My hope is…
Our church family will get into a healthy rhythm this fall and be a blessing to our city.
With the coming of the fall comes a new schedule. Gone are the lazy days of summer, and now comes the days of busy schedules. While it is a good thing to be active in doing what God has destined us to do, it is unhealthy to be bogged down with activity that is at worst bad and at best good. God wants the best for us. To have the best that God desires for us, we must be intentional.
Please be intentional about these 5 things:
- Gather for Worship – God made us to worship. Everyone worships something. While not everyone obeys God’s word by gathering with a local church on Sunday to sing praise, to pray, and to respond to the preaching of God’s word, everyone is worshipping something and somewhere on Sunday. What a person worships determines what they care about and become. If you want what is best, you must worship what is best – the one true God who is Father, Son, and Spirit.
- Build Faith at Home – Each day is a step in our journey. Each decision we make is influenced by something or someone. God calls us to be students of His word and to pray. By reading God’s word, we hear from God. By praying, God hears from us. That conversation is the best way to set the tone and direction for each day. Parents, teach your children to experience God this way and talk about what they are hearing from God. Do this as an individual, as parents, as a married couple, and as a family.
- Connect in a Group – We are made for community. While gathering for worship enables us to sing, pray, and hear the preaching of God’s word, connecting in a group allows us to encourage, discuss, and live on mission with our brothers and sisters in Christ. Connecting in a group will help you develop the friends you can support and who will support you, the accountability you need to be faithful to God, and the interaction needed to understand God’s word and will.
(One of the best ways to get into a group is to go through ROOTED! You can sign up online or at Next Connect at church on Sunday.)
- Serve at Church – Every Christian is gifted with spiritual gifts. Those gifts are meant to be used in our everyday work and world, but also in the church. We are a family, and there are chores to be done. Each of us has been gifted to fulfill the chores needed in order for us to worship well, train our children, and equip the saints on Sunday morning. You are needed! Find a place to serve the church.
- Impact the World – Our world is not as it should be. There are broken people and systems. God has called us to live, work, play, and get educated where we are. As we go into the world each day, we are to go on mission. We are to make disciples. This will bring light to our city. We are also to go out of our way to help our city with local needs and to serve our world by going to places where our missionaries serve and help them.
Life can get complicated. We must work to make it simple and productive. Start by making these five things fundamental to your life and then fill in the rest of the time as God leads you. Don’t get crazy! Remember what Richard Foster said. “In contemporary society our Adversary (the Devil) majors in three things: noise, hurry, and crowds. If he can keep us engaged in ‘muchness’ and ‘manyness,’ he will rest satisfied.”