Harrison Bridge Road Presbyterian Church Profile

History of our Church: Membership & Pastors

This summer, HBRPC will mark its fifteenth anniversary. We are a new church with modern facilities situated in the middle of the fastest growing suburban city in America (for cities with population under 25,000). Our community is racially and ethnically diverse. The median income level is high, but there is a significant local population of lower income people in the community. We endeavor to reach out to, and include into our church, people of all ethnic and national origins, and of all income levels. The Lord has favored us over the past several years by bringing into our congregation many people who do not speak English, are of different races, and who are from the lower income strata of our community.

Our first pastor in 1990 was Jay Adams. Jay is nationally recognized as one of the founders of nouthetic counseling, as well as a prolific author of many popular books. Nouthetic counseling was a major early theme of HBRPC’s ministry. Many people who filled our early membership ranks during the early 1990’s were attracted to HBRPC because of the counseling expertise and reputation of Jay Adams. When Walt Shepard became our pastor in 1997, many of those who were attracted to Jay Adams left and transferred their membership to the nearby church where Jay is now a member in his retirement. Over the first three years of Walt Shepard’s ministry as our pastor, 85% of the families who were members in 1997 had left our church.

This turnover is unusually high and speaks to significant differences in ministry style and focus between Walt Shepard and Jay Adams. Jay Adams’ ministry stressed the importance of our making disciplined decisions according to Scriptural mandates. Walt Shepard’s ministry stressed the importance of believing that God would make those changes in our lives and that we were much less in control of the situation. Walt taught us that our part was to live a life of repentance (right thinking), confession, belief in God’s grace and provisions, and to de-emphasize our own efforts to achieve our own sanctification. In a nutshell, Walt Shepard taught us from Scripture that not only was our salvation a work of grace through believing in God’s provision, but also that our sanctification was a work of grace through believing in God’s provision. This resulted in a church filled with people who were freer and more tolerant of those with whom God was still working. For example, a constant theme of Walt Shepard’s ministry was that our church is not defined on the basis of what we don’t do or don’t tolerate in others. In other words, loving people is more important than judging them. (For additional information on our early church history, please see Appendix A: HBRPC Church History.)

Over the past five years, the official church membership records state:

· 2000 – 106 members

· 2001 – 119 members, 21 added and 8 left

· 2002 – 119 members, 4 added and 4 left

· 2003 – 103 members, 9 added and 25 left

· 2004 – 116 members, 19 added and 6 left

There are many factors that distinguish HBRPC from the typical ARP congregation (if there is such a thing as a typical ARP congregation). One of these distinguishing factors is our strong and active diaconate. For example, it is our diaconate, not our session, that is in charge of the budget. Our session has final approval over all diaconate recommendations, but it is our diaconate that does the financial management of the church. The deacons also have an active ministry in helping the poor and needy, responsibility for building and grounds, and secretarial review and hiring. This has served to free up the session to spend their time and efforts focusing on the teaching and ruling aspects of our church ministry.

Simpsonville Demographics

HBRPC is located in the town of Simpsonville, a southeastern bedroom community of Greenville, South Carolina. According to one of our deacons, last year Simpsonville was the fastest growing town in America for towns with a population of less than 25,000. Some demographic information on Simpsonville appears below:

· Figures are for 29680 and 29681 Zip Codes

· Population 20,025 and 29,982

· Gender is split evenly between male and female

· Median home value - $137,753 and $171,659

· Median age – 32 and 34

· Largest percentage of the population is between 25 and 54 years of age

· Racial statistics from 2000 Census – 82.69% white, 13.76 African-American, 0.79% Asian, 4.65% Latino. The Latino population has grown substantially since 2000.

· Median household income - $54,233 and $63,643

Key Financial Information

The following are highlights of HBRPC’s finances:

· Land, building and furniture assets: $900,000

· Short and long term debt: $275,000

· Current annual giving (22% increase from 2002): $180,000

· Current mission giving (916% increase from 2002): $5,500

· Projected short term building maintenance: $20,000

Where We Are – Our Strengths, Weaknesses, Committees, and Ministries

This section outlines some of what we believe to be our strengths and weaknesses. This section also lists the committees and ministries in our church. For a church our size, there are an unusual number of significant ministries. This is due in part to the fact that most, if not all, of our members are active in some ministry of the church. For the most part, these ministries have come into being as a result of various individuals being spurred on by the Holy Spirit to identify needs and then volunteer to start a ministry to address that need. This sort of uncoordinated diverse ministry style has been cultivated and encouraged by our church leadership. As a result, we have both the advantages and disadvantages of the lack of central human control – we have learned, or are still learning, to allow the Holy Spirit to lead in His way and in His time in the way we individually minister to the church and to the community. This is scary at times, but in the long run, very impressive!

Strengths

· Church leadership encourages many diverse ministries.

· We have learned to live in a community of grace.

· We are in an area of dynamic growth.

· We are willing and engaged in loving the unlovely.

· We are mission minded. Beside our ministries, our goal is to have 50% of budget going to missions.

· Many ministries are autonomous but all are still under the authority of the Session.

· We are warm and friendly to all.

· We are racially and ethnically diverse.

· We believe in friendship evangelism.

· The Session is unified and demonstrates true abiding love for the people of our church.

Weaknesses

· Music program, but a new Worship Leader and Pianist are to begin soon

· Church growth

· Communication (This is improving since the arrival of the new secretary.)

· Administration (This is improving since the arrival of the new secretary.)

· Children’s ministries, but a new class on Missions for children six years old through eleven or twelve is to begin on Wednesday nights.

· Young Adult ministries, but a new Sunday School class for Young Adults is being created.

· Youth Pastor (we do not have a Youth Pastor)

Ministries

· Greeters

· Communion

· Sunday School Hospitality

· Bulletin Boards

· Prayer Chain

· Children’s Church

· Nursery

· Agape Feast

· VBS

· Monthly Mission Mixer

· Nursing Home

· Kitchen Coordinator

· Mission Outreach Team

· EE

· Latino Ministry

· Prison Ministry

· Two separate weekly Men’s Prayer Breakfasts (where serious prayer for the church occurs)

· Adult Sunday School teaching ministry

· Daniel Routh’s mission work in China

· Diaconal ministries

* Outside building maintenance

* Inside building maintenance

* Offering, ushering and sound

* Social and diaconal fund

* Budget committee

· The Session

· David Routh’s CEF ministry to Polk and Rutherford counties in North Carolina (this is a weekly evangelistic ministry)

· Music ministry

· Distribution of bread to the poor and needy

· Library

· Women’s Bible study

· Women’s fellowship

· Wild at heart

Where We Are Going – Church’s Objectives

A few years ago, our session commissioned a strategic planning committee to develop a strategic vision, plan, and supporting documents. They did so. The following are the synopses of their results. They have since been reviewed, edited, and approved by our Session. Tghewords that appear in the statements below have been labored over, discussed, and debated in great detail. These words have been carefully chosen.

Vision Statement

· Our vision is to become a worshipping community, making disciples so that all the nations may honor our Lord and our God. There are two inseparable pillars which form the foundation of our existence as a church community at HBRPC. Worship, as the foundational pillar, will lead to Disciple-making, as the outflow of the pillar. We desire to see HBRPC become a community of worshipping disciples.

· Worship defined: worship is the people of God meeting God for the purpose of offering Him their hearts and lives. Worship has two vital aspects. Encounter with God – seeing God’s glory and worthiness in both our individual and corporate worship. Response to God’s glory – celebrating the gospel, which becomes the natural outflow in our corporate worship.

· Discipleship defined: The Christian disciple is a complete and competent follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christian discipleship necessitates intentional training of people who voluntarily submit to the Lord Jesus Christ and who want to become imitators of Christ in every thought, word, and deed. Discipleship is about being and reproducing spiritually mature zealots for Christ. Discipleship is not a program; it is not a ministry; it is a lifelong commitment to a lifestyle. Discipleship is the natural result of personal and corporate worship.

Other Self-Observations

We are trying to grow out international and multi-cultural ministries and church body. This is a process that we are just learning to do. Many aspects of this outreach are new and uncomfortable to many of us – but it is a discomfort we believe the Lord Jesus calls us to, and we are therefore willing and even eager to continue in it. Many aspects of this outreach stretch us beyond our abilities. In this we rely on the leading and provisions of the Holy Spirit and on each other as we learn to work as a unified body in this outreach.

We realize that we have a long way to grow in our understanding of God. We are excited about the trip. We keep looking for ways to encourage each other (and ourselves) in this endeavor. Any help a new pastor could give us would be appreciated. Lists of proper behaviors and actions we should try harder to do would likely not fit as an acceptable leadership agenda or style.

We envision ourselves as growing toward being a haven for the distressed and disenfranchised. This, too, has pushed many of us beyond our comfort zones, but so far, we are not interested in shrinking from the challenge.

We have been growing in our interest and enthusiasm for missions. We have sent many of our members on short and long term missions. The most recent example is our previous pastor whom we have sent to a mission in central Africa. Our goal is to have 50% of our budget go toward missions. We hope to have even more of our people involved in missions – both short and long term. We hope to advance and continue both local and international missions.

Summary of the Qualities we are Looking for in a Pastor

The pulpit committee has surveyed the members of HBRPC to find out what qualities each was looking for in a pastor. We received a long list of well over fifty characteristics. The following is a short compiled list that seeks to identify the most frequent and key attributes of the pastor our congregation is seeking:

· Strong preaching – we hope to get a pastor who speaks deeply from his heart at least as much as his head. We hope he will be so compelling that when visitors hear him for the first time, they will be very desirous of returning to hear him open the Word of God again next Sunday

· Deeper knowledge and understanding of God – this relates to a paragraph above that talks about our thirst for knowing God better and deeper. We hope to get a pastor who can open the Word of God to us and show us glorious things about our God that we have not seen before.

· High view of grace – Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians has been a theme book for our congregation. We have delved deeply into Martin Luther’s commentary on Galatians, and our lives, our ministry, and our view of our God and His gospel have changed profoundly because of this.

· Not program oriented – we seek to be led by the Holy Spirit in our selection of materials, resources, and programs.

· Love for people by building relationships and hospitality – we hope that our new pastor will be strongly motivated by love for us and for the unreached in our community. We are looking for him to lead us by how deeply and genuinely he loves us and others. This was the single most distinguishing characteristic of our previous pastor. The new pastor will no doubt, whether consciously or subconsciously, be measured by his life of love.

· Mission-mindedness – we hope to get a pastor who is oriented to evangelism and outreach to the unchurched.

· Administrative ability – some of us believe our church has suffered from a lack of organizational and administrative ability in the senior leadership. We hope to get a pastor who can help us better take advantage of ministry opportunities by helping us to be better at communicating and coordinating with each other.

Church Doctrine

Harrison Bridge Road Presbyterian Church agrees with and abides by the doctrinal statements and positions of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. Information is available at http://www.arpsynod.org/