Everton Park Presbyterian Reformed Church

A local friendly reformed church in Everton Park, Brisbane

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You are here: Home / Archives for church membership

Covenant Friendship

June 12, 2015 by CFIT

Recently I read Tim Challies‚ review of the book Spiritual Friendship by Wesley Hill. Wesley Hill is single and laments how hard it is to form good Christian friendships that last. Part of the problem is that we live in an increasingly mobile society; people regularly ‚move on‚ even when they don‚t move away. Tim Challies asks, ‘Have you ever had a friendship that entered into irrevocable decline because your friend just up and moved away? Have you ever had a friendship that ended over matters of convenience or preference? My guess is that most of us have experienced something like this at one time or another. And I wonder if this is an inevitable part of friendship, or whether it may just be a sign that we take friendship too lightly.‘

Wesley Hill notes how, for some, friendship is ‘based, above all, on personal preference’; and that in ‚preserving its voluntary character‚ it becomes ‘vulnerable at every point to dissolution if one of the friends grows tired of or burdened by the relationship.’ He goes on to wonder whether we shouldn’t ‘consider friendship more along the lines of how we think of marriage’, i.e. ‘as more stable, permanent, and binding than we often do‚ should we begin to consider at least some of our friends as, in large measure, tantamount to family?’  This will not sit well with today’s individualistic focus in society; as Hill notes: ‘If your deepest fulfilment is found in personal autonomy, then friendship is more of a liability than an asset.’

Challies makes an interesting observation regarding our focus as churches. He asks, ‘Have Protestants, with all our emphasis on marriage and family, neglected friendship?‘ This is a good point. Those who are happily married can be blissfully unaware of the deep pain and loneliness that single people (unmarried, widowed, divorced) or those unhappily married can feel. Challies comments: ‘We all know that the strength of marriage is its bond, the commitment of one spouse to another through any and every circumstance, ’til death do us part. Is it possible that our friendships remain insignificant because they require so much less and can be dissolved on a whim?‘

Is there room for a form of ‚covenant friendship‚ that would provide stability in a relationship similar to that in a happy marriage? The answer to that question is, ‘yes’. It is called covenant church membership. Covenant church membership (where it operates as it should) provides ‘covenant friendship’ for all who are part of that church family. We covenant to ‘serve in and contribute joyfully to the worship and work of [our church] to the best of our ability.‘ Also, ‘to love each brother or sister in Christ [in our church]; and to encourage and pray for them in their Christian walk and witness.‘

Can it be that single people are lonelier today because so many churches have given up on covenant membership? While those of us who are in churches that have covenant membership need to take it more seriously? Covenant membership means covenant friendship; it means we don‚t give up on each other when we get irritated or let down, or ‘get a better offer elsewhere‘‚ we are there for each other no matter what (Colossians 3:12-15, 1 John 3:18). Let us continually renew our vows to be faithful to God. But also, to one another. Let us recommit to covenant friendship in the family of our church.

Filed Under: Blogs by Ken Tagged With: church, church membership, commitment, covenant membership, friendship, loneliness, Love, Marriage

Church Membership

April 1, 2013 by Tim

Filed Under: Sermon Blogs Tagged With: 2013, church membership, Ken Stebbins, Sermon Series

What’s On @ Everton Park

Sunday Worship

9:00 am – Prayer Meeting
9:00 am – Children’s Sunday School (except Summer holidays) & Crossroads
10:00 am – Fellowship Morning Tea
10:30 am – Worship Service

  • 1st Sunday – Lord’s Supper, after Worship and followed by a shared lunch
  • Last Sunday at 5pm – Hymn Singing evening and basket tea

Bible Studies
Wednesday 7:30 pm – Bible Studies
Please contact us for this week’s locations.

Youth & Young Adults
Please contact us for details.

Contact Us
E: [email protected]

Welcome!

Welcome. If you’re looking for a church home, would like to know more about Christianity, or are temporarily in the area, we invite you to come and visit.

At our church we aim to bea warm community of people that worship and serve God, and make Him known through the Lord Jesus Christ.

Our worship is simple and uncluttered, including prayer, a mix of old and new songs, usually a kids talk and always a talk explaining the Bible. We aim for clear, practical Bible teaching which leads us to God, through Christ. We are Reformed and Evangelical.

We cherish our diversity as people, and our unity in Christ, meeting together as a whole group, young and old. We seek to look out for each other and support each other in all the problems that we face in life.

We are not perfect; we are all sinners. But because of Jesus, we are forgiven!


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Sunday Worship

Sunday Worship
9:00 am – Prayer Meeting, Sunday School & Crossroads
10:30 am – Worship Service

Bible Studies
Sunday School

Crossroads

E: [email protected]

About Our Minister

Callum Lewis is a native of the north side of Brisbane. When he finished school he spent some time on the Sunshine Coast where he met his wife, Anna.  Callum spent 6 years working part time at a church in Buderim, where for half of this time he was also … more

Everton Park Church Events

Sunday Worship
9:00 am – Prayer Meeting, Sunday School & Crossroads
10:30 am – Worship Service

Bible Studies
Sunday School

Crossroads

E: [email protected]

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