Love, Grow, Serve

Was privileged to be part of a workshop at church tonight brainstorming about our mission.

No, not the next mission trip, but the actual mission of our church when it comes to ministering to others inside and outside of our four walls. Ministering to the greater Wisconsin Rapids area.

As with any planning discussion, you first have to determine where you are before you can decide where you want to go. We have a sense of that through various meetings this summer. We know our strengths and gifts and some potential avenues of service.

The encouraging part is the depth of our belief that we can make a difference. The discouraging part is the depth of need in our community.

So much brokenness.

Sure it's a great community, but some of us have been afforded a more realistic view. Sad stories of poverty, abuse, broken marriages, hunger, homelessness, drugs, violence, depression, loneliness. Sad and true.

What is the greatest need and how can we fill it? Or more accurately, what need is our church equipped to fill?

It will be interesting to see what direction we take. If I have the gifts to be of help, I certainly will. But at the outset I am vowing not to get involved to the point I am loving and serving others and not those under my own roof.

Love. Grow. Serve. In that order!

Please remind me if I forget.