Corby Shields, Pastor, 4/4/2024

Happy Eastertide Church Family!

I’m writing today to lay out our next season as a church as we approach our official re-launch. Buckle up! This is going to be long.

May 5th will be our celebration of re-launching as a church (mark your calendars!). Importantly, it will absolutely include a chocolate fountain at the party following our worship service. But more importantly, this Sunday relaunch celebration is about our collective affirmation of our new identity and mission as a church. The primary ways we’ll make our collective affirmation is by unveiling our new mission statement, a new name, and by taking vows of membership together.

In some ways, we have been walking through this in the sermons the last few months as a type of membership process already. Our hope is that an individual has enough information about our church that they may make an informed and heartfelt decision about their involvement in this particular Body of Christ.

That’s why we’ve spent so long working through the values that will shape our collective worship, fellowship, and mission. It’s why we will offer, to those seeking membership, an evening to hear the story of our church and how that influences our future (scheduled for April 17th, 7:30-9pm), as well as an interview with an elder (signup for a date/timeslot with the link in the email). It’s why the month of April will be about working through some theological specifics, our church government, and what it means to tether oneself to a particular body of Christ through membership vows. These are the essential elements in making a wise decision about your continued involvement with this re-launching church.

The final element of our re-launch requires some setup: To paraphrase Dietrich Bonhoeffer, “When God calls a person, he bids him/her come and die.” What Bonhoeffer left out is the next part, that after the call and death, the Father bestows on him/her a new purpose which is often accompanied by a new name. There are many examples in Scripture of this beautiful pattern. Sarai was barren (Gen 11), the end of the line for her family (a type of death). Then God miraculously gave her a new purpose, to be mother of a new nation. This was accompanied by a new name for her and her husband (Sarai/Sarah, Abram/Abraham). The same thing happened with their grandson, who needed to die to his conniving ways and become the head of the tribes of this new nation (Jacob/Israel). There are many other examples including Cephas/Peter and, probably the most famous, Saul/Paul. Taking this cue, the elders and I wish to fully embrace the death, new life, and new mission of our church by taking on a new name. Our new name will encompass the roots of our historic faith as well as the purpose of our particular church. Would you please pray for this process of choosing and changing, as well as for all the elements involved in this re-launch?

As always, your thoughts and questions are welcomed. It’s a humbling honor to be your pastor and an exciting time to be the body of Christ together!