What Might the Church Look Like In 2010?
The year is 2010. The place is the Upper Connecticut River Valley. CRC has now been in existence for about ten years and is continuing to grow and extend its reach.
General Statistics
The average weekly attendance is now over 250, and the official church membership is at 100. A dozen small groups are presently meeting to provide for the pastoral care needs of the congregation and outreach to the Upper Valley community.
Worship Service
Our worship is marked by the presence of God as He meets with His people. Each week the church anxiously anticipates this time of fellowship and worship, knowing that it is a foretaste of our ultimate fellowship and worship in heaven.
God is praised through a joyous blend of doctrinally-solid, contemporary and traditional music, times of congregational sharing and prayer, the proclamation of the Gospel of Christ, and our gathering around the Lord’s Table.
Community Groups: Small Group Ministry
Since this is such a vital part of our life as a body, virtually everyone in the church is involved in one of our Community Groups. These small groups meet weekly, providing an intimate atmosphere of mutual encouragement and accountability. Since each group is led by one of the leaders of the church, they also provide a tangible means for the care of God’s people. Likewise, much of our hands-on leadership training is accomplished through these groups.
Women’s Ministry
In addition to coordinating with other women’s ministries in the Upper Valley, CRC hosts a weekly discussion group, quarterly outreach events and periodic “ladies’ night out”. Because of the outreach orientation of these events and the warm atmosphere fostered by our gospel-focus, we have many families coming into the church through our women’s ministry. In addition, it is one of our best vehicles for training women in the faith. Many of the leaders in our women’s ministry have received hands-on leadership training through their involvement in these various programs.
Men’s Ministry
Our men’s ministry has regular outreach-oriented events which are geared toward believers bringing their non-believing friends. We have found much success through these events. Some of the men presently in leadership have come to Christ through these events. In addition, men regularly meet together in small groups for encouragement, learning, and accountability, all with a vision for the advancement of the kingdom of God in us and through us.
Singles
Because of the diverse and welcoming atmosphere at CRC, there are a sizeable number of singles involved in the church. In addition to participation in main aspects of our congregational life (weekly worship, small groups, Sunday School, etc.), the singles of CRC have initiated outreach ministries to their fellow singles outside the church. These are periodic events for connecting singles with other singles for the purpose of seeing the gospel spread among this growing segment of the Upper Valley.
Children/Youth Programs
Our children’s programs are distinctively gospel-centered. The Sunday School classes and outreach programs are not merely concerned with producing good kids but rather spiritually-alive kids who passionately love Christ.
Likewise, our Junior High and High School Youth Ministries are some of the most substantive in the area. They are serious about reaching non-Christian youth and training young believers in the faith. We host an annual conference that draws high school and college students from all over the states of Vermont and New Hampshire. The purpose of this event is to help youth develop a gospel-centered worldview while at the same time exposing the fallacies of rival perspectives.
Dartmouth College
The Christian ministry groups at Dartmouth are solid and strong. Christ Redeemer Church plays a vital role in this by providing a local church environment where students, faculty, and campus ministry staff are able to get grounded in a local church.
Our philosophy of involvement on the campus is one of Infiltration vs. Antagonization. We respect the accomplishments and unique role of Academia while at the same time not flinching at allowing the gospel to be an offense to human intellectual pride. Therefore, we seek to make a positive contribution to the intellectual community by challenging the basic assumptions of human autonomy and relativism. This then opens the door for us to positively proclaim the person and work of Christ as the solution to man’s alienation and guilt. With excellence of scholarship, integrity of life and genuineness of heart, we seek to present the Gospel as the truth. We use primarily three platforms to do this. The first is a fellowship of faculty that meets on a regular basis. The second are periodic conferences sponsored by CRC that brings the sharpest gospel-minded thinkers to the campus to challenge assumptions and call to faith in Christ. Third, we seek to minister to the students by being a support to the existing Christian ministries.
Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC)
Considering the influence of this world-renowned institution, CRC has been very serious about seeing the gospel become a powerful influence there. God has been faithful to allow CRC to develop significant connections to the people who work there. We have regular culturally-sensitive outreach events that are held on and off-site. Likewise, we help to support a fellowship of Christian medical professionals who have a vision for seeing DHMC saturated with the gospel.
Families
CRC has a reputation of promoting solid ministry-minded families. Those families that have been significantly influenced by CRC are marked by solid, servant-hearted male leadership. Likewise, parents are skillful and committed to ministering the gospel to their children by their life, as well as, a regular time of family Bible teaching. In addition, our families are marked by a simple life style, where caring for people is more important than caring from things. Over the years we have had several conferences and seminars on marriage, parenting, and family life that have contributed to the congregation’s development in these areas.
Facilities
The Lord has blessed us with an adequate facility that we have been faithful to maintain and expand to fit our growing needs. Likewise, the church owns a parsonage that it used for the apprentices and their families.
Leadership
At present we have a senior pastor and an assistant pastor, both of whom are voting members of the elder board, the governing board of the church. In the elder board there is a remarkable unity which can only be attributed to the whole-hearted commitment by all its members to keep Christ the central issue. In addition, these elders play a very vital role in the pastoral care of the congregation, primarily accomplished through our community groups. Furthermore, there are regular leadership/vision and training meetings for the elders, deacons, and other ministry leaders.
Apprenticeship/Church Planting Programs
CRC is setting the pace in New England for re-establishing the primacy of an apprenticeship period in training ministers of the gospel. We are presently working with two interns and have already seen one other come and go. This apprenticeship program is closely affiliated with the New England Theological Seminary in Williston, Vermont.
The church has also assisted in the start of another church and is beginning to work on its second church plant. All of these churches are marked by their gospel focus as well as people-oriented approach to ministry. In doing this we have actively sought the support of outside individuals and foundations who wish to contribute to the advancement of gospel-centered church planting.
What Is the Community Saying About the Church?
Although there may be some who misunderstand or even oppose our teaching, most in the community are thankful for our presence. We have gained a reputation for being serious about the Bible, serious about the “mind”, serious about caring for one another, committed to serving the community, and adamant about the gospel. People who don’t want to “get serious about church/Christ” tend to avoid us. On the other hand, non-believers who are asking genuine questions tend to be attracted to us precisely because we are genuine, down-to-earth, and serious-minded, while at the same time avoiding the snare of petty issues.
Our general posture toward the culture is one of “infiltration vs. isolation.” As individual members of CRC, we seek to be servants to our neighbors by contributing to the common good of the community. Likewise, members are strongly encouraged to see their professions and work as a calling from God. Therefore, our men and women are marked by their diligence, integrity, and excellence in the marketplace. This provides many opportunities for us to give “a reason of the hope that is in us” (1 Peter 3:15). Likewise, the specific testimony of our love for one another has won more than one convert. Any outsider who has come close enough cannot help but say, “My, how they love one another!”
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