From the Pastor

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Dear Church Family, In this month in which we celebrate Pentecost, the birthday of the Church, I wanted to share the following article with you:   First of all, the church is a gathering of people to be infused with the Holy Spirit. We gather in worship and we gather in small groups. We gather in choirs and classes and work crews. We gather to eat, to pray, to play. We gather to study the Bible, to discuss ethical decisions, to explore heritages and doctrines of faith. We gather to plan, to be trained, to become open to new visions for the church. We gather with children, we gather with youth, we gather with senior citizens. We gather at noon, we gather in the evenings, we sometimes gather at outrageously early hours in the morning for breakfast. The beginning of the Christian Church was the GATHERING of the disciples in Jerusalem. The renewal of the church in our own day begins with OUR gatherings. Renewal of the church does not revolve around the pastor of the church. The church is renewed when the people gather to be infused by the Holy Spirit. Period. We can’t gather “in theory.” We have to actually gather in time and space. It is only when we devote ourselves to sharing time and space together that the church has any chance of the liveliness described in the Bible. A living, growing, spiritual, joyful church doesn’t come cheap. The price is always a commitment of the people: that they will share time and space together. —J. Michael Smith, homiletics magazine, reprinted with permission ©2008 May/June issue   Under The Mercy, Pastor Bill Myers

 

< Prev		Next >