Happy November!
We are entering the time of year when we remember those things for which we are thankful. There is so much to be thankful for every day, but I am starting this month thankful for you! I am thankful for all the ways you minister to our community and one another, and all the ways you have blessed me as your pastor. Thank you for raising funds for our youth and connecting with our community through the Pumpkin Patch and Pumpkin Fest this past month. Thank you for meeting with one another and encouraging each other to grow further into the likeness of Jesus Christ. Thank you for ministering with Anchors of Hope and taking the love of Jesus and needed food to the poor in our community. Thank you for praying, for worshipping, for giving, and for seeking to be a transformational church in the city of Enterprise. Thank you for being you, Heritage!
This coming month we will have some great things happening, from many in our women’s ministry attending a conference on November 3-4th, to serving a Thanksgiving meal to senior citizens on November 18th. There will be many more things happening than these two things, so be sure to check the church calendar here! In advance of these things, I want to repeat my opening to this article: thank you. Thank you for being the church Jesus has called you to be!
Finally, this month we will be finishing up our series, “The ABC’s of Heritage Church” where we have been discussing our key behaviors of being a church family together. These behaviors make us truly live out our mission and our values, and I believe will help us truly become the church God has called us to be. A big part of this is us changing and adapting how we do discipleship at Heritage Church. Therefore, this coming year we are planning on structuring the church with the focus starting with our Journey Groups (2-3 people holding each other accountable and encouraging each other), and then moving on to our Momentum Groups (6-12 people learning, applying the Word, and growing together); and then finally on corporate worship together. We want to emphasize and highlight the smaller connections first, because those are the ones most likely to make you and me live and love like Jesus and to become disciples who make disciples. So, as we move into this coming year, I want to invite you to get involved in these groups as our primary way of moving you forward as a disciple of Jesus. Coming to the church service every Sunday is great and can nourish you (So do please come!). However, ultimately our goal isn’t for the church to be just a venue where members partake of ministry events; but rather, be the place where each member is a minister who is growing, making disciples, and innovating ministry themselves. In this vision then, church isn’t where you come only to be ministered to but is also the place where you are equipped and trained for the ministry Jesus has called you to do. Is this different? Is this bold, and maybe a little uncomfortable? Yes. But Jesus calls us out onto the water where he is; and that is where faith becomes real, and God’s transformative power is revealed.
So, this month, I invite you to prepare your heart to step out of the boat to be where Jesus is in 2024; and let him change you and then use you how he sees fit. I am thankful for you, Heritage, and there is no one else I’d rather walk this journey with. Have a great November and happy Thanksgiving!
In Him,
Patrick
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