By Bill McKay F
athers and brothers. One year ago, I began my service as the Moderator of the General Synod of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. As we look back, I hope and pray that I have served faithfully and well. One year ago, I took up this post, following in the footsteps of men who I feel were far more To that end, the Lord provided an excellent team to help guide the denomination through the hills and valleys we have seen this past year. I want to begin by expressing my thanks to God for His gracious provision of my wife and family, and their untiring support through my many travels and meetings in a busy year. God has blessed me richly with a family that fully supports the work I am involved with for the church. Of course, it helps that whenever I travel to the US, I can always stop by a Trader Joe’s or somewhere else to pick up items that are not readily available in Canada. Hailing from a foreign country meant that any travel for synod business for me would usually take a minimum of four days at a time, so I tried to coordinate things to be cost-effective whenever I traveled on synod business. And lots of Zoom meetings. I remember Patrick’s comment last year about the greatest thing about Zoom meetings was that you could have them anytime. And the greatest drawback of Zoom meetings was that you could have them anytime. One evening a few months ago, I had a synod committee Zoom meeting at 9 pm and then left that meeting at 10 pm for another scheduled meeting with the Department Head from Christian Hospital Sahiwal (7 am in Sahiwal). My wife calculated that (including our travel to Pakistan last fall for the month of November and some personal vacation time) I have been away from home for just under 30% of the past year. I want to thank my brothers from the Canadian Presbytery and my home
congregation (Grace Presbyterian Church) and the session for their prayers, encouragement, and support. I want to thank my friend David Lauten who has faithfully served as your Vice-moderator, and for my other friends and colleagues (Kyle, Patrick and Ben) in their unfailing desire to see the church grow and prosper. I want to thank all of you (the members of the General Synod) for your prayers I want to thank Chip Sherer and his staff here at Bonclarken Conference Center
meet for General Synod, and this year, we are also throwing in the added bonus special opportunity for all of the World Witness missionaries to come home and to be available to all of us to meet with as they share their experiences of seeing the gospel advanced through their work in missions around the world. But it is not just limited to international missions. It is also an opportunity for the other ARP boards and agencies to be visible and available to meet with people. ONA will be represented as well as Erskine College and Seminary, the new Brice/Sanders Board which oversees the operation of Camp Joy and others. I want to encourage as many of you as possible to take the time and to meet with these groups and people in order to learn of how the gospel of Jesus Christ is being advanced by the efforts of the ARP throughout the world. Finally, I want to thank your team at Central Services. I know it has been said many times in the past, but the denomination would not be where it is today without the excellent hands who are driving this bus and running things behind I want to personally extend my thanks to Cindy, Susan, Shay, Alisa, Bonnie, and Brian for their dedication to making sure the ARP runs smoothly, properly, and
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in good order. In case you don’t know, Cindy and her staff will begin making plans for the 2024 General Synod next week.
It has been a busy year. A number of things have transpired in the ARP over the past year. But it has been a year that has allowed me to observe When listening to naysayers, it would be easy to be discouraged by the difficult things around us. But they are distractions from our goal and purpose – to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. Personally, I am encouraged by the general desire I have seen in the ARP as a whole to be faithful to the proclamation of God’s Word to the world - the proclamation of the foundation stone of Jesus Christ to an unbelieving world. Last year, I introduced my theme and challenge to the General Synod - “Advancing the Gospel.” The basis of this challenge was primarily directed to every ARP congregation and every member to examine themselves and see whether they have been actively Commission or where they are failing to do so. It was a call for all of us to look outside of ourselves and into the larger communities where we all live and consider the impact (or lack of impact) we are having where we live. In my service as the moderator, I have had the opportunity to travel and visit several presbyteries and congregations, as well as some and Europe. I have witnessed the gospel-sharing work that is being accomplished in those locations. I have had the opportunity to speak with ministers, elders, and individual church members. It is encouraging to see change happening with respect to the desire to see the gospel of Jesus Christ spread and sent out to the world at large through the ARP’s support for the mission work of the ARP through World Witness as well as
The Associate Reformed Presbyterian
Synod 2023
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