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God’s Work, Our Hands

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Jason pastor article july 2013
The average person on the street may think that churches do little more than gather for worship on Sunday mornings. But a church is far more than simply that. In fact, the Apostle Paul describes the church as “the body of Christ”, that is, the people through which God works to accomplish God’s will in the world as revealed in Jesus Christ. Our national church has adopted a campaign to describe ministry, aptly named “God’s Work, Our Hands”.

Jesus assembled a ragtag bunch of fishermen and tax collectors in which to do ministry together. They were not great men in the world’s eyes, yet Jesus guided them to do some remarkable things: feeding the hungry, helping the poor, and healing the sick.  Jesus also gave his followers some promising but challenging information: Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father (John 14:12). Being the body of Christ in the world comes with the expectations of accomplishing great things. This news acts as a foil to some of the assumptions we modern Christians have about the faith. In many ways, we’ve become too accustomed to the status quo.

God has called this group called “Amazing Grace Lutheran Church of Lawrenceville” to be a part of the body of Christ. These members will do God’s will as expressed by Jesus, doing great things, even greater things than Christ has done.  How effectively we serve has been an interest of mine for quite some time.  Can we function better as a community? I think we can.

As a result, our new council met this June and endorsed the following core values in how we will work with the congregation. Here is how our leaders will treat the rest of the congregation:

Amazing Grace Council’s Core Values

1. Be clear with expectations.

2. Be clear with responsibility and chain of command.

3. Train and give direction to volunteers

4. Follow-up with individuals and teams.

5. Keep the workload manageable.

6. Keep in touch with your people.

7. Say “thank-you”. Often.

 There will be a time for us to talk about what we can and will do as the body of Christ, but generally speaking it’s doing what Jesus modeled: loving God, loving each other, and loving the lost.  For today I want you to consider how we will be the body of Christ. The list above are guiding principles for us. There are important opportunities before us to do God’s work in the world. Amazing Grace is too much of a secret in our neighborhood. We have much to share, much to offer. Working together well is critical as we prepare for our future.  A future in which Jesus is with us.  And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age. ( Matthew 28:20)

See You in Worship,
Pastor Jason Talsness

 

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Amazing Grace Lutheran Church