Our Vision: Building Generationally

Ephesians 4:13

[13] until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,

If you don’t know what Calaveras Presbyterian Church is, then I want to tell you about it and invite you to be a part. Five years ago a handful of us decided to stop merely complaining about the collapse of Christian culture and start rebuilding it right here in Calaveras County.

We have what we believe is a beautiful and historically rooted vision.

In the late 1530s, when Europe was in chaos, the Reformers turned a chaotic, refugee-swamped Geneva, Switzerland, into a self-governing and biblically Christian powerhouse in one generation: universal literacy and free education for boys and girls, a world-class academy that trained hundreds of pastors who planted Reformed churches across Europe, deacons caring for the poor with work requirements and accountability, a consistory enforcing biblical moral order with Christian magistrates who handled civil affairs, and a work-as-worship ethic that birthed printing, textiles, and every manner of industry.

Families were reformed—men taught to lead, provide, and disciple; women honored; children catechized from the cradle - all without a single government task force or mandated diversity seminar. :)

Geneva exported pioneers who reshaped nations and ultimately founded America.

The people of Calaveras Presbyterian Church want the same multi-generational Kingdom outpost, rooted in Scripture rather than governmental control or humanistic utopian visions founded on Marxism, fiat money, central banks, or state dependency.

Here’s how we have started going about birthing our vision over the last 5 years, against strong opposition at times (because, as someone has said, “the devil rarely sends cupcakes to new church plants.”)

1. A Theological & Covenantal Foundation (The Non-Negotiable Core)

We confess the faith explicitly: We are a confessional church with members who vow before God to support one another, which means that we have covenanted with one another to strive for truth and unity in the primary doctrines of Christianity, while allowing for personal conviction and freedom. We have clear and defined understandings of doctrine, biblical gender roles (Eph. 5; Titus 2; 1 Tim. 2–3), family discipleship, work ethic, political thought built on the Bible, and economic stewardship (more on that below). 

To begin this vision, 6 years ago we:

2. Gathered the Seed/Core Group and Planted the Church First (The Engine)

We began with about 10 families who agreed that:

• Large families are a blessing (Ps. 127).

• Men are designed by God to be spiritual heads and providers.

• Women are a glorious crown and culture builders as they come alongside their husbands as helpers and homemakers.

• Christian school and/or Christian homeschool education are non-negotiable. We love the Christian Classical model.

• Postmillennial optimism (the Kingdom advances through the Gospel and resultant Christian obedience). 

We appointed elders (Titus 1 qualifications).

We implemented consistory-style discipline: private admonition, public rebuke, censure/excommunication for persistent and unrepentant sin.

We appointed deacons for mercy ministry. We are working on growing this ministry right now with more training on how to help widows/orphans/refugees not just with handouts but with work/training requirements. 

More have joined our number. Some have left as life’s needs or vision required/diverged, but our numbers have slowly and steadily grown. 

We meet weekly for worship, catechism, and unification of our understanding of the Bible. 

We have a vibrant men’s ministry now for discipleship.

We also have a vibrant women’s ministry.

We have a growing and functional classical Christian school and a vibrant homeschool community.

Our small groups are beginning to take off.

A fledgling seminary and college program designed and being prototyped.

We have LOTS of kids and young families who are faithfully training their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. 

This then is Calaveras Presbyterian Church’s secret sauce that we are always working on: preaching, growing our discipleship, loving discipline, sacramental integrity… all of this has created a unique culture. 

The next phase of our plan is to:

3. Acquire some Land & Build more than just a Nomad Outpost but a Multi-Generational Infrastructure

The vision is for some land for a permanent home for school children and college and businesses.

We don’t want to eclipse the other churches in the county. (We pray for their growth regularly.) We want to see churches in every town with our exact same vision. We want to join them, support them, help them.

We want to see Calaveras County an unassailable stronghold for righteousness that slowly begins to take on all of California—one town and one county at a time.

The church has been playing defense—it’s time for a little fun offense for a change. The Gates of Hell are a defensive structure, and one that is meant to be stormed and battered down. 

The Christian should never cower before the devil. 

As many are leaving this state, we plan to stay, and have as our goal the reformation of this state for God’s glory and the safety of his people.

Calaveras County needs to be a county of refuge for freedom of religion and freedom of living.

We want to develop the infrastructure necessary to help young people find jobs and buy land and build homes and raise families in freedom and safety.

We want to see families and churches unified.

We want to see governments protecting the freedom of the local populace with lesser magistrates like the sheriff and supervisors acting as buffers against tyranny coming down from greater magistrates in Sacramento or Washington.

We want to see Christians running for and winning local elections and holding local offices.

We are aiming at a 100-year goal, not just tomorrow.

To that end, the immediate work is:

4. Train, Grow, Send (The Missionary Engine)

• Families: Train fathers to lead in weekly family worship. Teach boys to work hard, lead, protect; girls to be industrious, nurturing, submissive to godly husbands. Titus 2 mentoring. Give all our children deep and profound education rooted in the Bible and Western Civilization.

  
  

• Pastors: Seminary and apprenticeship in the local church. We will then send graduates to plant daughter churches in neighboring counties.

  
  

• Economy: Community first—buy/sell within the Christian community where possible. Tithe to church. Create jobs that glorify God avoiding usurious finance along the way. It is imperative that our people understand Biblical economics and repudiate Keynesian economics:

• Private property is sacred (Ex. 20:15, Prov. 13:22—“a good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children”).

• Honest weights/measures, voluntary contracts, no fraud.

• Debt avoidance (Prov. 22:7), low or zero-interest internal lending among believers where possible (Deut. 23:19-20).

• Tithing and generous voluntary charity (deacons, not government).

• Work as worship (Gen. 2:15, 2 Thess. 3:10); every vocation is shown to be holy.

• Sound money and anti-inflation principles (avoid fiat debasement; Proverbs on just scales).

• Budget: Live below means. Tithe 10%+. Build emergency funds. Avoid church debt if possible.

• Jubilee principles applied voluntarily: periodic debt relief within the community, land stewardship across generations (no perpetual selling of family inheritance).

• Reject socialism (forced redistribution is theft) and crony capitalism alike. Start agrarian/homestead for self-sufficiency, then add trades, publishing, education-as-export. 

  
  

• Attract others: Publish, podcast, host conferences, welcome refugees from blue cities who share the vision.

• Appoint Pioneers: Commission families and pastors to move to new outposts with the same model in mind. Replicate the model exponentially.

That’s it. 

That’s all we want. 

That’s all we are asking God for. 

We have a small beginning, but 

“Do not despise the day of small beginnings” (Zechariah 4:10). 

Because honestly, even the great empires probably started with a couple of friends and a decent cup of tea.

This will take decades and cost blood, sweat, and tears. The Reformers faced intense persecution and lies about them that persist to this day. Many were martyred. 

In Geneva even (the poster child for the success of this model), Calvin was exiled once, faced coups, and still succeeded because the Word and the Spirit do the heavy lifting in the Kingdom of God.

And so we are a people who always are seeking personal and corporate repentance, prayer, and reaching one family at a time with the vision.

In a time when podcasters and influencers and politicians look to the national and international level for their salvation, we look to Jesus and we look locally for opportunities to rebuild Christendom in His name one outpost at a time.

The gates of Hell will never prevail ultimately over the church. By the grace of God, we will do what we can to overcome hell’s gates in our little county.

Soli Deo Gloria.

So please join us if you love this vision. 

And even if you live far away and can’t move here to help us build, please pray for us, or donate to our vision, or at the very least share what we are doing with others so that those God wants to use to help us further our vision can know about us.

California is not lost. All of it belongs to King Jesus. The state just doesn’t know it yet. 

If this stirs your heart, email us at pastor@calaveraspres.org or visit this Sunday at 11:00 AM at the Bret Harte Theater in Angels Camp. We would love to welcome you home. Our website is: www.calaveraspres.org