A Word from Our Interim Pastor
The Church is to be a sending agency, sending transformed people into the world to share the good news of Jesus Christ to a hurting and lost world. The Church is a gathering of people to worship God and a gathering of people to go into the world and witness to others about the good news of Jesus Christ.
A definition of and for the Church that I coined over a decade ago is this: “The Church through its worship, service, and giving is to be a place that equips, empowers, nurtures, and disciples women, men, girls, and boys through the teaching and preaching of the Gospel to be God’s loving witnesses, through word and deed, in the world.” The official beginning of the Church, as we know it, happened at Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was poured out on all humanity.
In The Confession of 1967 this statement is made about the mission of the church. “To be reconciled to God is to be sent into the world as his reconciling community. This community, the church universal, is entrusted with God’s message of reconciliation and shares his labor of healing the enmities which separate women and men from God and from each other. Christ has called the church to this message and given it the gift of the Holy Spirit.” In the Great Commission, Jesus tells his followers to go into the world to make disciples by teaching them all that he had taught them. Jesus tells us to go and do as he did, calling people to faith and obedience to him as Savior and Lord. Jesus sends us into the world to bring about reconciliation as was his purpose. Jesus tells us that he will be with us in all circumstances and in all ways. “I am with you always to the end of the age.”
The Church is to be the reconciling presence of God in the world. Because God loves creation, we are commanded to go into the world and love it. The Church is to be the worshiping presence of God on earth. The Church is to be the serving presence of God on the earth. The Church is to be God’s equipping and empowering presence on earth. The Church is to be God’s discipling presence on the earth.
Pentecost is the reminder to each one of us that if we claim to be saved by Jesus Christ and be a follower, then we are implicated to be sent into the world in order to be the best Jesus someone will see. May we be a gathered body of Christian believers during this Season of Pentecost who are sent into the world to be change agents in the world.
On our Interim Pastor journey with you, I remain faithfully yours,
Steve
The Rev. Dr. Steven M. Marsh
Interim Pastor
