Toward a Reimagined Discipleship

Last week in his sermon entitled ‘The Past and the Future’, Pastor Josh challenged us to consider how we can share our story to tell of God’s truth and character.  This challenge is applicable to any and all relationships in our lives with those we know well as well as the stranger.  The key is that we continue to tell these stories and to be focused on sharing them with the next generation.

As we move forward as a church in the coming months we are going to be exploring some different ways of being disciples and making disciples.  Some of these ways will perhaps challenge our preferences and comfort.  What we must be assured of is God’s desire to lead us into stronger relationships with Him.  We cannot forgo our obedience to that call.  We have taken solid, healthy steps over the years to be disciples and make disciples which have led us to this point.  It’s not that those were bad or ineffective.  They served the Kingdom well in their time.  However, in an ever-changing culture we must continue to seek with all of our hearts the best ways to engage in discipleship with the current culture.

In the coming weeks and months you will be hearing more about some changes we will be implementing in our discipleship strategy.  We want you to know that you are an important part of this because it is not simply a program to carry out but rather a way of life of the church.  We are incredibly excited as to how this will strengthen us individually and as a body of believers in our efforts to carry out our God-given mission.

Here’s how you can be a part of this journey at this stage:

• Pray, Pray, Pray and then Pray some more.
  • Pray for leadership wisdom and discernment.
  • Pray for logistical planning and details.
  • Pray for all hearts to be open to God’s calling individually and collectively to take our next step towards Christ.
  • Pray for how God wants you to share your story.
• Recognize that all changes require sacrifice from each of us. One of these current sacrifices is pushing ‘pause’ with our Family Camp Ministry for 2016.  We will hit ‘play’ again in 2017.  This ‘pause’ will allow us to focus more intently on this new strategy.
• Remember that God has and will continue to equip us fully as we seek His plan for this church.
• Know that we will be sharing much over the next weeks and months about this new strategy. Seek out that info and if you have questions, don’t be afraid to ask.

Thank you for being a church that wants to impact the current and future generations for Christ.

Praying with you and for you,

Pastor Dan