Bethel

To state the obvious, churches do not grow without new people. For Bethel to grow in Carson and Bismarck, we have to reach new people. To that end, we do some advertising, such as the Bismarck Tribune and have a presence on the internet, but surveys show that most new church members come because someone invited them, not because of advertising. If we are to bring people to Christ and into the church, it has to be through you. You must talk to friends and co-workers about your faith and about Christ. You must invite them to come with you to services.

We do not believe that Bethel is the only true church or that you have to be in the OPC to be saved. But we do believe that the Westminster Standards are the most faithful expression of Biblical doctrine in Christianity today and that Bethel is a faithful church in working that out in practical terms. So, if you love your neighbor, you are going to want them in such a faithful church and you will work to that end.

You also need to talk to others about Christ because you are commanded to do so. Jesus Himself said, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses of Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”  (Acts 1:8)

The Lord in His infinite wisdom has determined that the growth of His church is to be through the witness of ordinary people like you and me. Over the centuries, by that seemingly shaky strategy, the church has grown and broken down the very gates of hell. The embrace by our culture of post-modern thinking does not change this. It is still the simple Gospel, shared by ordinary believers, that is “the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16) So step out in faith and witness to others of your Lord.

Here is how an unknown author expressed Christ’s call to witness of Him poetically:

So send I you to labour unrewarded

To serve unpaid, unloved, unsought, unknown

To bear rebuke, to suffer scorn and scoffing

So send I you to toil for Me alone

So send I you to leave your life’s ambition

To die to dear desire, self-will resign

To labour long, and love where men revile you

So send I you to lose your life in Mine