Elder’s Forum 2020
This past Sunday NewLife was able to sit down with our Elder’s and discuss some of the amazing things that God did in 2019 as well as look at where God is taking us in 2020.
Where God took NewLife in 2019
There are many things to be excited about from 2019 but the thing we are most excited about is the way God has grown our relationships with Him and with one another. We’ve seen at least one person come to know the Lord as their Savior and many choose to be baptized, publicly confessing Christ as Lord. We’ve seen involvement in D-Groups grow from approx. 20 people to now over 60 with many of the new groups being led as a result of replication. Involvement in Life Groups has dramatically increased as well to the point where we will need to add more Life Groups in 2020. We’ve been blessed as God has brought new families to our NewLife family and it has been incredible to see them connect with others as well.
God also saw fit to answer our prayer to be debt free. What a miraculous thing! To see how God made this happen and to see our people’s response to it was overwhelmingly encouraging. Once we moved, we began to realize a new role for us in the heart of Canal Winchester and an opportunity to minister out of our office everyday. It has been a joy to visit with people passing by or stopping in, sometimes almost on a daily basis.
God added to our leadership. In April God brought Trevor Butch to our staff as a worship leader and his dedication and expertise in many areas was just what we needed for this past year and will bless us all for years to come. God is also in the process of adding to our Elder team, Deacon team and our speaking team to bring better shepherding, ministry and perspective to all we do.
Where God is taking NewLife in 2020
God is continuing to work out His vision here at NewLife:
- We see a church filled with disciple-making disciples. We are a people who passionately pursue Christ, who share the Gospel with those who do not know Him, and who cultivate intentional relationships to point others to Christ. Making disciples is at the core of who we are, it runs through our veins and the world around us can’t help but see Him in us.
- We see a church living in the freedom only Jesus can give. We are a people set free from addictions, entanglements, and patterns of this world, and transformed to be a living sacrifice to God.
- We see a church that is healthy and prepared. We are a people deeply rooted in our relationship with Jesus that allows Him to determine our steps, our schedules and our commitments, so that we are ready for the remarkable journey ahead.
- We see a church where serving is like breathing, necessary and life giving. We are a people who have discovered and are living out the purpose for which God created us. We have set aside our own pursuits to serve others.
We can definitively see significant progress in the first three with many tangible moments to support God’s work. The fourth point of being “a church where serving is like breathing, necessary and life giving” is where we see the most focus in 2020. Primarily we believe God is wanting to grow us in our passion, ability and willingness to share the Gospel with those around us. We can’t wait to see what God does with this one!
We plan to help all of the NewLife family take steps around The Discipleship Pathway this year, whether it is to Know God, Find Community, Be Discipling or Changing the World. We will do this by engaging every ministry to make sure what we’re doing is purposeful to this end and engaging families to help them better disciple at home.
As an Elder Team we are focusing on growing in our ability to shepherd the people of NewLife and can’t wait to see what God does.
Regarding a new permanent home… Later this month we will begin meeting together, with all interested, to begin praying about the next steps God would have us take.
As far as teaching… On Sundays we will continue our study in Ephesians, tackle Esther, 1 Peter and a few character studies, hear from several of our missionaries and tackle the challenge of what to do when we feel like our faith fails us. In addition to these, we can’t wait for Secret Church 2020. The topic will be on God and Politics. Certainly timely for this year!
There is so much more to talk about, but what to do with what we’ve heard so far? Get involved. Take the next step on the pathway. Don’t know Christ? Surrender your life to Him. Not connected in community? Join a Life Group. Need to know how to be a disciple who makes disciples? Join a D-Group. Want to see the world around you change? Share the Gospel with those you encounter. We can’t wait to see what God does this year and beyond!
