God's Gifts to His Church
As you have heard, this coming Sunday we get to install two new ministers to the positions that they have been called to serve. Lucas Mooibroek, along with his wife Sarah and daughter Penny, have been with us for a year now serving with our adult ministries (Wed Night, C-Groups, Adult Institute, Men's/Womens, Sinks/Dinks, etc...). He will continue in that role and begin to take on greater leadership responsibilities now that his ordination trials are in the rearview mirror. Lucas' service will take place at 5 pm in the evening and will be an ordination and installation service.
Kyle and Morgan Culbertson, along with Ellie Joy, Bennet and Ezekiel, just landed in West MI a couple of weeks ago, to take up Kyle's calling as Assistant Pastor of Church Planting. This is a position that we have been praying that God would supply for a while now, and we are thrilled to have Kyle on board. While they still have a few months of settling in, getting to know GR, finishing up some fundraising, etc... we remain excited about the prospect of sending out a group from Christ Church to begin a new work in an area that we are trusting God to show us. Kyle will be installed during our normal morning service.
As we have been seeing in Acts, the church was never meant to become stagnant or ingrown. But rather the ministry of the church is one of pushing out, open doors, welcoming those outside of its walls. I have heard it said that a uniqueness of the church is that it is one of the only institutions that exists in large part for the sake of its non members. It is my prayer that we never lose this Acts mindset, both in our church planting endeavors, as well as the way we conduct our life together on Breton Road.
This expansive mindset is certainly in view in Acts 10 and 11, our passage for the next two Sundays. This week we will spend a little time looking at Cornelius and thinking about the people that God is preparing in the world right outside. Next week we will look at the account from Peter's point of view.