Pastor Kim's Page
Dear TMPC Family,
It is quite a privilege to be involved with a church building extension project. I was reminded by a visitor to the mountain last week that the general trend is for churches to be shrinking not expanding. It is a good time to pause and give thanks to God to be part of one of his local churches that is growing. It is also a good time to pause and think about church growth and what we will be looking to do in the future.
I have said it before but it bears repeating that this local church will grow in proportion to how the individual members of the body of Christ administer God’s grace in its various forms. There is some part in church growth that each person contributes to in the local church. Let me give you an example of how one of the least of our ‘members’ contributes to the growth of the church.
We have a number of little bubs around the church right now. They can’t do much in the way of working bees, singing, ushering, serving other’s needs, etc. But just by being around they say to other young families that there is a place for them in this church. They are cared about. They are not considered nuisances. And when we welcome these little ones we are also encouraging their parents who have gone to extra lengths to get things sorted out on Sunday morning so they can bring their little ones.
The parents are able to worship God and get fed on Sunday morning and in time they will be teaching their growing toddlers about the Lord. As they grow a bit they can then attend Sunday School where they are taught further and where someone who is gifted as a teacher is able to use their gifts to help build up the body. And on it goes. We can’t forget that these seemingly mundane things, like babies in the church service, are really an opportunity for the church to ‘build itself up in love as each part does its work’. Keep that in mind the next time you see (or hear) one of these little ones on Sunday morning.
You might say that these little ones have a passive role in the building up of the church. Others have more active roles. Some have background things to do. Others are more up front. Some concentrate on ministry within the church, others are reaching out into the community through works of service and evangelism.
What is your role? What are your gift(s)? What is your place of service? As you ask God to give you wisdom to know and as you look for ways to express your love (1Corinthians 13) to others you will find your way in helping to build up the body of Christ.
Some people, (pastors and teachers) are specifically called to help prepare God’s people for ‘works of service’, as Ephesians 4 puts it. Our church is currently at a place of opportunity where we could benefit greatly from the addition of another full time minister.
We need to develop ministry among the families who have children at home. Like many churches we are ‘top heavy’ which has a good side (accumulated wisdom). But we then need to be deliberately addressing the next younger level of families so that the accumulated wisdom of the more mature (older) Christians can be put to good use. There are still many opportunities to expand the ministries of this church to impact the mountain and beyond.
In recognition of this the elders have given the green light to begin the process to engage another full time minister who will develop ministry to families with kids and contribute to the preparation and training of members to encourage them in the use of their gifts. We have had fulltime assistants since 2000 but decided to forego 2010 as we took on the building extension.
To move the engagement process forward the elders have approved Roger Marsh as an applicant for this position. Many details have yet to be worked out. Congregational approval, Presbytery approval, and financial feasibility are all part of the process still before us.
I have invited Roger to preach for 2 Sundays (September 19, 26), while we are away, to increase his exposure to those of you who may not know him (Roger worked here for about 2 years in 2002‐2003). Please keep these matters in your regular prayers as we seek God’s will as to how we can best carry out the work of the building up of the body of Christ and the ongoing work of the gospel.
May God give us his grace and encouragement as we seek to honour him in his church.
Pastor Dale