Stewardship Sunday is coming up and it’s going to be great!
Stewardship as a noun means: “The job of supervising or taking care of something, such as an organization or property”. As the Church which meets at Mount Eliza Anglican Church, each one of us shares this job/responsibility and I am so excited to be in this with you! We have been having a wonderful and exciting time of late… presenting our draft Mission Action Plan (Parish Council continues to work through with your great feedback and ideas – thank you!), then beginning our preaching series through the 6 Pillars presented in the M.A.P. So far, we have focussed on: Pillar #1) Worship – which was my favourite! After this sermon, some of you keenly offered your time to help with Sunday services and on the welcoming projects! I was so encouraged! In addition to this, I’m delighted to have gathered with those wanting to be on our prayer/healing ministry team. Each of us has committed to a 5-week training/equipping program to learn to pray effectively for our congregation members after each Sunday service, and anytime with/in the wider community. Pillar #2) Discipleship – which challenged some to really take following Jesus seriously! We are called to “Be” disciples (followers of Jesus), who will in turn… make more disciples! I’m super excited for this! And some of you have already chosen to start up new small groups, and some have newly joined groups – well done! We are becoming more Christ like by the day. Pillar #3) Mission – Our Church’s mission statement is To Know Christ and To Make Christ Known. This is what it means to be a disciple of Christ who makes disciples in obedience to Christ’s command in Matthew 28:18-20. We each need to do this in our respective lives, and be his witnesses in our families, workplaces, schools, communities etc. This is local mission. Some of you are already doing this. Praise God. Please keep sharing your stories with the rest of us for mutual encouragement … spurring one-another on for the cause of Christ! Mission part B: This coming Sunday, our guest speaker Tina Currie will speak very briefly on international mission; specifically focussing on poverty-stricken communities in Africa where we have both done mission trips through an organisation called Hands at Work In Africa (For more information see: https://www.handsatwork.org ). I can already see a list of names on the Missions Allocations Team signup sheet. Thank you! I am so encouraged by this. This Sunday, Tina’s “main” message will focus on stewardship and the importance of finances as part of our responsibilities/stewardship as Christ’s followers. (Note: This is part of discipleship, worship, mission and all the other “Pillars”). It ought to be fun! I’m really looking forward to a guest speaker and a surprise guest musician among us – so let’s make sure they feel truly welcome! The following Sundays we are back on to our pillars with #4) Service, #5) Fellowship, #6) Governance… then finishing off September with a special “Thanksgiving Day” when we will share a lunch together in celebration of all God has entrusted us with and how delighted we are to be on board with His Mission in the World. I absolutely love being in this with you… Thank you for all you do and give! Rev. Tanya
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Reverend
|