Welcome to Northminster

We are a biblically-based Presbyterian church seeking to experience and share God’s love to transform our homes, community and the world. We hope you will join us.
 

Join us this Sunday!

We have Sunday school for all ages at 9:00, and the worship service is at 10:30am. We look forward to seeing you! 
 
 
 

Upcoming Events

The Latest from our blogs…

Pastor’s Mid-Week Bible Study Begins This Week!

These are strange and unusual times. Last week, the students of Amherst County went back to school – some are going in person, but only two days a week, some are 4 days a week; and others are returning to school virtually. And the life of the church is beginning to adapt to this “new normal” as well. Other than worship and a few circle meetings, for the past 6 months the ministry and life of Northminster has been on pause. It’s time to start some things back up.
 
One of the primary purposes of the church is discipling its members, helping us all grow in the grace and truth of our Lord Jesus Christ. To that end, we are beginning a mid-week pastor’s bible study, starting Wednesday, September 16 from 10:30-11:30am. This bible study will meet in-person and online, at the same time. If you would like to join us in person, we’ll be appropriately socially distanced in the fellowship hall. If you’d prefer to join us online, you can do so through Zoom.
 
We do ask that you please sign up for one of the two groups – you can change between the two at any time, or just sign up for both if you’re feeling indecisive. Signing up will enable us to set up the Fellowship Hall appropriately, and also let us know how many to expect in-person and online. Click on this link to sign up.
 
If you have any questions, please let me know.
 
I look forward to exploring God’s Word with you, beginning this Wednesday.

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Weekly Youth Group Meetings Resume September 27, 2020!

Youth Group met for the first time in 6 months last night – it was so good seeing all of the students after so long, although we missed those who weren’t able to attend.
 
We are planning to resume in two weeks on Sunday, September 27. We’ll meet at Northminster at the usual time, 6:00-7:15pm. We’ll do our best to practice appropriate distancing and mask-wearing, and try to keep either outside or to the largest rooms available.
 
We are also looking at having separate High School and Middle School groups, either for part of the time or all of it. We have quite an age spread now, 6th grade is our youngest, all the way up to 11th grade, and we think we have enough participants to warrant two groups.
 
BUT! If we’re going to do that, we need help. Right now, it’s just me and Karey, and if we’re going to have two separate groups, we need at least two others to help out. If you are interested, or know someone who might be, please let me know.
 
You can learn more about our youth ministry and what we’ll be talking about by clicking here.
 
We look forward to seeing everyone in two weeks!
Rev. David Garrison

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September 2020 Pastor’s Corner – How to Vote in November

“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (Matt. 6:33)
 
In a couple of months we will vote for who will serve as President of the United States of America for the next four years. We now know definitively that it will either be Joe Biden or Donald Trump. Many Christians are wondering how they should vote in the upcoming election. Some Christians have already declared that the only “true” Christian vote is for the candidate they support. Well, let this article serve as the definitive guidance on how Christians should vote in November.
 

There’s More Than Just the Presidency

It is important to remember that there is more happening this November than just the presidency, and it is quite possible that the various local governing offices and the issues on the ballot could well have a greater impact on your day-to-day living than who is elected President. So often, we are so focused on the one office that we don’t pay as much attention to the other issues or political offices that are more local to us and therefore have greater impact on our lives. The presidency is important, and certainly grabs all of the headlines and news, but don’t miss the rest of the electoral forest for this one, admittedly big, tree.
 

Vote for the Kingdom of God

The most foundational objective for every Christian is to work to bring about the Kingdom of God on earth. In addition to the verse at the beginning of this article, most all of us pray for this every Sunday in the Lord’s Prayer: “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matt. 6:10). As you look at the candidates for office (including but not limited to the presidency) and the issues on the ballot, how can your vote contribute to bringing the Kingdom of God here on earth? Perhaps the first question to ask is, what are the values and character of the Kingdom of God? Jesus lays out his most succinct and thorough vision for the Kingdom of God in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). Over the next weeks and months, take time to read through the Sermon on the Mount prayerfully and intentionally and ask the Holy Spirit to guide your discernment as you look at the candidates and issues on the ballot.
 

Vote Your Conscience

One of the most beautiful hallmarks of both our faith and our democratic process is that we are all free to vote our conscience. I’ve seen a lot of folks make comments to the effect of, “if you don’t vote for _________, then you aren’t really a Christian.” That statement is, to quote one of my seminary professors, ‘straight from the pit of hell and smells like smoke.’ People will want to know who and how you are voting, but you are under no obligation to answer those questions — and, to be honest, I encourage you not to answer them. How you vote is between you, your ballot, and God. The beauty of our process is that the only vote that is “thrown away” is a vote not cast.
 

Disagree with Grace

This election seems to be more emotionally charged than any I can remember before, which amazes me because I didn’t think things could get more charged than the last one. It is more important than ever before that we learn to disagree with grace. Faithful, God-honoring and -loving Christians are going to discern how to vote for the Kingdom of God and their conscience in very different, and opposing ways. As Augustine once said (and is the motto of our denomination), “Unity in the essentials, liberty in the non-essentials, and in all things charity (love).” How we vote is not an essential of our faith, and we need to be able to dialogue and disagree with love and grace.
 

Accept the Results with Humility and Submission

The person and issues you vote for won’t win every time. It’s entirely possible that the issues you care about most end up with the result you would least like to see. No matter how things go, accept the results with humility and submission. If your candidate wins, be excited, but don’t gloat. As Paul reminds us in Romans 13, “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.” (Rom. 13:1–2) Keep in mind that Paul wrote this when Nero was emperor of the Roman Empire, one of the most tyrannical emperors ever seen. If Paul could encourage the Christians of his day to submit to Nero, we can submit to the candidate that wins the election.
 
So there you have it. The definitive guide to how a true Christian should vote in November. May God bless you as you seek to discern how to vote in November, and may His Kingdom come.
 
Blessings,
Rev. David Garrison

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August 2020 Pastor’s Corner – Essential?

“What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” (James 2:14–17)
 

Essential?

As state and local governments imposed increasingly strict rules regarding public gatherings in response to the rapidly spreading coronavirus pandemic this past spring, churches found themselves facing a difficult position. “Essential” businesses were somewhat exempt from the closures, but most states did not classify churches as “essential.” While most churches and pastors submitted to the guidance (and thanks to the blessings of modern technology were able to continue worshipping online or in outdoor settings), the restrictions chafed, particularly the determination that churches were not “essential.” To be honest, for many of us pastors, it chafed because the government was saying out loud what most of us have been feeling for a long time. It’s one thing to feel like you don’t matter… it’s entirely different when someone else says it.
 
As Virginia and many other states have begun reopening and churches, including ours, have resumed in-person worship, this question briefly moved to the background. But as the COVID-19 numbers continue to increase rapidly, many people think it’s just a matter of time before public gatherings are again restricted. Additionally, the Supreme Court recently ruled on a case in Nevada that imposed tighter regulations on churches than on casinos. In his minority dissent, Justice Gorsuch wrote, “In Nevada, it seems, it is better to be in entertainment than religion. Maybe that is nothing new. But the First Amendment prohibits such obvious discrimination against the exercise of religion.” This has returned the question of whether churches are essential or not to the foreground.
 

The Essential Church?

What is it that makes a church “essential”? Frankly, it doesn’t (or shouldn’t) matter what any government says. The Church is not subject to the government, but to Christ. The First Amendment doesn’t give the Church its authority or make it essential, it merely affirms and protects the authority given through Christ to the Church. As Edmund Clowney writes, “The great mark of the church is in the message it proclaims: the gospel of salvation from sin and eternal death through the cross and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who alone is the Way, the Truth and the Life.” (The Church, pg 103). The proclamation of this message comes through what we say and what we do. We proclaim the Gospel through our words by preaching and sharing our testimony and lives with others. We proclaim the Gospel through our actions by the administration of the sacraments (Baptism and the Lord’s Supper) and acts of service and ministry in which we love our neighbors as ourselves and care for “the orphans and widows” (James 1:27). It is my belief that we, the church in general, have become “non-essential” because we have failed to love and serve our communities well in Jesus’ name. A question I often ask myself and the Session is this: “If Northminster (both the building and the congregation) were to disappear from the corner of Clearview Road and Route 29, would anyone notice?” If the answer to that question is “no” then we have made ourselves non-essential.
 
But there is another reason the Church is essential, one that likely won’t be discussed in many of these conversations. One of the roles of the church is to intercede on behalf of the world. In addition to the call to pray for governing authorities (1 Timothy 2:2), there’s the example of Abraham’s intercession for Lot and the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18:22-33). We are here to seek God’s healing and blessing for Caesar, our communities and the world. The opportunity we have through our corporate prayer on behalf of the communities and world around us is an enormous privilege and opportunity.
 
As we continue through this pandemic, may the question of whether Northminster is essential or not be answered, not by a government edict, but by the ongoing faithful proclamation of the Word through our words and even more through our acts of love and service to our community.
 
Blessings,
Rev. David Garrison

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July 2020 Pastor’s Corner – Masking Our Freedom?

A rather surprisingly enormous debate has erupted over whether the government should or should not mandate the wearing of masks. As Romans 13:1-7 makes clear, we should submit to our governing authorities, and the Commonwealth has instituted a mandatory mask policy. Now, there is some question whether this is an example of government overreach, but I’d like to look at the issue from a different angle. While we are citizens of the United States and the Commonwealth of Virginia, and should therefore abide by its governance, we are first and foremost citizens of the Kingdom of God. How might wearing a mask fit into the values of the Kingdom of God? Conveniently, Paul points us toward an answer in the verses following the passage I just referenced.
Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. (Rom. 13:8–10)
 
Some argue that we are obligated to wear a mask, but I think Paul would disagree (“Owe no one anything…”). Rather than obligation, Paul points to the rule of love: “Love does no wrong to a neighbor.” Yes, there is a lot of debate about the efficacy of mask wearing, but there is a lot of agreement that it goes a long way toward protecting others from what germs you may have. And there is even more evidence that we become contagious before we exhibit symptoms, meaning I can make others sick before I am aware that I am sick. I might be doing wrong to my neighbor without even knowing it, so to love my neighbor as myself means I should wear a mask. Not because I owe them or am obligated to do so, but as an act of love and service.
 
A few verses later, Paul makes an equally important point: “As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions,” (Rom. 14:1) and then a few verses after that: “Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother.” (Rom. 14:13) We may disagree over whether masks are truly effective or whether the mandate is an example of government overreach, but it does no harm to the individual to wear a mask and is quite likely to do a lot of good in protecting others from what we might not know we have. Be entitled to your opinion, but let us not make our opinions into a stumbling block or hindrance that might keep someone else from growing in their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
 
Blessings,
Rev. David Garrison

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