February Update

With thanksgiving to the Lord, we can report that He has blessed us and that things have gone well over the past few months.  We are now in the middle of the early phase of the church plant which involves assessment, preparation, and planning.  We are focused mainly in this stage on building a foundation for future work through prayer, preaching, and discussion of the direction we hope to take.

On Sunday mornings we are going through a series of what will likely be about a dozen sermons on 1st Timothy.   The theme of 1st Timothy can be summed up with 3:15, which says  “I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.”   1st Timothy has been a rich resource of gospel truth and practical instruction as we study, discuss, pray, and work towards hopefully becoming an established church of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Sunday evenings we are going through the Heidelberg Catechism, this coming Sunday I plan to preach on Lord’s Day 14.  On Wednesday evenings we have prayer meeting, followed by a book study of What is a Healthy Church Member? by Thabiti Anyabwile.  I am happy to report that there is a strong sense of unity and purpose amongst the existing membership.

We are also thankful that the Lord has added some new members to our group recently.  The Bouman family joined us from our Dundas congregation in November.  My wife and I were blessed with a daughter, Abigail Mae, on January 30th.  

We have had a number of visitors from the community, of whom a few drop in fairly regularly.  Some come from other local churches, but seem to have interest in our church.   Another often wanders in part way through the service, and stays for coffee.  I have been visiting with some of these visitors, and we are hopeful that we may be able to add them to our membership one day.   

In terms of evangelism, the winter season has been fairly quiet.  The bulk of my time and effort has been put into preparing sermons and visits.  We have been able to reach out to some neighbors and begin to build relationships at some local businesses.  We have also developed a new webpage and begun some internet advertising campaigns.  Soon it will be time for the local Maple Syrup festival, where we plan to set up a booth as a book table.  We are also planning to set up at a weekly local market and canvassing to ensure that the whole community is invited to our services.  

We have several requests for prayer.   Please pray for our church family, that we would grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord and that we would be enabled to walk worthy of Him.  Also for the various visitors that seeds of gospel would take root and grow in their hearts. Pray that the Lord would give opportunities to make inroads into a fairly tight community.   We also are praying for a more steady location.  The arena works well most of the time, but we have been getting shuffled to different locations by hockey tournaments recently.  Finally, please pray for me, that labors in preaching would be blessed, that the Lord would give strength, and would bless our growing family.

We would love to have you come and worship with us.  Please check out our website at www.nipissingfrc.com for more information.  This update is from a report presented to the Brantford FRC Congregational meeting on February 20, 2013. - Pastor Rob VanDoodewaard

Location Change

Sunday services for February 10th held at 11:00 AM and 2:30 PM at the South Himsworth Community Center, 7 Glendale Heights Drive, Powassan.

Location Change

Services held January 20th at 11:00 AM and 2:30 PM in the Curling Club at the Powassan Sportsplex.

Church Photo

November Update

November has been a month of many exciting developments in the Nipissing church plant.  Our new Pastor, Rob VanDoodewaard, his wife Taunya, and their four children moved into their new home.  After the ordination service on November 16th in St. George, Ontario, Pastor VanDoodewaard officially began his ministry among us on Sunday, November 18th.  We are also excited to welcome more new members to our area.  The Bouman family from our Dundas congregation has purchased a farm and is moving to the area.   A young man, Kenneth, who is from a Roman Catholic background, is taking confession classes and hopes to join the church as a confessing member soon.   We are thankful that with all of these additions, our group will, Lord willing, double in number in just a few short weeks!  We also have a number of others from the area that visit intermittently, please pray that they will be lead to join our group.

These changes also bring challenges, especially with the growing number of children in the church.  Our permission to use some of the rooms at the arena has been limited for the winter.  We are hoping to find a worship place that is economical and more permanent, as well as having enough rooms to accommodate a babysit, possible Sunday School classes, confession classes, Sunday potluck lunches, etc.  This need, as well as the responsibility of having our own full time church planter, mean that we are much more dependent than we previously were on your support.  More importantly, we covet your prayers, that we would walk worthy of our Lord, be good witnesses of Him, and that the gospel would be boldly and broadly proclaimed in the Nipissing region.  

If you would like to receive updates about the work in Nipissing, please send an email to news-subscribe@nipissingfrc.com or visit our new website at www.nipissingfrc.com.

Ordination Service

Everyone is heartily invited to attend the ordination service of Candidate Rob VanDoodewaard as pastor of the Free Reformed Church Plant in Powassan.  The service will take place, the Lord willing, at 7:30 pm on Friday, November 16th at the St. George Free Reformed Chrurch.  Dr. Jerry Bilkes will be conducting the service.