Episode 194: Making Disciples in a Post-Christian City - Patience and Purpose - Pete Armstrong (Part 1)

“I see a lot of beauty in in the model of polity that we have in making decisions…It's a bit of a joke, and sometimes it frustrate me, but we call it the speed of church. It can take a while. The speed of church is slow, an established church is slow, but it's kind of like that proverb: If you if you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together. We're going together.” -Pete Armstrong

Summary of This Episode

On this episode of The Messy Reformation, Jason and Willy are joined by Rev. Pete Armstrong, pastor of Parklane CRC in Portland, OR. Pete’s another pastor who did not grow up in the CRC and has a unique mix of ministry experiences. He grew up in the Pacific Northwest in the PCUSA (Presbyterian Church (USA)), as the son of a pastor, and notes the impact of a Billy Graham crusade during his teenage years. His introduction to our denomination came on a visit at Calvin University, where his brother was working, and he felt God drawing him there. He first served churches in the area of worship at West Leonard CRC in Grand Rapids and Sanctuary CRC in Seattle, while attending Fuller Seminary. He then planted Dwell Church in New York City, which has since merged into the Evangelical Covenant denomination. He’s been serving Parklane since 2017, and hopes to continue there for many years. 

There’s a lot of conversation about church planting. Some of the highlights of Pete’s time in NYC was working with City to City as well having known and had the late Tim Keller as a mentor. Pete did feel a specific call to church planting for a time. He shares how he “is not pining to do it again,” and gives some background of how people in their 20s and 30s tend to have more bandwidth and can invest more time as church plants require. By the time one is in their 40s, there are often enough other things demanding attention that make planting difficult. He still does get to serve as a resource for church planters and campus ministry workers through Resonate. He and his wife have thought about being an encouraging and mentoring couple for church planters after retirement age.

The conversation continues by turning to what the transition was like to serve in an organized church, especially one in Portland. Peter admits Portland is a challenging area to grow a Christ-centered community; it really does force him to pray and seek the Holy Spirit in his work. He’s able to contrast the freedom and self-leading that comes with planting a church, but does appreciate working with other leaders in an organized church. One of the things that has surprised him in Parklane is the amount of trust that people of all ages will put in their pastor. He does admit established churches go at a much slower pace, but he’s getting or has grown used to that.

As far as the location he’s in, it’s unique compared to what those of us in the Midwest or Great Lakes are used to. While he’s several miles out of downtown (what people got used to seeing on the news being labeled Portland a few years ago), he enjoys the city. He has noticed, though, that some in his congregation are able to avoid downtown for years and others who are only a couple miles farther from downtown are quick to distinguish where they are from as not being Portland. Peter shares how there is an anti-church feeling in his city, and in general, people are slow (it takes years) to develop trust and relationships enough to have personal conversations. All that said, though, he sees and is excited about the kingdom work that has been and continues to happen there! More next time on Pete’s experiences in various ministries and the challenges and joys of pastoral ministry today.