Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Reformation Society

I have desired since we moved to mid-Michigan/Lansing to see a Reformation Society start in this area. I find it odd that there is a great Reformation society in the wilderness of Northern Michigan, but in the more heavily populated parts of southern Michigan we don't have one. I just sent an email out to see if anyone is interested, so if you didn't get the email and live in Mid-Michigan and are interested in reformation in the church, give me a shout. The text of the email is below:


Brothers,

Reformation in the church is not merely something that occurred 400 years ago. It is a very real and urgent need for the church in our day.

Inspired by the number of people I saw in attendance at the recent
Magnifying God conference held at University Reformed Church in February and also by the small but vibrant group of brothers in Northern Michigan who have organized the NE Michigan Reformation Society, I am convinced of the value of a similar group of like-minded brothers in mid-Michigan gathering for mutual edification and encouragement. I have been in contact with The Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals, the folks who sponsor the Philadelphia Conference on Reformed Theology and the Reformation21 webpage, and they are willing and eager to assist in helping a Reformation society take root in mid-Michigan. There are a number of active Reformation societies around the country, 21 by my count, all dedicated to proclaiming the Word of God and the historic doctrines of the faith. I believe that the Body of Christ in mid-Michigan would be blessed greatly by a Reformation Society in our area.

I recognize that we all lead busy lives and have many responsibilities. As a home-schooling father of eight I understand that all too well! I also realize that the need for reformation in the church has perhaps never been greater. My intent is not to create yet another responsibility, one more burden on our lives but instead to create an outlet for encouragement, fellowship, prayer, teaching and friendship among like-minded Christians in mid-Michigan. My goal would be for this group to be geographically wide enough to have a large pool of participants to share the work but not so large as to make meeting burdensome. To that end, I was envisioning a group encompassing a radius of approximately one hour (or so) from Lansing .

Before proceeding forward, I would like to see if there is interest in getting like-minded Christians in the area together for a discussion and time of prayer. If you are interested in being involved in this effort to encourage reformational teaching in mid-Michigan, I would ask you to reply to this email with your interest. After measuring the response, we would then look for a time and place to gather for discussion and prayer.

Thank you for your time, I am looking forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Arthur Sido

(if you are getting this email, I probably found you on the T4G cooperation map or the 9 Marks church search, so blame Mark Dever)

5 comments:

Steve Martin said...

I wish you God's blessings in your efforts.

We have our own Reformation Society within our Lutheran congregation out here in Southern California.

Out of about 70 active worshipers at our church we get...oh...4 or 5..maybe 6 people to attend pastor's class where we can learn more about the Reformation and our Christian faith in general.

People out here just aren't interested, they are too busy, or...???

I hope you'll have better luck in S. Michigan.

Jeff Peterson said...

Isn't it odd how we define things?

It's, what 120-125 miles from Mt Pleasant (Mid-Michigan) to the Ohio border? Then, it's (according to michigan.gov) 472 miles to both Ironwood and Copper Harbor from Mt Pleasant.

We here in Awesome Alanson say we live in "Northern Michigan." Northern LOWER Michigan, yes, but Northern MICHIGAN?

There has to be a biblical parallel here but I'm not fleet enough of mind to grasp it.

Arthur Sido said...

I couldn't come up with a better name for it. Grand Rapids should have their own group, so should Detroit but I didn't want it to be just Lansing. I have been told that Lansing is Mid-Michigan, Mt. Pleasant is Central Michigan.

BTW, I am in favor of calling the Alanson area Southern Northern Michigan.

Jeff Peterson said...

Well, speaking of "names", my wife and I always chuckle when we hear about "beautiful Crooked Lake." Especially late in the summer when both ends are overtaken by weeds and when the discharge from the Harbor Springs Sewage Authority breaks loose every couple years and the western half of the lake starting at the boat launch in Conway fills up with sewage.

Beautiful, indeed.

Arthur Sido said...

Scenic Crooked Lake? The unofficial world capital of swimmers itch? I liked the ducks on Crooked Lake but would never swim in it.