WHERE IS GOD LEADING US?

April 2008

In this world of great turbulence, it's good to know that when it comes to our church, we stand on the Rock, Jesus Christ; the One who is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  This is His church, with Jesus at the head.  Our purpose and significance come from Him.  The question is, where is He leading us?

One of the greatest movements of people in history was when the Lord led His people out of slavery in Egypt to the promised land.  But, the road would have been a lot easier and more direct had they sought God's will and relied on Him even in the face of giants in the land.

God is active in our congregation.  He is going ahead of us.  This April we will be meeting in member's homes to talk about where God is leading us.  The goal is to listen to the heart of God.  To rely on Him.  To go where God leads.  To do what God directs.  We will have the opportunity to talk with each other.  To listen.  To dream.  To hope.  To pray.  To laugh.  All the while looking as a church community for God's direction.

This is not to say that we haven't been listening to God already.  We have.  Prayer is central to what we are what we do at St. Stephen's.  We place a very high value on God's word.  We are mission minded.  But, we have never done this as a concerted, congregation wide effort before.  This will be a time of wide spread discernment.  It will be a time of fellowship and maybe even meeting neighbors who attend St. Stephens that you never know before.  It is a time of listening to God's Word and God's Spirit and to Gods' people.  It's a time that will only be complete when you are there, participating with your church.

You will be receiving a letter about this April event, and a call from the host of the group where you might attend.  I will be at every group, as will Jan Johnson, President of our church Council.  While many churches might ramp down after Easter, we believe in this so much that we are ramping up for it.  The agenda is this:  to seek God's purpose for us as a church and to dream about how we might best fulfill that purpose in our community.

After all the home meetings are over, a task force will assemble the results of the meetings and make recommendations to the church council on the mission and strategy for our congregation.  The council may then also set a special congregational meeting to report back and make recommendations to the congregation so that we might se out on that journey as soon as God leads us.

I look forward to seeing you at the Home Mission Meetings this April!

Pastor Dave