314 Ministry House Pastoral Letter
The Reformed Presbyterian Church
312 West Union Street
West Chester, PA 19382
610-696-3482
pastor@rpcwc.org
www.rpcwc.org
Dr. Stanley D. Gale, Pastor
April 25, 2007
Dear Saints of RPC,
Over the past five years since we purchased the property at 314 W. Union St. the
Lord has placed us in a blessed holding pattern. We knew He had something
in store for us when the congregation voted to purchase the property in 2001.
We wanted to develop the property as a ministry house into classrooms and office
space.
But it wasn’t time.
So His providence brought us the Marlowes and we had the privilege of providing
a home for them as they built support to return to the mission field. The
Marlowes moved out in 2003.
But it wasn’t time.
We still didn’t have the funds needed for the renovations on 314. In
2003, God brought us the Cuzzolinas. We were able to minister to them through
the house as Jason went to seminary and served as an intern at RPC.
God was preparing us. Toward the end of 2003 the vision flowing out of John
15 of ‘Finding Life in Christ and Bringing Life to Others’ was put in
place. Now we had a unifying vision, a overarching direction.
But it wasn’t time.
Just before the Cuzzolinas left in 2005 to respond to God’s call to church
planting in Wisconsin, the congregation voted to sell our property across the street
at 311 S. New St. to provide capital for the renovation of 314 and make some needed
repairs to the church building. Money in hand, we had architectural plans
drawn up, even a general contractor selected.
But it wasn’t time.
God was still not ready for us to step out. Realizing we needed more
funding for the renovation project than the funds remaining from the sale of 311,
we decided to hire a capital campaign consultant. Now it became clear
to me why God waited. He had plans for us bigger than buildings.
He had given us a vision of finding life in Christ and bringing life to others and
He wanted us to understand that there is no way we could advance that vision without
Him. He wanted to expand more than our resources. He wanted to stretch
our faith. He wanted us to give us a bigger vision, to exchange the tame one
we had in mind for a one we could not contain or manage.
The capital campaign is not just about 314; it’s about us, our faith, our
embracing God’s vision for us to see us trying to keep up with Him.
What’s at stake is not money. Money is a means. Our use of it
a symptom. We’re talking stewardship of life, radical
stewardship driven by a fuller view of God and being sold out to His kingdom and
its advancement. It’s about God teaching us to abide in the Vine toward
a harvest of fruit we could never have conceived.
I have come to see this capital campaign on which we are embarking as a means of
God to ready us for ownership and pursuit of His vision in a way we would not have
been otherwise.
In other words, it’s time.
God is bringing us to the starting line to begin a race that will carry RPC in service
of His kingdom for our day and generations to come. Take a look at the enclosed
‘I see…’ sheet. It will give you a taste of what I consider
to be just the beginning as we peer in the windows of 314 as the next step in God’s
building project—not of property but for our finding life in Christ and bringing
life to others.
In Service to Christ,
Pastor Stan Gale