Church Planting and Empowerment Ministry
Christ Presbyterian Church, New Haven CT

MA Update

Report from Executive Director Rev. Dr. Preston Graham

"And it dawned upon me, Jesus has an address!"

These were the words spoken by church planter Andrew Holbrook just this week in our weekly pastor-church planter prayer service. It perfectly sums up our “Total Christ” confidence in the mystery, and reality, of Christ’s temple union with his church during his ascension ministry today.   I was immediately reminded of something T. F. Torrance once wrote in his Royal Priesthood about the church:

“The spirit operates by creating out of the word a body, which St. Paul calls the Body of Christ…. As such this body becomes matched to Christ as His vis-à-vis in history and as the instrument of His saving purpose in the Gospel. It is the sphere where through the presence of the Spirit the salvation-events of the birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension are operative here and now in history, the sphere wherever within the old creation the new creation has broken in with power.”

What better way to summarize the significance of a five mark church (for more on the five mark church, click here). It makes it true any given Sunday that Jesus has an address. And this is exactly why church planting is so important, no less than an essential element of Christian mission.

These are indeed exciting times in Mission Anabaino!   MA church planter Kyle Parker reports the excitement of their first service on a Sunday morning in Spokane WA and there is a great buzz surrounding MA church planter Chris Robins in a newly organized and located morning service in downtown San Francisco.

In this addition of the MA Update, you will read about the Holbrooks’ recent transition to Fairfield, CT, and already the address of Jesus is beginning to form there through an impromptu neighborhood picnic—first phase in the process to becoming Christ Presbyterian Church, Fairfield.    And then you will hear about New City Presbyterian Church in its early stages of establishing a real, grace centered presence in the center city of South Bend leading to the start up of a weekly, Christ centered, and missional four movement worship service there!

If you are not already, please consider praying earnestly for these and all the other MA church plants.   If you would be interested in becoming a financial supporter, you may do so here, or if your church would like to consider being an anchor church, please email us here.

Affectionately and Enthusiastically,

Rev. Dr. Preston Graham
Executive Director, Mission Anabaino
Sr. Pastor, Christ Presbyterian Church New Haven

NEW TO ANABAINO.ORG:

Next Local Collaborative: (First Tuesday) October 6th 2015 at 11:30am
Next Global Collaborative: (Second Thursday) October 9th 2015 at 11:30am EST

Click Here to Register for the Annual Collaborative

The Holbrooks are on the field! I played soccer back in college and one of my favorite moments was walking out onto the field with my arm on the shoulder of the player in front of me as the national anthem was played. The exhilaration of the pre-game anticipation and the pending out pouring of all my energy into the task at hand gave me butterflies every time. We moved 3 weeks ago and a small team arrived shortly after us. I feel like I used to back in college. What lies ahead? I cant wait to walk with Christ into it.

CPC New Haven has been a wonderful place to land. They have been such a gracious and hospitable church. Every week we feel privileged to worship here until the Lord opens the doors for the new church in Fairfield. We are very grateful for the collaborative nature of this movement.

On Labor Day we had 8 of our neighbors over for a picnic. It was amazing that many of these families that we had only met one time were willing to come over to our house! It was a great night of new investments.

Pray for wisdom and direction in the use of our time.

Pray what Paul asks for in Col 4, "that God may open to us a door for the word...and that I may make it clear."

-Rev. Andrew Holbrook

CPC Fairfield
Fairfield, CT
Rev. Andrew Holbrook
Newsletter

OTHER LOCAL

Christ the Shepherd Presbyterian Church
Danbury, CT
Rev. David Hutchinson
Blog

CPC the Hill
New Haven, Ct
Interim Pastor Rev. Chip Anderson

The summer of 2015 was a landmark for New City Pres here in South Bend: among many other things, it saw our first missions team being sent out and the beginning of a relationship with the South Bend Housing Authority.

At the end of May we sent a small team to Chattanooga, TN to be trained by Rev. Randy Nabors and the New City Network in the theology and practice of urban ministry. The days were spent getting classroom instruction, and the evenings were spent doing evangelistic bible clubs in the Chattanooga projects.

We spent this summer putting it into practice. Through God’s providence, doors opened for us to start doing Bible clubs in the Monroe Circle: one of the South Bend Housing Authority’s nine housing projects – just a short, two-block walk from New City’s building. Groups would meet twenty minutes before the clubs to pray before going out, and then at five minutes to starting time, would go door-to-door through the projects, explaining who we were and to ask if there were any kids who’d like to come to Bible clubs. We would have between thirty and forty kids come to each club, where they got to hear the gospel – most of them for the first time.

The goal, however, isn’t just one-off gospel presentations. Our goal is to present the gospel to these kids many times (after all, how many of us became a Christian after hearing the gospel just once?), and then we’re praying that as we offer to pick them up for church, some will come to New City and be discipled. We want nothing less than that these kids be genuine disciples, and the local church is where discipleship happens.

Please join with us in praying for our ongoing ministry to Monroe Circle: that we’ll be wise in our approach and sensitive to God’s direction. (A number of us are regularly prayer walking in the neighborhood, and it’s been good to see that we’re becoming more and more of a known quantity.)

Pray also for New City as it moved to weekly services Sunday Sept. 6 (a major, but welcome, adjustment!) and has reengaged the students and faculty at the University of Notre Dame with the beginning of the new school year. We’ve already had some new grad students join our fellowship, and we pray to see more.

Continue to pray for our evangelistic witness as a church, including our personal evangelism, as we take the gospel out into the city. Paul, in 2 Corinthians 4.13, puts it simply: “Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, ‘I believed, and so I spoke,’ we also believe, and so we also speak.”

“We…believe, and so we also speak.” It’s that simple. We believe and treasure the gospel of Jesus, so we speak it to others. So pray “that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ,” and that our speech will “always be gracious, seasoned with salt” (Col. 4.3,6).

-Rev. Luke Potter

New City Presbyterian Church
South Bend, IN
Rev. Luke Potter

OTHER GLOBAL

Glory San Francisco
San Francisco, CA
Rev. Christopher Robins
Blog

Hope Presbyterian Church
Bloomington, IN
Rev. Dan Herron
Blog

Coram Deo Presbyterian Church
Spokane, WA
Rev. Kyle Parker

New Hope Haitian Church
Mirebalais, Haiti
Rev. Marcel Baptiste

Christ Church Milwaukee
Milwaukee, WI
Rev. Jon Talley

In 1 John 5:14-15, we are reminded that when we ask anything that is according to God's will, that God uses prayer as one of the means to accomplish his will. We are assured in scripture that church planting is God's will (even if the specifics are left to God's continued wisdom). Please pray for Mission Anabaino - that it will be about Christ, his glory, his life giving presence, and his harvest on earth as in heaven!

We also know that Paul wrote perhaps his greatest treatise on the gospel, at least in part, as a support letter in his vision to plant churches in the unreached area of Spain “by way of you” (Rom. 1:15:14-28). Ever since, church planting has been “by way of” (Rom 15:28) those who are willing to invest their time, talent, and treasure.

In short, Mission Anabaino cannot proceed with its ambitious church planting and empowerment plans without financial partners. An investment in MA either through general support or designated to one of its specific projects is indeed an investment in the very epicenter of Christ’s saving presence on earth “against which even the gates of hell will not prevail” (Mt. 16:18)!

If interested you may give online or by check mailed to “Mission Anabaino” at 135 Whitney Ave, New Haven, CT 06510.

For questions or comments please contact:
Annie McHugh
Executive Assistant
Mission Anabaino

Copyright © 2015 Christ Presbyterian Church, All rights reserved.

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