"Thanks and Yes"

This is a prayer that I heard long ago attributed to Dag Hammarskjöld, the second Secretary General of the United Nations. “For all the has been thanks. To all that will be yes.” That prayer expresses the way I feel about the past and the future of our church.

As I look back over 2010, I am grateful to be pastor of New Hope. There is nothing like the local church when it is working the way it is supposed to work. When I hear members say that our church feels like their extended family, I believe we are doing what the church is supposed to do. When I saw the church members who came to Ben Baiiley’s Memorial Service, I was glad for the support his family is receiving as we “bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2). When Sharon Bailey told me that she looks forward to being in our Grief Support Group, I was glad that we are a church learning some new ways to expand its care.

As I look forward to 2011, I am enthusiastic and aware that there is a lot to be done to keep our church working the way it is supposed to. Here are a few things we will do this year.

_ A new Real Love group will teach participants the nature of God’s love and how to make loving choices.

_ Our Long Range Plan calls for the beginning of a Sunday School Class for young adults. I am working on it and hope to begin the class in February. It also calls on us to recruit and train enough new leaders of children and youth to achieve a ratio of one leader for every four students.

_ We want to increase the number of church members pledging to give a tithe (10%) or more of their income to support our ministries.

_ We want to do training that helps members discover how they can best serve Christ in or through our church by using S.H.A.P.E. materials to show members their Spiritual gifts, Heart, Abilities, Personality, and Experiences.

When you pray, thank God for all that has helped us see God’s love for us and say yes to the truth God will teach us in 2011.