Gospel Ministry in Wissinoming

Benjamin Kreps: Hey, everyone! Welcome to the Mark Prater podcast, where our aim is to connect our global family of Sovereign Grace churches with our Executive Director. And on this podcast, we're actually together.

Mark Prater: We are.

Benjamin Kreps: Together at the Northeast Regional Assembly of Elders. And we've had a joyful day. Full of worship updates and teaching, but on this podcast a little bit different. Not just we're together, but because we have a special guest with us. Why don't you introduce our guest?

Mark Prater: Yeah. Before I do that, we actually look like we know what we're doing here. We got these mics. So, we'll see how this goes. Anyway, this is our friend Dan Birkholz. Dan is the senior pastor of Mercy Gate Church, which is in the Wissinoming section of Northeast Philadelphia. And I wanted Dan to join us because he has been a faithful pastor in a neighborhood that has its challenges and difficulties. And his church exists in a part of northeast Philadelphia that I think is a little bit different where compared to where other churches do ministry. And I just wanted you to hear from him and how God has been at work in his church. And to also then pray for Dan as you listen after listening to this podcast. So Dan, thank you for being a faithful pastor. Tell us about the context or really the neighborhood that Mercy Gate is in. Start with that.

Dan Birkholz: So, yeah, we're in the neighborhood called Wissinoming, which is kind of lower northeast section of Philadelphia. And it's kind of a middle, lower class neighborhood. Demographics is about a third of white Caucasians, a third of Hispanics, and then a third of African-Americans. A growing population that we're seeing more now with Asians moving into the area as well. And so, plenty of diversity and plenty to think about in terms of working through some of the cultural differences in terms of sharing the gospel, unique needs of people, and just feeding boots on the ground for when it comes to serving.

Mark Prater: And being in Wissinoming, just knowing a little bit about the neighborhood, tell us about some of the unique challenges of what it's like to do ministry in Wissinoming.

Dan Birkholz: Yeah, so first you do have that diversity aspect. So that becomes a challenge because it's not just some of the cultural things that we would readily think of. But, I mean, it gets into language barriers oftentimes. So this past week we were out doing outreach and it was like every person we were running into spoke a different language. So, we're trying to figure out translation, get our phone out to translate. And so those are significant challenges that we're now seeing and we're having to pivot a little bit. So even a few months ago, we bought translation equipment for the church thinking, okay, folks are going to be coming in, they may be speaking different languages. We need to make sure that we're making the gospel accessible beyond those limitations there. So we're processing that. Also then with those lower income neighborhoods there's various levels of crime and violence on the ground. And so we're dealing with a lot of hurt and brokenness. So even in the last couple weeks, there's two individuals within our church family who's one, her son, his girlfriend was murdered. Another family had a family member who was murdered. And so you're dealing with various levels of grief as well. And so it's just being careful and thinking pastorally and ensuring that even your church body is aware of just handling some of these sensitive issues.

Mark Prater: That is sobering. It's something that not every Sovereign Grace pastor faces. So with all those challenges, God has placed you there and you have been faithful. Tell us how you see God at work through Mercy Gate.

Dan Birkholz: Yeah, so there's a few specifics that I do want to just toss out there. And that is there's been some folks who have just carried a burden specifically to kind of meet this need where people are grief stricken. And so, they've taken it upon themselves, folks in our church, to start a Grief Share. So we've seen a number of folks coming out and attending that. We went through the first set of Grief Share. We saw about 20-25 folks coming from the neighborhoods, some seeing it online that we were doing this. And it gave just a wonderful opportunity not just to connect with those are hurting, but also then bringing some of the church family along who haven't necessarily gone through difficult things, but in that process of grief they’re seeing how we correctly can minister to those who are. So it's equipping people just as they're coming in to go through those particular things.

And so, then the other thing is that for about two years, my kids and some other kids within the church are going to the same local high school. It's a charter school. And they've dealt over the years now with some unique challenges of just sharing the gospel and standing up for Jesus in really difficult contexts. And so, just two weeks ago, they began a Jesus club. They had their table set up, they had a whole banner, the balloons and all these kinds of things. There they were in the gym and hundreds of kids coming through and checking out these different clubs. And of course, here's Jesus Club and all the different reactions that come with that. Folks making fun of it, people kind of saying, “Are you kidding? They're actually doing a Jesus club here?” But, then 20 kids signed up. It's an opportunity for our youth within our church to just be a shining light in their high school. And so that has been wonderful. Then there was a number of younger students who just didn't fit the age gap for that club and so there's the possibility that a younger Jesus club maybe starting with those kids. So, amidst the mess and the hardship, it creates wonderful opportunity for a light to shine in the darkness and we're seeing it.

Mark Prater: Wow, that's a great story. Alright, bonus question that I didn't prepare you for so we'll see how good your answer is. Given the number of years you've been doing ministry at Wissinoming, what is one thing you'd say you learned as a pastor?

Dan Birkholz: One thing? What I think comes to mind are these particular words: keep your eyes on Jesus. There's so much to captivate you in terms of difficulty and hardship. And if you give undue attention to those things, you're going to collapse. Or you're going to resort to striving in your strength to try to become something in the midst of that difficulty. And keeping your eyes on Jesus has just been a rescue to my soul time and time again as the storms come in and difficulties abound. It's Jesus, just keeping our eyes fixed on him.

Benjamin Kreps: Yeah. Well, that's good counsel for all of us. It's a joy to be talking about Dan. I went to Pastors College with Dan, so I was with him the year that he was preparing it to plant. And just the fact that you chose a hard place to plant. We heard a teaching earlier today from Hebrews 13 about going outside the gate to where Jesus is, and you modeled that. There was an integrity to your exortation because how you have modeled that. Before we end, could you describe your experience of sustaining grace? I mean, you've only skimmed the surface of all that's been happening at your church over the last 10 years.

Dan Birkholz: Yeah. When it comes down to it, there's so many details that we don't have time to talk through. But it is God's providence. There are things that we prayed, and we prayed and we prayed and we prayed for, and there's no human possibility that you could manufacture the particular needs that you carried. But in God's providence, he has just constantly shown himself faithful on the ground. It’s not just in major ways where it's like, “Yay!” But in those really specific heartfelt ways where it's just like, “I need this right now. If I don't have this, I'm going to crumble.” And he's just again and again shown himself faithful. That has sustained us.

Benjamin Kreps: Excellent. Well, we're grateful for pastors like you, Dan, and the example that you set for us. You certainly did not get into that church plant for glory. Precious little of that. You did so for the glory of Christ and the advance of the gospel. So we we're grateful for you, Dan.

Dan Birkholz: Appreciate it.

Benjamin Kreps: So, thank you all for watching or reading. We'll see you here, Lord willing, next week. Bye for now.