Going Home

I recently announced that I would be moving my family back to California. There I have been asked by a close friend to help start and pastor a new church plant. This is something I can look back and see that God has been preparing me for for quite a while. The place we are moving to is smack dab in the middle of our families. While it is difficult to say good-bye to so many wonderful families here in Georgia, we are excited about this new work the Lord has for us.
Please pray for my family as we are basically moving into the role of missionaries. I will need to find a full-time secular job to provide for my family. We are also searching for housing. Pray that God would prepare the hearts of the people He has for this new work. We will be moving the second week of June.
Some have asked me about this new church. This will be a Reformed Baptist church. We will also focus on family integration. I have pasted below the paper we have been presenting to interested families in California. This is not a completed work but simply a running tab on our ideas and convictions for what the church should look like. The points are in no particular order.

For those of you in California who are reading this post and are interested in joining this group of believers or have more questions, please email me at rcole@effinghamchristian.org.

Here it is:

Thoughts on Church

* Family Integrated- This means that the church emphasizes the worship and learning of the entire family of God together (parents and their children, the elderly, singles, widows, widowers, etc.) rather than age segregated children’s church during worship and age segregated Sunday school. Deut. 6:5-9

*Patriarchal Emphasis/ Marriage Roles- The church will have an emphasis on the biblical teaching of the husband being the spiritual head if his household. Men will be encouraged to be lovers of their wives and children. Men will be encouraged to be diligent students of scripture, be leading their wives in the learning of God’s word, and be responsible for the teaching of God’s word to the children that God has placed under them. It is the belief of the church that if men are faithfully fulfilling their role as leader, both by teaching and being an example, children will effectively grow in the Lord. There will be regular meetings among the heads of households to grow in doctrine, leadership, and accountability in order to encourage men to fulfill their role.

The church will emphasize the fulfillment of the biblical roles of husbands and wives as taught in Holy Scripture, recognizing that God instituted marriage and roles and men and women are to strive to fulfill those roles, through the power of the Holy Spirit, in order to have a blessed house. Ephesians 5:22-33

As we recognize our role as the Church as it relates to orphans and widows, we will minister to the orphans and widows the Lord graces us with. We count it a privilege to minister to women and children who have been affected with the death and/or abandonment of the head of the household. We recognize that it is only the grace of God which keeps us from the same predicament. Furthermore, we recognize that the sin which led to this predicament is no worse than our own yet perhaps more visible.

*Ministry- The patriarchal and family growth of the church emphasis negates the need for Sunday programs and/or midweek programs for children. Rather children should spend time with their families learning from their parents. Ministry opportunities should be filled by saints who see needs and are willing and ready to be used in that particular area. While midweek youth and children’s programs will not exist, the pastors may choose from time to time to offer additional worship gatherings during the week. For example, a time for general question and answer.

* Worship- Worship would be based on the regulative principle, simply meaning that if Holy Scripture does not prescribe the element then it shall be avoided. Worship will be viewed as the church’s one opportunity to worship God corporately as a body of believers. It will be based on the sole purpose of bringing glory to God for His gracious act of redeeming the souls of undeserving people. Worship will be pure, authentic, and reverent, understanding that God inhabits the praise of His people, and therefore should be viewed as something that is pleasing to our Lord. Worshiping, as a body, on the Lord's Day should be a time of sweet communion with God, where His word is faithfully and accurately taught, Jesus is glorified, and true fellowship takes place, believers with God and believers with other believers. (Acts 2:42)

*Music- The category of a song (hymn, praise song, etc.) doesn’t automatically make it more holy than another song. Each song that is sung should be doctrinally accurate, and helpful in the praising and glorifying of God. Thus each song will be examined by the elders of the church in areas of being doctrinally correct, etc. A pastor/elder will lead in music.

*Sunday School- Sunday School will consist of a short teaching, by an elder, on a subject of the elders’choosing as He/they see fit for the body. A discussion on the discourse that was just presented by the pastor will be led by the pastor and will be an interactive time including all members present (children to adults). The pastor will have sent the sermon text, as well as key questions, that will be addressed in the coming sermon for families to discuss during family devotions in order to prepare for worship on the Lord’s Day. These questions, as well as other points made in the discourse, will be discussed by the congregation. The point of this format is to have direct access to the pastor as a congregation so all members may be further edified by clarifying and getting a clearer understanding of the discourse. Children will be encouraged and given a chance to participate in the discussion.

*Government- The church will be governed by a plurality of elders, with power being equally given among the elders. Each elder will be responsible for the shepherding of families in the church. Consequently every family in the church will have an elder that is encouraging their spiritual growth as a family. New elders will be approved and ordained by the elders of the church. New elders will meet the qualifications listed in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1.


*Fellowship/Hospitality- This church views fellowship and hospitality in high regard. The family of God should fellowship with one another frequently. This builds strong relationships within the body that is helpful in spiritual growth. Monthly potlucks after Sunday service will encourage fellowship, as well as families opening up their homes to fellowship and practice Godly hospitality. Acts 2:42-47

*Mentoring- Older men and women will be encouraged to fill their biblical roles of helping the younger men and women in their quest to live a life that is honoring to the Lord. Titus 2

*Covenantal- This church will be covenantal in its view of God’s plan to save His people. It is the belief of the church that God has one elect people that he chose from before the foundation of the earth (Eph 1; Gal 3). These people are all saved in the exact same manner, an effectual call by God in where the individual responds to the Holy Spirit in a response of repentance and commitment to God and His word. God has lovingly and graciously chosen for Himself, before the foundation of the earth, a people to be His, based upon His own purpose. God is very clear in His word that He has always had a remnant throughout history, and this remnant He will call, from many tribes and tongues, until Christ’s glorious return. We recognize that because the natural man does not and cannot understand the things of God and because the natural man’s mind is hostile to God and cannot please God, that God alone can enable man to respond to the calling of the Holy Spirit. (1 Cor.2; Rom. 3 and 8; John 6; Eph.2)

*Sacraments- The sacrament of baptism will be practiced as clearly stated in scripture, mainly as prescribed in (Acts 2:41) Those who are part of the New Covenant as stated in (Jeremiah 31), specifically those who have repented of their sin trusting in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sin, are to be baptized, immersed in water, as a sign of the seal of the Holy Spirit which indwells them as a result of God’s calling. The sacrament of the Lord’s Supper or Holy Communion will be practiced as prescribed in Holy Scripture and described in the LBC. It is an ordinance instituted by Christ as a remembrance of His death which purchased us from damnation and brought us into fellowship with the Father. This sacrament will be practiced on a weekly basis and will be the culmination of the worship service. It is to be practiced only by those who are in the New Covenant, as described above, and who are not living in consistent, unrepentant rebellion toward God in any area of their life. Taking the elements in this case will bring judgment upon the soul who makes light of the bread and body of the Lord, as described in (1 Corinthians 11). These two sacraments, when administered and/or taken properly, will serve as a means for Man to be reminded of God’s grace to His people and of our proper reverence for Christ.

* Evangelism- The church will recognize and obey the great commission taught by Jesus Christ, namely the taking of the gospel into the world. Matthew 28:19-20

* Church Discipline- The church will submit to the biblical process of church discipline as found in Matthew 18. We will do this as our commitment to our brothers and sister in Christ in order to maintain the purity of Christ’s bride. We recognize that the goal in each and every step of church discipline is the restoration of the believer first to God and then to the local body.

* Accountability- Accountability is first and foremost done by the Holy Spirit in the life of every individual believer. Through clear expository preaching of the word of God, the Holy Spirit will lead in teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness (2 Tim. 3:16). The responsibility of every believer is to respond to the spoken word of God, through the help of the Holy Spirit, in acts of obedience. We also recognize that as we live together in a dead and decaying world that is passing away along with its lusts (1 John 2:17), we are striving to offer our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, which is our reasonable act of worship. This is done by not being conformed to the pattern of the world (Romans 12:1-2). We are instructed to make no provision for the lusts of the flesh but to put on the righteousness of Christ (Romans 13:14). The Lord has commanded us as brothers and sisters in Him to hold one another accountable to this standard as our part in our sanctification, becoming more like Christ. At the point of our water baptism we declared to the Church that we were going to count the cost and follow Christ. The Church is to hold us to that declaration. While it should grieve us to see one another in sin, we should be willing to lovingly confront one another and encourage them to repent and follow Christ. This is done only after we have acknowledged the wretchedness of our own sin, confessed and repented ourselves. At the same time, accountability is much more than the confrontation of sin. Confrontation is accountability gone bad. Accountability is an open invitation and expectation from one believer to another to sharpen one another as iron sharpens iron (Proverbs 27:17). Way before confrontation there ought to be confession. We are to confess our sins one to another and share the forgiveness of Christ as we remember and celebrate our own forgiveness. An acknowledgement of one’s own sin and a willingness to confront another’s is what will lead to revival in the Church. Again, it begins only when I see the sin of others and wish that mine were so pretty.

* Summary- This church will exist solely to glorify our God by obeying His word in every aspect of our lives. Godly accountability will be emphasized (men to men/ women to women), realizing that Godly people need the love, encouragement, and admonishment of others in order to be reminded of our purpose on this earth. We recognize that since salvation is of God ALONE, a love of God and His word and a humility of spirit should be a goal of every person in God’s universal church including this one. In short we exist solely to bring God glory for He alone deserves that glory, in that He sent His Son to purchase His people from the ultimate consequence of their sin by shedding His spotless blood upon a cross and rising from the grave. Hallelujah, He lives forevermore!

LBC- London Baptist Confession (1689)