Here’s What’s Cooking
(the red font is hyperlinked)
September 4, 2023
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Whatever you’re facing today, the Lord remains your unfailing help. To make this help more tangible, he gives the privilege of belonging to his people. It’s true: the people of God are an imperfect crew; at Evergreen we are very much a work-in-progress. But, as the psalm says, the Lord is “the maker of heaven and earth,” and, as Paul said, when Jesus ascended “he gave gifts.” The Lord is more-than-capable of using our finite lives to build the greatness of his kingdom.
This Fall at Evergreen, we have a familiar set of activities for experiencing the Lord’s kindness.
(1) After the Summer downshift, our bi-weekly LifeTogether returns to full action in two days, on Wednesday, September 6. Dinner is at 5:30pm. Teaching & prayer start at 6:30pm. You’re welcome to come whenever you can and to leave whenever you need.
You might remember that in June there was some uncertainty about whether this would happen—we were short-staffed on several fronts. But, through Alida Plante and Daniel Zielke, the Lord has provided fresh leadership for the meals and the kids’ programming.
It’s not too late to offer your help for either food or kids, and Leslie Gagosian can get you connected. But even if you’re not available, please join me in thanking the Lord for the gift of these leaders and their current teams.
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(2) Next Sunday, September 10, Children’s Ministry classes resume for all ages, 9:15am in the sanctuary for kids through 5th grade and 9:25am downstairs for kids through high school. For details about where your child will gather after the opening songs, or for other relevant info, please contact Jessyca Yang.
God loves children, and we offer these classes because he calls us to nurture their faith in age-appropriate ways. Further, parents need support; it takes a church to raise a Christian. There aren’t shortcuts to discipling kids, but there is nourishing wisdom in the communion of faith.
If this is a subject you’d like to explore further, I would love the opportunity to speak with you. I pray for you all, and I’m attuned to the challenges, joys, and imperatives of guiding children with the kindness and strength of God.
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(3) Also next Sunday at 9:25am, we will begin a new series for adults centering on the topic of Christology. What do we call this slot in church life? “Adult Sunday School,” “Adult Ed,” “Spiritual Formation Class”? I’d be interested to hear your pitch for one of these—or for another term.
Yet, while terms matter, in this case I’m far more interested in the content of these conversations. Christology is the study of all things related to Jesus, particularly in a theological vein, seeking to understand who Jesus is as God-made-flesh, the Second Person of the Trinity fulfilling the promises of a Jewish messiah for the sake of cosmic redemption.
Whether you know a lot about Christology or you only just learned the term, I invite you to come along, to bring your questions for discussion, and to bring expectations of God’s work. I am excited to pursue this with you. We can never know Jesus too well!
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(4) Community Groups relaunch next week. Each group naturally has a unique feel, but, as the leader training underscored yesterday, there is a unifying goal: to connect Sunday to every day by building friendship between God’s people.
Like sturdy trees, growing friendship takes time, commitment, even endurance of storms together. It also takes nourishment, which is why community groups gather not just for fun but for intentional conversation about the previous Sunday’s worship and deliberate prayer about the real experiences of everyday life. This year, group leaders will also facilitate a micro-liturgy, a set of readings, prayers and songs geared to help us more in connecting Sunday to every day.
If you have questions about groups, including where you might be able to integrate, Ian Ussery can get you more info. As we note so often, following Jesus with joy cannot happen in isolation.
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In addition to these familiar pieces of Evergreen’s life, I will lead a cohort through material regarding the office of elder. Stay tuned for more on this soon, but for now it’s worth noting that this is a direct outworking of the church-wide sessions about Evergreen’s leadership culture this summer.
During those conversations, we defined leadership in two, complementary ways (1) taking personal responsibility in collaboration with others to work for needed change and (2) saying where we’re going, how we’re going to get there, and how we’re doing along the way. We also worked at length to see leadership as the fruit of the Spirit’s work in our lives; it is an overflow of spiritual maturity, which we leverage for the sake of God’s kingdom.
Evergreen needs more elders, hence the training cohort. But the time is ripe for new leaders to rise across nearly every domain of life at Evergreen, including Children’s Ministry, Building & Grounds, Personal Discipleship, Evangelism, the Mercy Team and more. Please let me know if God is stirring your desire to participate in a leadership role, or if you have insight into others whom God is developing.
As if the cool grey outside weren’t enough, the steaming cup of tea on my desk reminds me that the Lord has brought us through another Summer. I’m hopeful for what he will do this Fall as well, and I’m amazed—I don’t use that word lightly—that he gives us the privilege of being his agents. In all the topsy-turvy life that we face, here is divine help: we have eternal purpose, even in the familiar events of church life (and non-church life too!).
Your brother and pastor,
Christopher