It is a beautiful thing when brothers and sisters dwell together in unity. The assumption is that they are together. I appreciate the thoughtful, prayerful time invested with Shean Philips and our pastoral staff on moving the merger conversation forward. From this point, our focus is on getting people together and, from that, answering key questions.
With that in view, the pastoral staffs plan to meet weekly. We will also schedule joint board meetings. But this is not just a leadership task – we are all in ministry. Many of you serve in various capacities and we want to get the ministry teams of both churches together for fellowship and helpful conversation. Please be on the lookout for a contact from Dwight or Bobby about initiating meetings and conversations with your Vienna counterparts.
Here are some of the first things that have been scheduled to build relationship between the two congregations:
April 1 (Sat) — Combined men’s breakfast at Vienna, 7:30 a.m.
April 2 (Sun) — Pastor Shean will preach at Grace during morning worship, 10:00 a.m.
April 5 (Wed) — Combined prayer gathering at Vienna, 6:30 p.m.
April 5 (Wed) — GBC youth will meet with Vienna youth, 6:30 p.m.
April 16 (Sun) — I will preach at Vienna during the morning worship, 10:30 a.m., followed by time for questions from the VBC family.
Here is an example of a delightful discovery about mutual connections with the folks of Vienna. I received a call from a missionary friend I had not heard from in a couple decades. His family is a part of the VBC family, and they are his sending church; it will be a joy to re-connect.
Several of you have approached me with creative ideas to get people from both congregations together – at a corporate level or a more personal or small group level. Let’s do it! And we want to hear about it. Being intentional about building meaningful, gospel-centered relationships is a work of God’s Spirit in us; let’s give it the time necessary for God to clearly lead us if he wants to open doors and prepare hearts and minds.
Though the GBC vote was overwhelmingly in favor of continuing the conversation, a few of you – though voting yes – wrote notes of caution on your ballots. We want to hear from you if you are willing to be transparent with your concerns. Please do not hesitate to contact me with your questions or insights. Our goal is clarity and confidence of the Spirit’s leading.
God could be doing something new here. Imagine the impact of the combined strengths of ministry! Let’s be the church beautiful.
Copyright © 2023 Grace Bible Church, All rights reserved.