We are to be committed to doing good, and not to become so discouraged that we give up honoring our God by helping and serving others. Jeremiah, Elijah, Moses, Paul, all these great heroes of faith suffered through times of discouragement and doubt, times when they were tempted to give up. We have been saddened over the past few weeks because of the passing of J. W. Athan, Peggy Johnston, and Bill Eldridge. Others in our church family have lost loved ones recently, or are facing other great challenges in their lives. Our feelings were put into words by Tom Vance, Glen Cannon and Mike Lundgren as they led our worship assembly last Sunday. We are challenged and inspired by the quiet servant that J. W. was; the faithful worshiper Peggy Johnston was, even in the midst of physical hardship; and the caring encourager and evangelist that Bill Eldridge was.
During our Sunday morning sermon series over the past few weeks we have been challenged to consider different models or tasks of the church. Each of us must be involved in these different aspects of the church’s mission, but we will each be drawn to one or two of these more so than the others. Some may connect more with the church as a worshiping community. For others it’s being a servant to the needy. For some it’s being an evangelist and sharing the good news. For still others it’s being a prophetic voice in the community and calling for justice in our society. Obviously God seeks for His people to be committed to all of these and other important aspects of what it means to be the church. I hope that you value each of these models and tasks of the church, and are involved to some extent in each of them, even though you find yourself committing more of your time and energy especially to one or two. And I hope that you appreciate and pray for the efforts of others who are just as committed as you to serving the Lord, but are more specifically involved in a different part of our ministry as Christians, as the church of Jesus Christ. We serve our God together, and encourage each other to faithfully serve the Lord. Our Mission Statement acknowledges these different tasks, and calls on us to glorify God in all of these areas.
Our Mission—To glorify God by:
- Obeying His will
- Loving and encouraging one another
- Serving others as if serving Christ
- Proclaiming His Word
offering authentic worship in all we do.