Salem Church Family … Happy New Year! My first resolution in the New Year called 2019 is to pray for you all more often. I put the directory on my laptop digitally and have already begun the process of praying through the roster of Salem members and attendees. I think the deacons are doing something similar.
2018 was a noteworthy year around Salem. We established a new mission statement, baptized lots of folks, started a new middle service (which has been going very well), and started more BFG units in a single year than any time in the last decade—maybe ever—but I can’t remember back 178 years! That’s really good news to start a new year with.
My particular interest for this article in the January Update is on the new mission statement: Our mission is to glorify God, make disciples who pursue Jesus, and share His story. It is tempting to break the statement down into three parts as if it refers to three different activities or ministries, but that is not accurate. The way, the only way a New Testament church obediently glorifies God is to go and make disciples by sharing the simple beautiful story of the Gospel. Jesus made this pretty clear in Matthew 28:19-20 and also in Acts 1:8.
As I pray for you in 2019, I want you to know specifically what I am praying for. Of course your well-being, but something so much more than that. I am praying for your alignment with Salem’s mission and your passionate investment in it. I am praying that every individual, committee, officer, deacon, and pastor in our church is so well-aligned with the mission that it would be impossible to see us knocked off course by the “fiery darts of the wicked” (Ephesians 6:16, KJV). Paul made it clear that the way this happens is when God’s people “armor up” in the faith which they claim to hold. For Salem, that faith is rooted in our Gospel belief and passion!
“I am praying for your alignment with Salem’s mission and your passionate investment in it.”
All we did in 2018—the mission statement, the new service, the new BFG’s—was to create a launching pad for us to pursue our mission without restraint in 2019 … so let’s get busy! Let’s engage our neighbors, better love our spouse, guide our kids, and proclaim the good news until there is no place left in our circle of influence for unbelief.
This story first appeared in Salem’s January 2019 Update. Click here to download it!