We are indeed building a church.
I continue to hear us describe our project on the corner of 112th and Quincy
as "building a church," and I cringe whenever I hear that - especially
when I hear those words come out of my own mouth. We're good at shorthand, at
abbreviating words and phrases, speaking in sound bites. The problem is that
the way we describe our world shapes and even limits the way we see
our world.
There's been a lot of activity at 112th and Quincy - but we've been pretty
busy on Sunday mornings, too. In the first three months of this year we've held
four baptisms and received fourteen people into membership, planning on another
six in May. We held a Mission Marketplace that drew together over two dozen
ministries and fed four times that many people. We're teaching our youth to
be leaders in worship, and beginning the work of connecting our kids into a
youth group we're calling Growing Young Christians. We'll soon be blessing
our graduates of all ages, near and far, and this summer we're hosting the Sonrise
Singers youth performance, planning Vacation Bible School somewhere,
and planning four weddings.To evaluate our ministry, we're awaiting the results
of our third Natural Church Development survey. To better use the new building,
we plan to canvass surrounding neighborhoods for family needs.
Jesus has been building a church for 2,000 years, and for the last decade we've
been adding a little wing onto it at Lakeshore Elementary School and the Corpus
Christi Center. The early church called the physical plant that housed the church
"a house for the church," and I think of it as building a permanent
church home. It's a lot more than the wood and steel you see poking out of the
ground at 112th and Quincy.
It's God's work with your hands. It is you.
That building is just a bigger tool.
Pastor Jim
The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ. Ephesians 4:11-12
From the Shepherd's Song Newsletter -- May 2009
Copyright 2009 by Good Shepherd Lutheran Church
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E-mail your comments and questions to Pastor Jim in care of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church at gslc@sirus.com.