Thanks to each of you for being a part of Thursday night's discussion. It was a good gathering and I appreciate the thought-provoking comments and dialogue each of you contributed.
Karen and I have since talked about four areas that sprang forth from the meeting that seem to be concerns of all of ours. They are:
1. Equipping
2. Worship
3. Service
4. Service for Kids
Equipping is what David hit on when he talked of his desire to get into the Word and discuss it with others and to take it deeper than Sunday School allows us to and to prepare ourselves for the other items on the list.
Worship as we mentioned has to be about our WHOLE life... as Lisa said, it's like breathing... worship needs to be that natural... that we do it and we don't even realize that we've done it. That said, there still needs to be time to sing hymns and praises and worship God with our voices with other believers.
Service is what James would call "the evidence of our faith." Again, we're not promoting a works-based faith, meaning that our salvation comes as a result of our works... we know that our salvation is by faith alone... it's only by God's grace that we have received it. Yet we realize that it is by serving our neighbors in love that they may see Christ in us.
And Service for Kids... how do we instill in our children a love of serving others? If we don't find opportunities for service, they will only learn to love serving themselves. We need to actively look for ways that they can serve others and to teach them that by serving others they are serving Christ.
Karen and I are thinking that it may be good for us (during our get-togethers) to tackle each of these one at a time, starting perhaps in early September. It may give us an opportunity to get our feet wet by seeing how each of these can be done outside of a traditional church environment. I'm confident we will learn an enormous amount about what authentic faith looks like.
Please be thinking and praying as to what these four weeks should look like and please give your suggestions and ideas as to what they might include. Also, if there is an area that we should add, please let us know.
One last thing for Chris... Thursday night's meeting had 8 people in attendance... 0 Confessions of Faith... 0 Re-dedications... (we'll work on those last two). I bet the newcomers want to join our class. I'll add them to the roster.