The 13th Stated Meeting of Evangel Presbytery was hosted by Clearnote Church in Indianapolis, IN on Friday, October 6th following the annual NGA Shepherds Conference.
As always our meeting began with a worship service and communion. Pr. Andy Halsey (pastor of Christ Church, Columbus) preached 1 Peter 5:1-4, an exhortation to elders. This was timely and a great encouragement to the presbytery.
Following worship we turned to business. Overtures from previous meetings were ratified, along with a new overture for a committee to be assigned the task of deciding whether there should be new Doctrinal Positions section in the BCO. This committee will determine whether or not this new section should be added, recommend a title, and recommend which current chapters from the BCO would be moved to it (e.g. BCO 28 & 29, Declaration of Doctrine and Policies Concerning Sexuality & Abortion and the Church: What We Teach).
We then heard from our Ad Interim Committee on Abortion. Evangel’s Statement on Abortion is now in book form and available for purchase! You can still access it online for free here, but now you can also get a nice, paperback copy in someone’s hands. With the book now in print the committee was officially dismissed from its work. A big thanks to all who labored to get this work done!
Next, we heard from our Administrative and Nominations Committee and Committee on Candidates and Credentials. Our treasurer, John Kluge, presented the 2024 budget which was approved. Pr. Jeremy Vander Galien was added to the Shepherding Committee. Pr. David Abu-Sara was nominated for Moderator. As part of the Candidates & Credentials Committee report, Pr. Joe Helt’s call to be assistant pastor of Christ Church, Columbus was approved.
We then began hearing updates from churches and church plants with a lunch break in between. Please be in prayer for Christ Church, Cincinnati and give thanks for their recent adult baptisms and increase in small group attendance. Pray also for Clearnote Church, Indianapolis that they would gain older members to father and mother the younger ones as the majority of their church is a younger demographic. Please also pray that their would be more cross-pollination between the church and the daycare facility that they host.
Continue to pray also for our mission churches: Chinese Reformed Church (Bloomington), Christ Church (Columbus), and Church of the King (Evansville). The pastors of these plants are working hard in their fields. Pray that the Lord would encourage them knowing their work is not in vain.
We wrapped up with a report from the Sessional Records Committee. This meeting concluded two and a half days of well-needed fellowship and exhortation. Many thanks to Clearnote Church for hosting both our Presbytery Meeting and NGA Shepherds Conference!
Our next stated meeting will be Friday, 16 February 2024 at Sovereign King Church, Jeffersonville, Indiana. Make plans to join us!