Dear Westminster Presbyterian Church Family,

Please read on for an update from the Session’s October meeting.

BRIGHT HOPE MINISTRY

Since forming our Bright Hope ministry to Afghan refugees, we have been able to support three families in their transition to living in the United States. The goal for these families has always been to lead them toward self-sufficiency. We are excited to report that one of our families is ready to move out on their own and has purchased a house in the Gastonia area. The Bright Hope team has already identified another family to move into the soon-to-be-vacated mission house on McDow Drive. We are excited to continue in this vital ministry to fulfill the biblical instruction to treat the foreigner residing among you as your native-born (Lev 19:34). If you are interested in volunteering to serve with the Bright Hope ministry, please visit wpcgo.com/bright-hope for more information.

Discipleship

The Session met with WPC member Tom Mullis to discuss his ministry through the Wellspring Group. Wellspring is a discipleship ministry that leads people to live in wholehearted community through small group programming, interactive experiences, and retreat intensives. WPC was fortunate to send several leaders to an intensive training late in the summer and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. The Session desires to engage further with Wellspring and have several elders participate in a series of trainings. These trainings will help them shepherd our church family to connect with our own heart, to God’s heart, and to the hearts of other people.

WESTMINSTER HALL

Our Director of Worship, Ryan Thomas, and Facilities Supervisor, Michael White, have been hard at work to prepare our campus for a future update. When we begin renovating the Sanctuary, we will be worshipping in Westminster Hall during construction. Ryan presented a plan to the Session of how we can prepare Westminster Hall for worship, including improving our A/V system and adding live stream capabilities for the many people who worship with us online. No decisions have been made yet, but please be in prayer for our leadership as they consider how best to move forward with a capital campaign and uninterrupted worship.

ANNEX UPDATE

As reported last month, we are hoping to do some minor renovations to our Annex to convert it into a space appropriate for our growing student ministry. Preliminary work has been performed and the city has been contacted to start the process of renovation. The Session approved to engage an architect to get new plans drawn so that we can hopefully move forward with permitting before the end of the year. Please be in prayer that this process goes smoothly and that we may open the doors to a new youth space!

PCA UNITY FUND

In the past, WPC has supported the PCA Unity Fund, a ministry established to help raise up future generations of godly, reformed, African American and other minority Ruling Elders and Teaching Elders. The fund provides scholarships and other support to church leaders seeking ordination or further training to pursue advanced education in ministry. The WPC Session voted again to financially contribute to this fund as an important part of seeing our denomination reflect a Revelation 7:9 church where every nation, tribe, and tongue is represented.

OFFICER BACKGROUND CHECKS

It is a priority at WPC to keep our congregation safe. In addition to adopting a child protection policy earlier this year, the Session voted to officially perform background checks on all officers and those in the nomination process for serving as officers. We have always run background checks on all staff and volunteers working with minors. This extra step of performing background checks on officers was recommended by the General Assembly this past summer and the Session unanimously agreed to make this an official part of our processes.

CONGREGATIONAL MEETING

As part of the annual process of nominating and electing new elders and deacons, we call a congregational meeting to vote on the officer candidates. The Session has called this meeting for Sunday, December 8th. Please be on the lookout for an official notification of this meeting. You will receive a list of the candidates up for election as you consider this important process of church governance.

Please stay tuned each month for continued updates from the Westminster Session. If you have questions about any of the items mentioned in this monthly update or want more details, please email wpcsession@wpcgo.com.