Today's post is a piece written by Elmer Snethen, Capital Campaign Chairman. While many of you may have heard him share this before, such as at the January congregational meeting, I encourage you to read it as it serves as a reminder of why this campaign is much more than a fundraiser or list of projects to check off.
“It is January 20, 1852. Dr. Henry Augustus Boardman has invited several gentlemen belonging to Tenth Presbyterian Church to his house to discuss plans for founding a daughter church. They believed the time was right and by June had purchased a lot on 17th and Spruce. Then everything went wrong. They raised only half the money they needed. The help from other churches fell through. And within a year, Dr. Boardman seemed to be heading to Princeton. Then, the country entered a full financial depression that began developing in 1854 and did not let up until 1859. What did the people do? They thought it was the right time to move forward. In 1855, they laid the cornerstone, and in May 1856, the colony of thirty-six people began worship. See the sanctuary they built in 1857. You can’t see the steeple that towered 250 feet as the highest structure in Philadelphia. What vision they had!
Now think about this: their vision was too small! The sanctuary cannot hold half of Tenth’s membership and associates. And the only reason we can crowd the numbers who come for worship and study and fellowship and ministry is that one generation bought the Delancey building. Reception Hall was the office facility. The pastor’s study was up by the choir loft. What would we do without Delancey, which doubles as Sunday school classes? What would be have done if that same generation had not dug out the basement and created the classrooms and worship space of the Catacombs? What would we have done if our own generation had not purchased the 315 Building to fill up with more classes? And we still do not have enough space! Our vision has been too small!”
- Pastor Marion Clark
But let us go back to the end of the first paragraph. What vision they had. Yes, they truly had vision, but what they demonstrated the most and what they brought to 17th and Spruce was their tremendous faith. They were the first generation to fill this incredible place with faith and all the following generations have compounded it. That is what you feel when you come into this building and that is what makes this place so special – their tremendous and uncompromising faith in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. You can feel it, can’t you? I know you have either brought people to Tenth and have had them share “There is truly something special here!” It is so so true. You can have a beautiful building, which it is, but it is only a building. But, to have a building filled with faith, that is a treasure given by the hand of God.
To me, this is not a Capital Campaign, but a Journey in Faith. Our session has spent a great deal of time and especially prayer discerning the Lord’s leading in His vision for the next generation. They unanimously believe in the Lord’s calling at this time in our church’s history to move His vision forward. His call, our response. What is Faith? We are clearly told in Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”
How do we get faith? Once again, the bible clearly gives the answer in Romans 10. “Faith comes from hearing and hearing from the word of God.”
There is no other place that I know that teaches the word any clearer and more consistently, for almost 179 years, than here at Tenth Presbyterian Church.
Hebrews 11:6 reads, “Without faith it is impossible to please Him…” Oswald Chambers shares, “Yet faith must be tested and tried before it becomes real in your life.” Faith always works in personal ways, because the purpose of God is to see that perfect faith is made real in His children. The life of faith says, “Lord, you have said it, it appears to be irrational, but I’m going to step out boldly, trusting in your word.” “Faith is the entire person in the right relationship with God through the power of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.”
Now think about this: their vision was too small! The sanctuary cannot hold half of Tenth’s membership and associates. And the only reason we can crowd the numbers who come for worship and study and fellowship and ministry is that one generation bought the Delancey building. Reception Hall was the office facility. The pastor’s study was up by the choir loft. What would we do without Delancey, which doubles as Sunday school classes? What would be have done if that same generation had not dug out the basement and created the classrooms and worship space of the Catacombs? What would we have done if our own generation had not purchased the 315 Building to fill up with more classes? And we still do not have enough space! Our vision has been too small!”
- Pastor Marion Clark
But let us go back to the end of the first paragraph. What vision they had. Yes, they truly had vision, but what they demonstrated the most and what they brought to 17th and Spruce was their tremendous faith. They were the first generation to fill this incredible place with faith and all the following generations have compounded it. That is what you feel when you come into this building and that is what makes this place so special – their tremendous and uncompromising faith in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. You can feel it, can’t you? I know you have either brought people to Tenth and have had them share “There is truly something special here!” It is so so true. You can have a beautiful building, which it is, but it is only a building. But, to have a building filled with faith, that is a treasure given by the hand of God.
To me, this is not a Capital Campaign, but a Journey in Faith. Our session has spent a great deal of time and especially prayer discerning the Lord’s leading in His vision for the next generation. They unanimously believe in the Lord’s calling at this time in our church’s history to move His vision forward. His call, our response. What is Faith? We are clearly told in Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”
How do we get faith? Once again, the bible clearly gives the answer in Romans 10. “Faith comes from hearing and hearing from the word of God.”
There is no other place that I know that teaches the word any clearer and more consistently, for almost 179 years, than here at Tenth Presbyterian Church.
Hebrews 11:6 reads, “Without faith it is impossible to please Him…” Oswald Chambers shares, “Yet faith must be tested and tried before it becomes real in your life.” Faith always works in personal ways, because the purpose of God is to see that perfect faith is made real in His children. The life of faith says, “Lord, you have said it, it appears to be irrational, but I’m going to step out boldly, trusting in your word.” “Faith is the entire person in the right relationship with God through the power of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.”
This is His call and His gift to each and every member and regular attendee, as well as the corporate church, to grow in faith. He is offering this amazing gift to all; no one is to be left out. This is our time, our turn. His call, our response to pass on to the next generations our filling of His church with our generation of faith. If we accomplish everything on the Capital Campaign list - renovations, organ, elevator, etc., and as individuals and as a church have not grown in our faith, to me we have truly failed. Through faith all things are possible. Through faith we will accomplish both. But most importantly is to pass on our faith to the next generation. We are here for such a time as this. His call, our response.
