So let me say what we are seeking to do right here at the top, and then afterward try to anticipate any questions you might have about it. This summer, Lord willing, Christ Church in Moscow is going to establish a church plant in Washington, DC—starting July 13. So let me start by inviting you to check out the website.
So why are we doing this just now? The first reason is that we are reading providence in a particular way. With the change in administration, we believe that there will be many strategic opportunities with numerous evangelicals who will be present both in and around the Trump administration. These believers are obviously culturally engaged already, but we happen to believe that every form of cultural engagement needs to have a solid theological foundation and support, and we want to help to provide it. Without a theological foundation, cultural engagement tends to morph into something that resembles wind surfing on the various breezes of doctrine that tend to blow through evangelicalism. We don’t want anything like that.
As a practical matter, we (meaning both Christ Church in Moscow and the CREC at large) now have members who are living and working there.
As you think about what we are seeking to do, you can pick your metaphor. Perhaps this is like Nehemiah, seeking to rebuild the walls of a ruined Jerusalem. In our case, it would be the task of rebuilding the walls of Christendom, whatever Gashmu might say about it (Neh. 6:6). Or perhaps the task is more like an effort to bring Babylon into the New Jerusalem. Ultimately the particular metaphor doesn’t matter that much, although mission to Babylon does have a nice ring. Nehemiah and Daniel were both faithful men.
We do grant that we have landed upon an unusual method for church planting. Part of our prep work for this consisted of raising sufficient funds to able to fly different ministers in each week. This will consequently be a team effort. The men coming in will include me, Joe Rigney, Jared Longshore, Toby Sumpter, and other CREC ministers from around the country. If the plan and the plant go as we expect, we believe that God will supply us with the permanent minister in due course. In all this, we will be working together with Christ Reformed Evangelical Church of Annapolis.
If you are at all interested in this vital work, please pray for us. In addition, you can sign up for updates on the web site. Please be certain to do this if you are at all interested in attending. We need to be able to gauge the number of folks we are going to be dealing with. And watch for news about summer gatherings in the DC area. There will be a one-day conference at the end of August, for example. And of course, we would welcome any gifts designated for this effort. We do need to raise substantial funds to cover the variety of costs. There is a link at webpage for that.
Thank you, and hope to see you there.