Amillennials like myself have good reasons for great hope, a hope that fuels our passion in the daily hours. We aren’t defeatist, disengaged, and doleful. We smile in the light of Christ’s glorious victory and look expectantly, with the rest of Christendom, to his second coming.

Defeatist. Disengaged. Doleful. That’s a caricature of what theologians call amillennials.[1] But amillennials, I argue, actually have a wonderful hope to treasure. This isn’t an article meant to argue for a position. It’s meant to correct a misunderstanding out there and encourage the global church to rally around its one true passion: the return (whenever it may come) of Jesus Christ our Lord.
The Big Three
Without getting into great detail or exegetical intricacies, there are three common positions on the end times (eschatology).[2] Premillennials believe that Christ is going to return before (pre) a one thousand year period (or at least a long period of time; Rev. 20:6) in which we rule with him before the final judgment. Postmillennials believe that Christ will come after (post) a thousand year period, during which the church will grow in prominence and influence in the world. Amillennials believe that we’re currently in the end times right now, and that we’ll continue suffering with Christ until he comes again at the end of time for the final judgment.[3] Given that summary, it seems clear why the amillennial caricature emerged. Christ isn’t coming back to reign? Defeatist. We aren’t called to take over and influence culture, bringing heaven on earth? Disengaged. We aren’t waiting for an imminent return of Jesus so that we can reign with him? Doleful. Amillennials can seem stiff, joyless, and removed.
Reasons for Hope
But that isn’t the case. At least, it shouldn’t be the case for amillennials who know the good news of Scripture. Here are a few reasons why our hope should be blindingly bright. I’ll be drawing on the thought of Richard B. Gaffin Jr. And then I’ll end with something every Christian should be able to celebrate, despite our theological differences. Such celebration is critical in our times, when the unity of the church is needed to stand against the ravages of a hostile world.
Jesus Won and He Rules Now
We believe that Jesus’s victory over sin and Satan wasn’t provisional; it was definitive. The resurrection life that crowned his head when it emerged from the shadows of the tomb still shines. And it will shine until he comes again in glory. As Gaffin put it, “The entire period between his exaltation and return, not just some segment toward the close, is the period of Christ’s eschatological kingship, exercised undiminished throughout.”[4] Jesus won, and he rules. Smile. Nothing can threaten your King. You and I are now beacons of Christ’s reigning light. As the poet Malcolm Guite wrote,
We ourselves become his clouds of witnessAnd sing the waning darkness into light;His light in us, and ours in him concealed,Which all creation waits to see revealed.[5]
We Are Victors
If Christ began his reign in the resurrection, and our life is hidden with Christ on high (Col. 3:3), then we are victors with him. Regardless of how we may feel, we are victorious in Christ. Today. Right now. My father used to keep an old Joe Namath quote on the inside flap of his Bible: “When you win, nothing hurts.” Of course, that’s demonstrably untrue, but you have to smile at the sentiment. Eternal victory burns beyond earthly sorrow. If your eyes are fixed on Christ, they’re fixed on your Captain and King, and his victory over death should take your breath away.
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We all have our levels of discomfort we seem willing to bear and our levels of discomfort, what we even find uncomfortable, differs from person to person and all of us, at some level, will allow that lure of an easy life to overtake. When Jesus calls us to take up our cross and follow him, this is precisely what I think he is calling us to put to death. For the sake of the gospel, we must die to our comfort. Those of us who won’t will end up killing the church.

I have long been convinced that one of the biggest enemies of the gospel is our own personal comfort. There are simply some lines that we seemingly are unwilling to cross. Some of our lines may differ, there are levels to which we are willing to tolerate some discomfort but even our discomfort is largely within the bounds of what we are comfortable being uncomfortable with (if that makes sense?) But if we are serious about the cause of the gospel, we are going to have to get a bit uncomfortable.
I am reminded of the missionaries who told me that there seems to be some sort of common belief that they must just be people who love snakes in their beds or civil unrest. It’s alright for them – they probably love the adventure – but it’s not really for me. Whilst I’m sure there are some who relish the adventure, I am sure many more are less enamoured with dangerous animals and less than sanitary conditions and are, instead, motivated by the belief that somebody needs to take the gospel where nobody is willing to go. They chose to be uncomfortable for the sake of Christ.
It is very similar to the kind of noise those of us in deprived communities often hear. It’s alright for people like you, but it isn’t for me. I’m never quite sure what they mean by that in my case. Not least, most who insist it’s alright for people like me because I’m more like the people here than they are usually also want to tell me how middle class my upbringing was and I definitely am. You can’t really have that both ways. But even if they have some other reason – and I know unquestionably middle class people who have gone to deprived places who have heard similar things – the line remains largely the same: that would be a level of discomfort too far for me. But, of course, because we know it isn’t the “spiritual” thing to say, we dress up our discomfort by insisting that the people who do go must just love living next door to drug addicts on council estates or serving in areas where racial tension runs high.
But of course, we have the same problem the closer to home we get too. Forget being asked to move anywhere, we hear these comments from people being asked to share the gospel in the nicer areas they have decided to live in. Churches with evangelists, or any people committed to evangelism, will often point to such people and say ‘it’s alright for you.’ I have been in middle class churches where any evangelistic endeavour or people of a more evangelistic bent are just viewed as loving being gauche, weirdos who must just love awkward conversations about Jesus or people who have no concern about whether they keep their jobs or not. It’s alright for them, but it’s not for me. It’s all a level of discomfort too far.
Then there are the lads who perhaps are a bit worried about evangelism but they’re at least willing to sit and talk with members of the church and help them grow. But meeting up for half an hour, in a lunch break, that’s a bit of a pain. Easier just to not do that. Then there are evenings out, but that’s all a hassle too. There is a level of discomfort even here that stop us from bothering engaging in discipleship and giving up almost any of our time for the sake of building the kingdom.
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The three presbyteries will be regional in nature: Southwest Presbytery will encompass Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, Kansas, and Missouri. Northern Presbytery will encompass all the congregations north of Tennessee and North Carolina (with the exception of Pathway Presbyterian Church (mission) in Clarksville, TN). The Southeast Presbytery will cover all the states east of the Mississippi River and south of the northern borders of Tennessee and North Carolina. All three presbyteries will have their formal organizational meetings to elect a Moderator and Clerk. They will also decide on a name for their body.

Vanguard Presbytery began on February 6, 2020 with the reception of two ministers, TE Dewey Roberts and TE Michael Frazier. The congregation of Cornerstone Presbyterian Church in Destin, FL soon voted to follow their pastor, TE Roberts, into Vanguard Presbytery. Other congregations and pastors followed. Vanguard held its formal Convocation in Nashville, TN in July of 2020. Vanguard Presbytery now has 17 particular churches, 10 mission churches, 2 mission works, and one pastor serving in a church that is expected to follow him into Vanguard. Additionally, the denomination is regularly discussing its distinctives with pastors and churches who are inquiring about Vanguard.
At its 14th stated meeting on October 18, 2024, Vanguard Presbytery met at Chapel Woods Presbyterian Church in Snellville, GA. The Presbytery voted unanimously to organize the denomination into three presbyteries and call for a General Assembly to be held some time before the end of August 2025. The three presbyteries will be regional in nature: Southwest Presbytery will encompass Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, Kansas, and Missouri. Northern Presbytery will encompass all the congregations north of Tennessee and North Carolina (with the exception of Pathway Presbyterian Church (mission) in Clarksville, TN). The Southeast Presbytery will cover all the states east of the Mississippi River and south of the northern borders of Tennessee and North Carolina. All three presbyteries will have their formal organizational meetings to elect a Moderator and Clerk. They will also decide on a name for their body.
The retiring Moderator of Vanguard Presbytery, RE Mark Grasso, was authorized to appoint the convening Moderator and Stated Clerk for the General Assembly. He appointed TE Dewey Roberts to serve as the convening Moderator and TE Joshua Light to serve as the convening Stated Clerk. Both men will be eligible to be nominated for election by the General Assembly. Moderator Grasso also appointed the convening Moderators and Stated Clerks for each of the presbyteries, which will meet soon to establish themselves as separate presbyteries.
This move to divide into three presbyteries and call for a General Assembly was the appropriate time for Vanguard. First, it was becoming increasingly difficult to do the work of both a national presbytery and a denomination. There are some important distinctives of Vanguard Presbyterian Church which contributed to that decision. Vanguard does not have provisions for standing committees at the General Assembly level. We believe that church history shows that such committees can eventually become unaccountable to their denominations and function as administrative hierarchies within their respective spheres of responsibility. Hierarchy is contrary to the Scriptural principles of church polity.
Second, Vanguard believes that the Scripture establishes that the missionary work of the church is to be carried out by congregations and presbyteries—not the General Assembly. It was the Church at Antioch that sent out Paul and Barnabas as missionaries (Acts 13:1-3). Presbyteries have the authority to ordain and conduct oversight of ministers and their work (1 Timothy 4:14 and 2 Timothy 1:6), which includes the responsibility to oversee their work as evangelists and missionaries. The responsibility of the General Assembly is more legislative and judicial in nature (cf. Acts 15:1-35), especially in deciding such issues that affect the spread of the gospel. Thus, the General Assembly of Vanguard Presbyterian Church will be interested in receiving reports from each presbytery concerning how they are carrying out the Great Commission and how they are encouraging and helping every member congregation to do the same.
There are other unique principles that Vanguard has adopted, particularly in light of the heterodox positions taken by many modern reformed denominations. Vanguard holds that the creation account in Genesis took place in a literal six-day period. We believe this is supported by the Westminster Confession and Catechisms that God created “all things of nothing, by the word of his power, in the space of six days, and all very good.” We believe those days were all the length of our days—twenty-four hours—since the Scripture says concerning them all that “there was evening and there was morning, one day.”
Vanguard also holds to the office of evangelist as a special gift given to some elders as was held by the New Side Presbyterians in the 18thcentury and the Old School Presbyterians in the 19th century. Indeed, the office of evangelist has great support in the history of the church, in Christian writings, and in the various books of polity of reformed denominations—even if most of those denominations today completely ignore the office of evangelist.
Vanguard also identifies with the theological positions of both the New Side Presbyterians and the Old School Presbyterians. These two movements are mirror images of one another. The New Side Presbyterians during the First Great Awakening emphasized support for that revival while also holding to orthodox theology. During the Second Great Awakening, the Old School Presbyterians opposed the “strange fire” and the heretical positions taken by some people who were actively promoting it, believing that God is the one who sends revival. The only real difference between the New Side Presbyterians and the Old School Presbyterians is the particular circumstances they faced and the times in which they lived. At heart, they agreed on all matters. Also, Vanguard requires full subscription to the Westminster Standards which is a great aid in promoting the unity of the denomination.
One special difference between Vanguard and other denominations is the amount of time spent in worship and prayer at every meeting. Preaching and prayer in Vanguard are not perfunctory, but lively and worshipful. At the most recent stated meeting, presbytery heard two excellent sermons and spent 90 minutes in prayer before conducting our business. The prayer time was an especially meaningful time with heartfelt prayers being offered for matters that are not usually a part of public prayers. Vanguard believes that if presbytery is to be the church of the ministers, then it needs to focus on the two things that the apostles determined should be the main focus of their energies—prayer and the ministry of the Word (Acts 6:4).
While Vanguard began with some churches from the PCA, several of them have come from other denominations and some from mission churches planted by Vanguard. We have some churches in cities where no other reformed churches exist, such as Clovis and Roswell, New Mexico. There are some exciting things that have happened in some of the churches. For instance, the Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church in Live Oak, Texas under the pastoral leadership of TE Dick Jones was organized as a particular church in March of 2021. They recently bought and paid for three acres of land in a choice area for $550,000. The church still has assets in addition to the property of over $600,000. They are planning on erecting the first phase of their building program.
TE Ryan Denton, ordained as an evangelist by Vanguard, has taken the admonition of Paul to Timothy very seriously: “do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry” (2 Timothy 4:5). Under his faithful evangelistic efforts, there are several churches that have been raised up. He preaches most Sundays to the Lubbock Reformed Church in the morning and the Grace Covenant Reformed Church (mission) in Clovis, New Mexico in the afternoon. Clovis is 100 miles from Lubbock. Thankfully, Ryan has mentored a young man, TE Erick Welsh, who passed his ordination exam at our recent presbytery meeting. There are other works that have been started through Ryan’s efforts or through his faithful follow-up to opportunities brought into his path. This is what Ryan said about why he is in Vanguard today: “I joined Vanguard because of their culture of prayer, national revival, church planting, and evangelism, along with its commitment to the WCF and historic Presbyterianism. As Vanguard continues to grow, these principles continue to be reinforced and unleashed.”
TE Mic Knox is the founding pastor of Gospel Reformed Church (Mission) in Marietta, Georgia. Before coming into Vanguard, his leadership team looked into several denominations and talked with a representative of Vanguard congregations. They chose Vanguard because, “This is the best denomination for us. There really is nowhere else that would be right.” TE Knox preached at the recent presbytery from 3 John 2. He transferred into Vanguard a year ago and his congregation came into the denomination earlier this year. He gave the reasons for his congregation being in Vanguard: “Our Trinitarian, Covenant Lord—who has saved us by grace—providentially guided Gospel Reformed Church to Vanguard because the Holy Spirit has engendered an encouraging, evangelistic ecosystem where the gospel of Jesus is faithfully preached inside the church as well as in the community—which is the Biblically balanced mandate from Scripture. Vanguard’s regenerate and humble Teaching and ruling Elders galvanize one another in local, national, and foreign evangelism; while Vanguard is filled with godly men who love, glorify, and enjoy the Lord, each other, His Bride, and their local communities with deep compassion for the lost.”
The newest minister transferring into Vanguard is TE Sterling Brown who is starting a new church in Richmond, Ohio—Geneva Reformed Church (Mission)—which was ‘birthed from a body of believers fleeing the growing corruption in many of the well-known corporate Presbyterian denominations.” When he and his congregation were looking for a denomination faithful to the Scriptures and the WCF, he chose Vanguard for the following reasons: “We were thankful to join Vanguard Presbyterian Church because of their strong stance on the Word of God, their commitment to the Reformed faith (Westminster Confession of Faith, Larger and Shorter Catechisms) and the devotion to God in their understanding that the local church for whom Christ shed His blood is more important than corporate Presbytery.”
Vanguard members rejoice in the number of young ministerial candidates and licentiates as well as the number of students in the Vanguard School of Ministry. TE Al Baker, one of the founders of Vanguard, observed: “Vanguard is the very best denomination in our country and I would not want to be in any other one.” His sentiment is universally shared by others in the denomination.
For more information or to make a donation: Vanguard Presbyterian Church; or contact Dewey Roberts or Joshua Light

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