Outreach North America
Your church is a LAMPSTAND for the Light of the world, the Lord Jesus Christ. W
To what extent are the following statements true of your church?
MORRIE LAWING Executive Director of ONA
• “We are a praying church.” • “We believe in the primacy of preaching” • “The grace of the Gospel permeates our church.” • “We love the lost and endeavor to bring many sons to glory.” • “Our community will know we are Christians by our love.” • “We are trusting in God, not man’s efforts, to build His Church.”
Recently, several ARPs attended a conference that addressed matters like these that reveal the health of a church. In January, representatives from three ARP churches (Trinity ARP in Tampa, FL, Faith ARP in Olney, MD,
and Trinity Chapel in Weddington, NC) attended a 4-day conference in Birmingham, Alabama. These church- es were sponsored by the Board of ONA to attend the Lampstand Conference. The name of the conference is a reference from Revelation 1:12,20 where John sees a vision of seven lamp- stands. The Lord tells him that “the seven lampstands are the seven churches” of Asia Minor. Jesus Christ is the Light, and our churches are His lampstands. In addition, in Revelation chapters 2 and 3, the Lord com- mends and exhorts these churches to faithful lampstands. Likewise, the conference’s mission is to encourage, equip, and exhort our churches to be faithful in our calling as lampstands.
What is the history of the Lampstand Conference? In brief, this ministry began out of Rev. Harry Reeder’s passion to help strengthen struggling churches; thus, he wrote a book, From Embers to a Flame. A few years ago the vision expanded to help strengthen and equip all churches: struggling churches, growing churches, and mission churches. Thus, Embers to a Flame became Lampstand.
What to expect at the conference? - cal fundamentals of what constitutes a healthy church. Ideally, the pastor and several leaders from his church interact together with the material to see how the Lord might be calling the group to return home with a renewed purpose at the local church. Three quarters of the conference focuses on subjects which should be addressed in all churches, such as the importance of prayer, the heart of a leader, the primacy of the preached Word of God, and the need for a vision The last quarter of the conference breaks up into three areas: church revitalization church planting and
church acceleration.
One of the ARP pastors who attended, Bill Sutherland of Faith ARP Church in Olney, brought three of his leaders to the conference. Here is what he had to say: “I considered going to the Lampstand Conference by myself in 2022, but decided instead
to reread the book, From Embers to a Flame, which I did. This year’s Lampstand Conference offered us leadership training that I did not need to organize, which would be one more thing on my long to-do list as the pastor of a small church. We could just plug in, soak up the great teaching…on church revitalization, and then immediately discuss how it applies to our church context. [This] was invaluable. It jumpstarts future discussions on these topics for us.” “We are grateful to ONA for making it possible for us to participate in the 2025 Lampstand
Our hope at Outreach North America is to encourage our presbyteries and churches to send pastors and elders to this conference in order that many ARP churches will be more vibrant lampstands for our Lord Jesus Christ! Perhaps your church will be the next to attend a Lampstand Conference!
hether you are a church member, a ministry leader, an elder, or a pas- tor, consider this:
Planting, Strengthening, and Evangelizing 14 The Associate Reformed Presbyterian
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32
