5 January 2022
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“But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman’s hand.” [Ezekiel 33:6]
“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” [Ephesians 6:12]
Presbyterians Week Headlines
[1] Alcoholics Anonymous Group ‘Separated’ and Censured for Saying ‘Lord’s Prayer’ at Meetings
[2] Has It Really Been Ten Years Since We Were Dodging Bullets on the Church Steps?
Additional Articles of Interest
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[1] Alcoholics Anonymous Group ‘Separated’ and Censured for Saying ‘Lord’s Prayer’ at Meetings
An affiliated Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) group has been removed from the organisation’s online directory and ‘separated’ for saying the ‘Lord’s Prayer’ and including some Christian content in their meetings.
The group, which was hosting the meetings in a church in Yeovil, Somerset, was told that it would be removed from AA’s register because a new member of the group felt ‘uncomfortable’.
AA was formed in 1935 through the inspiration of an American Lutheran Minister, Frank Buchman. Buchman had suffered from alcoholism before a dramatic conversion to Christianity in Keswick which transformed his life.
Buchman went on to co-found the Oxford Group and launched the ’12 steps programme’, which was based on his Christian spiritual awakening. This has acted as a template for recovering from alcoholism by AA worldwide, ever since.
Minutes from a Somerset Intergroup (SIG), which oversees AA groups in the region, however, has revealed a unanimous vote to remove this AA group from the register saying that they ‘must be kept separate.’
The minutes expose that the group’s meetings had been observed and said that it was a: ‘Christian based meeting, lovely meeting but not along AA guidelines’, and concerns were raised that it was ‘announced “the only way to recovery is through Jesus.”’
The minutes state that ‘there is nothing wrong with talking about Jesus but it is not AA’, and they discuss that a pamphlet that the group share at the meetings, ‘Came to Believe’ ‘has its place, but not within AA.’
The pamphlet is recognised AA literature written by 75 AA members from across the world who discuss ‘what the terms “spiritual awakening,” “Higher Power” and “God as we understood Him” mean to them’ and ‘offers a range of perspectives on what spirituality can look like in the context of Alcoholics.’
SIG members state that when the group was challenged on the inclusion of Christian content they said: ‘they were not going to change’. The SIG minutes state that this is ‘not acceptable.’
A unanimous vote was then taken, and it was agreed that the group would be removed from the ‘Where to Find’ register and that ‘they must be kept separate.’
Being removed from the list essentially makes the group invisible and will make it very difficult for them to recruit new members.
‘Shocking’
Treasurer of the group, Mr Palmer, 69, branded the move ‘shocking’, but has vowed to continue and now calls their group ‘The Real AA.’
Mr Palmer first attended AA in the 1980s describing himself as an ‘addicted wreck’ after struggling with alcoholism for many years. He says he was introduced to the Christian faith at the meetings and that AA was his ‘lifeline’ and that he has not touched alcohol since.
Mr Palmer, who now helps run the group, says that he began introducing ‘The Lord’s Prayer’ over a year ago and believes this has led to the complaint.
The Lord’s Prayer is the quintessential Christian prayer that Jesus taught his disciples when they asked him how they should pray.
Saying it is common practice in AA meetings in the US, and Mr Palmer says he introduced it to try and get back to the organisation’s Christian roots, which he says have been ‘slowly eroded.’
Mr Palmer said: “AA was founded by Christians to save and transform lives. Over the years I have seen Christianity being eroded and marginalised from the organisation as a whole. It is sad to see, and I think AA is having less of an impact on people’s lives as a result.
“Of course you don’t have to be a Christian to be part of an AA group, but if you cannot say the Lord’s Prayer in a church without being treated like this, what are we coming to?
“We were shocked when we found out about the action being taken against us, but we are determined to carry on.”
Ludicrous
Andrea Williams, chief executive of Christian Concern, said: “The message of the gospel is of a saviour Jesus who came to bring hope to every one of us. The power of the gospel message is what inspired the setting up of AA following the radical transformation alcoholics experienced after encountering the hope and healing found in Jesus Christ.
“Separating and punishing Christians so that they cannot attract new members for sharing the gospel message of hope is disturbing and ludicrous. Is now saying the Lord’s Prayer in a church offensive and not appropriate?
“It is sad, but not surprising in our world of cancel culture, to hear from this group that the gospel message is no longer appropriate for AA and must be kept ‘separate.’
“We call on the AA to reinstate this group to the online directory and to recognise the crucial role Christian faith plays in transforming lives.”
+ Christian Concern, 70 Wimpole Street, London W1G 8AX, England, 020 7935 1488, Contact Pag
+ Alcoholics Anonymous, 475 Riverside Drive at West 120th Street, 11th and 8th Floors, New York, New York 10115, 212-870-3400, Contact Page
[2] Has It Really Been Ten Years Since We Were Dodging Bullets on the Church Steps?
[Editor’s Note: Ten years ago, the Rev. Frank Smith began preaching outdoors in downtown Atlanta, Georgia, and ten years later what later became the Atlanta Reformed Presbyterian Church continues to proclaim and serve our King and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ to the greater Atlanta area as a ministry of the Reformed Presbyterian Church in North America. Frank’s wife Penny Smith wrote the following as the fifty-seventh in her series of Penny’s Pen articles she has written about ARPC during those ten years.
Atlanta Reformed Presbyterian Church
Penny’s Pen, No. 57 December 31, 2021
It was a little over a decade ago, on December 4th, 2011, that we experienced first-hand what many of our parishioners know all too well—the outbreak of violence and the threat of death. It was on that date when a gunfight broke out at the intersection of Kennedy and Brawley, one of the most dangerous intersections in the South—the place where since April 2010 Pastor Frank had been conducting our weekly Bible study at 5 o’clock on Sunday evenings. The shots weren’t aimed at our little group, sitting on the steps of a derelict church building, or at Pastor Frank, standing out on the sidewalk with his whiteboard. It was obviously a drug turf war. The first round of shots was a little unsettling, but the second round resulted in all of us except Pastor Frank hitting the ground, lying flat and praying. Our brave leader stood his ground as he dialed 911. None of us was hurt, and we all praised the Lord for his protection of us
That event, in which the Lord clearly was watching over us, was ten years ago. That doesn’t seem possible—how swiftly time flies. But, on the other hand, so much has happened since then. Sometimes, it seems like it’s all a dream . . . .
For another year after that shooting incident, we continued to meet at that same street corner, in all kinds of weather and circumstances. We enjoyed the interaction with people who would come by and who would sit for a spell on the steps—there was something exciting about being in that environment, outdoors, on the tree-lined street, with a feel of street preaching. But by late 2012, after two and a half years on that corner, it was clear that we needed to take the next step toward becoming a church plant.
In December 2012, we started weekly worship services. And we were able at long last to meet indoors, as a result of the kindness of a Muslim convenience store owner who allowed us to use a room at the back of the store. This was very awkward as there was no electricity, so we moved, in mid-2013, to the basement of a local church. From that facility we were able to increase our outreach into the community by holding two very successful coat drives in the parking lot, giving away literally hundreds of coats and blankets. At the end of that year, we moved into a very small building, basically a one-room Baptist church, from where, for the first time, we held a Vacation Bible School in a nearby park. We stayed in that building for a year and a half before moving to one side of a duplex in June 2015.
By moving to the duplex, we then had a building that we could use at any time of the day, and on any day of the week. We were no longer confined to a few hours on the Lord’s Day. And our Sunday School teachers were particularly thrilled as they had their own rooms that they could decorate, and in which they could store their teaching materials. We made use of our new flexibility by holding a “Family Fling”, similar to a VBS but including adults, organised by one of our Sunday School teachers, Miss Amy Work.
Of course, not all was a bed of roses. For instance, the occupants of the other half of the duplex turned out to be your friendly neighbourhood crooks. Indeed, on one occasion we discovered that they had broken through the shared attic wall in order to get into our side of the building so as to run an electric cable and steal electricity from us!
But despite various ongoing challenges, our being in that duplex marked a transition for our ministry. Our group started to enjoy a stability that we had not had before.
Another important development came in 2017 when Miss Amy, the Sunday school teacher of our older children, started God’s Girls Group, specifically designed to disciple two young ladies. They have been meeting at her apartment once a month, doing something fun and interesting, and Miss Amy has been showing them how to cook while introducing them to healthy foods. She also tries to impress upon them the importance of cleaning up after themselves, which seems to have been a foreign concept to them. This is followed by a study time, in which the girls have been learning what it means to live as Christians. Although one of the girls is no longer attending, the other is showing promising signs of the Spirit’s work.
There were other helps, too, including mission teams, such as those from our Columbus, Indiana, congregation, which came in 2016 and 2018 to assist us for a week.
But the most important factor in enabling us to mature as a group was when, in March 2019, Great Lakes-Gulf Presbytery voted unanimously to constitute Atlanta Presbyterian Fellowship as a mission church of the presbytery. Our name changed to Atlanta Reformed Presbyterian Church. We could now offer church membership and start observing the sacraments. Frank accepted the call to be the organizing pastor, and the installation service was held in the duplex on May 10th, 2019, with the Temporary Governing Body conducting the proceedings. We were gratified to have a large number of people in attendance, including representatives from the PCA, OPC, ARP, and the Free Church of Scotland (Continuing). With 55 people there, we were at maximum capacity.
Unfortunately, while Pastor Frank was driving the church van in order to pick up people for that service, he ran into a car that had failed to yield at a stop sign. After having to wait a long time for the police to arrive, he finally was able to arrive back at the church. The service started about an hour late, but it went well.
A few weeks later, on the way home from Bible study, Pastor Frank and I were involved in a car accident. It was a miracle that no other car was involved, and that we both received only minor injuries. However, both Frank and I had to miss church the following Sunday, and I missed the four Sundays after that as well.
Having been told by the owners of the duplex that we needed to vacate the building so that they could turn it into an Airbnb, Frank had been looking furiously to find somewhere else to rent, and, at the beginning of October 2019, we moved into a building that had originally been a broom factory. About twenty years earlier, it had been purchased by a church, but the number of elderly members was dwindling, and they had been thinking about disbanding and selling the building. So, we raised a goodly sum of money through the generosity of many people; and, in June 2020, were able to put a down payment on a mortgage provided by our Synod.
Our having our own facility—and especially one in such a strategic location—has also marked a significant transition for our congregation. We are still learning what it means to have a place we can call our own, and figuring out how to make the most use of it. But our acquisition of this property is another obvious signal of the Lord’s providential care for this ministry.
Ten years—ten years have passed since that gun battle just yards away from us. So much has happened since then. We have had people come and people go. Chris Myers and his family served for a couple of years, before moving away. Chris eventually was called as pastor of our Phoenix, Arizona, congregation. As soon as the Myers family left, Sean and Anne McPherson moved to the area from Pennsylvania and served for three years. And then, just as the McPhersons were moving back to their home state, TJ and Nancy Pattillo and their children Hannah and Sawyer started attending. TJ, an ordained Ruling Elder, is our talented ministerial intern and is also now a ministerial candidate in the RPCNA.
We’ve had others who have left us by means of death. I remember Rose, a sweet, illiterate woman, who, we believe, did come to faith in Christ; Bill, a man who was able to profess faith and be baptised; and Andrew, who professed his faith and was baptised and then was, sadly, killed in a freak accident four months later.
And I think also of those who have recently joined the congregation. One man who comes to mind in particular is a fellow who had spent many years in prison doing hard time for crimes such as grand theft auto. He had been coming to church for several years on an irregular basis. In July 2021 we heard that he had become very sick. When we first visited him in hospice, he was unable to communicate very well. About a week and a half later, he sent word through his sister that he wanted the pastor to visit him. When Frank went in the next time, he was very alert and expressed his disappointment that he had not been able to complete the membership course. Two days later, the elders were able to conduct a meeting with him via Zoom, in order to hear his profession of faith and admit him to membership. We never expected him to be able to attend a service. Well, the next thing we knew, he had checked himself out of hospice, walked to the bus stop, taken the bus and then the MARTA train to near his apartment from where his daughter picked him up. When he can, he makes it to church, and, at a wonderful time of prayer following a day of prayer and fasting back in October, he prayed wonderful prayers of gratitude and appreciation to God for having forgiven his sins and saved him.
We have come a long way over the last decade—since that shooting incident on the old church steps on a December evening. A lot has changed. A lot has happened. A lot has stayed the same. And what has particularly remained the same is God’s covenant faithfulness to us individually and as a group of believers—pilgrims passing through this world on our way to the Celestial City.
Has it really been ten years?
+ Atlanta Reformed Presbyterian Church, 574 Western Avenue Northwest, Atlanta, Georgia 30314, Contact Page
+ Reformed Church in America, 4500 60th Street Southeast, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49512, 800-968-6065, questions@rca.org
Additional Articles of Interest
– New York Times Admits Covid “Booster” Shots Damage Immunity, Leave Body Defenseless against Virus
– One Million COVID-Vaccine Injuries Now Reported on CDC’s Database
– 2021 COVID-19 Recap: 200 Million Vaccinated, 450,000 Dead
– Bombshell: Vaccinated People Are Dying from Autoimmune Attacks against Their Own Organs
– New Zealand Now Paying Euthanasia Doctors $1,000 a Pop to Murder Covid Patients
– Police Use Attack Dogs as Thousands Protest Against Dutch COVID-19 Lockdowns
– California Plans to Inject Covid Vaccine into Plants
– The Prospect of World War III
– Schools Intentionally Dumbing Down Children for Control as Education Becomes Politicized
– Year 2021 was America’s Holocaust: Unprecedented Lives Destroyed by Experimental COVID-19 “Vaccines”
– The Unvaxxed May Soon Be Shipped to Quarantine Camps
– New Zealand PAYS Doctors to Euthanize COVID-19 Patients
– Pharma’s War on Scientists to Mandate Jabs for Life
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