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For Immediate Release
November 24, 1994

Release #1994-59

For Further Information Contact:
Darrell Todd Maurina, Press Officer
Reformed Believers Press Service
Voice: (616) 674-8446
FAX: (616) 674-8454
E-Mail: Darrell128@AOL.com
PO Box 691, Lawrence, MI  49064-0691

John Van Dyk, Managing Editor
Christian Renewal
Voice: (905) 562-5719
FAX: (905) 562-7828
E-Mail: JVanDyk@AOL.com
US: PO Box 770, Lewiston, NY  14092
CANADA: PO Box 777, Jordan Station ON  L0R 1S0

Alliance of Reformed Churches Hosts Missions Conference
by John Van Dyk and Darrell Todd Maurina
c 1994 Christian Renewal

Distributed by Reformed Believers Press Service

Editor's Note: The text following is copyrighted by Christian Renewal but
available for reprint in whole or in part provided that proper
acknowledgement is given.

Wyoming, Ontario (November 24, 1994) RBPS - There was no mention of "women in
office." The issues of creation and evolution, of homosexuality, of feminism,
did not fit into the lecture theme. The subject was Reformed missions and
evangelism, and it drew some 130-150 to a rural church on the outskirts of
Wyoming, Ontario, just east of Sarnia.

 Organized by the Alliance of Reformed Churches missions committee, it
brought together church leaders with experience in missions and evangelism to
present a series of workshops and two keynote speeches, one by Rev. Paul
Murphy, pastor of Dutton (MI) Independent Reformed Church, and the other by
retired Christian Reformed minister Rev. Johan Tangelder.
 Murphy grew up as a Roman Catholic, was converted in his twenties, and now
pastors a thriving church in Michigan. Tangelder served on the mission field
with his wife in the Philippines for two years, as well as in a home missions
church in Vernon, British Columbia. Workshop leaders included Rev. Harry
Bout, pastor of the Toronto Orthodox Christian Reformed Church who has been
involved in mission work in Mexico, Rev. John Bouwers, Dr. Neal Hegeman, Rev.
Tony Zekveld, Dr. William Shell, and Rev. Ray Sikkema. Also in attendance
were two missionary couples, Rev. John and Mrs. Trudy Tucker with Mexico
Maranatha Mission, and Rev. and Mrs. Wybenga who serve in the Dominican
Republic.


Keynote Address #1: Rev. Paul Murphy

 "The Reformed faith is the gospel and anything else is less than the full
gospel."

 That was the message of Rev. Paul Murphy in the opening address of the
conference on Friday evening. Exhorting the audience to conduct missions in a
distinctively Reformed manner, Murphy warned that Scriptural evangelism could
not be defined in terms of its recipients, results, methods, or institutions.

 "As high an end as the salvation of sinners is, the glory of God is the
goal," said Murphy. "William Carey labored for seven years before he had a
single convert given to him by the Lord."

 Modern church growth methods came in for a withering attack. "There is a
relationship between methodology and theology; the character of evangelism is
to be message-centered, not method-centered," said Murphy. "Churches today
are caught up in methods, and methods are fine as long as the message remains
central."

 Rather than focussing on methods, Murphy said evangelistic work must focus
on developing a personal relationship with unsaved people and presenting the
gospel to them in a winsome way. "The right to talk intimately about the Lord
Jesus Christ has to be earned, and you earn that right by loving people,"
said Murphy. "Evangelism simply put is to proclaim the message of the gospel,
communicating the gospel of Christ compellingly and lovingly with a view to
conversion."

 Murphy warned against making evangelism into a "canned" presentation, noting
that while less than a fraction of one percent of Christians attribute their
conversion to an evangelistic crusade, seventy-five percent of those who join
a church as a result of evangelism came in as a result of the witness of
family and friends.

 "Evangelism is not just lecturing sinners but loving them; it must be
something that comes from the depth of personal experience, that it is I who
love the Lord," said Murphy.

 According to Murphy, the message of evangelism consists of three parts: a
message about God, a message about man, and a message about the God-man Jesus
Christ that calls for a response.

 "The most important question a human being can ask is who is God," said
Murphy. "We can no longer assume that when someone talks about God that they
are talking about the same God as we are."

 Murphy said the fact that God is our creator is among the most important
portions of our knowledge of God. "Without a knowledge of God, a sinner does
not know whom he has offended," said Murphy. "God as our creator has rights
about us as a creature and has told us in his Word how we are to live."

 The message about man must focus on human sinfulness and depravity, Murphy
said. "I hear so many evangelistic presentations where Jesus is presented as
many things, a friend, a helper, but he is not presented as a savior from
condemnation justly deserved," said Murphy. "There is no winsomeness in
gazing at the cross of Calvary until one has stood under the terror of
Sinai."

 However, Murphy warned that a misuse of law would destroy evangelism. "Law
without grace will lead to penance, people subtly trying to earn their
salvation; on the other hand, love without law leads to cheap grace, which is
so common in churches today," said Murphy.

 Murphy said that just as many today do not know what Scripture says about
the nature of God and the nature of man, many today do not know the nature of
Christ. Murphy illustrated his point by describing an evangelistic
presentation to a Roman Catholic friend he had known for years. The friend
agreed with him on many points of Christian doctrine, but agreement stopped
when it came to the nature of Christ. "I said to him, 'Jesus Christ is alive
today in heaven,' and he looked at me as if I had five heads and said, 'You
are nuts,'" recounted Murphy. "The resurrection must revolutionize your
life."

 Murphy had strong words for those in the modern church who replace the
message of evangelism with other substitutes. "I tell you today that the
church of Jesus Christ is full of people who profess faith without possessing
faith, because they have never had repentance preached to them," said Murphy.
"They have signed a card or walked an aisle and have been promised that they
can never lose their salvation."

 Closing his message, Murphy warned that those who do evangelism must focus
on personal holiness and personal prayer. "People must see you as a living
representative of Jesus Christ, otherwise when you seek to tell them the
message of Jesus Christ they will write you off as a hypocrite," warned
Murphy.


Keynote Address #2: Rev. Johan Tangelder

 In his keynote address on Saturday morning, Rev. Johan Tangelder wondered
whether Reformed Christians still believe in the reality of hell, the place
of final damnation and punishment for those who have not confessed Christ as
Lord and Saviour.

 "Do we still believe in hell? Do we shed tears for those who are lost? Or
are we perhaps closet universalists (who believe that all are saved). If we
believe in the reality of hell," said Tangelder, "evangelism will be seen as
a sacred duty."

 In Tangelder's speech, he outlined six reasons for congregational missions:

 1. We are commanded, via the Great Commission, to make disciples of all
nations (Matt. 28:18-20).

 2. Zeal for the glory of God. Tangelder said that one of the attractions to
him of the Reformed faith was its commitment to the relevance of Scripture to
all areas of life, "but this should never be to the neglect of evangelical
outreach."

 3. Because we love God. "If love does not compel us," asked Tangelder, "what
will?" "We cannot even begin to love other people, if we have no love for
God."

 4. For the love of our fellowman. Concern for the eternal destination of our
neighbor should compel us to tell them about the gospel, said Tangelder.

 5. Because we love the church and long for its expansion in the world.
Evangelism is for the sake and and well-being of the church, said Tangelder.
"A church which keeps its doors closed out of fear that the world may enter
is a powerless and unfaithful church."

 6. Because of the kingdom of God. "Our Lord said that He will not return
until the Gospel of the Kingdom has been preached in all the world for a
witness to the nations," said Tangelder. "We have also been taught to pray,
"Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."

 Tangelder criticized many modern evangelical methods used today which focus
on the "felt needs" of individuals, and which try to package the gospel in an
entertaining and inoffensive way. He pointed to man's basic need as "the need
for salvation," the universal need of all men, women and children.

 Tangelder also offered some practical advice for churches looking to improve
their outreach efforts. He advised each church to develop a clear mission
statement drawn up by the council with input from the congregation to help in
planning strategy for outreach. Congregations should also study their
neighborhoods to get to know their ethnic makeup and diversity. Seminars
should be offered on evangelism focusing on practical needs and situations.
If a neighborhood is populated with Muslims, for example, a seminar on the
Muslim faith would be helpful to those looking to approach them with the
Gospel. "If missionaries have to be prepared to go into the mission fields,"
Tangelder said, "so do we."

 "No package programs, gimmicks, or marketing techniques will succeed in
making permanent waves for evangelism," said Tangelder. "Only when the church
is knowledgeable, excited about the Gospel, and biblically motivated, will we
see spontaneous evangelism. As we reach the lost for Christ in obedience to
the Great Commission, driven by our love for God and our fellow-man, we
should remember that our primary calling is, not that we should be
necessarily successful, but faithful," Tangelder concluded.


Workshop Shavings

 Six workshops led by pastors and missionaries filled out the remainder of
the conference. In the tiny educational rooms of the Wyoming church, chairs
were filled with listeners intent on learning some practical ways in which
the local church can carry on the task of reaching out to neighbors, both
near and far, with the message of salvation.

 Rev. Harry Bout: In his workshop on Congregational Support for Missions,
Rev. Harry Bout's main emphasis was that the motivation for missions begins
in the heart.

 Disappointed by the lack of young people at the conference, Bout said we
need "to get our young people here so that they get to know what it's all
about because they need to know there is a price to be paid." A heart for the
lost must first be developed. "Where your treasure is, there your heart will
also be," he said, quoting from Luke 12. There must be a love for the lost.
Our homes need to cultivate the heart by being places where mission work is
promoted, through inviting missionaries to visit, reading missionary
biographies, inviting neighbors into the home, neighborhood Bible studies;
backyard evangelism; canvasing the neighborhood. Churches must supply
opportunities for missions outreach opportunities for its members. That does
not necessarily mean going to another country; there is a harvest field in
our own backyard. Radio evangelism, visiting nursing homes, hospitals, day to
day contact with people, door to door, etc.
On missions worldwide Bout advised regular prayer for the missionaries you
support; look for opportunities at helping them hands on in the field;
encourage members to consider missions as a career and calling.

 Rev. Tony Zekveld: Zekveld, a missionary with Urban Nations, tackled the
theme of the Philosophy of Cross-Cultural Missions with the question, How do
we approach the various cultures in North America with the Word of God?
Starting from the definition that culture is "religion externalized," Zekveld
said that to know a culture is to know "the heart of the people." He
identified Western culture today as one of relativism and meaninglessness,
which evidences itself in the music and art of our day. Zekveld said that
outside of Christianity, the cultures of our day are inherently secular in
orientation. The task today is to bring the culture of Christ, which is the
culture of the cross, to the nations. The message of the cross is
transformational and affects not just personal salvation, but all of life.
Practical methods of sharing our inheritance as Christians: reaching out to
university students; to foreigners who move into the neighborhood; practice
hospitality; talk with people in the coffee shop, etc. The motivation is
love. "People can try to outwit your logic, but they cannot outwit your
love." People will see Christ's culture living in us in our daily walk, said
Zekveld.

 Rev. John Bouwers. Bouwers, pastor of Immanuel Orthodox Reformed Church of
St. Catharines in Ontario, addressed the subject of Mobilizing the Local
Congregation for Foreign Missions. With his own church supervising the work
of missionaries to the Honduras, Rev. and Mrs. Ernie Langendoen, Bouwers
stressed the need for the local church to be busy with the work of foreign
missions with a three-fold approach: "as a matter for the head, the heart and
the hands."

 Dr. Neal Hegeman. Hegeman, a long-time missionary in the Dominican Republic
with World Missions and now pastor of the Independent Reformed Church of
London, Ontario, offered practical suggestions for church members seeking to
reach out to their neighbors with the gospel.

 Hegeman pointed to projects his own church was undertaking such as radio
ministry, a monthly newsletter written by members of the congregation and
distributed by young people to homes around the church, and a pamphlet
explaining the church's ministry for distribution in the neighborhood.
Hegeman pointed to Lord's Day 1 of the Heidelberg Catechism as "the nicest
presentation of the gospel."

 Dr. William Shell: "The major theme of the Bible is who God is and what God
has done," said Dr. William Shell, for the last 15 years professor of
biblical studies at Reformed Bible College in Grand Rapids and former stated
clerk of the Great Lakes Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church in America.

 Shell illustrated his theme with a diagram showing that we respond to God's
revelation in three ways: a response of worship to God, witness to the world,
and edification of the church.

 Rev. Ray Sikkema: Leading a seminar on presenting the Reformed faith in an
unreformed world, Rev. Ray Sikkema argued that Reformed Christians must focus
on the gospel rather than on law in their evangelistic presentations. "Do not
come at people with the law, but let them hear the foundation," said Sikkema.
"Don't lay the law of the kingdom, which is a beauty and a pearl, before the
children of the world."

 Sikkema questioned the usefulness of telling non-Christians they should not
work on Sunday or perform abortions without first focussing on the gospel,
citing the October 2 pro-life rallies as one example of possibly ineffective
methods.

 "I'm not convinced that this is the way for us to speak out on the evil of
abortion," said Sikkema. "To go and march and hold up those placards, I'm not
so sure about that."

Contact List:

Rev. Harry Bout, Pastor, Toronto Orthodox Christian Reformed Church
RR #5, Bolton, ON  L7E 5S1 * H/O: (905) 951-0052

Rev. John Bouwers, Pastor, Immanuel Orthodox Reformed Church
PO Box 20056, Stn. B., St. Catharines, ON  L2M 7W7 * O: (905) 688-3546

Rev. Paul Murphy, Pastor, Dutton Independent Reformed Church
6940 Hanna Lake Rd., Caledonia, MI  49316 * H/O: (616) 698-7467

Dr. William Shell, Professor of Biblical Studies, Reformed Bible College
3333 East Beltline NE, Grand Rapids, MI  49505 * O: (616) 363-2050 * FAX:
(616) 363-9771

Rev. Ray Sikkema, Pastor, Hamilton Independent Christian Reformed Church
1411 Upper Wellington St., Hamilton, ON L9A 3S8 * O: (416) 383-8315 * H:
(416) 389-7821

Rev. Johan Tangelder
PO Box 238, Winchester, ON  K0C 2K0 * H/O: (613) 774-6539

Rev. John Tucker, Missionary, General Synod of the Bible Presbyterian Church
c/o PO Box 2737, McAllen, TX  78502 * No Phone

Rev. Tony Zekveld, Ambassador-at-Large, Urban Nations
2659 E. 24th St., Brooklyn NY 11235-2610 *  O: (718) 648-4833 * H: (718)
646-2531


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