Epiphany Fellowship of Camden is a group of committed followers of Christ that has covenanted together for the purpose of establishing a Christ-centered biblical church in the Whitman Park/Fairview neighborhoods of Camden New Jersey. We are a mission Church under the watch-care of both Epiphany Fellowship of North Philadelphia and Tenth Presbyterian Church. In addition, we are in conjunction with the PCA and Acts 29 Network.

The Church of Irresistible Influence

As a group, the Epiphany Fellowship of Camden community is now working through Robert Lewis' The Church of Irresistible Influence (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2001).

This Sunday, May 1st, we will be discussing chapters one and two when we meet together (see our Facebook page for more details on the place and time of our meeting).

If, for some reason, you are unable to attend our meetings and would like to follow along in our study, you can simply search "ChurchOfi2" on Twitter and you will find a stream of quotations from the book, along with pastoral reflection on its salient points.

If you have the book and would like to quote something that resonates with you, please feel free to participate in the discussion on your own Twitter account by hash-tagging "ChurchOfi2." If you are unfamiliar with "hash-tagging," it is simply a way to track a stream of quotations on the same topic. To "hash-tag" something, all you need to do is place the pound-sign, #, before a word or phrase with no spaces in between. For example: #ChurchOfi2.

Some questions to consider from Chapter One: The Great Chasm:

• What kind of impact do you foresee our church having in Camden?
• How will the communities in Camden around us "know" our church? Will they feel a positive connection to our ministry?
• What tangible influences will Epiphany Fellowship have on the communities in Camden City?

Some questions to consider from Chapter Two: Living Proof:

• What kinds of "living proof" will Camden experience as a result of our church's Christianity?
• How will the call of "living proof" (living out our faith) in the community challenge the way that we operate as a church?
• What helpful perspectives and ideas do the Scriptures cited in Chapter Two stir up in us as we consider this work?

The leadership of Epiphany wishes you many blessings in this study on incarnational ministry.

Fast on Wednesday

Join us as we fast on Wednesday, April 20, 2011. We will spend our time reading and meditating on Isaiah 40 from 6am-6pm. We want to seek the Lord's face in prayer and make our requests known to Him. Pray for the city of Camden, its people, and for God to pave the way for Epiphany Camden to do the work of the Lord!

Epiphany Camden Vision Casting Social

Hello Fam the time is now! Discover Epiphany Fellowship of Camden! Our first interest meeting will be this Sunday, April 17th at 4:00pm.

If you want to learn about our vision and mission to reach Camden with the gospel of Jesus Christ and are interested in being a part of this movement, come fellowship with us as we dive into our plan for the city. We are so excited about what the Lord is doing and you will be too! Refreshments will be served.

Where: The residence of Alan Bibelheimer, 869 Derousse Avenue, Pennsauken, NJ, 08110. (Parking is available in the school parking lot located across the street.)

Pictures from our leadership meeting last week can be found here.

2Cor. 13:14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

40 Days in Isaiah 40 - Part Two

Isaiah 40:3-5 A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoke.

Deep down n the inner crevasses of people’s hearts we all long to experience the presence of God. This is the gist of this passage in Isaiah is simply: “get ready God is coming.”

Background: In the verses 40:1-2 we learned that God was wooing His people back by tenderly speaking to them sweet words of forgiveness and pardon. I would characterize 40:1-2 as the covenantal character of the comforting promise of God while verses 3-5 are the contents of Yahweh’s comforting promise.

The Story

Isaiah hears a voice! It is expressed here that God is represented as marching at the head of His returning people. This is different from the Israelites exodus from Egypt motif. This carries the imagery of YHWH coming to His peoples aid like the deliverer, the rescuing agent and Hero that He is (Deut 33:2).

This has an advent flavor and implication that reaches into the eschatological realities of the Incarnation of Christ. The Messiah, the King of Kings, the God-man is coming so get yourself and the way ready to receive Him.

For God to come down on earth, for his glory to be revealed and to see the restoration of a nation, the revelation of himself in Christ, and the final establishment of his kingdom, the “way” must be first “prepared” for him.

This clearly points to the posture and practical reality of the people must be that of a repentant heart. All revival starts with repentance. Our disobedient hearts and action must be broken and realigned with the God Most High. Isaiah is talking here about the aggressive and disruptive reality of Yahweh’s Salvation.

Interestingly enough, the passage uses the words “prepare & make straight.” These word prepare in Hebrew denotes a specific type of preparation namely the removal of obstructions. And the word for “make straight” simply means to “level out,” the way. In other words, clear the way and straighten out the path YHWH is coming!

Like many monarchs of old they would have thousands of workers construct a smooth road with all obstacles removed. This phraseology is saying, "The road is to be straight and level, free from all obstacles." In other words; the Lord will arrive on time, unhindered, with out fail or difficulty. Without a doubt He is coming. This is the assurance of the advent of Christ. And this passage we learn clearly is the prophecy of the coming of John the Baptizer- Jesus’ big cousin.

Verse 4 is simply an explanation of which the way of the Lord was to be prepared. The whole impression here that is intended to be made is that of a way opened through a wilderness by leveling the ground and the removal of obstructions, as a natural image for the removal of the hindrances to God’s revisiting His people.

At the end of the obstruction removal and road construction through a hard to pass area the beautiful Glory of the Lord will be revealed and all the people will get the blessed opportunity to see it! Man that’s good!

The Relevant Reality

This is good stuff to pray through and hope in. Clear the way, God is coming, and God’s glory would be universally displayed, and we shall see Him(John 1:14). This is good news for the EFC team as what is commonly displayed in Camden is often decadence, demonic, and destruction.

We desire to see Camden renewed by the Gospel. We are storming God’s throne as a family asking Him to make a way for us to missionally engage the people of Camden, build real relationships and see authentic conversions to Christ that person by person God will rebuild and renew a depressed city.

YHWH is Coming in the person of Jesus the Christ! What a hope! You see Jesus comes to us as we are. He powerfully and lovingly breaks us of our sinful ways and meets us in our brokenness. He comes to where we are in the desert realities of our sin, parched and dry, desperate and in need of refreshment. And he quenches our thirst with his loving and refreshing presence through repentance in His name.

How can we begin to prepare a way! God never calls anyone to renewal without first calling them to repentance. We simply need to prepare our hearts by admitting that we are not lost in the wilderness of sin but hiding in it. By taking ownership and confessing that we have been clinging to our sinful crooked places and they have not and will never produce the wholeness that Christ provides in the Gospel.

Prayer Points

This passage points to grand Kings having roads erected to make for an easy arrival. This is not necessarily the case with King Jesus. He was despised and rejected by the scribes and the Pharisees. His own followers rejected and doubted Him. And he was brutally assaulted the night before he would be unlawfully murdered not to mention the brutal beating he received all the way to the Hill called Calvary. No one was there to clear the soldiers from punching and beating him. No one to wipe away the spit that was hurled in His face. The Father saw fit and was pleased to bruise Him so much so he did not make the road to the Cross level or smooth.

Yet in just a few hours He by His sacrificial suffering and substitutionary death made away, a straight and smooth path to walk into the very presence of God as His blood would serve as the “red carpet:” into Yahweh’s permanent presence.

This is our prayer for Camden! Please pray that God would use us as leveling and straightening tools to missionally engage people and see the Gospel invade the least the Last and the lost by his Grace and for the Glory of Christ.

John 1:23-27 …he said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.” …They asked him, “Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” John answered them, “I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie (that is none other than Jesus the Christ).

40 Days in Isaiah 40 - Part One

Isaiah 40:1-2 Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.

In Chapter 39 Isaiah predicted that Judah would go into exile in Babylon. They did in 586 B.C. However, no sooner than disaster was declared upon God’s people in Chapter 39 there was a declaration of hope for the future that rested in the promise of the Covenant keeping God-YHWH. Isaiah 40 calls for God’s people to stop looking down at their problems and start looking up to their God.

In the midst of disaster YHWH says, “Comfort, Comfort.” The repetition of the word intensifies the affection and fervent love God has for his people and his ability to accomplish his purpose in and through them. Our God is constantly wooing and speaking to his people with the words of comfort. This passage declares that the Children of Israel should comfort one another with the reality of his promise. Your problems have been many and your sin, catastrophic, declared God through His prophet. Now that I have brought you through this disaster, take comfort in ME. I am your God and you are my people.

The Israelites go into exile not because of a lack of God’s power but because of sin. He says in verse 2 “speak tenderly” as to win back their hearts of His people. In spite of and in light of their rebellion God still identified them as “my people.” Now YHWH proclaims that the “hard service” is over as the words here in the passage are military in nature. In other words because God so desires to fulfill his plan through his chosen people Israel they can fall back from work and “demobilize.”

Then YHWH declares some sweet words as He says, “your sins have been pardoned.” This is a beautiful thing to a renegade crew who would have gone into deep despair, confusion and doubt. Without these words they would be blaming God for their predicament and not realizing that exile is not their permanent position. They went into exile in far from their homeland physically and far from feeling like God’s chosen and favored people.

As we journey into Camden to plant a Christ-centered Church, with the help of Almighty God we will seek to show off the Glory of Christ in every area of life! I hear the Lord wooing our team by His Spirit and reminding us of His purpose, plan, and love for Camden. I am encouraged that the Grace of Christ “demobilizes” our feeble attempts to put on our sinful uniforms of false and empty righteousness. The Gospel strips us down and exposes our rebellion and displays how our so-called righteousness is non-existent and how we are actually spiritually, emotionally, financially, and psychologically NAKED! We need to be suited up in the righteousness of Christ that comes by Christ Alone.

Through the Gospel we hear the blood of Christ from the Cross crying out, “You are pardoned! You are released! Your sins have been atoned for!” In a city that almost every agency, surrounding township, and person watching the news media has given up on; in a city where there are more drug dealers than high school graduates: in a city that has seen its mayors removed in handcuffs for criminal behavior; in a city where funding streams have been allocated to cosmetics--the riverfront developments--and not to the people who most need it, can there be any hope? In this historic city, where many of the residents feel outcast, abandoned, neglected, and abused, and where a third of the police force was recently lost on one day, residents wonder if there is hope of renewal and restoration.

EFC declares that right now, in Jesus’ Mighty Name, there is One who has not given up on the people of Camden. There is One whose perfect plan is capable of restoring this city. His name is the Lord Christ! His Gospel is the only authentic tender word. So as a church plant team shall we not declare the comfort of Christ through His Gospel? Shall we not pray that people might cease warring as Christ has suffered all the real warfare with Satan for our sins on the cross? And shall we ourselves not repent and embrace the reality of the pardon that comes from Jesus, as in Him the wrath of God is forever satisfied? Let us pray earnestly and continually that God would be with us and before us in a city in need of a holistic Gospel witness.

Reflection passage: 2^nd Corinthians 1:3-5 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.

CitiCry - The Prayer Ministry of EFC

Isaiah 62:6-7: O Jerusalem, I have posted watchmen on your walls; they will pray day and night, continually. Take no rest, all you who pray to the Lord. Give the Lord no rest until He completes His work, until He makes Jerusalem the pride of the earth.

CityCry is our passion as a new church plant to exalt the Lord and look to Him to move mightily in our hearts as a team and throughout the hearts of the people of the city of Camden.

The power of prayer is highly underestimated. We believe that God hears our prayers, edits, and answers them. Prayer is communicating with God.

We will cry out for conversions & commitments to Christ. We will pray for the City comprehensively; the police, schools, city government. We will pray for the needs of the children, single mothers, for the pandemic of fatherless that exists like a plague. The socially and relationally disconnected young men and boys in search of guidance, love, and in many cases a real friend or even a father.

“Prayer is the open admission that without Christ we can do nothing. And prayer is the turning away from ourselves to God in the confidence that he will provide the help we need. Prayer humbles us as needy and exalts God as all-sufficient.” - John Piper