We've been announcing our Healthy Church Weekend for a few weeks now - and I'm betting that more than a few of you are wondering what this is all about.
The leadership of NewLife Community Church (the staff & the Church Council) have invited Mike McGuffee (the head of the California Southern Baptist Convention Healthy Church Group and a former interim pastor here at NewLife) to help us assess where we are as a church and how we can do a more God-honoring job of making a god-sized dent in Easton & the surrounding communities.
The process begins on Saturday, April 16th, with Mike interviewing key leaders & volunteers here at the church. (If you'd like to be interviewed for the assessment, please let the office know so we can schedule a time for you.)
On Sunday, April 17th, everyone is invited to join us in the social hall at 9:45 am for a church wide survey... and a free breakfast! We're looking for feedback on how we're doing at fulfilling the five purposes of the church (evangelism, discipleship, ministry, community. worship) and at prayer.
We'll have lunch available for those who have ministry responsibilities before the worship service so that they can participate as well.
Mike & his team will take all the information they've gathered along with details about NewLife that the staff is having to compile and create for us a comprehensive customized report about their findings. From that report, Mike will help us to implement specific proposals to better do what God has called us to do.
All of this starts long before we get to April 16th, as we as a church began to pray daily for God’s will to be done in our individual lives and in the corporate life of our church.
I want to ask you as your pastor to prayerfully consider committing to:
- Confessing and forsaking all known sin in our lives
- Obeying all known commands the Lord has given us
- Maintaining a close fellowship with the Lord through prayer, Bible reading, and private worship
...as we work through this process of clarifying God's vision for us here at NewLife.
NewLife in 25 Words or Less
This is the vision statement that appears on our website - figured it might be helpful as we move towards our Healthy Church Weekend!
NewLife Community Church is an authentic Biblical community that encourages seekers to become fully developed followers of Jesus Christ. (Whew... we've got 7 words left!)
OK, let's unpack that a little bit:
- "authentic" means real with each other & with God... it's not just shrugging our shoulders & saying "well, that's the way I am" - it's loving each other so much that we're not content to uses excuses to cover up our junk
- "Biblical" is pretty obvious... the Bible is the most important book we can read/study/memorize/whatever & it's vital to us as a church - because it's Jesus' love letter to the world!
- "community" means that we're in this together - "Lone Ranger" Christianity is a bad idea because it turns its back on God's provision for our support, the church!
- "seekers" can mean anything from people who don't know God from a hole in the wall to folks who've been burned in unhealthy churches to long-time churchified folks who've kept their questions hidden - it's OK to seek for God!
- "fully developed followers of Jesus Christ" are people who tell others about Jesus, who do stuff to help them grow deeper with God, who serve folks inside & outside the church, who live in a way that points to Jesus 24/7, and who are connected with a family of Christ-followers by giving of their time, talents & treasure.
Yep, now that's more than 25 words.
