Press on!
Friends, as we approach 6 months of Gracelife Community Church I wanted to take a moment to reflect, and share some thoughts and things to look forward to – with the chief end of Glorifying God for all that he has done and is doing. In many ways, it is wild to think that we have been a church for 5 months, the time has seemed to fly. Yet concurrently, I feel like we have been here forever and are pretty established. (This latter feeling is crushed when I look up from my laptop and realise I still haven’t gotten to painting the nursing room… whoops). Nevertheless, it does seem that these initial months have laid a solid foundation for our church upon which we can build.
Community
With the decision to restrain from filling up the calendar with scheduled stuff – the most notable of which being Gospel Communities (Small groups) – came a little apprehension as to whether our community would grow deeper together organically. Certainly, there are no perfect ways to do this in our knowledge, but as an eldership, we have been greatly encouraged to witness our church begin to care for one another prayerfully and practically, disciple, welcome into homes, facilitate Bible studies and linger on Sundays without the need for meals or the like. This growth has not just been relational, as I know many of you can attest to growing deeper in your understanding of the word and the God we love and serve, particularly through the men’s and women’s evenings. Thank you for committing to this, to each other, and to the glory of God.
Baptisms
Some months ago we celebrated Vlad’s baptism, and, we have at least two more coming in July. What a gift it is to see God’s mighty saving arm at work.
Kids
In the lead-up to planting, we landed on the conviction that the best way to disciple our children was by joining them in, as best we could, with our Sunday congregational worship. Keeping families together and worshipping together. The practicality of this seemed extremely daunting, not just for me and Tessa as parents, but also if I am honest, as to whether it would scare you all away. Yet we held the conviction and endeavoured to trust the Lord whatever the outcome.
We have a long way to go and personally, I want to become much better at speaking directly to our precious children for at least a moment during my sermons. Although I think we are seeing fruit. 2 standout things come to mind, and I recognise as I write this that especially for us parents with toddlers (weirdly, this is most of the parents), it’s hard, but it is also good. 1. The emphasis it places on parents disciplining their children. It is becoming normal for parents in our church to be thinking and talking intentionally about how they are teaching and raising their children in the ways of the Lord, let’s not take that for granted! Praise God. This cannot be outsourced and we need a community that is united in supporting us as we do it. 2. The testimony of many of you who aren’t parents has been positive. At first, it can be a bit distracting, but it can also be an opportunity to a) pray and/or help the parent, and b) focus on being disciplined to listen and engage yourself despite the noise.
There are many more things to celebrate, but this is what I am thanking God for this week so I wanted to share. The final thing for now, is all of you. I Praise God from whom all blessings flow, that he has blessed us all by bringing us together so that we may be on mission and proclaim the gospel.
Grace to you, glory to God.