Catching the Vision

Pastor Aaron announced during the recent Vision Sunday message that Grace Pointe is adding some new areas of ministry, as well as expanding others, with the goal of “building God’s church.” He stated that this would happen on 2 fronts:

1. Reaching people that don’t know Jesus
   • “We want to have things in place where we can be highly effective and fruitful and productive in our work of reaching out to people, proclaiming Jesus’ name, and making disciples of all nations.” ~ Pastor Aaron
2. Helping those who DO know Him to mature in their faith
   • “Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature.” ~ 1 Corinthians 14:20 [ESV]
   • “…for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.” ~ Hebrews 5:13-14 [ESV]

So, what’s ahead for our church in 2020? Here are some things Pastor Aaron outlined for us during the Vision Sunday message:

PRAYER

Firstly, our Wednesday night prayer meetings that we established in January will become a permanent thing going forward. We will continue to gather every Wednesday at 7pm to pray and call out to God for one another, personal needs, for the church, and for our community and nation.

“The truest indicator of the health of the church is who shows up to pray.” ~ Pastor Aaron

Secondly, we are establishing a “pre-service prayer team” that will meet Sundays at 10am. This team will spend this time before each week’s service praying for the things going on in the life and ministries of Grace Pointe. For the time being, this will replace the Sunday School hour. It will be a focussed and intentional time of purposeful prayer, and it will be facilitated by Joseph & Gail Lowe in a specially designated prayer room.

Thirdly, we will begin to have small prayer teams on each side of the auditorium on Sundays to pray for anyone who has any needs. They will be available during the entirety of the Worship Service. This will be a safe time in a safe place for you to share your needs with caring people.

“Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.” ~ James 5:14 [ESV]

LIFE GROUPS

Another exciting development is that we are having more groups meeting in homes. These types of groups meet all 4 core foundational structures listed here:

1. The Fellowship
   • opportunities to build deep, healthy relationships with other believers
   • sharing with others in small, intimate settings strengthens our faith
2. The Breaking of Bread
   • dining together with your brothers and sisters in Christ every week
   • this practice is biblical (we see it in Acts)
   • these weekly meals will replace our monthly fellowship meals
3. The Prayers
   • lifting up each other’s needs in a personal way
4. The Apostle’s Teaching
   • conversation and devotion time will be based on the message and scriptures from that week’s Sunday sermon
   • the goal will be to find application for that week’s passage in your life

These in-home Life Groups are:

1. The Pruett Home Life Group
   • An already established group that meets on Thursdays at 6:30pm
2. The Lowe Home Life Group
   • Meets on Sundays after church, about 1pm (starting Feb. 16th)
3. The Zielinske Home Life Group
   • Meets Tuesdays at 6:30pm (starting Feb. 18th)

(for locations and more about these groups, click HERE)

YOUTH

Pastors Aaron & Gina are beginning a Youth Group meeting in their home on Sunday nights at 6pm. They will have food and fun, as well as a structured time of learning and studying the Word. The obvious goal is to help them become bold and strong in their faith and grow into men and women of God.

REACHING THE CURRENT CULTURE

We are committed to bolstering our website and social media presence for the purpose of continually reaching people in new ways. The same goes for our Audio Visual ministry. We want to use every tool we have – lights, sound, etc. – to create an inviting atmosphere for those who want to worship God.

We already have a link where people can give tithes & offerings online. Soon, we will add a link where you can access and download sermon notes and scripture references for Sunday morning messages. Again, every tool and technology available to us needs to be used to help bring people to the Lord.

There will soon be some changes to the church building’s decor. As we continue to maintain the wonderful PAID FOR building God has blessed us with, we need to keep its appearance updated with the times. Our long-time claim to be “contemporary, casual, and Christ-centered” requires that we work to make sure that stays true. We want Grace Pointe to remain contemporary and casual so that everyone feels at home in an environment that’s also centered around the love and grace of Christ. We have to strive to stay current with styles and decor as we move forward.

“Appearances make a statement about how much we care and want to reach everybody.” ~ Pastor Aaron

FINAL THOUGHT

What can YOU do? Get involved. Check out our various areas of ministry, the life groups, and places where help may be needed. Find a place to plug yourself into what God is doing here at Grace Pointe. Don’t sit on the sidelines and watch. Play an active role. Your efforts will be blessed by God, and your life will be enriched in ways you never imagined.

2020 is going to be amazing! Be a part. Catch the vision. And be blessed.