The Excitement of the First Call

by Pastor Angelo Valle and Marie Valle
of Christ Reformed Church, Alexandria, Pennsylvania

After a whirlwind of a year that included the birth of our firstborn son, my graduation from seminary and a move 200 miles from everyone we knew, my wife and I found ourselves in a small church in the middle of central Pennsylvania. Our sense of God’s call to this church was unmistakable, but what to do once we arrived was a mystery to us both. Much like many other churches in the United States, Christ Reformed Church of Alexandria, Pennsylvania is a small congregation. This small congregation had recently left a liberal mainline denomination due to a great desire to be faithful to the Word of God and the God of the Word. Unsure of the spiritual altitude I was stepping into, my plan was simple: preach the Word and love the people.

Thanks be to God that I have not been called to step into this venture alone. As experienced by so many pastors throughout history, our great God has seen fit to give me a wife who has been so designed to complement me; namely in her administrative savvy and experience in graphic design. With her behind-the-scenes help, we have hit the ground running in our four months in central Pennsylvania. For any of you out there who have had to make a move to a new central setting, it is often the unexpected cultural shift that can be most difficult. Nevertheless, our God has been nothing but faithful to us; as we see His Word falling on fertile ground we see His mighty power in calling his elect to newness of life.

We have already begun to see the revitalization of the church as the weekly attendance grows, both in our Lord’s Day worship gathering and in Sunday school. The addition of a weekly prayer service and monthly fellowship meals have also brought an increased warmth and vivacity to rekindle the flame of the people. As a church, we refocused our sights on serving the families of the local area with ministries like nursery and kids outreach events. Our most recent kids outreach was most gleefully called, a “Post-Halloween Candy Blowout,” the focus of which was to merely love the people of the community by offering free carnival games, a hayride, a free lunch, free giveaways (such as gift certificates, gift cards, etc.) and sharing the gospel by virtue of a pumpkin parable, much like a children’s sermon.

Our aim is to approach ministry with modern methods (Facebook advertising, marketing materials, etc.) but remaining firm in our Reformed Confessional and above all Biblical message. We have seen the faithfulness of our Lord manifest Himself in our small rural church. Thanks be to God that when His Word goes out, it does not return void (cf. Isaiah 55:11). So when ministry is exhausting and people wear us down, we are driven and encouraged by God’s Holy Spirit to be faithful to God’s Word and the work which He has called us to do. Let us be encouraged with the charge Paul left with the churches in Galatia in Galatians 6:9, And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.