Enjoy a Picnic!

This Friday, July 24th our Emerging Community is having a picnic at my wife, Amy, and my new home in Blaine, 2138 129th Court NE. Our new church hasn’t had an event since our Blessing of the Animals on June 28th, so I am very much looking forward to getting together.

Since I started as Organizing Pastor we’ve had three groups make up our newly forming church:
Steering Committee They function as the Session of our newly forming church. They are responsible for creating the culture of the church—our Purpose Statement, Core Values, Vision. They also have the authority to make all other important decisions for our congregation. The Church Development Team of our Presbytery has graciously given us two people to serve on our Steering Committee. We now have two Ministry Teams that serve under the Steering Committee.
Emerging Community This is made up of people who more or less have made a commitment to our congregation. We met weekly during Lent at a home studying “The Jesus I Never Knew.” The purpose of the Emerging Community is to grow as a spiritual community.
Fellowship Events These are events where people can get a taste of what our community is like. We encourage people from our Emerging Community to invite their unchurched friends to our Fellowship events. Some of the events we’ve had are “Blessing of the Animals,” “Meet the Pastor,” “Agape Feast,” and the “?Why” series.

This structure—which is not at all cast into stone—has guided our life together so far at Chain of Lakes Church.

The picnic on Friday is an opportunity for our Emerging Community to come together again. I sent an invitation to everyone who has attended an event in our newly forming congregation—20 families.

At the picnic we’ll have some fellowship time, maybe play a game or two, have some fun stuff for the kids, do a little bit of planning, and just enjoy our time together. I think my parents are even coming. Amy & I had previously invited them to spend the weekend with us—they’ll be able to enjoy the fellowship of our Emerging Community.

Whether you are part of our Emerging Community or not, would you take some time to pray for our picnic? Can’t wait until Friday!