"I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” " -- Galatians 2:19-20

     I sat in the workshop at the Great Rivers Region Annual Meeting, and saw my thoughts echoed by Jerry Cain, the President of Judson University. The workshop was entitled The Evangelistic Imperative for the 21st Century, and as Jerry expounded on his thought, it hit me that this is what I had been dreaming of for Grace, without being able to completely articulate my thoughts. Jerry used a diagram similar to this one to explain his understanding of the Circular Work of the Church.

     When someone comes to a personal relationship with Jesus, one of their great desires is to get to know all about their Lord and Savior. This drives that individual to study the Bible to satisfy that hunger. The more that this new disciple (notice the word "disciple"), studies, the more that person sees Jesus’ call to serve in the church and the world. It is then that call to service which leads this same disciple to share the gospel with those whom he or she is serving, thus beginning the entire process over again. Jerry went on to suggest that in order to help provide the context for evangelism, that you begin to emphasize one of these three elements each year, so that it reminds one of a lump of food that is moving through a snake: it’s all in the animal, but there certainly is a concentration in one place.

     The Circular Work of the Church focused on three of the purposes which Grace acknowledges in our purpose statement: evangelism, discipleship (study), and ministry (service). With this in mind, I would like to call for a concentration on discipleship at Grace for 2008. At our initial 2008 planning meeting on October 12th our group adopted that idea. Galatians 2:19-20 will be our theme verse for the year as we seek to learn to let Christ live in and through each member of Grace. I would invite you to come to the second half of our planning meeting this Saturday, October 26th from 9:00am to 12:00noon (breakfast will be served at 8:30am). We will be looking at practical plans to help our congregation focus on our purpose to “love God completely” through a life of discipleship.

     Yes, giving to the WMO is just an initial step—but it is an important one. The Holy Spirit has already placed our missionaries in special places of ministry to influence this trade and He has already trained them for this spiritual warfare. But our missionaries need our help with prayer support and financial support. Won't you join me in giving this October, so that our missionaries may be able to "proclaim release to the captives"?