Dear Chapel Family and Friends,

Grace and peace to each of you!  I pray God’s grace and mercy fills you every day.  I pray God’s remind you of His deep and everlasting love for you.

On October 1st we finished our journey through the book of Acts.  Fifty sermons in all. We took a few breaks for Advent, but we’ve been in the Book of Acts since May 2022.  Before Acts, we worked our way through Philippians.

The disciple of preaching through books of the Bible is called Lectio Continua.  It is my preferred practice when it comes to preaching.  Lectio Continua helps us see scripture passages  in context of the larger picture of book of the Bible.  It provides us opportunities to see bigger themes and see how ideas and values are developed and related to the rest of scripture.  It also means you can’t skip over challenging or controversial topics.  I really do like Lectio Continua.

However, there are times when the Holy Spirit places a theme on my heart and mind.  Over the years of my ministry I’ve preached through multiple series and themes.  In addition, this November I am coming to the conclusion of my third year as your Senior pastor.  I continue to learn more about our church and community.  The Holy Spirit has given me a message series that I think speaks to an area where Jesus wants us to grow in our love for one another.

So, on October 15 we are beginning a new sermon series titled Covenant Partnership: You Belong Here.  The series is inspired in part by Paul’s letter to the church in Rome: Romans 12:1-10.  

Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function,

so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.

Romans 12:4-5

So, we will be exploring questions like:

• What does it mean to belong?
• What do we believe about belonging to a church and our church in particular?
• Why do ECO churches, including Chapel by the Lake, no longer have members but Covenant Partners?

I am really excited about this series.

Let me remind you about our Flourishing Fellowship potluck on October 15th.  This a great time to build inter-generational relationships, and we’ve got a special program of teaching and small group discussion.  We’ll watch a brief interview with Thom Rainer on the difference between a friendly church and a welcoming church.

I am excited to see where the Holy Spirit is leading us and sharing that journey with you!

Peace,

Tim