Hello everybody,
We are at the end of one more semester at SCCC. It has been a time to reenvision, to rebuild, to restart some of our ministries. So, we have been trying to be very attentive to God's whispers to hear His voice and direction. "and whenever you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear this command behind you: “This is the way. Walk in it.” Isaiah 30:21
I believe that what has marked the end of this semester was our focus and effort with the Bags of Hope organized by our Missions Committee. I want to thank all who have been involved in this project, praying, organizing, packing, walking through our community delivering bags, and also those who have been following up with our neighbours. I strongly believe that we will see fruit from all this hard work. "Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the Lord’s work, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain." 1 Corinthians 15:58
However, many times our routine at the church was changed due to sickness this semester. We had to move our services to online-only for 3 weeks at the beginning of the year due to a small outbreak in the church. Our family got COVID twice this semester and we are still experiencing the long-lasting effects of COVID this second time. Other staff members also had experienced COVID and/or other sicknesses multiple times. Pastor Russ and his family, Tawnya and her family, Kathy Simpson, and also some members of our congregation also got sick.
For that reason, we were not able to accomplish some plans for this semester, for instance, we would love to have offered more discipleship classes, besides Eschatology. But the Lord has His time and His plans cannot be frustrated. We pray and hope for more health and energy in the coming days.
Nevertheless, the Lord has been blessings us in different ways. We have been experiencing a growing number of visitors, basically every week the Lord has granted us the privilege to receive new people, and some of them have returned and are becoming regular attendees. Therefore, I would like to encourage you to step out of your comfort zone and say hello to some of these visitors. I believe that in general, we have been doing a good job. Recently a visitor told me that he was extremely well received and felt a warm and welcoming atmosphere among us. Thanks Lord :D
Also this semester we had our first 'Senior's Desert Fellowship', as COVID restrictions are giving us a break. We hope and pray that this will be the first of many to come.
These recent days, we have been focusing on the reopening of our Preschool. There is a lot of work involved in this project and Nicole and Kathy have been pouring many hours to see this happening. Please keep praying for them and for new students.
Also remember to pray for these other ministry areas in the church, such as… our Sundays Services, Worship Ministry, Nursery, Sunday School, Pre-service Prayer Meetings, Post-service Prayer Teams, Prayer Intercessors, Coffee Prep Team, Doll Knitters, Men's Coffee, Women's Connect, Tech Team, Discipleship Classes, Maintenance Team, Small Groups, Mustard Seed Ministry, Missions Committee, Youth, Young Adults, Preschool, and our Senior. Pray also for the leaders of these ministries.
If you are wondering what is maybe our main ministry challenge today, I would say… volunteers. We are in need of more ministry volunteers. With COVID we still have many that are following us online, and we are grateful to be able to offer an online service, but this affects the number of people that can participate in in-person ministries, like Nursery, Sunday School, Musician, and other areas. So, please pray, pray, pray… “The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few. Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest.” Matthew 9:37-38
I hope you have the opportunity to read other ministry reports for this semester and to participate in our members' meeting.
In Christ,
Pastor Sam
Comments