November 15, 2023

As part of our budget proposal for 2024, the Elders are recommending that we support and join a new fellowship of churches called, ACME. You should know up front that I was involved early on the conversations that resulted in the formation of this organization. So, because we, as a group of like-minded pastors from around the country, knew what we wanted to do, and did not give much thought to what we would be called, we just came up with the name ACME until we could find something better. Well, we never came up with anything better and someone in our group said that since we were an Association of Churches for Missions and Evangelism, that ACME is actually a good name. So, there you go.

Our church is in many ways like a NASCAR vehicle. We have stickers on us that represent the various organizations that we serve with because they make sense to us as we pursue gospel opportunities. For example: We love and support Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary. So, that sticker is on our car. We also love and support The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY, so that sticker is on our car. Supporting and loving one does not cancel out the other. The same thing is true about mission agencies and ministries. We partner with everyone that makes sense for us and the elders are recommending this because it makes sense to us.

Let me explain. We engage and support international church-planting and gospel work that we call missions. We form partnerships in order to do this well. We also engage and support local and national church-planting that we call church-planting. We form partnerships in order to do this well. In many cases, we directly support the church-planting because of the relationships that I personally have with guys who are like-minded, competent and strategic. This part of our ministry needs to broaden beyond me. ACME is an association of churches that exists to unite and mobilize like-minded churches to fund pastors, church planters, missionaries, and other projects around the world.

When I say like-minded, I mean this: Every church adheres to and affirms to the eight following Member Church Affirmations. Expositional Preaching, Historic Baptistic Ecclesiology, Reformed Soteriology, Meaningful Membership and Discipline, Elder-led Congregationalism, One Unified Assembly, Biblically Oriented Public Worship, Church-Centered Missions and Evangelism.

We have found that people coming from our like-minded churches do not find understanding and support of these convictions from many mission or church-planting organizations. We are trying to solidify and deepen these convictions, network churches who agree and provide support to missionaries and church-planters who come from our churches.

The other documents that help provide definition for this group are: The New Hampshire Statement of Faith (1853, Revised), Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy (1978), Danvers Statement on Biblical Manhood & Womanhood (1988), Nashville Statement (2017) and the T4G Affirmations and Denials (2006, Revised). For more information you can check out www.acmefellowship.org.

Grace and peace,

Bob

Sunday’s Text: Luke 1:26-38