This Week's Update

Greetings in Christ! 

 

Announcements

• Thanks to Ilene and Michelle attending the Bishop’s conference along with Pastor Tucker!
  
  
• Our next church council meeting is May 12th at 7pm in the Fellowship Hall.
  
  
• The next Across the Spectrum meeting will be May 17th at 3pm in the Fellowship Hall.
  
  
• The 2015 Virginia Synod Assembly is June 5th-7th at Roanoke College in Salem. Judy Flickinger is your congregational representative. There is room for one more, so let Pastor or Judy know if you’re interested.
  
  
• The Annual Church picnic is June 14th at 12:15pm in Bissett Park, Shelter #2.
  
  
• Thanks to Mackenzie and Patty for helping to lead worship on Sunday!
  
  

Devotional

What’s the purpose of the church? Our identity? Our mission? Jesus gives us a hint in the final chapter of Matthew’s Gospel account: “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” For simplicity’s sake, we can use just two words for this whole sentence. Make disciples. That’s our mission as God’s people, as the Body of Christ in the world.

 

The process of discipleship is complex. Disciples mean to become more like their teacher, and so we seek to become more like Christ. As a church that seeks to make disciples, part of what we must seek is the gifts that we have that reflect the goodness of God to the world. Many of us know what we’re good at, but we may not know how that relates to God’s goodness or God’s mission in the world.

 

What I’d love to hear from each of you in the coming weeks is a gift or a passion that you have, whether an innate talent, a learned ability, or even just a hobby that you’ve developed. Then, with the rest of the church, we can discern together how those gifts might help us grow as Christ’s disciples, as well as how we may use those gifts to help others grow as disciples of Jesus.

 

As you go throughout your week, consider your gifts and passions. Give thanks for those things, and consider how you might use them (or how you’re already using them) to glorify God.