A Reason to Stay in the PCA— Niche, Deep Expertise
In my last article, I explained that many of the denominational agencies of the PCA don’t work in Canada for Canadians, which is a bummer.
But, if viewed from the other way around, this could be seen as a great reason for Canadian Churches to stay in the PCA.
Here’s how the argument goes:
As a pastor of a church in downtown Ottawa, we are slowly (slowly!) learning how to minister to political types, those who work in and around Parliament Hill. We could continue to learn by trial and error or we could contact Ministry to State. Ministry to State (for those who don’t know) is a PCA ministry to those who work in politics in Washington D.C. and many state capitals. They have deep expertise and decades of experience ministering in political cities with political people.
We don’t have an official Ministry to State (Ministry to Parliament?) yet in Ottawa, but the president of MTS Chuck Garriott has been a tremendous encouragement to our church. He has made making multiple visits to Ottawa to come alongside our church in its efforts.
If a PCA Church is looking for deep expertise in a particular area of ministry, there is a decent chance that someone has already started it somewhere in the PCA. Just look at the ministries page of Mission to North America. There are dozens of “Ministry to State”-esque ministries in the PCA.
Should we in Canada want to explore planting a Mandarin speaking church, there is someone from City Lights who could help us. Should a Canadian minister want to start a retreat ministry for burned out ministers, the good people at Bent Tree would know where to start. And so on.
And it’s not just MNA.
Maybe Canada needs a summer camp for kids as a discipleship and evangelism ministry? Ridgehaven would have some guidance.
Maybe Canada needs a reformed campus ministry? RUF is doing fantastic work in all kinds of settings.
Most of these ministries won’t be a 1 to 1 fit with Canada and will take some cultural translation, but being part of a denomination with ministry expertise in many different areas should not be ignored as a great reason for Canadian churches to stay in the PCA.
Niche ministries may seem frivolous to the ‘real’ work of local parish work, but these kinds of ministries often function as evangelistic and research-and-development arms of the local church. If and when these ministries are needed in Canada, we’ll know who to ask.
