Preaching at Blessings Christian Church
this past Sunday evening reminded me once again of the miracle
happening at the corner of Locke Street and Stanley Ave. in the lower
city of Hamilton. Stanley Ave. Baptist Church (a church of the
Reformed persuasion although holding to believer baptism) was a
shrinking and struggling church. The members are getting old, some
even too old to attend services, and not many people were joining the
church. It was facing what many churches in Canada are up against,
declining membership. Many churches are closing. I learned recently
from a reliable source that the Anglican Church of Canada is in the
process of shutting down 50 parishes in the GTA.
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| Stanley Avenue Baptist Church, founded in 1889 |
The members of Stanley Ave., about
30-40 mostly old people, were praying that God would send a church to
“take them over.” Their pastor was retiring (he has since retired
and moved away from Hamilton) and the last thing they wanted to do
was to sell the building and see it demolished and replaced with a
condo tower.
Enter Blessings, a Canadian Reformed congregation! They had outgrown the
SDA building they were renting and, in the good providence of God,
happened upon Stanley Ave. After a series of meetings it was mutually
decided that Blessings would take over the Sunday services. Both
congregations attend the worship services which are completely under
the leadership of the Blessings elders and pastors. It was a great
blessing to meet some of the Stanley Ave. brothers and sisters this
past Sunday at the evening service. We should understand
that to attend both services on Sunday is not the custom of most
Canadian church-goers. One typically attends at 11 AM, “holy hour,”
and the rest of the day is filled with personal and family
endeavours.
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| A beautiful auditoreum |
Are there going to be any hiccups along
the way? Undoubtedly. But if everyone moves along in faith, and with
charity and compassion, the bumps will be successfully navigated.
We are living in a post-Christian
Canada. We need to know who our enemies are, and the Baptists are not
our enemies. Countless of our people listen to the online Baptist
preachers such as Alistair Begg, John MacArthur, John Piper, Albert
Mohler, Russell Moore.... Many of our people go to conferences that
include Reformed Baptists: Banner of Truth, TGC, Ligonier....
May the Lord bless Blessings Church,
and make it to be a blessing to Stanley Ave. Baptist Church and the
Kirkendall neighbourhood of Hamilton!
(See some further thoughts...)
(See some further thoughts...)
8 comments:
"We need to know who our enemies are, and the Baptists are not our enemies." And yet, please don't let "believer baptism" become acceptable. Please don't water down the Word to fill seats.
We are who we let influence us.
Marina R
What a wonderful way that God has brought two needs together to help each other out! What a God-thing to do! And may God bless them all as they navigate the bumps along the road. God's grace is evident.
Thank you pastor George. It was an absolute pleasure to hear you proclaim the gospel to us on Sunday evening.
Thanks for your very kind and encouraging words Pastor George! It was a pleasure hearing you preach on Sunday.
(Accidentally deleted)
Thank you for this wonderful post. It is a great reminder of the One that unites us and the things that we commonly fight against together. Thankful for our brothers and sisters in Blessings.
Reformed Baptists do not administer the sacraments in a Biblical manner and therefore their churches are correctly viewed as false churches. Therefore we can be glad that these Baptists are now in a true church. Whether they are enemies are not is irrelevant. We are called to love our enemies and part of that love would be to lovingly point our their (serious) error in doctrine and practice.
Every miracle has its detractors, afflicted with the disease of correctivitis. It's encouraging to see the self-offering of one group of Christians, genuinely looking for life and vitality from another, and finding it. One wonders if Jesus walked into one of our churches on Sunday if we might not consider him a heretic and try to run him off a cliff... Who are we to judge another man's servant? It is by the judgement of his master whether he stands or falls, and in Christ, he will stand. Rather than inserting more declarative statements, let us quietly and lovingly pray for our churches and our brothers and sisters in Christ.
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