Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts,
to which indeed you were called in one body.
And be thankful. - Colossians 3:15
Church Family,
These words of Paul are so appropriate. It’s Thanksgiving - a time when we traditionally gather with family to enjoy being together and being thankful for all that God has done. This is good, encouraging, and God-honoring. As a church family, Scripture consistently calls us to be thankful as well. So in this spirit of Thanksgiving, we as your Elders want to update you on what we’ve been doing and discussing since our Fall Business Meeting with you last month. As we have been meeting, talking, and praying together, we have seen and sensed God at work in us and in our fellowship. There is much to be thankful for at Meadows Christian Fellowship right now.
As you know, since last month’s meeting, new leaders have stepped up in some key areas: Matthew Jarrett with our Building Team, and Simeon and Abi Lico with our Youth Group. We are so thankful for all of our volunteers and leaders who keep ministry moving here at Meadows! We as Elders want to fully support all of our fantastic leaders, so we’ve assigned an Elder contact to every ministry leader and small group leader in the church. Our goal is to communicate with and care for all of our leaders on a regular basis and to lift them up in prayer, not only for their ministry but personally as well.
You may also remember that we expressed the desire to fill a need in our fellowship by forming a Care Team. We have since prayerfully compiled a list of those who we feel demonstrate the heart and gifting to be a part of the MCF Care Team, and we are now taking next steps to gather all those interested for our first meeting in December. We are thankful that God is moving us in this direction and we are excited to share with you more as the Care Team take shape.
We have also put together another list, and that is a list of potential Elder candidates. We are thankful for every man on this list and continue to pray for God’s leading and clear calling in the Elder selection process. We have finalized our current list of potential Elder candidates and will soon be reaching out to each one. We’ll be asking these men to be praying and seeking the Lord’s leading in December, and pursuing next steps in January if feeling called to move forward in the process. Even though you don’t yet know their names, we ask you all to please be in prayer for these men. It’s our desire that the entire Elder selection process be bathed in prayer from beginning to end.
We’re thankful that God’s Word continues to be faithfully preached here at Meadows! The men on the preaching team have been blessed both in their study of Scripture and in their working together as a team. These men are meeting again soon to pray and plan out the sermon schedule for the new year.
Lastly, we want to update you on transition and pastoral search. We are so thankful to say that God has been giving us greater and greater clarity over the past several weeks. We have spent time praying about and discussing the mission of Meadows. We’ve discussed whether or not we feel the need for an interim pastor. We’ve also talked about men who are in our church right now and what roles they may be called to step into. In all of this, here is where we believe God has brought us to this point:
- We are firmly convinced of our mission of Helping People to Know, Love, and Become Like Jesus Christ, and that we are to be pursuing that mission with complete devotion to the Word, Prayer, Fellowship, Care, and Multiplication.
- We are firmly convinced that being without a pastor during this time of transition is proving to be healthy for us as a church. As a body, we are all pulling together to be the church and to do the work of ministry. As leaders, we Elders are being pushed to step up in our leadership and care for the flock. Meadows Christian Fellowship is functioning and healthy. We believe that bringing in an interim pastor at this time would only be a distraction and potentially a disruption to the health and growth we see happening in our church.
- We are firmly convinced that we do need to call a Lead Pastor.
- We are firmly convinced that this Lead Pastor is to be a man who has a vision and gifting for building up and pouring into other leaders in our church. We’ll be looking for a man who will preach, and will also help develop and train up other preachers in our church. We’ll be looking for a man who will care for the flock, and will also provide guidance to our Care Team as they administer care in our fellowship. We’ll be looking for a man who will lead, and will also build up and support the Elders as he works alongside us to live up to our calling as the shepherds and spiritual leaders of the church.
- We are firmly convinced that God is leading us through this process at the pace of his choosing, and we are committed to staying in lock-step with him, never falling behind or getting ahead of the leading of his Spirit.
Thanks for taking the time to read this update. There is much to be thankful for. God is at work. We ask that you continue to pray for us and for our church family here at Meadows. Happy Thanksgiving, church. We are thankful for you all!
MCF Elders
