Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - Nov/71

Contributor - Peter J. Yff

Title - Direction - Forward: Ontario Mission Festival

Topic - Missions

A good part of the Reformed Church in Ontario, with also a delegation from the Maranatha Ref. Church in Montreal, came to Hamilton November 5 and 6 for a Festival of Mission. It was a gathering different for most, and certainly challenging to all. Mission was not just a reference to, and prayer for, the work overseas. somewhere out there -but rather an emphasis on the entire mission of the church in the world, involving each member where he lives. The emphasis was not on clergy, nor was it limited to laity, but rather its point was to involve all the church, all the time and emphatically not just on Sunday.

The Festival was a happy gathering. Inspirational values were high, there at Philpott Memorial Church in downtown Hamilton. Festival '71 was a happy conference. but its happiness and joy resulted from renewed commitment and accepted challenge, not from cleverly presented entertainment. Happiness here was a happiness in belonging. Our relationship to Christ, the tie to a Risen Savior and Lord provided this sense of happiness, which in the Beatitudes is called "blessed". The thrill of belonging to each other also filled our hearts. One could sense it in new friendships made and old friendships rewarmed. There was also a sense of belonging, not just to the Ref. Church, but to all of the Church, to the Kingdom of God.

Happiness at this Festival Of Mission was also a joy in salvation. As the keynote speaker, Dr. Howard Hageman, who came to us from Newark, New Jersey, observed, there are three emphases in the matter of salvation. "I am saved! "I am being saved!" "I will saved."

Coupled with the fact, and the experience, of salvation is the sense of purpose. That was there. too, at Philpott. Our speaker presented a graphic picture of the church's confrontation by the world: a world very busy, a world very full, a world of technology and expertise on every conceivable subject. Yet it is a word which needs the gospel, which desperately needs the presence of Christian people and Christian purpose and Christian mission.

Our theme related closely to this: DIRECTION ... FORWARD. Together we sought a new commitment to an unfinished task. Not only is the Church, and we, individually as Christian people, confronted by the world, but we are challenged by our Lord to go into that world and witness to it of his love, his care, his compassion, his invitation, his redemption. As the church confronts her technological age, her age of science and the atom, there are some who say: it won't work anymore. We are too small ... people won't listen anymore." And, in the past, people have taken that view ... some of them within our own fellowship. We have feared because we came from another place, because our speech was a bit accented, because for some the adjustment was difficult. We felt perhaps more like the sojourner of Biblical times than a permanent resident or even citizen. And yet we are called to go forth. We are called to take up the challenge of making Christ Known by what we are as well as by what we say.

It is in this very world of technology and change that you and I are called to work. We come with a gospel of faith, and i a gospel of hope. Its motivating force is love: the love Christ has for his people, the love which they in turn reflect, and demonstrate in his name.

The faith is a certain one, linked to a Savior who not only suffered and died, but who rose again. That Savior, in his risen life and power, calls to us to follow him, to walk in his way, to be his disciples. That's also what Mission Festival '71 was all about. Too much have we looked with satisfaction on the past and discontent for the present. We are not, as church, to live as an island in the world, but to live as leaven, as yeast, as influence for good, for fight, for redemption in the world. Cost there will be, to be sure, both economic, and personal.

And with this gospel of faith there is a gospel of hope. It's not a forlorn hope, like that of the surgeon who comes out of the surgical theatre and faces the anxious knot of relatives. "We've done all that we could, we got most of it, but ... Now all we can do is hope for the best." But he gives no hope, really. It is not that kind of hope we speak of, but rather the hope based on certainty and conviction. This is the hope based on Christ, crucified and risen, triumphant in church and world. This is the hope that comes when you realize that it is not in vain.

Registrations for the festival could be placed at about 650, with an attendance by all on Friday evening of over 800. The festival committee is grateful to Philpott Memorial Church and its staff, as well as to all who helped make this Festival a success, not just in numbers, but in spirit, and in effectiveness. In particular, we are very grateful to Dr. Howard Hageman, who served so effectively as Key note speaker.

The Festival is over now, but its effect is just being felt. All who registered were offered a veritable cafeteria of workshops, including the following: Reformed Church in America Mission programs, with the Rev. Tatsunosuke Kokubo; Careers in Missions Today, with Dr. Justin Vander Kolk; The R.C.A. in Canada - Mission and Ministry in the '70's, with Rev. Kenneth Hesselink and Rev. Moody Yap; The Church and Challenges in the 70's, led by Rev. Isaac Rottenberg; Leadership Training for Mission Projects, under Rev. John Drost; Lay Witness Mission Groups, by Rev. Carl Schroeder; Mission Support in Your Church - Rev. McVety (People's Church, Toronto); Witnessing in the Community, under Mrs. Edward Barton (from the Baptist Church, Hamilton); Christianity on the Job, led by Rev. S. Wilts; Mass Media Communications, under Mr. Glen Le Pard, Temple Time; Be a Big Brother, directed by Mr. Henk Ruiter, Hamilton; Children's Aid Programs, led by Dr. Stanley Medburst, of the Children's Aid Society; Reformed Youth in Mission, by Rev. Ray De Does; Music as a Means for Mission, under Mrs. Harvey Van Farowe; Communicating with the Withdrawn, by Rev. John Voss; Witness on the University Campus, Mr. Mike Nobel, and finally: The Jesus People Movement, led by the House of Life Commune, Buffalo, New York.

The evening Coffee House, with its contemporary music and appearance contributed much to the overall scene, as did the groups who participated in the Festival itself, such as the Inspirations from Guelph, the Impressions from Exeter, Group 7 of Hamilton.

A poster in the Coffee House said it well: GOD IS ALIVE . . . AND SO AM I! The Reformed Church is alive ... parts of it are sleeping perhaps, parts more ale., and awake than others. All of it needs to be stirred and set to work for its Lord. New methods for a new day will need to be employed.

The "last words" of the church will have to be forgotten in the process: "It has not been done this way before."

We are now perhaps in the position of the man who hurriedly came to the church steps, aware that he was very late. As he climbed the stairs, he noticed a man coming out. "Am I too late? Is it all over?" he anxiously inquired. 'No, you're not too late. It has all been said, now we're going out to do it."

The Festival is over its message has been spoken, sung, taken into heart. Now, let us go out and express it.

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