Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ (Phil. 1:2).
We praise God that we have lived to see another Spring time. For me, Spring is a season for new life, new goals, and new beginnings. I am praying for a new surge of energy and passion for Christ amongst us. Spring is also an opportune time to begin a ministry that aims to move our church towards spiritual and numerical growth.
Luke's emphasis on numerical growth is scattered through the whole of his work, and connected to the geographical and ethnic expansion of the early church. Beginning in Jerusalem (Acts 2:47; 4:4; 6:1,7), spreading through Judea and Samaria (9:31; 12:24), and into the uttermost parts of the earth, i.e., the Gentile mission (16:5; 19:20). This, of course, follows the pattern of Acts 1:8. The church grew numerically, geographically and cross-culturally from Judea through Samaria to Rome (John Hicks, 1995).
Just as children are a blessing from the Lord (Psalm 127), and just as the increase of Abraham's descendants was a blessing, so also the growth of God's kingdom is a blessing from God. Theologically, Luke sees the church (restored Israel) as the entity which not only includes all nations, but also will increase in number just as the world's population increases and the children of Israel increased. The church is the messianic community which is expected to be fruitful and multiply (Hicks, 1995).
I am confident that the time has come for our church to see marked numerical growth. I can’t wait to see all the pews occupied. We will be employing various approaches to church growth, and I assure you that the church will have weekly opportunities to talk and participate in church growth activities. Therefore, allow me to share with you my vision for Church growth through Youth Ministry.
I have steadfastly prayed for a while and I am convinced that Youth Ministry must be given priority among our ministries at WHBC. The first counter argument is that “we can’t afford it.” Truth be told, we can’t afford to ignore or postpone Youth Ministry any longer. This Spring, let’s go forward by faith with the task of securing a bright future for our Church. Our Church is surrounded by thousands of families, likewise thousands of youths and our pews are void of young people. A church like ours has a great opportunity to offer creative youth activities for our surrounding communities. When this ministry gets going parents in our community would be thrilled to find activities for their kids that are healthy, fun and even educational.
A Youth Ministry will help our church to develop and grow a youth culture, which includes spiritual and numerical growth, fellowship, and youth-oriented services. We want youths to find our church “one of the great places to be.” How about young people enjoying a movie night in our fellowship hall? How about young people having discussions in our fellowship hall around topics youth like to talk about? How about youth sponsored summer concerts in the parks? My prayer is that youth will become a part of our church, make memories and have great fun.
To make the aforementioned possible, we need a youth worker who is passionate about the Lord and his church, musically gifted, experienced with youth ministry, savvy with social media, articulate, good at creative fundraisers, and one who loves to work with our church. Please join me in prayers for our Youth Ministry.
“But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he who comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him” (Hebrews 11:6).
-- Rev. Dr. Peter Grinion
We praise God that we have lived to see another Spring time. For me, Spring is a season for new life, new goals, and new beginnings. I am praying for a new surge of energy and passion for Christ amongst us. Spring is also an opportune time to begin a ministry that aims to move our church towards spiritual and numerical growth.
Luke's emphasis on numerical growth is scattered through the whole of his work, and connected to the geographical and ethnic expansion of the early church. Beginning in Jerusalem (Acts 2:47; 4:4; 6:1,7), spreading through Judea and Samaria (9:31; 12:24), and into the uttermost parts of the earth, i.e., the Gentile mission (16:5; 19:20). This, of course, follows the pattern of Acts 1:8. The church grew numerically, geographically and cross-culturally from Judea through Samaria to Rome (John Hicks, 1995).
Just as children are a blessing from the Lord (Psalm 127), and just as the increase of Abraham's descendants was a blessing, so also the growth of God's kingdom is a blessing from God. Theologically, Luke sees the church (restored Israel) as the entity which not only includes all nations, but also will increase in number just as the world's population increases and the children of Israel increased. The church is the messianic community which is expected to be fruitful and multiply (Hicks, 1995).
I am confident that the time has come for our church to see marked numerical growth. I can’t wait to see all the pews occupied. We will be employing various approaches to church growth, and I assure you that the church will have weekly opportunities to talk and participate in church growth activities. Therefore, allow me to share with you my vision for Church growth through Youth Ministry.
I have steadfastly prayed for a while and I am convinced that Youth Ministry must be given priority among our ministries at WHBC. The first counter argument is that “we can’t afford it.” Truth be told, we can’t afford to ignore or postpone Youth Ministry any longer. This Spring, let’s go forward by faith with the task of securing a bright future for our Church. Our Church is surrounded by thousands of families, likewise thousands of youths and our pews are void of young people. A church like ours has a great opportunity to offer creative youth activities for our surrounding communities. When this ministry gets going parents in our community would be thrilled to find activities for their kids that are healthy, fun and even educational.
A Youth Ministry will help our church to develop and grow a youth culture, which includes spiritual and numerical growth, fellowship, and youth-oriented services. We want youths to find our church “one of the great places to be.” How about young people enjoying a movie night in our fellowship hall? How about young people having discussions in our fellowship hall around topics youth like to talk about? How about youth sponsored summer concerts in the parks? My prayer is that youth will become a part of our church, make memories and have great fun.
To make the aforementioned possible, we need a youth worker who is passionate about the Lord and his church, musically gifted, experienced with youth ministry, savvy with social media, articulate, good at creative fundraisers, and one who loves to work with our church. Please join me in prayers for our Youth Ministry.
“But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he who comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him” (Hebrews 11:6).
-- Rev. Dr. Peter Grinion
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