When We Are At Our Best

Two weeks ago I promised some important questions concerning the past, present, and future of our congregation. The first one was, “Think back on your entire experience at this church and name a time when you felt most engage, alive, and motivated.” The challenge from that question was to accept responsibility and to take action to reawaken this in your personal spiritual life and the life of this congregation.

The second question was, “When you consider all of your experiences at this church, what has contributed the most to your spiritual life?” The challenge here was to spend time in the Scriptures aligning your spiritual priorities with those God has in mind for you.

Today’s question is, “what do you think is the single, most life-giving characteristic of this church? When we are at our best, what are we doing?” This question requires a little bit more thought than the others because each of us can recall aspects that are of tremendous sentimental value to us in this church. These memories may be of significant importance to us personally. However, are they life-giving? Are they Gospel centered? Or, are they of sentimental value only. When you consider the entirety of the Gospel message, what activities, programs, and ministries exemplify this message most?

Please, don’t answer quickly. Spend some time thinking about this one because this is something I want us to center our life, mission, and ministry around over the next year or two. This is how our session will determine our programming and budget for the coming year. As you think about this question I would like you also to consider that this is something that is life-giving in our church because it is something that the Holy Spirit has gifted us to do. It is life-giving because it is affirmed by the Spirit when we do it, when we carry it out. At that point we are doing that thing which God has called us to do and he is blessing us with his presence.

Spend some time in prayer. Spend some time in the study of the Scriptures. Spend some time listening to the voice of the Spirit. Spend some time in silence. I hope, when you are done, you will come spend some time with me and tell me where you think God is leading us.

Pastor Craig