Next to the Bible, Pilgrim’s Progress has been one of the most published books in the English Language. One of the most poignant scenes is when Christian (the main character of the book) stands with his friend Hopeful as their journey through the wilderness of this world is about to end and they see in the distance the Celestial City. One barrier remains: a great river. The river is very deep, and no bridge is in sight, but they must go through it or else they cannot come into the City of their longing.
When Christian steps into the water, he immediately loses his footing and begins to sink. His mind is filled with all sorts of horrors, and he fears that he will not survive his passage through the river. His friend, Hopeful, helps him, sustains him, and reminds him of the great truths he has learned throughout his pilgrimage and ultimately joins him there as they make it through the vast torrents of the river and into the city of their hopes. Without Hopeful by his side Christian would have drowned, but soon they both emerge on the other side together.
This is a vivid picture of the provision of God for every Christian as they walk through the wilderness of this world. It is a wonderful blessing that God gives his friends as our own. This is exactly what the church is—sinners made friends of God through Christ are also made friends of one another. We are those whom the Lord has rescued from the domain of darkness and transferred to the kingdom of the Son he loves (Colossians 1:13) and assembled together under the Word of God and in communion with Christ and one another.
Tenth Press is a new extension of our life together at Tenth Presbyterian Church. Tenth Press is both a print and online publication that had its beginnings more than three decades ago.
Tenth Press originally began to share news of the church, re-print helpful readings of Christian theology and doctrine, or report from a mission field far away. It grew to be a trusted organ of communication among us, and we want to extend its reach in new ways.
Our church’s website—tenth.org—has become one of the greatest outreach tools of our ministry. Our online home sees more than 55,000 views from 18,000 unique users looking at our ministry every month. We want that online audience to grow because we are finding more and more people looking at us on the web before they join us in worship.
Our staff thought about ways we could harness technology and use it to better reach our city with the gospel of Christ through the ministry of our church. The result is a new version of an old publication that now has a new home—tenth.org/press. Tenth Press is and will continue to be housed on our website in a new section for exclusive publication of news and stories like the ones that will be featured once a month in a print publication. Print editions will always be available at the Narthex and Delancey entrances.
The website will be continuously updated, featuring new, exclusive content weekly. We encourage you to sign up to receive email notification of stories when they post.
The print edition of Tenth Press will contain copies of stories already released on the website, and we want this print piece to be an additional way we communicate what is happening in our church, as well as a way that you can share the ministry of Tenth with others who might join us as they observe the ministry of the Word and Spirit among us.
In this new edition, you will find a report of our wonderful youth ministry—Maranatha. You can read how their summer camps changed the lives of young people. You can meet and learn more about Jared Cochrum, our new college director. Tenth sits amid more than 100,000 college students within walking distance of our church, and Jared’s vision for college ministry is shared in this Tenth Press article.
Our music ministry is one of the finest in the world, and we are so grateful to have Colin leading us week by week as well as leading an entire music program to the glory of Christ. His piece—Music and Discipleship—is published in this edition of Tenth Press.
If you are new to the ministry of Tenth Presbyterian Church, pick up a copy of Tenth Press and find out where our Bible classes are meeting and check out the campus map to see where we worship and learn more of God’s Word.
Our prayer is that this publication might be used of God to connect people to our church and our church to people in ways that will demonstrate how God is at work through us here at Tenth.
A few weeks ago, Liam asked the questions all of us really want to know: Where is Jesus? How can I encounter Jesus? The answer he said, “Jesus is with his church as the church worships and lives in fellowship with one another under the authority of the written Word of God.”
Our prayer is that Tenth Press—both online and this print publication—will be a window into the work and witness of this church, for with his own blood he bought her and for her life he died.