Pastor’s Report:
January 2014
As the calendar has turned to a
New Year we look ahead expectantly to what God will be doing through us and in
us in 2014. Our New Year’s Eve service was an excellent time of praise and of opening
our hearts and minds to the Lord as we read aloud once again through the entire
Book of Revelation. Though some of the details may be difficult to understand,
the main idea is clear: Jesus wins!
Praise God for the privilege of following Him as He continues His
mission of building His church. The
dawning of a new year seems to offer us a clean slate, another opportunity both
as individual followers of Jesus and as a local body of believers to reexamine
our priorities and to reaffirm our commitment to growing in our obedience to
Him. We summarize our mission as a church as being “to know God and to make Him
known.” “Knowing Him” is not merely an
academic or intellectual exercise, but rather it speaks to a living, authentic
relationship with Him. To know Him is to love Him in the truest sense! And so, as we state in our vision statement,
“We envision a community of Christ followers rooted in the Word, treasuring God
as supremely valuable and proclaiming the riches of His grace to the World.”
One highlight for this quarter
has been the privilege of fellowshipping with the Simon family as Barbie, Jude,
and Vanessa have been living with the Houses and attending Coastal Christian
School. Their steadfast faith as they have been passing through a time of unspeakable
grief has been an example and encouragement to many. We are honored as a church
family to come by their sides and to “bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill
the law of Christ.”
We’ve had one baptism this quarter and look forward to others taking
this step of publically affirming their faith in Christ and unity with the
body. Our small group ministries
continue with several groups having started or re-started in the fall, while
others continued year round. The elders
agree that we would love to see everyone in our church family involved in some
kind of small group. These gatherings
give opportunity for mutual encouragement and accountability at a deeper level
than we are able to experience in our Sunday morning worship services. One of our small groups has restarted a “dare
to care” type outreach and also plans to participate in monthly community
lunches. The group that meets in the
parsonage on Thursday evenings has been a blessing to us as we share music, a
time in the Word, prayer, and fellowship around the table each week. If you are not in a group as of yet talk with
me or your elder and we will try to help you find a group that will meet your
needs.
As we have finished our preaching series through James, we have just
begun a new series in the Book of Acts. I am excited at what we will discover
as we look at the inspired record of the birth of the New Testament
church. We will see the attitudes and
practices that characterized the early church. The most exciting theme that
strikes me as we approach this book is the reminder of our dependence on the
presence and power of God to carry out the mission He has entrusted to us. May we
faithfully lift up His Name in our community and beyond. Another emphasis we will see in Acts is the
church praying together. Will you consider joining us on Wednesday evening (or
men, at the Wed. A.M. coffee and prayer time) as we bring the needs of our
church and community before the throne of grace?
I continue to be available for
biblical counselling to individuals and couples in our church and appreciate
the discipleship that is going on at various levels in our church family. I’ve
been pleased to be able to help at New England Bible College on Thursdays, and
will for at least one more semester as they are going through a transitional
time as an institution. Mary Ann also volunteers at Coastal Christian School on
Monday serving as the elementary school librarian.
May God bless you in 2014,
Your co-workers in Christ, Pastor Steve and Mary Ann
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