LPC people know that our congregation is nearing the end of a long journey to a new denominational home. As long as the journey has been, we’re not even moving out of the neighborhood; in fact, the new place is just down the street.
By early fall we hope to be moved into the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, the EPC – and evangelical in the best and historical sense of pertaining to the Good News of the Gospel. This past week Becky and I were in Memphis, Tennessee, visiting our daughter, son-in-law and 5-month old grandson. The General Assembly of the EPC just happened to be meeting three miles away.
In the early days of the American automobile, tires did not have steel belts or 60,000 mile warrantees. You’d kick the tires of your new car just to be sure they were not made of inferior rubber. So, if I may mix metaphors, our time in Memphis and at the EPC GA was a great opportunity to kick the tires of our new denomination. I think they may be good for at least 60,000 miles.
The EPC is relatively small – 600+ churches – and focused and efficient. There is a sense of family, and we felt at home as I reconnected with friends from seminary, western PA, and the west coast. The EPC has borrowed an old line to describe its ethos – in essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, and in all things charity. It’s more than a motto. It’s how they live.
As I reported to our elders, I saw four EPC distinctives during our time in Memphis. It seems to me that the EPC cares about:
- Christ
- Church
- Clergy
- Community
The EPC’s theological focus is sharp. It is centered on Christ and the good news of God’s great love revealed through him. It accepts the authority of Scripture and its truth in all things concerning faith and life. The EPC is committed to calling people to lives of holiness and righteousness rooted in the truth of Scripture and the love of Christ.
The EPC understands the local church to be the primary means by which God brings the good news to a world in need, and the locus of spiritual growth and development. Centered in its worship of the Triune God, the church is empowered and equipped to share God’s love in word and in deed.
The EPC knows that the church is as healthy as its leadership is healthy, and so values pastors, elders, and ministry staff. It insists on a leadership that is prepared and proactive. It asks that congregations learn to protect their pastors and leaders from both discouragement and arrogance.
Finally, communities matter. Whether the community is the neighborhood or city in which the congregation is located, or the whole wide world which God loves so much, the church is called to be passionate about the needs and the welfare of its community. Especially in Memphis we were called to return to our churches and communities and minister in a world of racial and ethnic tensions, knowing that in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female.
The tires have been kicked, the test drive was great; I can hardly wait for this fall when LPC will take its first road trip in the EPC – no GPS, God will lead the way!
And one more thing about the EPC – there will be two Pastor Teagues in the EPC this fall. Not long after LPC and I are received the EPC Presbytery of the East, our son Christopher will be ordained by the EPC Presbytery of the Northwest and installed as Assistant Pastor of Ephrata Community Church (EPC) in Ephrata, Washington. Becky and I are thrilled and so thankful for the ways God has directed Christopher, and for the new adventure he and Katie and the kids have now begun!
See you Sunday