United Day of Prayer

The Reformed Presbyterian Churches of North America, Ireland, Scotland and Australia have agreed to appoint the Lord’s Day, 6th October 2019 as a day for united prayer in all our congregations that God would raise up men to serve as pastors and missionaries. This is a keenly felt need in each of our denominations and it is a wonderful expression of our unity in the Gospel that we can join with one another in a day of prayer that will span the globe.

“When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

Matthew 9:36-38

Here are matters for prayer from Reformed Presbyterian Churches and Ministry Training colleges around the world to help you and your congregation pray earnestly for gospel workers.

Congregations without full-time Pastors

• RPCNA:  Has thirteen congregations and mission churches without a pastor: Birmingham, AL; Covenant RPC, Chagrin Falls, OH; Grace, State College, PA; Coldenham-Newburgh, NY; Pageland Mission Church, SC; Selma RPC, AL; Sparta RPC, IL; Westminster RPC, Chicago, IL; Grace Reformed Church, Columbia, MO; San Antonio Mission, TX; Las Vegas Mission Church, NV; Great Basin RP Mission, Reno, NV; Lisbon RPC.
• Japan Presbytery of the RPCNA: Seeks a pastor for the Kasumigaoka RPC.
• RPCI:  Has six congregations without a full-time pastor – Creevagh, Dromore, Enniskillen, Lisburn,Loughbrickland, and Stranorlar.
• RPCS:  Praise God that each congregation has a full-time pastor and that God has provided Rev Andrew McMillan to minister in Airdrie RPC.
• RPCA:  Seeking a pastor for the Frankston RPC.

Ministry trainers:

It has been encouraging to receive reports from RPTS Pittsburgh and RTC Belfast of recent appointments of faculty members to join in the work of theological education.

RPTS Pittsburgh:

• Dr. Barry York – President of RPTS Pittsburgh
• Prof. Keith Evans – Professor of Biblical Counseling
• Dr. David Whitla – Professor of Church History
• Dr. Jeff Stivason – Professor of New Testament Studies, beginning July 1, 2020

RTC Belfast:

• Prof. Andrew Kerr – Professor of Old Testament Language and Literature
• Rev. Raymond Blair – Lecturer in Church History

KTH Kobe:

• Rev. Kihei Takiura – Lecturer in Counseling and New Testament Studies
• Rev. Yusuke Hirata – Lecturer in Old Testament Introduction

Students in training:

• RPCNA: Praise God that there are 49 students at some stage in training for the ministry.
• RPCNA Japan Presbytery: The Japan presbytery has five students under-care. Dr. Yusuke Hirata has graduated from KTH and RPTS and is taking graduate study. He is now eligible to be called. Mr. Colin Doyle just moved to Pittsburgh to study at RPTS. Mr. Hayato Ohara has finished four years study at Kobe Theological Hall and is licensed to preach. Mr. Keita Yasunaga has been licensed to preach, and is now living in Tokyo. Two male KTH students are considering transferring their credentials to the RPCJ. Pray for the wisdom to know how best to use their God-given talents fully for ministry and evangelism.
• RPCI: Has three students, John Coulter, Paul Flynn and Paul Wallace. Pray for the students as they begin their 2nd year in October after their intensive Hebrew language course in September.
• RPCS – has one student under care, Ian Gillies, who is studying at RPTS Pittsburgh.
• RPCA – has one student under care, Brandon Fisher. Brandon is due to complete studies in 2020 and his Presbytery is seeking to arrange an internship to complete his training.

Looking to the future:

• A number of the senior ministers in the RPCI are approaching retirement. Pray that the Lord would raise up a good number of students for the next RTC intake in September 2021.
• The RPTS Board will meet in October for a long-range planning meeting. Ask the Lord to grant the Board wisdom and direction.
• Many efforts are underway to refurbish and beautify Rutherford Hall, the main building on the RPTS campus. Pray resources would be given and good work done to make the space more attractive and useful to the RPTS community.
• It has been particularly encouraging to hear reports from those who have been working with Churches in East Asia to develop pastoral training programmes. The problems faced here are particularly severe and we urge you to join in prayer for our brothers there.
• KTH is housed in Covenanter Centre and Okamoto Keiyaku RPC Buildings. Pray for wisdom and faith to continue to operate KTH there with limited resources. An urgent need is elders trained by KTH as all our ruling elders are in their seventies and above.
• Praise God that Rev Dan Dupuis will begin work in the Hudson – St. Lazare congregation in Quebec, Canada. Pray for the spread of the gospel in the French speaking world and that God would raise up men to minister his Word in the French language.

These prayer points are also available in French and Spanish.