Midweek at Grace Church

At the end of his sermon last Sunday, Carter Dukes prayed “Thank you for this household of faith, Grace Church, for its love for you and others that is so prominently present, for the shared life and for the sacrifice and service that we have for you and for each other.  And help us, Lord, to continue to strengthen each other through Christian fellowship.” 

Like Carter, I give thanks for Grace Church’s loving Christian fellowship.  But as Carter said at the end of his prayer, we need to continue what has already begun.  So how can we ensure, under God, that our church continues to love and serve one another?  With that question on our minds, the leadership team decided to change our Grace Groups schedule from once a month to once a week.  This is a big step of faith for our church! 

In God’s sight, the local church is the “household of God” (1 Timothy 3:15).  In a household, there’s a lot of rubbing shoulders with one another, which means you know what’s going on in other people’s lives.  “Quantity time” spent with other people builds trust and companionship that occasional “quality time” doesn’t necessarily produce.  We want to strengthen that household experience in Grace Church, and we think a weekly midweek meeting is the best way to do that.

We’re immensely grateful to those who have hosted and led our existing monthly Grace Groups.  Betsy and I have enjoyed very happy evenings with those groups, and we know how greatly they’ve enriched the church’s life.  As I’ve said to the hosts and leaders, if they want their groups to continue meeting on an informal basis, we’d be thrilled to see that happen. 

Although we’re still ironing out some of the details, our current plan is to meet each Wednesday from September 6 onwards at the church building from 5:45pm to 7:30pm.  We’ll probably use a semester format, with a break in December and another break over the summer. 

The meeting will begin with a catered meal (something that used to happen in Grace’s early days), and afterwards we’ll divide into three separate groups.  Each group will have a Bible study on the same passage in Mark’s Gospel, and then the group members will pray for one another.  We’re excited to see how God will use these meetings, and we very much hope that many of you will make Midweek at Grace Church a fixture on your weekly calendar.

Yours in our Savior,

Bernard