Our Goals for Summer
Dear Church Family,
It’s a beautiful time to walk into our Sunday Gatherings these days. Between the new faces, the returning faces we missed, and the renewed happiness of being together, the room of full of joy. What a picture of the long-awaited gathering Jesus will one day fold us into when he returns.
As the feel of those meetings has shifted, I’ve sensed a shift in my own work here and in our church’s work together. That’s what this update is about. What special work have your leaders and I been up to, and where are we turning our attention now?
Since I got my second shot in March, my main goal has been to visit all those who had been kept away from our church gatherings. Prowling lions tend to prey on the sheep who are scatted from the flock. With so many scattered, I sensed a need to catch up with everyone and help with any discouragement or doubt Satan may have tormented them with. With much help from Karen, I’ve been able to sit with almost all of them. The deacons have added their own visits to this. I shouldn’t have been surprised, but almost all of them testified to how faithfully God has cared for them, many saying they were surprised that living in isolation wasn’t as hard as they expected because of God’s nearness.
That has been a sweet season, and now the work is shifting again. With most of our people back and a few more folks left to visit, the staff and I have settled on three priorities for this season: gather the isolated back in, fold the new people in, and figure out what our community needs from us.
Most churches now have 80% of their people reengaged between in-person and online services. Our in-person attendance alone is back to 80%, which puts us a little ahead of the game. But among those who have come back, their attendance is less consistent. So one big challenge is encouraging everyone back into a healthy 4-Sundays-a-month habit. This focus is mostly for the deacons and me. The rest of us just need to intentionally rebuild the habit. The best way I can think of to do that is to force yourself to get up and go to church for the next four weeks. You’re likely to set in place now a habit that will stick with you for years, for better or worse.
Another challenge is folding our newcomers into our community in a season where everyone is busy, ministries aren’t all fully functioning, and social contact is still hard. To help, the New Members Classes start this Sunday night. For those that choose to join, we’ll work to help them build friendships and find them somewhere to serve. Beyond that, we can all help by inviting newcomers out to eat or into our homes. Anything that helps us all get to know each other will make a big difference in this season.
Finally, much of our staff meeting and hallway talk has been about serving our neighbors in this unique season. Between our outdoor worship service and the masks and care packages we put together for health workers, our association actually used us as an example to help other churches engage their neighbors when the pandemic was in full-swing. With the situation changing yet again, we have to keep thinking of timely ways to bless them. The staff have several great ideas about this, which I can’t wait to tell you about. Most of our neighbors are asking deep questions, may be more open to church than normal, and could use a night out. So that’s where we’re focusing. You can help by seizing the day and inviting them to church. They may surprise you now if they said no before.
To be sure, there’s much more going on than this. Many ministries are rebuilding behind the scenes and you may have already read about our Children’s Ministry Intern who plans to arrive this summer. But it helps to have our goals right out in front of us.
If we are indeed nearing the end of this adventure, I can say it has very much deepened my affection for you. I am so proud of how our people have handled it all. You banded together in disagreement and uncharted waters, rallied to help your neighbors, stayed the course in isolation, and put the Gospel over smaller things. I pray we spend the next few years reaping the fruit of all this. Whatever he does, may God be greatly glorified in us.
Your pastor and brother,
Dave