It’s Your Church
“Here are the keys, our family’s future is in your hands.”
Those were the words one of my seminary profs used, or something like them, as he handed the car keys to his oldest child for the first time. It’s true for every young driver, your choices will have an impact on your family and it is even more true for a pastor’s family.
I told you that story on Sunday and I tell you it again because Santa Margarita Community Church is your church, you have the keys.
“Here are the keys, our church’s future is in your hands, you can run with it or you can ruin it.”
A community church offers sanctuary, comfort to strengthen your broken life; it offers community, a place for you to belong as a disciple of Jesus; a place for maturity, where you and I become more like Christ tomorrow than we are today; and a place of ministry, where you can be trained to take ownership of your church in preparation for taking ownership of your world.
Many of you asked after last Sunday, “Well, Pastor, what can I own?” And I ask in response, “What do you love? Where has God gifted you?
Are you gifted to serve the Word?
Spiritual infants in the church need you to share the Christian truth with them.
- Share your life with someone, one on one. We will talk about this more on Sunday, but ask me if you want to talk before then.
- Share the truth with one, three or a class. This community church has always been a Bible teaching church, teaching is what we do. Are you gifted and passionate to be an teacher? There is place for you to teach our children right now. We have the material, we will equip you.
- Share Christian habits with some. This is especially what we are teaching to our youth. Do you want to help them become Christian adults who make their community a better pace?
Are you gifted to serve the people?
Spiritual children in the church need you to help them get connected.
- Serve to connect them with God in their personal lives. It is always true that the believers who thrive the most are those who have learned to connect with God on their own. Can we connect you with some new believers who need your help?
- Serve to connect them with others. Are you part of a Home Fellowship Group? How about inviting someone to go with you? Each week we have visitors join us for worship in Santa Margarita. These are those people whom God has sent for us to love. Would you like to involved in our SMCC connections team and help those people feel the love and welcome that you have found in Santa Margarita?
- Serve to connect them with the purpose of God through this community church. It is a great sign of spiritual growth when we begin to consider others more than we do ourselves. Are you called to join in with our SMCC outreach team? You know that 20% of our budget goes right outside the church for the good of our neighbors and our world. Well, the percentage of our time is even higher. We can only do as much good as we have people to lead.
Are you gifted to serve the organization of the church?
Spiritual young adults in the church need you to train them to serve along with you.
- Train by giving others the necessary equipment to lead in the church. Are you that gifted manager who can look at a job and quickly see the resources of time, treasure and talent to see it through? Can we hand over to you either individuals who need training or groups that need formal equipping? Will you help us get training done for our gracious servants who need it?
- Train by providing opportunity to own responsibilities under your protection. In an organization, things do not happen naturally, they happen by plan and purpose. The more we grow, the more need we have of your gifts to lead towards getting things done. Is that you? Are you called and gifted to get things done with others? Can we connect you with our office and administration ministers?
- Train by releasing your brothers and sisters to own the church ministry for themselves. This is where we are going, the goal for everyone of us is that we own our portion of the ministry for which we are gifted and to which we are called. When we each are equipped to serve, the community church will thrive and our neighborhoods will be blessed.
Come on friends, it is your church, own it.
Your Pastor,
Robert
