of the heart and this is where real healing begins!!! Will you partner with us in bringing healing to a city? Do you want to be part of a great rival? Do you want to see people come to salvation through the saving power of Jesus Christ? Then PLEASE…HELP US! We are simply asking every person in the Denomination to contribute ONLY 5 BUCKS per month! That’s all we ask, $5 dollars! We are asking you to be a part of our “Five to show He’s alive in Philly Fund Raising Campaign.” 100% of every dollar given will go into our outreach budget to share the Gospel to thousands of hurting people in and around Philadelphia. We expect lives to be changed and we know God is behind us. Are you? Five bucks a month-less than a buck a week! And now, for a limited time, we have a contributor who will MATCH all donations dollar for dollar! That’s right! Your monthly donation of just five dollars now turns into ten! Be a part of the work in which God has already begun here at LVC. Be a part or our team, God’s team, and make that donation that will make the REAL difference in someone’s life! Please keep a look out, as we will be sending an informational packet, with more information, to your Pastor within the next couple of weeks. We are looking forward in working together and sharing the blessing together as well!! May you be filled with God’s love! Pastor Mark and the Life Victory Team Life Victory Church, 7501 Frankford Ave Philadelphia Pa 19136215.331.7500 www.lifevictorychurch.org *Schuylkill District* January and February were exciting months at St. Clair. We studied the "Gifts of the Spirit.” We have increased our outreach in the Sunday School, adding another class to meet the needs of the students. We have held a Men's Fellowship, on the first Monday of the month, with a successful January, 'Super Bowl Party.' Our Kid's Klub received a boost in the most unexpected way, as one of our local churches advertises our Kid's Klub to the members of their church, since they don't have a program for children. We also had our monthly Prayer Breakfast. This past Sunday, we distributed the booklet "Seek God for the City 2008" campaign, which starts on Ash Wednesday, and runs through Palm Sunday. We met with the other Protestant Churches in the community, and have planned the services for the Lenten Season. God has given us an increase this past year, and we are praying that we can give the Lord another increase in 2008. *Wyoming District* The Messiah Church has completed a new website, thanks to Next Step Integrated Systems of Scranton. The site includes a forum page for discussions, especially during the Read the Bible Challenge. Also included are weekly Bible Quizzes and summaries of the pastor's sermon. The website address is www.messiahpmchurch.org. Rev. Reg Thomas *Women’s Retreat* This year’s annual PM Women’s Retreat will be held March 28-29. The theme for the weekend will be “Irresistible Holiness.” The retreat will feature Sue Duffield, who loves ministering to women through comedy, music, and relating to women where they are. Liz Collins from the Hatboro Community Methodist Church will be leading worship. The retreat will be held at the Holiday Inn in Harrisburg. Please register by March 15^th. Come “learn how to embrace, flow, and move in the direction of a Spirit-filled life!” *Pocono Mountain Bible Conference* Greetings from PMBC. This is just a little update to let you know what's been making news at PMBC. Throughout the winter months we have hosted some very exciting retreats. Most notably, our annual Youth Retreat, which featured the drama ministry of "Transformed" and the music ministry of "Cypher." It was a new approach for the Youth Retreat and I have heard from countless teens that they loved the new ideas. Nearly 55 teens came to the retreat. Our major theme was encouraging them to live in the liberty they have received through faith in Christ. "Who the Son sets free, is free indeed." We encouraged the teens to reject living in the shadow of sins slavery and embrace living in the freedom from sin that comes through Christ. Coming up on March 28-30, we will be hosting a Men's Retreat. There is no cost to attend this retreat and we are encouraging men from all of our churches to come, even if they can't stay through Sunday. Registration forms can be printed from www.CampPMBC.com and should be sent to us as soon as possible so we can be prepared. Please call if you have any questions 570-842-9746. We recently completed our project to put new flooring in the Dining Hall. The old floor had served us well for almost 45 years, but it was time to replace it. The new floor has made clean up much easier and the Dining Hall is looking great. &nspb; We are still making progress on our Gym project. Please keep this big project in prayer. We're very excited about this. We are working with a few local companies to decide on the most economical way to erect the structure and finish the inside. At present, it looks like we will be having two separate companies take care of each aspect of this job. We haven't broken ground yet, but I'm hopeful that we'll be ready for that soon. The Summer Camping season is only a few months away. We're in the process of putting our staff together and getting all elements of our program in place. Dates and forms for Summer 2008 are available online at www.CampPMBC.com. Please keep the Summer Staff, Campers and program in your prayers. Thanks again for praying for PMBC and supporting us financially. Without the help of so many individuals and churches, we wouldn't be able to give you these progress reports. We hope to see each of you soon. If we won't be seeing you at a retreat, please consider visiting us this summer for our Sunday Evening Services at 6:30pm. John Stange PMBC Director *International Mission Board* We have a great group of missionaries. I would go so far as to say that they are “great” missionaries. Those men and women who have gone out under the banner of the Primitive Methodist Church are great missionaries. This statement leads me to ask – and what are some of the qualities of a “great missionary.” One quality that I would single out is the word “Persistence.” Our missionaries just don’t stop. They just keep going. They just keep working! Robert Morrison of England set his heart on going to China as a missionary. He studied Chinese in London. In 1807 he came to New York to get a ship around the cape to China. But he couldn’t book passage on a ship because China didn’t accept foreigners, and nobody wanted to haul him around since they couldn’t unload him in China. Finally, he did book passage and landed in China. He stayed in a French warehouse in the city of Canton, near the docks, for six months. During those six months he learned to cook Chinese food, to dress in Chinese clothes, and to adapt himself to the culture. He spent that time studying the Cantonese dialect. Preaching was illegal, but over the next months and years he gathered a little group of people around him, but never more than ten. In hiding and behind closed doors he endeavored to teach them. Seven years after landing in Canton, he baptized his first convert. Now that’s persistence. Finally working all day and night, day after day, and month after month, he finished translating the book of Acts into Cantonese and succeeded in having it printed. But an argument arose among the Christian craftsmen. Their fight was so blatant that the authorities found out about it and put an end to all printing. All the efforts of those months had come to a complete standstill. Morrison was forbidden from all future printing and preaching. What did he do? He persisted. He stayed on the job because he believed that God was in it. He mastered the language and translated the entire Bible into Cantonese. He also completed a six-volume Chinese-English dictionary so that missionaries would not only have a Bible, but a dictionary to learn the language as well. After twenty-seven years of loneliness and self-sacrificing persistence, he paved the way for every missionary since then who has ever given the gospel to a person who spoke Cantonese. Today there is an academy called “Morrison Academy.” He has not been forgotten because he was persistent. He never preached to big crowd, but he was persistent and God honored him. Our missionaries too - are a persistent people. May we be as persistent in our support of them with our partnership, our prayers, and our finances. Remember to pray for each of our Primitive Methodist missionaries this month! Fred Jeffrey, Director, IMB *Guatemala* Loren and Helen Anderson had the special privilege to be at Camp Shalom in Guatemala all of January. Two volunteer teams from Reformed churches in Canada and Indiana came to finish off the crown beam on the third level walls. Then a third team of 20 ‘roofers’ built the rafter gerders of steel and laid down 240 sheets of steel to give the PM Juan Wesley school a finished and beautiful roof. This was costly for them; but a gift to the Guatemalan San Cristobal community. The town church will prosper because of this community outreach. Now we return to the first floor. We have all the doors on hand, the steel framed windows are being welded. It is absolutely amazing that God is putting on the project site the people and the materials when needed. Now, we need help from the Primitive Methodists to lay the terrazzo floor....all 550 square meters at $7.00 (approx) a square meter. We dream of what could well be the 13th year of operation of the school in this new building...and it is glorious. God is good. Loren Anderson . My new e-mail address is: Lorenzo@eduguate.org *District Meeting Information* Western District: April 5^th at Darlington Church Schuylkill District: April 5^th at Levittown Church Pittsburgh District: April 5^th at Beaver Falls (Christian Education Conference on April 26^th at Beaver Falls) Eastern District: March 29^th at Providence Primitive Methodist Church Wyoming District: April 1^st at Cherry Street Bible Church (Plymouth) *Conference notes* By now all church reports should be to your DS. Please send your conference reservations to Rev. Hrabak ASAP. We have a nice variety of speakers/guests for this year’s conference. Any pastor planning on retiring this year must contact the General Secretary and the PPF. *Prayer Requests* On March 17^th, Rev. Elvin S. Murphy will be going in to have heart surgery. They will be replacing one of his heart valves. Following the surgery he will be laid up for about six weeks. Please continue to pray for Rev. Dr. Brendley’s 3-year-old grandson Crosby (son of NMB missionaries, Bret and Meredith Nathaniel) who had a malignant tumor removed. Crosby is on his last week 22 weeks) of chemo. Pray that all upcoming tests will have good reports. Updates can be found on the following website: www.caringbridge.org/visit/crosbynathaniel PM Church Family: Thelma Fudge On Saturday, February 16^th, 2008, son-in-law, Dr. David Parkyn assisted by Rev. Reginald Thomas conducted the funeral services for Mrs. Thelma Fudge. Thelma has been a good and faithful servant to her Lord, her family and the PM Church family. We will truly miss her and yet rejoice with her family as she entered her eternal reward. Remember Bill Fudge in your prayers at this time. Good website: Smallchurchpastor.OutreachMagazine.com If you have any information (your church’s upcoming activities, great books, seminars, items of interest) you would like to share with our churches please email us at primitivemethodistchurch@comcast.net. FYI: We are in the office from 9am until noon. Kathi Farabaugh is our secretary. (215-672-1576) Send any Notes & News articles to the conference e-mail address.
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PRIMITIVE METHODIST CHURCHES$NOTES AND NEWS$February, 2008