It is somewhat surprising to me that more people say they are not willing to give up 4-5 hours a week for their spiritual development in addition to their personal devotion time than say they are willing to do so. With 13 votes so far 7 say no and 6 yes.
The pastors met the other day and came up with three things we would like the congregation to do, three behaviors we would seek. We believe these are in keeping with our Vision - Living as a Disciple of Jesus Christ.
We want the congregation to worship God (corporate worship might take 1.5 hours of our additional time). Worship of God is not confined to our Sunday morning service or any other day/night set aside for corporate worship - we can and should worship God moment by moment. We want to develop an atmosphere of worship.
We want the congregation to grow as a disciple which could take many forms. Some of what we offer as a church are small groups, Bible Studies, a special short term classes, accountability groups, and other learning tool. As leaders we are called to train and equip the Body for we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10 This might take another 1.5 hours of our week.
We want the congregation to give back or to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. This might take the form of local mission work (like StreetReach), teaching a class so others can learn, working in a soup kitchen, giving a person/family a hand up, etc. This could take another 2 hours or more a week.
Does not sound like a lot to me, but then I'm paid to do it, right? Some of you may not know it but I challenge the paid staff to volunteer as mentioned above all the time. My pastoral staff puts in way more hours than normal because they are giving back to the congregation they love and support. When you see the staff at various activities, they are not always on the clock so to speak.
How about it. Could you pledge to give 5 hours a week to God's church, Mt. Oak, in addition to your daily devotions?
Off to the gym - so there will be less of me to love!
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4 comments:
This Saturday will be my first Street Reach, and I'm very excited about giving back. I'm also working on the other thing I told you I'm passionate about during the new members class (about the elderly. We will talk in private) and I hope open myself up to more ministries and groups within the Church.
I'm grateful to belong to a Church like Mt. Oak. We're all in for a great ride.
Now that you put it this way I changed my vote on your poll. I can do more than 4-5 hours for Jesus. I can give my whole life to Jesus.
See you tomorrow at street reach.
I am praying for our pastors and our church leaders. They have a great spiritual responsibility to lead our congregation. Keep up the good work and keep your eyes on Jesus.
I can do that!
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