Heart To Heart With The Senior Pastor 1

A JOYFUL AND BLESSED NEW YEAR TO GLORIANS!

As we move into 2024, I want to share some updates with you. Firstly, in our last bulletin of 2023, we announced that we will no longer be publishing our regular columns, "FROM THE PASTORAL DESK" and "PRAYERS MATTER TO GOD." Instead, we are shifting our focus to church-wide devotion. We hope you have received a copy of ONE THING and are already engaging with God’s Word through it.

I also want to let you know that I will continue to write to you occasionally, sharing thoughts from my heart. This week's message is especially for those who missed the Office Bearers Briefing last week.

Theme of 2024: A Heart to Serve

Goals of 2024:

Knowing the missional God

Being His missional disciples

Building His missional church

I would like to connect our theme for this year with our three goals for 2024.

First, knowing our missional God. In both Hebrew and Greek, “to know” someone is also to have an intimate relationship with that person. The more we know about God, the closer we are drawn to him. God’s nature is missional. To be sure, mission is not just an activity of the church, but an essential attribute of God. In fact, there is no such word, mission, in both Greek and Hebrew in the Bible. Mission is derived from the Latin word “missio”, which means “sending”. 

In Gal 4:4, “At the right time, God sent his son…”, and then in John 15:26, Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit.  In other words, the Father sent the Son, and the Son sent the Spirit.  I want to emphasize that the Triune God is a missional God who builds on this intimate relationship between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Although the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are distinct persons with distinct roles, they know each other intimately and exist eternally in perfect unity. This intimate relationship is what we should work toward as we serve the missional God.

The missional God is self-giving and self-sacrificing.  He carries the message of forgiveness and redemption, love and salvation. Everything He does is missional: build relationships and seek and save the lost. Amazingly, we, the church, are entrusted with the privilege to participate in this divine mission of the Trinity.  John 20:21 says, Jesus sent the disciples! 

So when we talk about having a heart to serve, our posture must first be rooted in the knowledge of this missional triune God.  Father, Son, and Holy Spirit intimately as one!

Next, being His missional disciples. This is the scent of our identity.  Wherever we go, we bear the aroma of Christ.  In 1 Pet 2: 9, we are reminded that we are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that we may proclaim the excellencies of him who called us out of darkness into his marvellous light. In other words, we are set apart for God as His special people with a special role to play: to be the salt of the earth, and the light of the world, to proclaim the lordship of Christ. In all that we think, do, and say, we are called to reflect the glory of God. 

So, when we talk about having a heart to serve, our motivation must stem from being His missional disciples, we belong to Jesus.

Finally, building His missional church.  This is the sphere of our service.  A missional church has no other agenda other than the agenda of the missional God. It does not exist for its own sake but for the sake of the missional God, which is to build relationships and seek and save the lost.  Instead of being just inward-looking, it also reaches out.  A missional church welcomes, listens, nurtures, embraces and empowers. 

There are many activities we can actually busy ourselves with. Like social concerns, economic justice, political liberations and or even many other church activities. The causes we can champion are virtually endless.  But what should the focus of our service be? Where should we channel our energy and resources? The answer is simply to do the will of the missional God.  God has blessed each one of us with different resources and spiritual gifts.  We are called to use whatever resources and gifts He has given us to build up His missional church, and bring light to the world.

So, when we talk about having a heart to serve, the sphere of our service is to build His missional church.

Now, do you see the connection between our theme this year, “a heart to serve” and “the missional God”, “missional disciples” and “missional church”? To serve as a missional church, first we need to be drawn near to know the missional God and then we see our inheritance from the missional God, we are His missional disciples, serving together to build His missional church.

In conclusion, I want to bring our focus to Jesus. Our key verse for 2024 is from Mark 10:45 – “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” We, as his missional disciples, were all first served by our Lord, Jesus, who died for all our sins and is always forgiving, always loving, always listening, always kind, always patient, always welcoming. Let’s serve others as we are being served by our Lord, the missional God who died for us.

Wishing you a missional year filled with God's blessings and grace!

Pastor Forest