Volume 9: Issue 5 | September 2026
Fifth Century: Empire Divided, More Heresies
Expansion
In the 400s, Syriac speaking missionaries, mostly Nestorian Christians, traveled along the merchants’ Silk Road to central Asia and on to Tibet, Mongolia, and China. However, the presence of Nestorian Christianity faded away after a few centuries.
Ireland was more lastingly Christian. Hibernian (old word for Irish) pirates enslaved a sixteen-year-old Briton named Patrick and made him work as a shepherd for six years. While a shepherd, Patrick prayed and meditated on God, deepening the Christian faith he had learned as a child. With many adventures, Patrick escaped Ireland and got back to his family in Britain. Soon, he dreamed of a man with a letter pleading, “Come to Ireland,” and he returned as a missionary. Details of his preaching and organizing are unknown. By the year 500 A.D., however, Ireland’s warring tribes had become generally Christian, and many churches and monasteries were preparing to send missionaries to the rest of the British Isles and to northern Europe.
A different kind of advance came with a new Latin translation. Jerome came to Rome from his home in Dalmatia, across the Adriatic Sea from Italy. Although born into a Christian family, he was not baptized until in his twenties. After Jerome was established as a scholar, the Bishop of Rome commissioned him to do a new Latin Bible translation. Until Jerome, the Latin Bible translated the Old Testament from the Greek Septuagint. Like all educated Romans, Jerome knew Greek, but not Hebrew. He decided to move to Palestine to learn Hebrew, and several wealthy Roman women, especially a widow named Paula whom he was advising on how to live sober Christian life, financed a move to Bethlehem. Paula became abbess of a nunnery, and Jerome lived nearby learning Hebrew. Thus, Jerome translated the Old Testament from the Hebrew, with Paula and her daughter Eustochium translating the Psalms, along with editing and proofreading Jerome’s translation work. Jerome wrote in the vulgar, that is, the common Latin of his day. His translation is called the Vulgate Bible: used in the West for the next thousand years, long after languages had evolved and common people no longer understood it.
Mesrop Mashtots created an Armenian alphabet in 405 A.D. Then he and his students began translating the Bible from the Syriac Bible (the Pashitta), beginning with the Book of Proverbs. Wanting to be more accurate, they sent to Edessa and Constantinople for Greek texts and went to Alexandria to get a copy of Origen’s Hexaplia. The Hexaplia was a 250 A.D. six column Old Testament: Hebrew without vowels, Hebrew transliterated into Greek with vowels, the Septuagint with notes where it differed from the Hebrew, and three other Second Century Greek translations. Wow! Mashtots completed the translation in 436. Armenians call it the “Queen of Translations.”
When Theodosius died in 395, he passed the Western half of the Roman Empire to his ten-year-old son Honorius. The capital was now in Milan in northeastern Italy, but moved again in 401 to the more easily defended city of Ravenna on the Adriatic coast. The Eastern Roman Empire went to another son, seventeen-year-old Arcadius. Neither boy was strong, so others kept maneuvering for power. Meanwhile, Alaric led the Goths, who were fleeing the Huns, into Greece in the East, made deals, plundered, felt betrayed, and then went to Italy. There the same thing happened until the Goths conquered Rome in 410. The usual rape and pillage followed. Because the Goths were Arians, Alaric ordered them to protect all who took refuge in churches, especially the clergy. Nevertheless, when calm returned, Rome’s population had fallen from 800,000 to 500,000, the drop being mostly refugees fleeing. By 500, it had fallen to 100,000.
The entire empire was shocked. Pagan Roman intellectuals blamed the disaster on Christians who had forsaken the old Roman gods. To answer them, Augustine of Hippo in North Africa (354-430) wrote The City of God, one of the most influential books ever written. It is a wide-ranging account of human history as the battle between two intertwined cities, the City of God and the City of Man. Augustine also wrote his Confessions, as a prayer, with many famous quotations: “You have made us for yourself, and our souls are restless until they find their rest in you.” “The mind commands the body and is instantly obeyed. The mind commands itself and meets resistance.” “The Bible was composed in such a way that as beginners grow, its meaning grows with them.” “Take up and read.” “Give me continence and chastity, but not just yet.” Augustine’s Confessions changed how people wrote biographies. Development of character joined the heroic as a common theme. Augustine fought the Donatists, wrote in defense of the Nicene doctrine of the Trinity, and wrote many commentaries.
In the 400s different Germanic tribes settled in the West. Pagan Angles and Saxons invaded mostly Christian Britain after Rome withdrew its army in 410. The already partly Romanized and partly Christianized Franks settled northern Gaul. The Visigoths (Western Goths) got Spain. The Vandals conquered North Africa in 429. In 476 A.D., the traditional date for “the fall of Rome,” the Ostrogoths (Eastern Goths) put Odoacer, one of their own, on the throne in Rome. The end of Roman rule in Rome might have happened in 452 when Atilla the Hun invaded Italy. As he approached Rome, the Bishop of Rome, Leo I, went to meet him and he turned back. He never attacked Rome, even though he was a complete pagan. What Leo said to Atilla is unknown, but it certainly increased the prestige of his office. Meanwhile, the more densely populated Eastern Empire continued for many centuries, its Greek-speaking citizens calling themselves Romans.
Persecution
With the Roman Empire officially Christian, Emperors sometimes persecuted fellow Christians. John Chrysostom became a famous preacher in Antioch, 386-397. He followed the Antiochene tradition of looking for the literal and historical meaning of the biblical text, rather than the Alexandrian tradition of looking for allegorical meaning. Against his will, Chrysostom became Archbishop of Constantinople in 397. He was wildly popular and wildly unpopular. Following the example of Basil of Caesarea, who founded the first hospital, Chrysostom did the same in Constantinople. He enforced discipline on Christian clergy, some of whom preferred Constantinople to their small-town parishes. He preached against excesses of the rich. He worked on the liturgy that bears his name, finalized centuries later and used until today in Orthodox churches. In 403 a local synod deposed Chrysostom on the false charge of favoring Origen. With popular support, he was reinstated. Then the Empress Eudoxia had a statue of herself erected next to the Church of Hagia Sophia. Chrysostom denounced ceremonies celebrating its erection as more pagan than Christian. Of the Empress, he said, “Again Herodias raves, again she dances, and again desires to receive John's head on a platter.” This time Chrysostom was deposed and banished to the Caucasus Mountains region. His supporters burned down Hagia Sophia. While traveling to his place of banishment, Chrysostom died in 407.
With the Empire officially Nicene Christian, it tried to force dissenting groups back into the Catholic Church. In an infamous letter, Augustine misapplied Jesus’ parable of the wedding feast, “Whoever you find, force to come in.” He wanted the emperor to force the North African Donatists into the Catholic Church. Young and weak Emperor Honorius tried and failed. One consequence of Augustine’s preaching against the Donatists was a clarification about baptism: its efficacy does not depend on the spiritual state of the one doing the baptism.
Followers of Nestorius, condemned at the Council of Ephesus in 431, left in large number for the Persian kingdom of the Sassanids to escape persecution. Unlike Novatians, Donatists, and Arians, Nestorian churches never completely died out. They continue to the present as the Assyrian Church of the East.
Heresies
What did Nestorius teach? He proposed that Jesus exists as two distinct persons, divine and human, coexisting in a single human body. He therefore refused to call Mary “Theotokos,” meaning “God-bearer,” saying that she should instead be called “Christotokos,” that is, “Christ-bearer.” Nestorius explained: Mary was human, she could give birth only to the human Christ, but not to the Second Person of the Trinity. The Third Ecumenical Council of Ephesus in 431, called to meet by Emperor Theodosius II (408-451), insisted on the full unity of Christ’s two natures and rejected Nestorianism as heretical. Mary is the “Theotokos!”
Reacting against Nestorius who taught that Jesus Christ was not a single person, the monk Eutyches taught that in Jesus Christ the divine and human fused into one, with the divine absorbing the human. The 451 Council of Chalcedon condemned both Nestorius (again) and Eutychus. It adopted the decisive formula, which all historic Protestant churches, the Roman Catholic Church, and the Eastern Orthodox churches believe and teach.
The Westminster Shorter Catechism teaches Chalcedonian Christology. “Q. 21. Who is the redeemer of God’s elect? A. The only redeemer of God’s elect is the Lord Jesus Christ, who, being the eternal Son of God, became man, and so was, and continueth to be, God and man in two distinct natures, and one person, forever.” “Q. 22. How did Christ, being the Son of God, become man? A. Christ, the Son of God, became man, by taking to himself a true body and a reasonable soul, being conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost, in the womb of the Virgin Mary, and born of her, yet without sin.”
The Council of Chalcedon resulted in the first large and permanent split in the Christian Church. The Oriental Orthodox Churches, the Coptic Church in Egypt, the Syriac Orthodox Church, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, and the Armenian Orthodox Church rejected Chalcedon. They teach instead that Christ has one unified nature, both fully human and fully divine, but somehow with the human not swallowed up by the divine, as Eutyches taught.
About 390, a learned Briton named Pelagius, noted for his personal self-denial, came to Rome. He attacked Augustine’s teaching about sin and our need for God’s grace through Christ’s redemptive sacrifice on the cross. Instead, Pelagius said that people are born good and can freely choose to live good lives. Jesus Christ is our example and our savior only in that sense. Since infants have no sins to wash away, Pelagius saw no use for infant baptism. Augustine, and also Jerome after Pelagius traveled to Palestine, attacked his denial of Original Sin, his belief in absolute human free will, and his minimizing any need for Christ to die for our sins. Zosimus, Bishop of Rome, excommunicated Pelagius in 418. The 431 Third Ecumenical Council of Ephesus also called Pelagianism a heresy.
Conclusion
Most ancient heresies died out after several centuries, even while leaving marks on the Christian Church. However, the Oriental Christian Churches, which dissent from the Chalcedonian doctrine of the distinct divine and human natures of Christ in One Person, survive to the present, as does a small Nestorian Church. By the Fifth Century, the Christian Church and the fate of the Roman Empire were intertwined, but only the Eastern Empire survived the Germanic semi-barbarian invasions. In the West, the Church gained influence as the Western Roman Empire dissolved into different pieces ruled by quarreling Germanic tribes, albeit tribes that were already partly Romanized and Christianized through trade and the many tribesmen having served in the Roman army.
– Bill Edgar
My Calling to the Christian Ministry
There stands in front of our house in Walden, NY, an ancient tree — an American sycamore (Platanus occidentalis). The story goes that this tree was so massive, even during the earliest days of this country, that Indians of the Wallkill River Valley used it as a landmark and a meeting place. The sycamore has never moved from that spot. For me, that tree is a striking reminder of God's immutable purpose and faithfulness in the midst of the constantly changing kaleidoscope of our own human experience.
I once thought I was rooted — like this tree — in a plan (or dream) of my own devising. I loved the woodlands and the hills surrounding my childhood home in western Pennsylvania. For over twenty years I never wanted to be anything other than a “forester” and, in fact, continued to pursue that goal with dedication and persistence — until I got there. But God had a different purpose for me — a purpose that was revealed to me in bits and pieces, countless unexpected experiences and encounters that ultimately brought me to an unforeseeable (and at one time unthinkable) destination: the Christian ministry.
God's call in my life resulted from the confluence of three events over a period of ten years.
Conversion
The first of these was my conversion at the age of 18 through the witness of Christian friends in a Southern Baptist youth group. Until that time I had been dabbling in the philosophical novels of Albert Camus and Jean-Paul Sartre, without any viable answers to questions of life's meaning or values. I was at the center of my own little universe and it was a lonely place to be! Then Christian friends came into my orbit bringing a refreshing new awareness that this world belongs to God who made it. I learned about Jesus, his sacrificial death in my place, and the new life that burst forth with his resurrection. And I learned that the life we live here is merely a preparation for eternity, which might begin at any time. I felt like I had awakened from a long sleep and my life was flooded with the light of Christ's kingdom!
Seeking a Biblical Foundation
The second “event” that shifted my life toward the Christian ministry was a growing awareness of the necessity of knowing God's word. I was a spiritual “newborn” when I headed off to Syracuse, NY to prepare for a career in forestry in the fall of 1968. After completing a degree in Forest Management at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry I headed west to begin my work as Forestry Technician at the Weyerhaeuser Company in Coos Bay, OR. I had read and learned much about Christian faith and life through my involvement with Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship in college. But I had not settled into a church. That changed when I arrived in Coos Bay. My first acquaintances were members of the Christian & Missionary Alliance Church, where I received a warm welcome.
But things did not go so well on the career front. According to my job description, I was a “regeneration expert”— forest regeneration, that is. My work as a forester was to ensure the regrowth of healthy young trees on clear-cut land, but I saw a much deeper need for regeneration in the lives of the men I worked with. I saw in them the emptiness, darkness, and moral vacuity that I had once known too well myself. I could diagnose their problem, but felt inadequate to lead them to the new life I had found in Christ. I began to think I needed to prepare myself to help such lost people. I recalled conversations with a college professor who had told me about a Christian Study Center in Europe called “L'Abri Fellowship” -- “The Shelter.” Before long I was heading to L'Abri in England. There I grew in my appreciation for the depth and the riches of God's revelation in the Bible. I returned to the USA six months later, determined to find a Reformed church, but still planning to pursue a career in forestry.
A strange sequence of events brought me to the Syracuse RP Church and to a new vision for ministry. I showed up at the door of Pastor Ed Robson the same evening that another young couple had dropped in; they were Rich and Nancy Ganz. Rich was beginning to struggle with his own sense of calling. Ultimately, we both determined that God was behind our deep and growing desire to understand the Scriptures and to help others understand them, too. Rich eventually went to Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia and to work with Dr. Jay Adams. I went to the Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Pittsburgh.
Testing My Foundation
The third event that completed the process of persuading me of God's calling to ministry was a period of testing. This testing was not just overcoming various temptations (though that was part of it). It was more a matter of testing my gifts and preparation to determine if I might be suitable for such a calling. For example, during my three years of seminary study, I discovered a use for my natural gift for learning languages. I had occasionally wondered if my interest in learning Latin through four years of high school would ever find a purpose beyond recognizing the Latin names for tree species. In seminary my interest in foreign languages found free rein in the study of Greek, Hebrew, and then Aramaic. Through these languages I could delve more deeply into the study and interpretation of the Scriptures. I also had opportunities to do summer internships at three congregations in New York and Iowa. Although I had entered seminary desiring to build a stronger biblical foundation for my own life, by the time I graduated I finally felt that I might be able to help others. God had given me a desire to share the good news of the Bible. And I received confirmation from those I served that God had given me the necessary gifts for a pastoral calling. After a year divided between teaching Greek at RPTS and serving as the “stated supply” preacher for a mission station in western Pennsylvania, I received and accepted a call to become associate pastor of the Syracuse RP Church in 1978. Several years later the Board of Foreign Missions called me to go to Japan as a missionary. Once again, my facility with language learning was tested! But once again, the Lord stood by me. What was decisive in my accepting the call to go to Japan was not a desire to live in Japan, but a desire to serve wherever the need was the greatest. I felt I could in some small measure, identify with Isaiah who responded to the Lord's query, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” with, “Here I am! Send me!”
After more than forty years serving as an ordained minister of the gospel, both in the USA and in Japan, I can finally consider my calling in retrospect. Not that ministry has ended with my retirement — far from it! Rather, I can now look in the “rearview mirror” at my past years and say, “Yes, it actually does make sense!” After all these years and experiences, I have no doubts about my calling to the Christian ministry. It took years to make the transition from “regeneration expert” as a novice forester to “regeneration helper” as a minister of the gospel. But I can't imagine a happier, more fulfilling, and interesting life than the one God has given me in Christian ministry. I have been exceedingly blessed in a loving, godly wife and children who are all by God's grace walking in the truth. The multi-faceted jumble of pieces that comprised my life story, with its various gifts, experiences, opportunities, encounters with people, seems to have fallen into a semblance of order. It was not my intention to give up my cherished (but self-centered) dream of spending my days in the hills and forests of my native land. It was never my plan to enter the Christian ministry. From my perspective, the conviction that God was calling me to the ministry came out of nowhere and grew by fits and starts over many years. But God always knew what I would become; he knows the end from the beginning for each one of us. He has a plan and a purpose for everyone. As the Lord said to the exiles of Israel, “I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. … You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart” (Jer. 29:11, 13). Few things in life seem really sure. But the massive sycamore in our front yard reminds me daily that the Lord's plan is like that tree -- solid and dependable, generation after generation, for those who seek him with all their heart.
-- Charles Leach
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The Roving Intern
Greetings, friends in the Atlantic Presbytery! Over the last three months, I have had the pleasure of meeting many of you, but there are many more whom I have not yet met. This summer I have served as a roving intern. I write this piece to introduce myself and give a brief report on my experience.
Who am I?
My name is Joseph Wolcott. I am 24 years old, a student at Westminster Seminary California, and a student currently under care with the Pacific Coast Presbytery. I was born and raised in Harrisburg, PA. My parents still live in Harrisburg, and my father is one of the pastors at a PCA church in the area. I earned my bachelor’s degree in history and political science from Grove City College, graduating in 2024. My journey to the RPCNA began in my freshman year. I did not grow up in a church that sang Psalms, and I had no idea that you could even sing Psalms. That changed when I began attending an OPC congregation that uses the Trinity Psalter Hymnal. That alone was a mind-blowing experience. It wasn’t until late in my junior year that I heard about the RPCNA, mainly because they were the weirdos who only sing Psalms and do so without instruments. My curiosity was piqued. I then spent a little more than a year deeply studying the Regulative Principle of Worship, exclusive psalmody, and a capella worship. By the time I was finished, I was one of those weirdos.
By then, I was finished with college and I had already committed to WSCal. I knew that I agreed with the RPCNA on worship, but I also knew there was more to being RP than just the Psalms. I spent a good amount of my gap year trying to discern whether the best place for me was the RPCNA, URCNA, or OPC. The RP was always the most attractive option, but I needed to do the reading before I committed. I came out on the other side of that study thoroughly convinced of our RP distinctives. I began attending the San Diego congregation in October, transferred my membership shortly thereafter, and came under care at the March meeting of the Pacific Coast Presbytery.
The Roving Internship
After many months in California, I wanted to find a summer internship at an RP church close to home. Regrettably, there is currently no RP church in Harrisburg, but there are several congregations not too far away. I emailed some churches in the Atlantic Presbytery and connected with the powers that be. Presbytery decided to green-light me officially interning under Pastor Paul Brace at the Hazleton congregation, but I would spend much of the internship getting to know several other congregations in the Atlantic Presbytery and several in Alleghenies. With the details set, we were off to the races!
My first stop was Grace Presbyterian Church in State College. I stayed in Lewistown with Dan Stegeman, who currently serves as the Interim Pastor for Pulpit Supply and Pastoral Care. This week was lighter because I went there immediately after arriving back on the East Coast. In the mornings, we sat in a local coffee shop and got work done. Then we walked around the town and prayed for the many needs in Lewistown. After lunch, we either drove to State College to do some work there or we worked on some projects at the house. Throughout the week I had the opportunity to meet the elders, Dean McHenry and Mark England, as well as several members of the church. The week culminated with me preaching the evening service for Grace RPC on June 7.
My next assignment was to be at Hazleton on June 14. The main assignment was to become acquainted with the congregation. Pastor Brace used the Sunday School time after the service to have me introduce myself and what I would be doing this summer. I enjoyed getting to know the folks at Hazleton.
That week was Synod (June 15-19), and it was set to be a busy one for me. The San Diego congregation offered to pay for me to attend, and none of the elders from Hazleton were able to attend. My job was to take good notes and report on the goings-on to both congregations. Furthermore, one of my professors publishes reports every year on all of the major NAPARC General Assemblies and Synods. I submitted the same report to my professor, and you can read it here (heidelblog.net/2026/06/kinism-and-women-deacons-a-report-on-the-194th-synod-of-the-rpcna/). Additionally, I had the privilege of carpooling to Synod with several people from the Broomall and Elkins Park churches. After emailing John Edgar and calling Hunter Jackson, it was great to finally meet them in person. I hadn’t met any of the others, but I enjoyed getting to know them all.
On June 21, back at Hazleton, I first led a brief Psalm meditation in the worship service. After worship, I presented my Synod report to the congregation.
On June 28, I returned to State College to preach the morning service for Grace RPC. They had a last-minute vacancy in their schedule which I was happy to fill. I preached in the morning, spent the afternoon at Dean’s house, and I stayed for the evening service. After that, I stayed for fellowship after worship and returned home.
I ventured out on July 5 to Philadelphia to spend the day at Elkins Park. This venture was slightly intimidating. I had preached four times so far and had always used a manuscript. I was told in advance that the Philadelphia people strongly prefer that their preachers use outlines. This was my first time preaching from an outline. It was challenging and terrifying, but in the end a good exercise. I think the Philly folks are on to something. I attended morning worship and then spent the afternoon at the parsonage with the Edgars and several families from the church. I preached in the evening and drove home afterwards.
I spent July 7-9 with Bruce and Kim Backensto in Beaver Falls. Bruce and I spent the 8th at RPTS in Pittsburgh working on sermons. I also got a tour of the seminary and met with the admissions folks. We discussed the possibility of transferring to RPTS. On July 9, Bruce took me to the POA family camp. I got to meet some professors from RPTS, as well as several pastors and others whom I would be with shortly.
On July 12, I preached at Hazleton. I preached from an outline, and on a particularly dense text. After worship, we had a sermon discussion. The congregation's feedback was very helpful.
The longest job of the summer was July 14-26. I spent just under two weeks serving Trinity RPC in Maryland. They put me to work! And it was a lot of fun. For the first week, I mostly worked at the church doing sermon preparation. They had me preach the evening service on July 19. In the evening service, they have been working through the Heidelberg Catechism. I preached on HC Lord’s Days 28-29 (Q&A 75-79) on the topic of the Lord's Supper in my first experience with topical preaching. The following week was very busy. Trinity was hosting five TFY young adults, and I was asked to help shuttle them around. My last day with Trinity was Sunday, July 26 when they had me teach an all-ages Sabbath School. Throughout my two weeks in Maryland, I was hosted for dinner by many different families from the church. One of Pastor Dennis’s goals for me was to emphasize the importance of the people part of the pastoral job. And he succeeded. I enjoyed my time at Trinity; it was a highlight of the summer.
On August 2, I was back at Hazleton. We had a smaller group that week because many regulars were either on vacation or at White Lake Family Camp. I taught a Sunday School class on WCF Chapter 20 and fielded great questions from the congregation. It always strikes me when I study the Westminster Standards just how applicable its theology is, and this is especially true of Chapter 20 (Christian Liberty and Liberty of Conscience).
Early on August 3, I set out to spend the week at White Lake Family Camp (August 3-7). I was there as part-time staff, so I served meals, helped with planned activities, and lent a hand wherever the need arose. I also met people of all ages from RP churches across the Atlantic and St. Lawrence Presbyteries. It was a great group of people (in record numbers, if I’m not mistaken), and I can see why people look forward to camp. Lord willing, this summer was just the first of many times I’ll be at White Lake. The week was further enhanced by the installation services of Bill Chellis at White Lake and Colin Samul at Coldenham-Newburgh. Both were exciting evenings. The last time I attended an ordination service was around 2011, when my father was ordained. I had never attended an installation service. It excellent to see a new angle of church life, as well as mingle with elders from Atlantic Presbytery. I’m very happy for Pastors Chellis and Samul. I had the pleasure of meeting Pastor Chellis at Synod, and I had the pleasure of interacting with him further at White Lake. I hadn’t met Pastor Samul before that Friday. Pastor Brace and I met up at Coldenham-Newburgh several hours before the installation. We walked through the Coldenham cemetery and discussed the history. We then met up with Pastor Samul and picked his brain on all sorts of things. It seems that Pastors Chellis and Samul are good fits for their new positions. I wish them all the best!
On August 9, I had the privilege of preaching for First Reformed Presbyterian Church of Cambridge. There were several familiar faces from Synod and White Lake, but there were also plenty of people I hadn’t met yet. I had several great conversations with members of the church after worship. Then, I was hosted for lunch and a good chunk of the afternoon by one of the families from the church. These are lovely people, and I enjoyed the time I spent at Cambridge.
What Now?
As I write this, I still have two more preaching jobs for this summer. On August 16 and 23, I will preach at Hazleton. Then on August 30, we will be doing open air preaching in Hazleton. I fly back to California on September 1, and the semester starts on September 3. When I was put forward to come under care in March, one of the elders asked me if I had considered transferring to RPTS. At the time, I had not. I was up front about my desire to return to central Pennsylvania when I was finished with seminary, but the thought of transferring had not crossed my mind. At Synod I was sustained in my personal godliness exam, and afterward another elder from Pacific Coast Presbytery urged me to consider transferring. I received the same recommendation from elders in Atlantic Presbytery and others. After much prayer and consideration, my plan is to finish my second year at WSCal and then transfer to RPTS to finish my seminary education. At that point, I will (Lord willing) be licensed to preach. I don’t have plans set in stone beyond that. There is a good chance that I will transfer my membership to Hazleton and what credentials I have at that point to Atlantic Presbytery. I can comfortably say that these are churches I would love to serve and men I would love to serve with. All of this is to say that my internship this summer was enjoyable and beneficial. Thank you for taking the time reading and getting to know me. You have not seen the last of me, and I eagerly look forward to what the Lord has in store for the future!
– Joseph Wolcott
Spank Briefly
Whoever spares the rod hates his son,
but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him. –Proverbs 13:24
Social workers and psychologists strongly dispute this proverb. Reason One: social workers and psychologists see many families that work badly, where “spanking” does harm children. A sudden slap is harmful when a child has broken no rule, but the parent is irritated, for example, by a hysterical child’s crying. Spanking is certainly harmful when it sends a child to the emergency room. In these cases spanking expresses neither love nor discipline. Reason Two: modern thinking about the human person is confused, on the one hand accepting materialism as true, but on the other hand sharply separating body from person (mind, identity, personality, the “I”), so that spanking the body, as a form of instruction of the person, seems nonsensical.
God, however, made us as en-souled bodies. He formed us from the dust of the earth like the animals and breathed into us the spirit of life. As a result, we learn from our bodies – not to put a hand in the fire, and peaches taste good. God warned the first humans that breaking his law would bring the physical agony of death. When Eve and Adam ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, God carried out his word. Death came on them and all their descendants.
Spanking makes sense when one understands that fathers and mothers can speak to their children through their bodies, both hugging them and spanking them. Thus, fathers and mothers properly spank young children to teach them that law-breaking brings pain. Children need that lesson, some often, but others only rarely. A parent who does not teach a child, by spanking if necessary, not to run into the street, not to eat unripe apples, not to stay up to all hours, and not to speak disrespectfully to fathers, mothers, teachers, and police, actually hates his child. Such a father or mother allows sentimental feelings or simple laziness interfere with necessary discipline.
Parents who love their children will be diligent in explaining and then enforcing family rules, which should be clear and few. Insist your children obey them, since God has told children to honor and obey father and mother (Ephesians 6:1, Exodus 20:12). Begin young. Even very young children know right from wrong, much more than they choose to let on. Young branches are easily bent and shaped, but wait until a branch is mature, and it will break if you bend it far.
A spanking takes only a few moments. Then it should end quickly with a hug and nothing more said, except maybe to repeat calmly the rule just broken. In this way, a child learns that father and mother are predictable: break a rule that has spanking as the punishment, and you will be spanked. In this way children learn, too, that God’s word can be trusted. He will do what he says.
– Bill Edgar
My Experience at White Lake Teen Camp
This summer I spent a week at White Lake Covenanter Teen Camp. White Lake Covenanter Camp is operated by the St. Lawrence and Atlantic Presbyteries. It is located in White Lake, NY.
The camp is made up of a number of buildings. The buildings include cabins for campers, the Mess Hall, the Rec(reation) Hall, a bathhouse, and an old historic house called the Pritchard House.
Each day at camp was full of worship, fellowship, and fun. Each morning we would shower and then eat breakfast. Breakfast was said to to be the best meal of the day! After our first meal was personal devotions. This period of time was spent in reading the Bible and praying. After devotions was cabin cleanup. This always a bit of a competition. The cabins are inspected: the cleanest wins while the dirtiest cleans the bathroom! At least that's how it's supposed to go. Sometimes the inspectors were a bit corrupt!
Next up was lectures. Dr. Andrew Kerr presented Teen Camp with highly interesting and detailed lectures on the topic of the Tabernacle and its goings-on. Teen Camp also got to build a full size model of the tabernacle out of 2x4's. Following the lecture was lunch (the best lunch this year was hamburgers). At the conclusion of lunch was rest period. After rest period ended it was time for afternoon recreation. Recreation was spent playing a sport or game of some sort such as Ultimate Frisbee or soccer. For water recreation we did slip-and-slide. The slip-and-slide was a two-hundred-foot ordeal of black plastic, soap, and water running down a steep hill.
After slip-and-slide we would eat dinner. During meals we sang mess hall songs. Mess hall songs are very fun. If you don't know from experience you'll have to find out!
After evening activity came campfire, which was more like a bonfire. We would sit by the fire and sing songs. We sang songs such as, O Dunderback, Boom Chika-boom, Cannibal King, etc. After silly songs came Psalms. Selection 119W was requested numerous times.
After campfire we headed to our cabins for bed.
Camp is one of my highlights this summer. I always love spending time at camp. Camp is a good place to make and meet friends. It is always very encouraging to see other people following God. White Lake is like a little slice of heaven. It is like a reunion of the family of Christ!
On that note, see you at camp!
– Asa Wingfield, 13
Joy at Family Camp
When I was given the responsibility of writing an article to summarize White Lake’s Family Camp, it felt like a burden, not because Pastor Wingfield’s sermons were anything short of amazing, or because the staff didn’t work tirelessly day in and day out to make the experience special, but because White Lake felt like something too powerful to be fully encapsulated in the writing of a 17-year-old girl’s experience. However, I believe the story I chose to share embodies the true heart of what makes White Lake so great.
A few years ago, my two friends and I began attending the White Lake Family Camp prayer meetings each morning. When we first began going, we quickly noticed that they were sparsely attended, and year after year, that remained true. Although my friends and I were often the only youth there, we, along with the handful of others, met each morning to worship together and raise our prayers and petitions to the Lord.
This year, however, an organized prayer meeting was held and led by some of the men and women who regularly attended the morning prayer meetings. They led small groups filled with campers of all different ages. My group was led by Alice Parr, and when we finished, I walked out and met up with my friends, only to realize that we had been praying continuously for two hours.
The following morning, when my friends and I entered the Rec Hall for the 8:00 a.m. prayer meeting, it looked completely different. The seats that were laid out each morning had suddenly been filled. The prayer meeting that had once had dwindling numbers was now packed, and we had to pull out extra chairs. People of all ages, babies and children, kids and teens, young adults, adults, and elders, all congregated together to pray and worship as one.
I believe this is the true beauty of White Lake. It is not simply that different age groups happen to be at camp simultaneously. They actually fellowship together. Children hear older Christians pray. Older Christians get to know younger believers. Young adults worship alongside families and elders. For one week, the barriers that can so easily separate generations disappear, and we are reminded that we are all members of the same body of Christ.
In many ways, this was the very kind of fellowship we were being challenged to pursue throughout the week. Our lectures this year centered around Gabriel Wingfield’s book on church membership, entitled Together: Why We Need the Local Church, which challenged us to think more deeply about what it means to be a member of Christ’s church. Pastor Wingfield gave a series of daily talks that challenged us to think carefully about what it means to live faithfully as Christians. Church membership is not simply having our names on a roll; it means actively participating in the life of the body and caring for the people God has placed around us. That prayer meeting was a simple but beautiful example of what that can look like. People were not just members of the same denomination. They were acting like members of one body, praying with people decades older and younger than themselves.
But as meaningful as that fellowship is on the hilltop, one of the most important things we were reminded of through the lectures is that it cannot stay there. The fellowship we experience at White Lake is not meant to be something we enjoy for one week and then leave behind when we go home. We are called to be active members of Christ’s church wherever he has placed us.
That idea especially stood out to me because I am often told how lucky I am to live so close to White Lake. While many others travel hours to get there, I can visit the hilltop whenever I want. And I am grateful for that. I still get excited every time I drive up the familiar road and see the hilltop again.
But when I visit outside of camp, it can feel surprisingly empty, and I’m always filled with disappointment.
The buildings are still there. The fields are still there. The hill is still there. But somehow, it does not quite feel like White Lake.
This is because what makes White Lake feel like White Lake is not the hilltop itself. It is God’s presence among his people. It is the sound of everyone worshiping together, the conversations between generations, the prayers shared with people we might otherwise never have the opportunity to know. The hilltop is simply where we get to experience those things together.
So the challenge is not to wish that we could stay at White Lake all year, but to bring a little bit of that fellowship home with us. The prayer meeting that was filled with every generation should not be an unusual sight that only happens at camp. The relationships we build there should encourage us to know and serve the people in our own congregations more deeply. What happens on the hilltop should change what happens when we come back down.
When we drive away at the end of Family Camp and wave goodbye as we pass the Mess Hall, we leave the hilltop behind — but we should not leave that fellowship behind with it. We must carry it into our congregations, our prayer meetings, our homes, and our daily lives. This is the blessing of Family Camp: for one week, we are reminded what it looks like to live as one body, so that when we leave the hilltop, we can go home and live that way the rest of the year.
– Mary Chellis
The Twin Installations of Bill Chellis and Colin Samul
Being the culturally alert presbytery that it is, the Atlantic Presbytery scheduled its 2026 pastoral installations on six seven. On August 6, White Lake Family Camp came to a stirring conclusion when campers walked down the hill to attend the installation of Bill Chellis as pastor at White Lake Church. The combination of congregation, camp, presbytery, and friends of Bill raised the roof with exceptionally powerful singing.
After the necessary formalities were capably executed by moderator Hunter Jackson and clerk Bruce Martin, Bill Edgar preached on Moses to Joshua, Dave to Bill. (He did not, however, note the obvious: David Coon has led the White Lake Church for longer than Moses led Israel.) He instead focused on the faithfulness of 7 or 8 elderly saints who comprised the White Lake preaching station in the 1970s. They called David, willingly spending the little money they had in a last-ditch effort to revitalize their old congregation. With God's blessing, financial assistance from Coldenham-Newburgh, and a great deal of hard work and perseverance, a long-disorganized congregation was brought back to life. They were old, but they took a bold chance in faith.
The charge to the newly installed pastor was given by Chellis' peer and friend Paul Brace, who began with humor (I'm sorry Mr. Moderator, I thought I was supposed to bring charges against him), proceeded to gleefully recount an early sermon of Bill's to presbytery (entitled Gird Up Your Loins, Covenanter Men), and concluded by giving a variety of sound instructions, some of which doubled as a roast (Listen to Katrina. Ever since I've known you, she's been the voice of reason in the house). The charge to the congregation was brought by Ryan Alsheimer, a younger pastor mentored by Bill. He began with a little more solemnity (Honor Bill in his office as pastor, and love the man), but could not resist joining in the fun (You'll hear the word with wonder – you may see some funky pants).
It was left to Bill Chellis to end on a more serious note, which he did with tears (Preaching the gospel is the greatest honor of my life). The camp then went back up the hill for fireworks. (Surprise!)
Mr. Samul is new to the presbytery, as were the men he invited to preach and give him his charge, so the August 7 installation at Coldenham-Newburgh did not have quite the same rollicking party-like atmosphere. It was nonetheless a joyful occasion, as Coldenham had gone thirteen years without a settled pastor. The church was packed, as quite a few White Lake Campers stuck around after the end of camp to attend. The singing was again excellent. Ryan Somerville from the Rochester NY congregation preached on Joshua 3, You Have Not Gone this Way Before. He preached on their new way (new pastor, new era), and their sure confidence (God is with you). Caleb Allen from Denison KS gave Colin his charge from Acts 20:28, Take heed to yourself and to all the flock (The flock is Christ's; you better take good care of it. For there is another who wants the flock, the devil. Lead them to Christ). Daniel Howe then charged the congregation from Psalm 127:1, a time to build, a time to watch, a time to build. He reminded them that building disrupts routine. Try new things, and do not grieve when things don't work. God wants the glory for building his church.
Thank God with White Lake and Coldenham-Newburgh, and pray for the Lord to indeed build his church and be with Bill Chellis and Colin Samul.
– John Edgar
Getting to Know Dan Roggow
Where are you from?
I was born and raised in Cedar Rapids, IA.
What did you believe growing up?
I was raised in the Christian Reformed Church and I remember believing in the Lord from a very early age. In fact, I do not ever remember not believing. Ours was a Christian home. I professed faith as a sophomore in high school.
Tell us about high school and beyond.
In high school, I began to have a desire to go into the ministry. My parents encouraged me to go to school and get a job first. So, after graduating high school, I went to Iowa State University and graduated with a Computer Engineering degree. I then entered a PhD program in Computer Engineering. After about two years, I decided I was not that interested in Computers, so I converted into a Masters program and graduated in 2017 with a Masters of Science in Computer Engineering. Throughout this time, I was still feeling a call to ministry, but I did not do much to pursue it, apart from a semester of Ancient Greek while I was a graduate student. After graduating, I moved back in with my parents and started working at Rockwell Collins (now Collins Aerospace). I joined the closest NAPARC church, which was a PCA church. There I started trying to test the call by getting involved. Eventually, I was nominated and ordained a deacon.
During that time, God was teaching me patience and to wait upon him to provide more direction in my life. Eventually, he did, because he provided me a wife. We were married in 2019. Shortly after, we committed to being a part of a PCA church plant in Cedar Rapids. Right as we started planting, COVID happened. In 2021, Westminster (Philadelphia) started their online MDiv program. I wanted to keep testing the call to ministry, so I enrolled and started taking classes. Eventually, it became clear (as we started having children) that in order to better test the call to ministry, I needed to finish my degree in person and be actively involved in a local church. So we sold our house, packed up our things and our two children and moved to Abington, PA, where our third child was born.
What led you to God?
Since I have always believed (to my memory), I have always known God. However, God has used certain events and struggles in my life to clarify who he is and how my view of him was incorrect or incomplete. God continues to work this way in my life.
What led you to visit and join a Reformed Presbyterian Church?
My sister, who was studying at Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY, starting attending the East Rochester RPC. She mentioned she was attending a church that was singing only Psalms, a capella. I thought that was odd, but didn't really think much of it until she wanted me to meet a young woman who had started attending and with whom she had become friends. I was skeptical, but I went out to help my sister load up and move to Montana, and at the same time, meet the young woman. We presently started courting, during which time I would visit monthly and attend church with her. We were married a year later. Although I was exposed to the RP church, I was still not convinced about the worship question.
It wasn't until we had been married and were living in Iowa that I began investigating the worship question. We were part of a PCA church plant in Cedar Rapids and it came time to decide what we were going to do for music in worship. Having been exposed to the RP position, I started investigating it further, and found it to be the most convincing. However, as we were at least an hour from any of the RP churches in Iowa, we remained with the church plant (which, unsurprisingly, did not pursue a capella psalmody). What solidified the position for me experientially was the COVID pandemic; I found the hymns on which I was raised did not have the vocabulary nor the personal expression possessed by the Psalms. I found I needed the Psalms, and that singing them was the best way to pray them. When we moved to the Philadelphia area so that I could finish seminary, we wanted to attend an RP church, which is how we finally ended up at Elkins Park RPC.
How has God helped you in the past few years?
God has helped me in everything that has transpired in my life, since the beginning, but especially in the major changes that have taken place in the past few years. From providing success in my career as an engineer, to providing me a wife and children, to aiding me in my studies, to providing a house for us here, and in so many other ways.
What are you thankful for?
I am still amazed at how God brought me and my wife together, and extremely thankful he did so. I am thankful for his work in our marriage. I am thankful for my 3 children and how they are growing in the faith. I am also thankful that God gave me a stable and healthy home life growing up. I am thankful that I am able to study at Westminster and under John at Elkins Park. I am also thankful our move from Iowa was smooth.
Getting to Know Alexandra Roggow
Where are you from?
I am from Santa Clara, CA, which is known as Silicon Valley. (Apple Headquarters is now just blocks from my childhood home.)
What did you believe growing up?
I did not grow up in a Christian household. I would say I grew up in a moral household, and therefore, I portrayed a religious piety that I did not possess. There was right and wrong, some sort of higher power, heaven existed, but we didn’t need church to be good people. The purpose of life was to do what you loved and find somebody to love and be faithful to. Being a good person meant working hard, trying your best, being generous to others, and not partying or doing drugs.
Tell us about high school and beyond.
I tried going to a friend’s youth group once in high school and remember being frustrated to tears on the way home because I didn’t understand what they were talking about and I was an outsider. I also went to school with a lot of Mormons, and their concept of heaven and hell did not convince me of their beliefs. I went to the University of Washington in Seattle for college. I became a Christian after my freshman year (I’ll answer how later). The first church I attended was the infamous Mars Hill Church in Ballard. I received my first Bible there, learned it was all about Jesus, attended three different Mars Hill churches as I moved around the state, and met some wonderful, faithful believers. My father died of a heart attack when I was 21. That was a time when God felt very close and present in my life, and the church community I was part of made a lasting impression on me. I spent seven years total in Washington and got my undergraduate degree in speech and hearing sciences during that time. At the same time that Mars Hill church ceased to exist, I left for Taiwan to teach English. My one year there turned into three, mostly because of the community of believers I found there. It took about eight months upon arriving in Taiwan, but I was relieved to find an English-speaking church where the pastor preached exegetically. I moved back to the States in 2017 to Rochester, NY to go to graduate school for Speech Therapy. Down the street from my apartment was the Rochester RPC where I attended and took membership vows. I met Dan’s sister there and she coordinated our meeting in July 2018 when she moved away to Montana. There’s a whole story there about dating long distance and engagement, but long story short: I graduated with my degree in July 2019, moved to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Dan and I got married in October! Children came a couple of years later and we now have three! I have been a stay-at-home-mom since the birth of our eldest.
What led you to God?
In high school, I worked very hard to be “well-rounded,” participating in sports, music, and camp counseling. By my senior year, I started experiencing panic attacks that caused me to drop sports. In college, I was still trying to achieve “perfection,” but was failing miserably. God had allowed me to come to the end of myself. I took an intro to the New Testament course to learn something about Christianity, but it was actually a class about textual criticism. I did not understand anything going on in that class and I nearly failed it, but God is gracious (and has a sense of humor). I was supposed to read the gospels side-by-side and analyze their inconsistencies, but instead I just read the gospels and thought, “I like what this Jesus has to say!” It was later that summer after conversations with a high school friend who was a Christian, that I remember having the thought, “I think I’m a Christian.” I then went to France for a semester abroad and that same friend gave me a Christian book about living as a young woman today. It described God as a loving father and outlined his desires for your life, which made a lot of sense to me. When I returned to Seattle, someone recommended Mars Hill Church, where I heard the Word preached and finally received my first Bible. I can now see how the Lord has faithfully seen me through all of these vulnerable and seemingly small moments and encounters to bring me to himself.
What led you to visit and join a Reformed Presbyterian Church?
When I moved to Rochester I wanted to find a denomination to join because I thought the East Coast had more of that tradition than the “non-denominational West.” I had listened to several Timothy Keller sermons in Taiwan, and liked how he preached. I learned he was a Presbyterian, and that sounded like a denomination, so I typed in: “Presbyterian church near me” into Google Maps. Rochester RPC was just a block from my new place! I walked in, charmed by the pews and psalters of this quaint, East Coast church, and the singing was just like choir! Granted, I didn’t know a single tune, but the preaching was exegetical, the people were friendly, and the singing was rejuvenating. After about a year, I took membership vows.
How has God helped you in the past few years?
God has reminded me time and again of his faithfulness and presence in even the most minute details of everyday life. He has helped me grow as a wife and mother, especially trying to parent in a Christ-centered way. God has provided so much for us, and has continued to confirm our choice to move out here. He has also helped me understand more about the Reformed faith and reaffirm the truth of the gospel.
What are you thankful for?
There is so much to be thankful for! But here are a few things: His faithfulness despite my failures; our church at Elkins Park, John Edgar's willingness to mentor Dan, the saints there who have become fast friends; his provision for our spiritual and physical needs; my wonderful husband and our beautiful family; a smooth transition from Iowa to Pennsylvania; encouragement from other moms and friends; and our relatively good health.
-- Alexandra Roggow
Godparent Grandparent: A Baptism Address
Some churches have godparents, who promise to pray for a newly baptized child and teach her. Heidi will not have godparents, but she does have grandparents, four of them. Why has the Lord allowed us to live so long?
Reason One: to see Heidi. Psalm 128 ends with a blessing: “Yes, may you see your children’s children.”
Reason Two: To help care for grandchildren. Here in the Book of Ruth is Naomi: “Then Naomi took [Ruth’s] child and laid him on her bosom and became a nurse to him (Ruth 4:16).” Over sixty per cent of America’s grandparents help watch grandchildren, a high figure when we remember how feeble some grandparents are and how far away others live.
Reason Three: God tells grandparents to teach grandchildren about him. God told Israel, I will save you from slavery, so “that you may tell in the hearing of your son and your son’s son the mighty things I have done in Egypt (Exodus 10:2).” Forty years later, God said it again. “Now this is the commandment…that you may fear the Lord your God…you and your son and your grandson (Deuteronomy 6:1-2).” Such teaching has rescued many grandchildren whose parents died or went astray.
What do old people want besides more energy and fewer aches? To be useful, “to bear fruit in old age,” as Psalm 92 puts it. What is more useful than to teach grandchildren about the Lord? Golfing? Watching one more TV show? Surely not. Writing to Timothy, Paul commended his “genuine faith” “that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois (II Timothy 1:5).”
The old can’t work as when young, but we can hold babies, change diapers, tell stories, play with grandkids, read to them, and even get useful work out of older ones. One more thing, a bonus: we can boast about our grandchildren, especially to old friends. “Children’s children are the crown of old men (Proverbs 17:6).” Heidi, you are the crown of four grandparents. We will pray for you, play with you when we can, and teach you about the Lord as opportunity comes. Daniel and Laura, we stand with you as you raise Heidi alongside Evie. When you take your parental vows today, you have our support.
– Bill Edgar
Mark Your Calendars
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We note, for your calendars and prayer, upcoming events of interest to Atlantic Presbytery:
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Please contact Kyle and Violet Finley, Atlantic Youth Coordinators (atluth@gmail.com) for more information if interested in the youth events.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​
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Atlantic Youth Fall Retreat
Sept 18-20, 2026
Grades 7-12
White Lake Covenanter Camp (White Lake, NY)
Dave Coon will speak on "Subtle Sins: Examining Anxiety, Envy, and Apathy"
https://www.reformedprescambridge.com/fallretreat/
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Fall Atlantic Presbytery Meeting
October 2-3, 2026
Coldenham RP Church
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Psalm Sing
Held monthly, every LAST Sunday evening 6pm, Elkins Park RPC
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Annual Psalm Sing with Bonfire
October 24, 2026
Sponsored by Elkins Park RPC in nearby park.​​​​​​​
Authors in this issue
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Mary Chellis is a member of White Lake RPC.
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Bill Edgar is a retired pastor of Broomall RPC and the author of 7 Big Questions Your Life Depends On, and two books on RP history.
John Edgar is the pastor of Elkins Park RPC.
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Charles Leach is a retired pastor of Coldenham RPC. He and his wife Sue served as missionaries in Japan.
Alexandra Roggow is a member of Elkins Park RPC.
Dan Roggow is a member of Elkins Park RPC and is a student under care of the Atlantic Presbytery.
Joseph Wolcott is a member of the San Diego RPC and is a student under the care of Pacific Coast Presbytery.
Asa Wingfield is a member of the Oswego RPC.
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A Little Help?
The Editors do not sell individual subscriptions to A Little Strength. Our goal is to publish with as little labor and financial overhead as possible. Yet mailing paper copies to Atlantic Presbytery churches and maintaining a website aren't free. If you have found A Little Strength to be interesting and profitable,
would you consider sending a contribution?
Make your check out to Elkins Park RPC, designated for A Little Strength,
and send it to the treasurer, at the church's address:
901 Cypress Ave, Elkins Park, PA 19027.