By Pastor Stephen Hess
Once a year, our denomination—the Evangelical Presbyterian Church—holds a national gathering called the “General Assembly” where leaders from churches all over the country gather to connect, worship together, and conduct church business. This year the assembly gathered in Memphis for four days (June 19-22) at Hope Presbyterian Church. Attending General Assembly is always a blessing and this year was no exception. Here are a few highlights from the meeting.
Visiting the host church was definitely a highlight in and of itself. Hope Presbyterian Church was originally a church plant of Second Presbyterian Church in Memphis but has now grown larger than its parent church. It is the largest Presbyterian church in the country with over 6,600 attendees every week. Hope is also unique because it is one of the most multi-ethnic churches in the country. This is due to an intentional effort by Hope’s leadership years ago to reach out to people of all colors in their community and embrace them with the love of Jesus. It was encouraging to see the impact that they are making in the city of Memphis.
Another memorable part of this assembly was a series of leadership seminars sponsored by a group called “The Westminster Society.” The Westminster Society is a networking group within the EPC that seeks to encourage church members and leaders in their understanding and application of our theological standards—the Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms. The group desires to keep our conversations and discussions centered on Scripture and the Westminster Standards. It provides theological training opportunities, networking lunches, and an annual print journal. This year I was given the privilege to deliver one of the seminars on the Lord’s Supper. All of the seminars were well-attended, and the discussions were stimulating.
The EPC is an active denomination in seeking to expand the kingdom and spread the gospel to new places. Even though we are not an extremely large denomination (approximately 600 churches nationwide), we currently have forty-two active church plants in sixteen different states. Additionally, it was reported at this year’s assembly that we have created two new church planting networks with two more in development. The church planting arm of the denomination now has its own website which you can visit at www.epcchurchplanting.org.
One of the most powerful moments of every assembly is when we commission new World Outreach workers who will be serving as missionaries internationally. Some of these missionaries are going to the toughest areas of the world where you can lose your life for following Jesus, yet they courageously follow Christ’s call to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. One of the vows they must affirm before being commissioned is as follows: “Will you accept the potential dangers associated with this ministry that may include suffering and martyrdom?” Their commitment is a reminder that every Christian is called to surrender his or her life completely to Jesus and follow wherever he may call regardless of the cost. You can find out more information about the EPC’s mission efforts by visiting www.epcwo.org.
The theme of this year’s assembly was “Forward,” which comes from Paul’s words in Philippians: “One thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:13-14).
Highview is blessed to be part of such a wonderful denomination where we can partner in the gospel ministry with many other faithful congregations. I’m so glad we get to move forward together!