A sermon series on the book He-
brews from September of 2017 to July of 2018 had repeatedly presented the glorified Christ as the One who leads from heaven the specific worship that He has commanded. Christ-pre- scribed worship actions on earth, led by the risen Christ from glory, put the ARP-treasured doctrine to which we refer as the Regulative Principle in a new perspective of dependence upon Christ and delight in Him. With possible liturgical reforms
on the horizon the Session had asked for a short series on the public wor- ship of God, which ended up being interrupting the new series on Gen- esis from January 12, 2020, to April 5, 2020. So just as the “covid crisis” was beginning, the Hopewell congrega- tion was coming into a new season of conviction that there is nothing more essential to life in this world or the next than the gathered worship of Christ’s holy assemblies. “Therefore, brethren, having boldness
to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He con- secrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, hav- ing our hearts sprinkled from an evil con- science and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day ap- proaching.” (Heb 10:19–25, NKJV) It was a season of renewed delight
in the Christ who leads these assem- blies from glory and renewed depen- dence upon Him to grow us in His grace—especially by those means of His grace by which He commands that we worship Him. And when co- vid arrived, Hopewell was not about to begin “forsaking the assembling of ourselves together.” The congregation didn’t miss a
single Lord’s Day of gathering for public worship, and by the end of June was back to its full Lord’s Day schedule: breakfast together, class
May/June 2021
together, worship together, lunch together, and an hour of full-throated Psalm and hymn singing before closing the day together with a final, brief sermon. Even then, some family would often invite the rest of the congregation over
for continued Sabbath fellowship, glad to have as much as possible of the holy blessedness unto which the Lord has consecrated His day. Individuals who thought they might be ill would worship from home as necessary, and to date none are even suspected to have contracted illness in any of the congrega- tion’s gatherings. Numbers increased. Hopewell became a temporary home for many worship-
ers who were encouraged to maintain their connection with their churches and return, strengthened in the means of grace, as soon as possible. Others either had no church home, were commended to Hopewell by their former sessions, or are in the midst of that process. More significantly, spiritual growth has markedly increased. A congregation-
al study of Dr. Ryan McGraw’s excellent little book, “The Day of Worship” was blessed to a renewed zeal of spirit for the duties and delights of the Lord’s Day. The Lord’s original youth, children’s, and women’s ministries—family worship and discipleship—has borne fruit, with wives and children enjoying renewed commitment to spiritual nurture in the home by men who express great grati- tude for the effect they’ve seen the Lord produce in their families.
A Joyous Occasion of Celebration The anniversary conference, then, was not an island of gathering in an ocean
of isolation, but a weekend of heightened thanksgiving and celebration in a year that had been rich with both. The keynote speaker was Dr. C. N. Willborn, pas- tor of Covenant PCA in Oak Ridge and Adjunct Professor of Church History at GPTS and PRTS. The conference convened Friday evening, with Dr. Willborn’s first talk, “It’s Jesus’s Church: Presbyterian, ARP, and Hopewell History.” Since the renewed commitments of the reviving and reforming congrega-
tion are historic ARP distinctives, Saturday’s two keynote addresses were quite well-received: “It’s Jesus’s Worship: Why God (and Presbyterians) Are Particu- lar about Worship” and “It’s Jesus’s Work: He Grows Us through His Means in Public, Family, and Private Worship.” Saturday afternoon, men, women, and children all enjoyed the trap-shooting fellowship event. On the Lord’s Day, a Q&A session with the keynote speaker replaced the reg-
ular Sabbath School class and Dr. Willborn preached from 2 Samuel 9, “God’s Covenant Benefits.” The 200th Anniversary Conference was a great blessing to the Hopewell Con-
gregation, and recordings of the sessions are available at
bit.ly/HARPC200th. Many Reformed church plants can probably identify with years (or even
decades) of struggling to be established, maintaining biblical distinctives in a broader church culture riddled with pragmatism and innovation. Many older ARP congregations can probably identify with times of struggle and decline, coming to what feels like it could be the last gasps of their life. The Lord calls us to de-
pend upon Him in ordi- nary, plodding attendance upon the means that He has appointed. God was not just faithful to Hopewell for a decade or two in the middle of the 19th century and again at the turn of the 21st. He was faithful in the early struggle. He was faithful in the lean times. He will always be faithful.?
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