Monthly Letter from the Pastor

December 2024

Letter from the Pastor

December

Letter from the Pastor

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go
therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son
and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with
you always, to the end of the age.” – Matthew 28:18-20
Endings. We place a lot of emphasis on endings, especially in our entertainment: movies, books, plays,
and musicals. I believe we love endings because they tell us a lot about a person or a story. We love to
see something end well, which is probably why we obsess over the last words that people speak before
they die. For example, the Italian artist Raphael who simply said “happy,” before he passed or the
famous author T.S. Eliot who spoke the name of his wife “Valerie,” with his dying breaths. Endings
matter. The words above recorded for us in the final chapter of Matthew’s gospel are some of the last
words the resurrected Jesus spoke to His disciples before he ascended into heaven. These words
marked the ending of the earthly ministry of Jesus and brought in a whole new chapter of God’s story,
the gospel story. One that began with a small group of followers who united around this vision given to
them by their Lord and Savior before He left them. Each of these followers also had good and powerful
endings, giving their entire life for the sake of the gospel.
As believers, we at New Hope have the same responsibility, the same calling on our lives as did that
small group of Jesus’ followers: to unite around Jesus’ vision for our church. We could sum up what
Jesus says with three simple words: Believe, Belong, Become. These three words capture the vision
that Jesus has for His church and specifically His church at New Hope. Though a question remains, “If
we are to finish well, have a good ending, how do we go about fulfilling this vision?” Here are some
practical steps:
Believe:
The way that we make disciples who believe in Jesus is by preaching the Word, sharing the gospel of
Jesus with those people in our community, and inviting people to church to hear the gospel. Through
this Advent season, we will be preaching explicitly evangelistic sermons. If each person in our church
invites just one person during this season, we will see God do wonderful things by saving souls.
Belong:
We have to be sure that all people feel like they belong by developing a Welcome Center, adjusting our
approach to music, developing a sense of belonging in our worship services that cause people to want
to come back, and by continuing our testimony of being a loving church.

Become:
For us to develop disciples who are becoming like Jesus, we have to create spaces where intentional
discipleship can happen. These include Hope Groups (which every person should join), our Youth
Group aka OASIS, Junior Church, Wednesday morning Prayer Meeting, Men’s Fellowship, USFW,
Hope Sisters, choir and other groups where people will experience accountability, support and love.