A Wonderful Providence
by David Green, pastor of Cornerstone Church, Beverly, Massachusetts
It was the spring of 2009. I was in Atlanta undergoing treatment for prostate cancer when I received an email from someone in Cagayan de Oro City in Mindanao. “Now where is Mindanao?” I wondered. It was from a pastor named Rem Lapiz. His city is on the northwest coast of this large island that forms much of the southern part of the Philippines. The Spanish-American war at the end of the 19th century brought the Philippines under US control the fruit was the wonderful benefit of English literacy for those who complete school. Rem had found our church’s website from the North American Reformed Seminary (TNARS.net), an entity that offers distance biblical and seminary instruction. TNARS has a link to the Reformed Congregational Fellowship and there he found our church and my email address.
Rem had been in the Christian Missionary and Alliance. Around the year 2000 someone had put a copy of Saved By Grace, by Ronald Hanko into his hands. This work convinced him of the application of God’s sovereignty to all of life, including the plan and execution of human salvation. Rem learned and then began to teach the doctrines of grace. His house fellowship was organized into a church in 2005 and they adopted the Cambridge Platform for their polity and the Savoy Declaration as their theological confession.
That first email included this excerpt, “I open your website and we learn that your statement of faith is from The Savoy Declaration of Faith and The Cambridge Platform. and we would like to inform you that we are also embracing The Savoy Declaration of Faith and The Cambridge Platform, but we are very new in the reformed faith and we are the only Reformed Church here at Cagayan de Oro City. The name of our church is Jireh Reformed Congregational Church. We are glad that there are still churches who hold on the historic documents of Congregationalism. It is our prayer that the Lord will continue to bless you more abundantly, and how we wish that the Lord will open the way for you to visit Philippines and conduct a seminar to us.”
Mindanao pastors (Rem is third from the right)
At the time I received this I was making daily trips for radiation and faced an uncertain future; but we began to correspond. Rem mentioned other pastors and churches on Mindanao and in other parts of the Philippines where he had taught these biblical doctrines that were rediscovered through the Protestant Reformation. He said pastors of these churches would very much appreciate being taught more about confessional Christianity. So our small church sent funds for the purchase of equipment for video communication, and in the spring of 2010 we did a trial run via Skype. From that beginning we planned a three-day seminar for June. Nine other pastors gathered in Rem’s house, some of whom traveled over seven hours and one by boat from another island. Mindanao is exactly twelve hours ahead of EDT. This meant that we could have four teaching sessions from 7–10 AM and 7–10 PM over three days, beginning on a Monday evening here.
It was a great success, if quite challenging to teach, listen and respond twelve hours out of thirty-nine! I taught the first part of the Westminster Shorter Catechism, an excellent teaching tool for basic doctrine. Its Q & A structure lends itself well to interactive sessions. What a privilege to be able to sit in my own house and communicate half-way around the world with pastors who were eager to learn, would immediately put this into practice and be able to strengthen the understanding, faith and ministry of their growing congregations!
We have had a number of sessions since that time, the latest in August 2012. My dear friend and fellow Congregationalist Rick Daniels in North Carolina has also done some teaching for these brothers. The number of pastors embracing the historic faith of English and American Congregationalists is growing in many parts of the Philippines. Rem and his son Kim have begun a Bible and theology school in their church building with adjacent living quarters which they constructed specifically for these young men, who were chosen from various churches as bright prospects for the pastorate. Rem’s household takes care of their room and board. Rem’s church also has started a school for largely indigent children from families devastated by frequent typhoons. Rem’s Jireh Congregational Church is truly a holistic work, demonstrating the fruit of confessional truth learned, embraced and applied to all areas of life.
I am delighted to share this story because the potential is there for anyone to connect with others around the world for whatever purposes God may be pleased to fulfill through your willingness to take the first step. Some of you may already be communicating via video or audio with your missionaries, but I challenge you to think about what else your time, resources and opportunities may provide as a means to leverage your knowledge to a far wider audience in this needy world that continues to be white unto harvest.
