Grace Presbyterian Church

1090 N Davis Ave

Weed, CA  96094

Phone:  (530) 938-4571

Fax:      (530) 938-4571

Email:  gracepc@snowcrest.net

Pastor:  Jim Howe

After just two weeks in the pulpits of Grace and McCloud Community Presbyterian Churches, and a few walks around McCloud and Weed, I am not foolish enough to try to define the landscapeand how it has changed. Today’s cultural climate of postmodernism is a protest movement against the increasing sense of alienation we all feel. As I walk through downtown Weed and McCloud I see signs that they are struggling, the places people gathered are gone. This is happening all over. So much of life is lived on the highways and not in our city centers any longer. This raises an important question for us as a parish, how do we connect with people who are in high gear? How do we let people know the sense of family that makes smaller congregations so wonderful? They either are going seventy miles an hour down I-5, channel surfing 99 stations on television, or communicating with strangers on high speed internet. There are places where we meet others but not many where we reach out across the generation gap. We shop in Medford and Redding but hardly know the kids down the block or the businessman around the corner. Our youth are plugged into their music from sun up to sun down. “Where are the youth?” is a constant question. How do we reach them? How do we reach our community again?

First, we are invited by God’s Spirit to get to know people outside of our normal circle of church friends. We do this on their turf where Jesus is inviting us to meet them. But know this, they think differently and live in a world that many of us don’t know or understand. So many people are “dechurched.” They think Jesus is alright but when it comes to the church, they are uninterested. So many of the families are single parent households where people are struggling to live on a limited income. Will we be a people who will leave our comfort zones for the sake of Christ and his love for all people?

Second, prayer is our greatest resource. Pray for wisdom and insight into how to bless people with the love of Christ. Pray for someone who does not know Jesus every day. Pray for workers with children, young people and the resources to carry out this work. For example we need scholarships to send kids to Christian Camps. Pray for Christian leaders for the Scouts, baseball team coaches, 4H leaders and for God to move people to love kids at VBS this summer.

As I was preparing to come back to Siskiyou County I was trying to clear my mind so that I could keep my mind focused on the most important work of making followers who are fully committed to Jesus Christ and his mission.

This is part of what I wrote:

“A church that is blessed by God overflows with blessing. The leadership and people are clear about the processs of receiving blessings so that they in turn bless others.”

Everything in a growing church is centered on receiving Christ’s blessing and inviting others to join in the blessing as well. People in dynamic churches ask, “How do the ministries of this church make disciples who go out in our community well equipped to spread around the love of Christ?” The congregations who contribute most to their communities and benefit Christ most abandon everything that is not essential to this process of receiving blessing in order to be a blessing.

How would you describe the process through which a person goes to become a fully committed follower of Jesus Christ who replicates herself in the lives of others? If we are to be vital congregations we must all understand the simple process we use to receive Christ’s blessing so that we in turn bless others.

Pastor Jim’s Parish Scroll Message will appear here each month.

April 2008

Don’t Miss out on the Blessing!