The Messenger - May 6, 2011 - A New Job Description
A New Job
Description
This is such an amazing time to live! During the last few years, totally new means of communication have become common place: Twitter, Facebook, e-mail, LinkedIn, PowerPoint, and so on. Every single ministry of our church has been affected by these changes, and some of our staff jobs must change as well. Thus, I have been working very closely with the Personnel Commission during the last few months to help our church adapt to our swiftly changing world. On the one hand, we want to preserve the very best of our traditions and techniques. On the other hand, we must connect with a larger culture that finds many of these techniques to be quaint, at best--if not irrelevant or stale.
Interestingly enough, our task is not that different from the task of Christ's disciples in the early church. Most of them were good Jews who grew up with Jewish customs and beliefs. But Christ challenged them to take this ancient faith beyond the Jewish culture to a much, much larger world. Ultimately, this challenge forced them to radically reform their faith.
Several books of the New Testament describe this process of spiritual reformation, but none of them describe it more vividly than the Book of Acts. At the beginning of this book, Christ's disciples are literally cowering together in an upper room. By the end of this book, the gospel of Christ had reached throughout the Roman Empire--the greatest civilization in history up to that time.
Thus, during the next 2 months, I'll be preaching about Christ's calling to the Christian church within the Book of Acts. First, I'll describe the new "Job Description" that Christ gave us in chapter 1, verse 8. Then, I'll describe the way that this challenge was worked out in within the early church--and how it might work out with us. If you'd like to "be prepared" for this sermon series, here are some passages you may wish to study in the weeks to come:
May 8: Acts 1:1-11 - "A New Job Description"
May 15: Acts 3: 1-9 - "A Call to Walk"
May 22: Acts 10: 1-28 - "A Call to See"
May 29: Acts 6: 8- 7:60 - "A Call to Speak"
June 5: Acts 12: 1-17 - "A Call to Believe"
June 12: Acts 2: 1-12 - "A Call to All"
I think that these are some of the most exciting stories in the whole New Testament. My prayer is that God will use them to refine our sense of purpose and renew our sense of joy as we seek to fulfill God's calling in the years to come.
Happy Mother's Day!
Neal
Sharefest
Our
church is joining in the Sharefest
WorkDay, Saturday, May 14,
starting at 8:30 am. On this day,
churches all over Los Angeles will be
joining to serve our communities. We will
be working at Taper Avenue School, and
there will be many different ways to
help. For more information, see
the flier or e-mail
Gordon Teuber to sign up.
Fri, May 6
7:00 pm - Youth Hangout
Sat, May 7
8:30 am - Men's Breakfast
4:00 pm - Volleyball - ASC1 vs FP2
5:00 pm - Volleyball - BVB vs FP5
6:00 pm - Volleyball - FP6 vs SBCOG
8:00 pm - Volleyball - LW1 vs FP4
Sun, May 8 - Mother's Day
8:30 am - Adult Sunday School
9:30 am - Worship - Angels and Cherubs and
Mother's Day Men's Choir
Mon, May 9
7:00 pm - Stewardship meeting
Tue, May 10
7:30 pm - Student Ministries Meeting
Wed, May 11
7:00 am - Bible Study at Carrow's
4:00 pm - Parent Hangout
4:00 pm - Angel Choir
4:00 pm - Angel and Cherubs Storytime
4:00 pm - GG Devotional/Homework Hangout
4:30 pm - Cherub Choir
5:00 pm - Gospel Gang Choir
5:45 pm - Dinner for King's Chorus and
SonLight Singers
6:15 pm - King's Chorus Choir
6:15 pm - High School Fellowship
7:00 pm - Prayer Group
7:15 pm - Junior High Fellowship
7:15 pm - SonLight Singers Choir
Thu, May 12
7:30 pm - Chancel Choir Rehearsa
Sat, May 14
8:30 am - Sharefest Project at Taper Ave.
School
4:00 pm - Volleyball - BVB vs FP6
5:00 pm - NACM Choral Festival
5:00 pm - Volleyball - ASC2 vs FP2
6:00 pm - Volleyball - FP4 vs NEW LIFE
7:00 pm - Volleyball - LW3 vs FP3
8:30 am - Adult Sunday School
9:30 am - Worship - Sonlight Singers sing
Erik Larson is the
interim editor of the Messenger.
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Presbyterian Church of San Pedro