“All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation…” 
-2 Cor. 5:18

     Over the past few months, many of us chose to participate in the Vital Ministry Journey. We were divided into small groups of three or four, where we prayed together, studied scripture together, and discussed questions posed by our study booklet. Mostly I have heard good things from the various groups. People got to know each other better through deeper conversation than
we normally have in passing. Questions and thoughts were raised about how God is calling our congregation to respond to the needs of the world, the spiritual gifts in our community, and the vision of Jesus’ Kingdom.
     Now that this small group study has concluded, the next step is opening the conversation to include the rest of the church. The plan is to begin a worship/sermon series later in July that introduces the major themes and scriptures we discussed. These worships will also involve times for YOU to respond to questions about our congregation’s mission.
      The studies opened and closed with the same passage of scripture, in which Paul explains how God’s purpose in the world was to reconcile humanity to God through Christ Jesus (who was both God and human). Strangely enough, this may be the easy part to understand. God so loved us, that Jesus came to bring us closer to God.
  But then, the ministry of reconciliation is passed to US. WE are to continue the work of Jesus by being God’s ambassadors in the world, his representatives, his agents. This is the mission of the church, and we too, are called to participate. Just as we are reconciled to God, brought into
relationship with him, so we should be working to reconcile others to God and to each other, bringing all of creation into relationship with God. 
     How should we start? Come to worship and we’ll find out together where God wants us to
begin…
“We are therefore
Christ’s ambassadors,
as though God were
making his appeal
through us. We implore
you on Christ’s
behalf: Be reconciled
to God.” -2 Cor. 5:20


Grace and peace,
Pastor Andy