[dropcap2 variation=”green”]B[/dropcap2]y God’s grace and mercy and to the glory of Christ the King, on the second day of February 2008 the Presbytery of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Australia convened to formally organise the Frankston Reformed Presbyterian Church.

[image_frame link_to = “false” prettyphoto = “false” style=”framed_shadow” align=”left” title=”Several members of the newly formed congregation” height=”335″ width=”450″]http://frankstonrp.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Group-with-Cake.jpg[/image_frame]
The formation of this new congregation was witnessed by members of the Geelong and McKinnon congregations of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Australia along with friends from neighbouring congregations of the Presbyterian Church of Victoria, the Presbyterian Church of Eastern Australia and two independent reformed congregations.

Up to this date, the believers who became members of the newly formed congregation had been meeting each Lord’s Day morning with the congregation in McKinnon (some 45 minutes away from Frankston) and together with friends in Frankston in a community hall in the evenings for over three years.

The members of the Frankston congregation praise God for the many blessings He has given since the group first petitioned presbytery to start a work in Frankston in 2003.

It was during 2004 that Presbytery granted the petitioners request to commence a new work, and the petitioners were encouraged to join the McKinnon congregation and start attending the church there for morning services. This formed a congregation with two centres of ministry – McKinnon and Frankston.
The McKinnon congregation was then being supplied with an interim minister and session. The Presbytery provided pulpit supply to Frankston in the evenings where petitioners for the work in Frankston and friends met for services in the home of Tony and Norma McKeeman.

In June 2005, the McKinnon congregation, made up of those who live in McKinnon and its surrounding suburbs along with those who were travelling up from Frankston issued a call to Pastor Ed Blackwood of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Northern America to minister to the congregation in both centres of ministry for a 2 year period.

In July 2006, the Lord led the McKinnon congregation to extend the call to Pastor Ed Blackwood indefinitely which was confirmed by the Lord placing the call upon Ed’s heart to continue with them.
During late 2006, elders were elected from the McKinnon congregation and the interim session made up of Alastair McEwen and Allan Nelson retired from the session after some 11 years of service to the McKinnon congregation.

In October 2007, the Frankston based members of the McKinnon congregation petitioned Presbytery to formally organise the Frankston congregation. In December 2007, presbytery voted unanimously to acquiesce to the prayer of the petition and preparations were made for the congregation to be formed in Frankston and for the continuing work in McKinnon.

[image_frame link_to = “false” prettyphoto = “false” style=”framed_shadow” align=”left” title=”The original session of elders (l-r Tony McKeeman, Ed Blackwood, Matt Glover)” height=”300″ width=”450″]http://frankstonrp.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/IMG_3382-web.jpg[/image_frame]
The newly formed congregation called Pastor Ed Blackwood to minister to the Frankston congregation and Presbytery appointed Alastair McEwen to provide regular pulpit supply to McKinnon for a period of 6 months.

The Frankston congregation called Tony McKeeman and Matthew Glover to serve as elders in the Frankston congregation and they were installed by Presbytery during the service of organisation. Presbytery appointed two elders of the Geelong congregation Dave Feldman and Allan Nelson to serve alongside Alastair as interim elders in McKinnon.

During the service of organisation in Frankston, Minister of the Geelong congregation Andrew Stewart preached from the Gospel of Matthew 16 on Building the Church during which he proclaimed that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God and that it was upon this truth that Christ is building his church, and that even the defences of the devil would be powerless to stop him.

Below are links to the sermon and other messages from the organisation service.

[button link=”http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=2308167710″ size=”medium” bgColor=”#D68525″]Christ Building His Church[/button] [button link=”http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=23081756264″ size=”medium” bgColor=”#D68525″]History, Prayers, Charges[/button]

The congregations in McKinnon and Frankston are small in number but they worship the living God who is able to do exceedingly more than we ask or imagine. Please pray for these congregations as they serve Christ the King by actively seeking to engage unbelievers for the sake of the Gospel, and that the Lord would cause them to grow spiritually and numerically as He builds his church in these centres.