Building great people, because great people build great families and great families build great communities.
To God be the glory!

Tuesday, October 07, 2008

Dear Friends of the Gathering Place

It is with real joy that I write this short note to you. At The Gathering Place, we feel it is OUR responsibility to “clear the way” for you to take hold of all that God has for you. YOU are a very important part of YOUR church family. As senior pastor, I will do my best to bring you “doable” messages, in the hope that what you learn on the week-end, will be usable during the week.

Our leadership team is dedicated to helping you connect with the personal hope and practical help that God can give us. We are concerned with meeting your real life needs.

The purpose of the Gathering Place is summed in this way: To bring people to Jesus and membership in His family, develop them to Christlike maturity, and equip them for their ministry in the church and life mission in the world in order to magnify God’s name.

It is our dream that our fellowship will be a place where the hurting, the depressed, the frustrated and the confused can find love, acceptance, help, hope, forgiveness, guidance and encouragement.

The analogy of the Christian as salt is appropriate for the church in Canada. In order to be effective, salt must not only retain its saltiness, but it must leave its shaker and touch what it wishes to enhance.

To reach today’s generation, the church needs to examine once again what it means to be salty.

Too often we are so engulfed in our own problems of maintaining the traditions of our church that we fail to see the larger picture - that of people hurting and in need of saltiness, needing to be touched by God’s love. We lose saltiness when the comfort of our church is the most important thing to preserve. But when we see the church as a hospital that administers caring and healing to the hurts of society, we are preparing the way for the Holy Spirit to do His work.

We would like to thank each of you for the interest and support you’ve shown regarding this wonderful opportunity that the Lord is laying before us.

Matthew 5:1-2 When Jesus saw his ministry drawing huge crowds, he climbed a hillside. Those who were apprenticed to him, the committed, climbed with him. Arriving at a quiet place, he sat down and taught his climbing companions.

Counted among His climbing companions…. Pastors Ed and Judi Brouwer

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