Dear Grace family, we shared the hard news with you in December that God is leading us to our next ministry, and we are all preparing for the challenging goodbye this month. I want to express our deepest love for you all, as God has laid you on our hearts in this time we have had to know you, pray for you, and serve with you. For God is my witness, how greatly I long for you all with the affection of Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:8). We have grown so much while here, and we have been deeply blessed to be part of what God is doing here at Grace Baptist Church!
I want to exhort you all wholeheartedly to persevere! We believe God is not finished at Grace Baptist Church. He is doing something, and our hope and earnest prayer is that God would continue to build His church here, using each one of you to serve and make the impact He has designed you for. I believe God will bring the right person to lead you forward into the next chapter here at Grace, and we will continue to pray that God grows and uses each and every one of you. May God continue to break down walls and build bridges for the gospel in the lives of those He has placed around you!
We finished a sermon series today called Five Years from Now. My ambition was to cast a vision for you all, in which you see God’s desire for Grace Baptist Church as you follow and serve Jesus. I can only imagine the challenge you may be facing right now as you look at the apparent obstacles ahead. But don’t lose sight of Who you are serving! God is sovereign! God is able! God is not finished! He can do more abundantly beyond all you can ask or even imagine (Ephesians 3:20-21), and He has promised to finish the good work that He has begun in you (Philippians 1:6)!
I want to highly commend your strengths as a church. Grace Baptist Church is a family church. This is a glue that holds us together, and it draws in many of our visitors as well. You are the right kind of family: not exclusive, turning aside “outsiders,” but embracing and welcoming them among us as belonging. So we advertise on our website: A Place to Call Home. When you’re with us, you’re with family!
During this difficult season of transition, you must determine together: will this time break us, or shape us? Consider your ambitions for down the road: Where could Grace Baptist Church be? And then do the hard work to take forward steps, striving toward that goal by the grace of God and with your whole hearts, because Jesus matters! Remember key lessons that God has taught us… There is purpose in the process. So how can you take action during this time to come out stronger, rather than merely maintaining or surviving?
You can do it, because God is able, and you are a family who is one in Christ. This year is not about getting “my way” for any of us. Instead, if you see a need, seek to meet that need. How would God use you to help? Every member is a minister (Ephesians 4:11-13). We are many parts of one body (Romans 12:3-5). How would God grow you during this time? Discipleship is about learning – but not just learning information… it is about learning life as well: how to make decisions well, how to relate to others well, how to navigate life well… and how to serve well as part of the church.
I also encourage you to lean into one another by calling each other and meeting up regularly. I suggest the goal of contacting 3 church people per week, and meeting 1 person per month!
Grace family, we love you can thank God for you. Thank you for calling us, loving us, serving us, and investing in our family. We will continue to carry you in our hearts and in our prayers with love and gratitude!
In Christ,
Pastor Luke