In this blog last week we began a three-part series. With the spread of Covid continuing to decline, we are now hard at work preparing for the relaunch of not only in-person worship, but our overall ministry. We are in the midst of rebuilding our serving teams. In fact it would be a great help if you could go out to this link as soon as you done reading to let us know what serving team you would like to be a part of. We are preparing our buildings to welcome people back to in-person worship. And we are making plans for what our ministry will look like as we move into a post-Covid existence.
Well there will certainly be some things that will change in our culture, and even in our church, as a result of this pandemic. There will also be things that are unchanged. The truth of the gospel does not change. Our mission to reach and disciple people does not change. And our key values do not change. I mentioned last week that we have three key value statements as a church.
The first, that we discussed last in last week's blog, is that “Everyone needs Jesus.” The second is that “Everyone is meant to grow.” It is a fundamental truth of our world that living things grow. That is also true of our faith. When we make the decision to become a Christ follower, we are born again. From that point forward, we have a living faith that is meant to grow. In the same way that children grows physically over time, believers are meant to grow spiritually.
As we come back together as a church, I believe it is more important than ever that we be a place where every person is growing spiritually. To grow spiritually is to grow in our knowledge of God's word. It is to grow stronger in our faith and trust of God. It is to grow deeper in our prayer life and other spiritual disciplines. But perhaps most of all, it is to grow to be more like Jesus.
Here at Rock Church our primary pathway for spiritual growth is our life groups. Lifegroups provide ongoing opportunities to dig deeper into the Word of God and to apply it to our daily lives. Working hand in hand with our life groups are our men's and women's ministries. These offer special opportunities for both faith sharing and spiritual growth. For our children and students, we also offer Nextgen and youth group. These are areas that, as we redevelop our post-Covid ministry, we will pour significant time, energy and resources into. This will be an unchanged priority because this is the heart of spiritual growth, and everyone is meant to grow.
I realize we have not yet arrived. We are still working through Covid, and not everyone is able to be out yet. But we are offering both in-person and online opportunities for growth. So I pray that every one of us will find a way to connect and to grow. And to those of us who are parents, this is especially important for our children. As we reintroduce children's and youth ministry, I pray you would do all you can to help your kids get connected. Spiritual growth in these early years is essential to a lifetime of faith.
Everyone needs Jesus. Everyone is meant to grow. Join us next week for part three.
In Christ’s Love,
Pastor Steve