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And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved. – Acts 2:46 – 47
And the Lord added to the church daily… I was looking for this bit of scripture to start out this iteration of “The Pastor’s Corner” and God continues to amaze me by how He guides my life…but more on that later.
God continues to bless RPCC and we continue to grow – in numbers, in capacity, in service, in love. You may have noticed that it is getting increasingly difficult to find a seat on Sunday mornings – in fact, we have added a row of chairs in the back and have scoped out space for an additional row up front.
Considering our humble beginnings four years ago this is quite amazing! I am considering offering another service on Sundays from 8:30 to 9:45. We would still have Sunday School at 10:00 and a second service at 11:00. Probably initially at least, we would not have a “children’s church” during the early service.
As we continue to grow in numbers though there is something that troubles me: We are becoming “less welcoming” than we were when we were small. It is getting to the point where it is difficult to remember all of the names and faces and I think some of us fear embarrassing ourselves or others by asking for their name a second (or in my case, a third, and a fourth) time.
For those who have been at RPCC for over a year I ask that you think back on your first few visits. Remember how you were greeted, how people came up to you and spoke with you – how good that made you feel. The most common comment I heard was that “RPCC was so real”. I ask you as your pastor to look for people you don’t know – and make them feel as welcome as you felt when you first came to RPCC.
To accommodate the growth God has blessed us with, we are expanding. The RPCC Annex is almost ready. It will have two large restrooms, a church office, nursery, quiet room where you may go to pray or have a private conversation, a storage room, a large space we will use for classes and fellowship activities, and yes – even a pastor’s office. As I type this electricity is being run to the annex and the plumbing is being fixed. Very soon the deck will be added and then we will consecrate the annex to Him and open it up for use. It’s been a long time coming and I praise God for providing it.
We have our annual bonfire coming up on 23 October. This is always a wonderful time of fellowship, food, music and fun. It is a great event to invite your neighbors and friends to – please do! We will be starting our Holiday Food Drive at that time and we ask everyone to bring a non-perishable food item to the bonfire. We will use this food in the food baskets we prepare and distribute during the holiday season (Thanksgiving through Christmas). If you know of anyone who could use a hand up at this time or any other time – please get with me, Paulette, or Doug.
RPCC is not a “program church”. We don’t create programs or small groups and then encourage you to participate. But we do try to facilitate and encourage fellowship, discipleship, and love. Instead of building something and inviting God to bless it – we have been trying to follow where He leads.
One area where He is leading includes Wednesday night Bible study. This is very free flowing and while we do usually start with an agenda – we rarely stick to it and instead allow the Spirit to move us as He will. We start at 7 pm and finish officially at 8 pm but there are usually folks still around at 9:30.
Doug and Melinda are hosting a “home group” on Thursdays and I think it’s neat that not everyone who attends also attends RPCC. The Church is all of God’s chosen – not just those who meet in a particular location on Sunday.
Several women have been meeting on a sporadic but fairly frequent basis for coffee/tea and yummies on Fridays and recently a group got together to shear sheep – something none of them had ever done before. This kind of loving community and fellowship is a huge part of what “church” is all about and something we are trying to re-capture at RPCC.
We have a ministry to Easton Country Care on Wednesday mornings chatting with the residents, sharing a Word, perhaps some scripture – if you feel led to participate there is room for you!
We have Brothers (and some Sisters!) getting together to work on cars, or construction projects or wood chopping parties; we have Sisters coming together during the week to just chat, or work on crafts, or homeschool.
Several Brothers and Sisters are beginning to meet to discuss Christians in Community – what does that look like today? How could this work? And what would go into an intentional community focused on Christ? We don’t know where we are going and we plan on following where the Spirit leads us – I am excited about it! Through all of these activities, God is present, the Holy Spirit fills the space and Jesus is on our lips. There is a lot of love flowing – love for each other, for our neighbors and most of all for God.
Hey, that’s enough for this time!
In Christ,
Joe
By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. – Hebrews 13:15 - 16 |
Pastor's Corner
