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May 2009 New Horizons

Foreign Missions

 

Contents

My "Ebenezer Moment" in Uganda

The Challenge for the Gospel in Uruguay

A Place for Retreat

Unconditional Election

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My "Ebenezer Moment" in Uganda

The prophet Samuel named a memorial stone Ebenezer ("stone of help"), saying, "Till now the Lord has helped us" (1 Sam. 7:12). Recently I had an "Ebenezer moment" when a visitor returned after five years to see the work of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Mbale. Through his eyes, I was reminded of the great things that God has done in Mbale, and I was encouraged not only to give praise to the Lord of the harvest for what he has done, but also to focus on the path ahead and what he will do. Since 2004, we have been able to purchase a piece of property, fence it, and build an access road, a library, a classroom, and a dormitory for Knox Theological College (KTC). The Mbale Station of the Uganda Mission has grown to include three ministers and a deacon. KTC now has its own facility and attracts students from Kenya as well as Uganda. These tangible blessings are reminders of God's kindness over the years, but they only facilitate our ministry. We train indigenous church leaders, with the goal of seeing ... Read more

The Challenge for the Gospel in Uruguay

When I was introducing our prospective ministry in Uruguay to your churches during our furlough last year, I often made the statement that, as far as we knew, Margaret and I were the first Presbyterian missionaries to set foot in Uruguay. But after doing some research during our Spanish-language studies in Montevideo, I need to retract that statement. Scottish Presbyterians in the Nineteenth Century Dr. José Alberto Piquinela, the former archivist for the Methodist Church of Uruguay, recently published a volume entitled The History of Protestantism in Uruguay from 1808 to 1880. According to Piquinela, a handful of Scottish settlers landed in southern Uruguay in 1849, where they were visited periodically by the pastor of the Presbyterian church in Buenos Aires, Argentina. But of greatest interest is the record left by the Rev. Lachlan M'Neill from 1866 to 1877. Mr. M'Neill, a Presbyterian minister from Scotland, exercised an itinerant ministry for those eleven years, visiting four preaching ... Read more

A Place for Retreat

From its conception in 1998, Machen Retreat and Conference Center has been a place that accommodates the church of Jesus Christ in many ways. There are, however, three ways that stand out. Two of them are bound up in its name. It is a retreat center and a conference center. The third is not in the name, but it is also an important part of MRCC: it is a family vacation spot. These three things are different, but each is beneficial to individual Christians, families, and groups of believers. Among these three uses of MRCC, there is one that deserves a fresh look today, and that is its use as a retreat center. The New Century Dictionary of the English Language defines a retreat as "the act of withdrawing or retiring, as into safety or privacy; retirement or seclusion; a retirement, or a period of retirement, for religious exercises and meditation...." We can put it this way: a retreat is a period of withdrawal from the common affairs of life, in order to draw near to the Lord. It may be done individually ... Read more

Unconditional Election

Dear James, I never thought I'd say this, but Calvinism is becoming popular and attracting a following. This is especially true among Americans your age. A recent story in Time magazine ran with the headline that Calvinism is one of ten ideas "changing the world right now." I sometimes wonder what the popularity of Calvinism is among Presbyterian college students for whom the doctrines of grace are not new and exciting, but old and routine—if not a bit stale. If your friends read magazines like Time, what is their reaction? Do they see themselves among the young people who are forcing journalists to scratch their heads in wonder? Or is Calvinism simply part of the doctrinal "furniture" in their lives? I ask this question in part because we were corresponding recently about dorm "bull sessions" and the inevitable subjects that come up at Rutherford College. Unconditional election is another one of those doctrines that fascinate at least for a night or so of intense and protracted banter. You ... Read more

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