Celebrating a 50th Anniversary!

by Barry York

Over this past weekend folks near and far gathered together to celebrate the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Lafayette's fiftieth anniversary. They had a lovely dinner and program Saturday evening where the Lord's faithfulness over these years was recounted. Below is a video that captures the highlights of God's working in this special congregation of His people.

Though the video speaks for itself, I did want to point out a few key joys we reflected on that evening.

  • Pastor James Faris, who grew up in this congregation and is an author here on Gentle Reformation, pointed out (as only James could do!) many interesting facts about the Lafayette church. Perhaps none were as profound as noting that every week over all these years an elder in the church has prayed knowledgeably for a different nation of the world, asking that the Lord would further the gospel witness in that land. James then showed us that action has followed those prayers, as the church has sent out laborers into a number of missions fields and currently half the members of the Global Mission Board of our denomination have been members at one time in this congregation. What a lesson to be gleaned from this account!
  • People from different nations of the earth, attending Purdue University for a season, were converted, discipled, then sent back to their homelands by this congregation.
  • At least a dozen men, including yours truly, have been raised up, trained, and/or developed for pastoral ministry by this congregation during this period. That's remarkable!

I could go on, but just watch the video. I should add that though the congregation has lost two pastors over the past two years - one to death, the other in service to RPTS - we are also thankful that their new pastor, Adam Niess, is there now and will continue in this fruitful ministry. These testimonies cause us to join with the psalmist who declared, "I will cause Your name to be remembered in all generations; therefore the peoples will give You thanks forever and ever” (Ps. 45:17).