How would you spend it?

Whart would you do with it?



Secondary question:


IF you would spend it on missions, what sort of missions, places, peoples and missionaries would you prioritize? And how would you do this?



P.S. the wealthy widow of Mr. Barrister in Nigeria has the money waiting...

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Pergamum


"If a commission by an earthly king is considered a honor, how can a commission by a Heavenly King be considered a sacrifice?"
-- David Livingstone

I would set up a foundation that would hand out grants to small congregations to help pay full-time ministers for churches that cannot usually afford one.

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Benjamin P. Glaser
Pittsburgh, PA
Fairmount ARP Church
Student of Theology
Pittsburgh Theological Seminary
Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary
My Blog

"Nothing is sweet to me without the enjoyment of Christ in it." -- Thomas Brooks

Plant more churches throughout the city.
(This is also the answer to the Missions question. Our city is our mission field, in desperate need of the Gospel.)

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Rae W. | Elder @ Grace Central Presbyterian Church | Columbus, OH
not another blog, v2.0

I think it depends on the situation the church is in. Is their minister working full-time because they can't pay him a living wage? Then there is one obvious thing to do. But assuming that the church itself is fine financially, I think I would do the following:

Find a good Reformed person who was planning to go to Iceland and having trouble raising support because of the high cost of living and enable them to get there and settle in.

Fund the publication and wide distribution of a complete metrical Psalter in Spanish. As much as possible send Psalters free of charge to all sorts of congregations in the hopes of sparking an interest in singing the Psalms throughout Latin America. Also fund the translation of actual Puritan and Reformation texts (though a lot is being translated, I think it's true that Piper and MacArthur and such are more translated into Spanish than Perkins or Peter Martyr).

Distribute significant amounts to trusted missionaries with instructions to disburse responsibly as they know of needs.

Contribute to funding the translation of the Bible into the most spoken language still without one.

Set up a fund to assist projects like what TimV was talking about in another thread.

If anything was left over, I'd give some tired servant of God a chance to rest and a nice set of books.

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Ruben
Moderator

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Calvinistas Conversando - Reformed Discussion Board in Spanish.

Spanish Blog -Teologia en Mexico
English Blog -The Howling Wilderness

One. Huge. Potluck.

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Andrew DeShazo, Deacon, Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, Memphis, TN
"All of us stumble in many ways, but if anyone is never at fault in what he says, then he is mature, able to control his whole body."(James 3:2)

Buy a building.

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Jon Peters
Member, Reformation Fellowship (OPC) (Roseville, CA)
Folsom, CA

Our congregation needs a building. That amount would do it, but I don't think I'd spend it all on a building. I think we could do with a lot less building right now and build according to need and add on as in the future.

The portion that would be left over would most certainly go to ministries/missions, but I'd have to pray and think a long time with my fellow church members before deciding where to invest it in the Kingdom.

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Ivan Schoen, Pastor * Maranatha Baptist Church * Poplar Grove, Illinois USA www.maranatha-sbc.org/
"Mankind is divided into two sorts: such as live according to man, and such as live according to God. These we call the two cities...The Heavenly City outshines Rome. There, instead of victory, is truth" — Augustine of Hippo

My current church received this kind of money and is building a gym/classroom extension to the church building, if they can ever get an economic design in this economic environment. In this case, there was not a choice in using the funds (designated gift in memoriam etc.).

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Chris Coldwell
Lakewood Presbyterian Church (PCA), Member
• Naphtali Press: Presbyterian & Reformed Books
• The Confessional Presbyterian, A Journal for Discussion of Presbyterian Doctrine & Practice
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When heresy rises in an evangelical body, it is never frank and open. It always begins by skulking, and assuming a disguise. Its advocates, when together, boast of great improvements, and congratulate one another on having gone greatly beyond the ‘old dead orthodoxy,’ and on having left behind many of its antiquated errors: but when taxed with deviations from the received faith, they complain of the unreasonableness of their accusers, as they ‘differ from it only in words.’ This has been the standing course of errorists ever since the apostolic age. Samuel Miller, Introductory essay, The Articles of the Synod of Dort (1841).

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Building project--add a Christian Ed wing (several classrooms and a dedicated library, ie-- a room that does not double as a Sunday School classroom) to current building.

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Sterling Harmon
Coventry, CT
PCA
Deacon
________________

"Whatever is laudable in our works proceeds from the grace of God."
-- John Calvin, Institutes III:xv.3.

"Our Lord God must be a good man, to be fond of worthless fellows. I cannot like them, and yet I, myself, am one."
-- Martin Luther, Table Talk

THe Iceland thing still intrigues me. Half a million for an Iceland fund is, I think I will concur with Rube, one of my wishes if I ever come into a good chunk...

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Pergamum


"If a commission by an earthly king is considered a honor, how can a commission by a Heavenly King be considered a sacrifice?"
-- David Livingstone

I know that Davidus has something to say.

I would purchase a building and set up scholarships for poor sem students. That is supporting the ministry of the future as well.

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Nathan Eshelman
Grand Rapids, MI
First Reformed Presbyterian Church

PRESBYTERIAN THOUGHTS

First Reformed Presbyterian Church

I couldn't help but think of this scene. If I was a pastor of a small church and someone bequeathed the money to our church I would have these competing thoughts.

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Bryan Wiley
Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
Reformed Baptist Church
Louisville, Kentucky

Either:

1. I would put give the money to the OPC committee for the Historian towards the effort to build a new OP historical center/Repository Building for the massive ammount of OP church history items that are being stored in WTS PA. Something similar to the PCA historical center.

2. I would give the money to an OP missionary in Uganda (Phil Proctor) for the furtherence of Knox Theological College. Many have enrolled in the college, but there is a need for good concordances, bible commentaries and good reformed/Presbyterian Literature.

3. I would give the money to help my local seminary (Northwest Theological Seminary) to cover travel costs for their recruitment efforts.

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Josiah Lovett
Member of
Trinity OPC Bothell Wa.
Orthodox Presbyterian Church
Westminster Standards

Let them become tentmakers like Paul!!!

I honestly have a hard time supporting dead congregations. Once they are on life support, I usually vote to pull the plug. God has a plan for all congregations. Nad just like he told Joshua that His servant moses is dead, He also tells congregations the same thing.

That being said, I would start a scholarship fund for people interested in seminary training within the congregation. This way hte unscriptural practice of pastoral search committees importing pastors across the country instead of rasing up leaders within a geographic area would cease for a while.

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N. Robert; Trinity Reformed Church RCA, Holland MI

Once in a while you can get shown the light, in the strangest of places if you look at it right."

[quote=Amazing Grace;420560]That is easily said from an RCA in Holland, Michigan! That is like an RPCNA guy saying that in Pittsburgh!

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Nathan Eshelman
Grand Rapids, MI
First Reformed Presbyterian Church

PRESBYTERIAN THOUGHTS

First Reformed Presbyterian Church

Yeah, snuff out the wicks. It's more practical and God prefers the bigger and healthier groups as proven again and again in history and Scripture. His pragmatism is worthwhile to note.

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Bryan Wiley
Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
Reformed Baptist Church
Louisville, Kentucky

Either you heard what I did not say, or I am totally missing the sarcasm and point of this statement. Keeping a dead congregation open by having a full time pastor is far from pragmatic. It is chasing bad money.

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N. Robert; Trinity Reformed Church RCA, Holland MI

Once in a while you can get shown the light, in the strangest of places if you look at it right."

[quote=nleshelman;420572]Notice I did not say 'my' congregation!!! Hey, just because some believe the church sets up requirements to be idiot or heretic proof, does not mean their are not idiots or heretics in them!!!

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N. Robert; Trinity Reformed Church RCA, Holland MI

Once in a while you can get shown the light, in the strangest of places if you look at it right."

No one can say what congregation or dead or alive but God.

People meeting to hear sermons and Scripture is a starting point.

A pastor can bring dead men to life by preaching the Word faithfully and accurately.

I have not met a pastor yet who can look across a congregation and pronounce it dead. That would be omniscience. Nor can he look at a group and say it will never live. Faith in one pastor can bring the dead to life and revive those who are almost asleep. Lack of money is one of the lousiest reasons to stop a working for God because he can supply needs to finish his work anywhere, including a seemingly dead church. If a man has faith in something, supernaturally supplied from God above, it can be done and will be done as God can't fail.

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Bryan Wiley
Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
Reformed Baptist Church
Louisville, Kentucky