Faith Church Announces New Worship Time
Change can be difficult. As interim pastor at Faith Reformed Presbyterian Church, 611 Robert Fulton Highway, Quarryville, Dan Perrin's primary role has been to help congregation members work through the emotions that rise after change occurs.
"My job is to absorb the bumps and struggles that come with transitions so the church is able to move forward," Perrin explained.
Faith Church's previous full-time pastor, Sam Andreades, had served the church for nearly five years before leaving on July 31, 2018, to pursue other ministry opportunities. Perrin started his work with the congregation on Oct. 1. He had previously pastored churches in the Pittsburgh area, Cincinnati, and Saint Louis. After the recession, Perrin was an interim pastor in Baltimore, then he served as chaplain at Quarryville Presbyterian Retirement Community (QPRC) for two years. Most recently, he was interim pastor at a church in Cochranville.
Perrin expects to be with Faith Church for another 18 months to two years. In addition to meeting with families and individuals, Perrin has been working with the board of elders to think through what qualities they want in their next pastor. He has been responsible for preaching the bulk of the sermons, although executive pastor Andy Pickens and youth and families pastor Tim Mindemann also take turns in the pulpit.
Perrin is also preparing the congregation for Mindemann's departure, as he will be moving to Tennessee to serve as a lead pastor there. Mindemann had served Faith Church for 11 years, and Perrin had mentored him as he went through seminary. The church will not call a youth pastor until after a new lead pastor is hired, but church members will keep the youth ministry going.
Perrin is not involved with starting new ministries, but he is helping to rebuild existing ones, such as Sunday school and the worship process. And, in that way, change can be easy.
Starting on Sunday, March 10, Faith Church will flip its meeting times. Sunday school will begin at 9 a.m., worship will start at 10:30 a.m., and a fellowship time will be held between them.
"I normally wouldn't do something like this, but a lot of people asked for it," Perrin said. "We made the announcement on the last Sunday of January, and I have not heard one complaint."
The time change will enable corporate worship services to be more available to the community, Perrin explained, adding, "People traditionally see church starting at 10:30 or 11 a.m." The later service time will make it easier for members to invite guests, and it will better suit the residents of QPRC, which was founded as a ministry of Faith Church. The contents and blended style of the worship service will remain the same for now. Perrin described his preaching as expositional and applied.
Faith Church is a member of the Presbyterian Church in America, which is committed to the inerrancy of Scripture and is dedicated to world missions and evangelism. Perrin noted that Faith Church has made a special effort to practice compassion. It regularly hosts events for underserved populations, as well as numerous Bible studies and other activities for children, youths, men, and women, and it seeks to make a positive contribution to the community.
"Our commitment to compassion is based on the commands of Christ to be like He is," Perrin said.
For more information about Faith Church, folks may call the office at 717-786-7559, email frpc@faithrpc.org, or visit http://www.faithrpc.org.
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