Focus on our future…honor our legacy
At our last Presbytery meeting (the regional gathering of EPC churches), we received training on congregational health. There are several qualities that characterize healthy, growing churches. One was this: healthy churches are focused on the future, not on the past.
I understand that. I even agree with it. We can’t live in the past. Our eyes need always to be forward, looking toward God’s next call upon us as a congregation. This world is ever-changing and the church that isn’t willing to change its approach is doomed to irrelevance.
HOWEVER…even if our focus is, rightly, on the future, we are unwise to forget the lessons, blessings, and challenges of the past. One favorite word in the Bible is “remember!” Remember your heritage. Remember God’s faithfulness to you. Remember those who have gone before you and the debt you owe them.
So, here at Chapel Hill, we try to do both. We remember our past with honor…and we look and lean forward into God’s future. In fact, two of our DNA markers, honoring our legacy (listen to or read a sermon to learn more) and mobilizing our next generation (listen to or read a sermon to learn more), speak to this healthy tension. Looking back…looking forward. I think we can do both. I think we must do both.
That’s why St Andrews Sunday matters to us. Held on the last Sunday of October every year, this is our opportunity to celebrate our Scottish Reformed legacy. The ancient faith which we hold and proclaim…and the Chapel Hill saints who have gone before us, upon whose shoulders we stand, particularly those we have lost in this last year.
It is one of my favorite Sundays! Everyone is encouraged to wear tartan (plaid) as a fun tribute to our Scottish roots. And this year, it will be a particularly powerful experience because we will meet for ONE SERVICE at 10:00 am. A chance for the entire church of all ages to come together in a blend of worship styles to celebrate our unity as the body of Christ. I will also be sharing with you some important and exciting news that you might not want to receive secondhand.
10:00 am…one service…this Sunday…St Andrews! Find your favorite plaid garment and join us as we look back…and look forward to the exciting things that God has in store in the coming years.
Pastor Mark