Pastor's Blog: Living Out Our Mission
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Back when all of this COVID disruption began to rear its ugly head, I said at the time that in the midst of it all there would be unforeseen opportunities to be about God’s mission in even greater ways. Those opportunities would also be the case for every congregation, but not all would be willing to receive them when they presented themselves.
Fortunately, our church has. Even though we had to make some adjustments over the summer so that we couldn’t be physically present in places we had intended to go on mission, we’ve been able to offer other means of support, which our partners would tell you has been greatly appreciated.
Now, as we come to the end of the summer, our church has expressed its faithfulness to God’s mission in a couple of ways that I must acknowledge and celebrate. One has to do with the special offering for the Arab Baptist Theological Seminary we invited our members to consider. As you know, the city of Beirut experienced devastating loss from the explosion that took place in the port part of the city, and the seminary and its umbrella organization immediately opened its campus in response to the many needs that resulted from it. As of last weekend, our church responded with over $4,000 to the effort, a most impressive response, and we will continue to receive contributions through the end of August. If you wish to give, simply mark your donation as “Beirut Relief.”
The second response has been directed to our ongoing ministry needs. Immediately after the coronavirus first hit, we saw a decline in our contributions to our church budget. That decline was exacerbated by the usual summer downturn every church experiences. The situation for us, however, had become so grave that we had no choice but to make significant reductions across the board, which affected ministry plans, missions commitments, and personnel levels. However, as we have moved toward the end of the summer, we’ve seen a significant increase in contributions that give us some assurance that we will be able to make it through the end of this year in good shape. Next year may be a different story, as much depends on how things go this fall with COVID cases. But in the midst of this uncertainty, we can be confident that our church will do the best it can.
So, I wanted to take this opportunity to say thank you for how you have shown your faithfulness to our church’s mission during these most difficult times. We can say we “Love God and Live with Grace and Generosity” until we’re out of breath. But when our breath is renewed by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, then we will discover even more opportunities for God to find us faithful and every resource we require to do all God has called us to do.
“But (the Lord) said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me” (2 Corinthians 10:9).