State of the Church Address
Message for February 3, 2008
In my office, is a small frame, with a picture of a waterfall and the word POWER. The scripture below that picture is one I hold in front of me often. Ephesians 3:20, “Now to Him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than we can ask or imagine…” God can accomplish far more than we can ask or imagine. He has certainly done that here at Gethsemane.
2007 has been a year of growth, of growing deeper with God. It has been a year where, we as a church, intentionally shifted our focus to discipleship…growing those within our church, helping all of us take steps to a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ. Yet, God still brought us new people. Church membership grew by 7.5%, including 32 individuals joining on profession of faith, making a first-time commitment to a church and to Christ. Worship attendance did not grow as rapidly as in the past few years, but still jumped 6.7%. But these numbers show little, for these numbers do not reveal the lives changed, the addictions broken, the marriages strengthened, the hearts opened, the anger released, or the love experienced and shared with our world by so many in our congregation. Many stories of how God has worked in the past and is working in the present throughout our church family can be found in the Lenten devotional you received today.
As we shifted to an emphasis on discipleship, we brought on a new position…Linda Pevey came on staff as Director of Adult Discipleship. This year has seen a high of over 200 people in small groups, over 60 people involved in Disciple Bible Study, over 40 individuals who have been to The Walk To Emmaus, thirteen involved in one-on-one discipleship through Lifebuilders, and countless that have taken our 101, 201, 301, and 401 classes, including five that have completed all four and were recognized earlier this year. In the fall of 2007, the first Discipleship Map was introduced and our congregation was asked to “Take the Next Step.” Again, the numbers fail to reveal the lives changed through meeting together and studying God’s Word.
As a congregation we have continued to reach out in mission and ministry. Our small groups have served in countless ways including preparing lunches, cooking the Thanksgiving Dinner, organizing a food drive to help 200 families at Christmas, and working with A.I. Dupont to do things for the children at Christmas.
As a church, giving 10% of every Sunday’s offering to missions, we were able, with God’s help, to give over $40,000 to help others in our community, nation and world.
We have supported Samaritan’s Purse, the Crop Walk, mission trips to Guatemala, New Orleans, and Cherokee, North Carolina, Lifebuilders, Sussex Pregnancy Care Center, Shiloh House of Hope, Seaford Mission, Missionaries Ben & Lindsey Cole and Amanda & Martin Clewis, Africa University, Sered Orphanage, Prison Fellowship, and countless others. Today, we continue to give as a church to those needs in our local community through the Souper Bowl of Caring. Let us give God all the credit for the countless needs we, as a church, have been able to help.
2007 was not only a year of reaching out, but it was a year of reaching up…it was a year of worship, praising God for all He has done…for all that He is…A new praise team, Vertikal Xpression, began to lead us in worship on Easter Sunday, last Spring…our Garden Praise Band grew by several new members and continued to bless us with their music…The message of Jesus Christ and what it means to be a disciple was relayed through series such as Lost, Beyond Trivial Pursuit, What Floats Your Boat, The Biggest Winner, Spiritual Check-Up, It’s a Dog’s Life, Jesus and Country Music, Everybody’s Normal Til You Get To Know Them, and Unwrapping the Gift.
Our youth and children’s ministry continued to grow and new classes had to be formed, more volunteers sought out for The Power Zone. The nursery exploded with more and more babies arriving at our church, and we brought another individual on staff, Rachel Drace as Nursery Coordinator. The summer saw over 70 children attend Vacation Bible School…and through Missy’s continual leadership, the youth traveled to Gettysburg for a Winter Retreat, went through confirmation, participated in the Crop Walk, went on the Revolve Tour…and 24 teenagers placed a silver ring on their fingers, committing to remaining pure until their wedding day.
Thank you Missy, Linda, Rachel for all your hard work and tireless hours in helping this ministry continue to flourish and honor Christ.
It was an awesome year and I have only touched the “tip of the iceburg,” for the testimonies that could be shared of how God has moved in so many lives are many and powerful. Many people have helped put God at the forefront of 2007…so many leaders, volunteers, small groups “stepping up.” I want to lift up those who were the leaders, volunteers, in the many ministry areas of the church.
· Janet English – Finance
· John Tarburton – SPRC
· Doug Dietz – Trustees
· Dawn Wallace – Mission & Outreach
· Angela Anderson – Children’s Education
· Diana Yelverton – The Power Zone
· Garry Ebling – The Garden Praise Band
· Karen Handy – Vertikal Xpression
· Donna Cranston – United Methodist Women
· Ginny Short – Benevolences
· Phil Rekitzke/Elva Mooney – Hospitality
· Walt English – Administrative Council
· Tim Young – Lay Leader
There are so many others…small group leaders, Disciple teachers, committee members, behind-the-scene servants…so many of you who have volunteered, who have served sacrificially, who have given of your time…AND because of your sacrifice and willingness to serve, lives have been touched and forever changed by Jesus Christ…God has worked through each of you to make a difference in the lives of others.
So now we begin a New Year…2008…we cast off into the future…seeking God’s Will for our lives and for our church.
We are about to enter the season of Lent…Wednesday night at 7:00 p.m. we will worship together…we will enter Lent through our Ash Wednesday service and remember that we are called to go deeper, growing in our relationship with God, stretching ourselves and fulfilling our purpose as disciples. We are called to love God, love others, and to serve. Those three things should always be at the forefront of our minds and hearts.
Lent is a wonderful time to remember that we are “called” not just as individuals but as a church to love God, love others, and to serve. We are all called to take “The Next Step.” Today, you have received your next Discipleship Map, filled with opportunities to grow in your faith, and in turn, help our church grow and move forward in its mission. The upcoming season will include opportunities for study such as Daniel – Lives of Integrity, Words of Prophecy; Discovering God’s Way of Handling Money; Not Your Typical Church; classes 101, 201, 301, and 401; and the Lay Speaker Academy in April. You have received a brochure with a dozen different small groups to choose from, to get involved in, to grow closer to others and to God. This spring will see wonderful opportunities for worship including a study on Daniel and “Love on the Rock,” a series on marriage and relationships. There are countless service opportunities forthcoming. And this is just the next few months.
The Vision Team is working on a plan for moving our church forward, taking care of the essentials, ministry areas in our church that need to be dealt with before we can vision, can move into the future. We are looking at six fundamentals to our church’s ministry – Finance, Fellowship, Facilities, Formation, Funneling, and Framework. Within each one of these fundamentals, we are developing a detailed plan, to present to our Administrative Council, in order to help us address our church’s current needs and to prepare us to take the next step into the future.
We believe, as Henry Blackaby writes, that we are to find where God is working and join Him in that work. God has brought to our doors, has blessed us with many families and children (many of you); we will continue to serve and love every person who comes in our doors, but it is clear that God is calling us to focus on youth and children, and the families that bring them.
We are called to be unique; to serve a specific purpose in this community…To be focused in whom we are trying to reach. God has shown us our “calling”…shown us our identity as a church. We will “Come Alive,” draw closer to God, from the oldest in our midst to the youngest, in working together to reach families and their children in our community who do not have a church family, who may not know Christ. It is in this task that we will continue to experience God and His many blessings.
In 2008 we will continue to keep our purpose statement at the forefront of all we do…it will continue to direct our decisions, keeping us on track with God’s purposes for our lives and the church.
Gethsemane United Methodist Church: Where lives are transformed through the love and power of Jesus Christ by intentionally…
Praising God through worship
Opening our hearts through ministry
Welcoming others into the body of Christ
through fellowship
Encouraging believers to become more
Christ-like through discipleship
Reaching out to spread God’s love through
evangelism.
Worship, ministry, fellowship, discipleship, and evangelism – these are the five biblical purposes of the church. We are called to live out these five purposes.
Again, over the last two years we intentionally switched our focus from outreach, evangelism – reaching outside our doors – to discipleship – reaching inside, going deeper with God. The administrative council made this decision in order to stop our rapid growth for a time in order to build deep roots, in order to get many of you involved in small groups, Bible studies, going deeper in your prayer life, seeing that God had a “calling” on each of your lives.
Now, we pray many of you have grown closer to God and are ready to step up into leadership, ready to serve the many who will come through our doors in 2008…ready to not be so concerned with your being fed on Sunday mornings but more concerned with who you can help feed on Sunday mornings, helping them know Jesus. It is time to focus our attention outside our doors again…it is time to begin letting the community once more know that we are here and we have the greatest message they will ever hear – it is time to reach more people for Jesus Christ – all of us together, serving, reaching out, beyond ourselves, inviting our friends, our neighbors, our co-workers – putting on messages and worship experiences that touch people where they are as they come through our doors – putting money into advertising, communicating our message beyond our church to the community at large – be present at Little League Opening Day, the Seaford Parade, the Apple-Scrapple Festival – intentionally reaching out beyond ourselves, reaching one more for Jesus.
I will always believe that we have only touched the “tip of the iceburg” when it comes to what God has planned for us. God has laid on my heart several very clear visions for Gethsemane Church. They include being unique to our community by offering satellite services, taking the wonderful gifts we have in the Garden Praise Band, Vertikal Xpression, our many lay speakers, and many of you and your hospitality, and going off site, reaching people, sharing the message with people where they are instead of making them come to us. I have a vision of a Children’s Ministry Director on staff and a Children’s Ministry Building…a building so exciting, so geared toward kids, with slides and trees and a worship space designed just for them…so exciting that when families come to visit they will never want to leave and through us they will see Christ’s love for their children and for them. I have a vision that includes our having a unique fingerprint on our community, continuing to be a leader in missions, providing counseling and assistance to many, and teaching other churches about worship, hospitality, and leadership.
I don’t know if and when these visions will come true…I know God has made it clear to me they are directions Gethsemane is called to travel…but the steps must be taken by each of you, by the leadership of this church. You must not be afraid to step out in faith…we must not be afraid to go where we have not gone before…to try what seems impossible…to take the steps when we have no idea where the money will come from…to think “outside the box”…to do “whatever it takes” to reach people for Jesus Christ.
I apologize to each of you…my church family…for the last year I have become complacent and at times “burned out” – the battles over the last five years have taken their toll on my family and I – many relationships have been strained because of decisions I felt I needed to make or confrontations I felt necessary – I have also made my share of mistakes – but I am “called” to ministry – whenever I think about doing anything else, the thought is short-lived – there is nothing else for me – and I am “called” to be here at this time, this moment in Gethsemane’s history – I am called to lead this church as it takes its next steps – I am called to listen to God and follow His direction for those He has entrusted me with…each of you…I will not quit – God has appointed me to this task
But I cannot do it alone – I will make mistakes and I need your grace and support…I need your help as we boldly preach the gospel, sharing Christ with this community…I need your hands and feet, as together we can reach much further than any of us ever could do alone…I need your imaginations, your prayer, your inspirations, your dreams…God is ready to speak through many of you, giving us direction well beyond 2008.
What a year…what a year to come…what a future to behold…We are Gethsemane United Methodist Church…more importantly we are Christ’s ambassadors…let us go…let us preach…let us heal, serve, love…let us fulfill our mission together, making disciples of Jesus Christ. Amen!