Interim Pastor’s Update, 1/4/22
As I settle in as your Interim Lead Pastor, I have also been pondering what it means to be the Church of Jesus Christ in the midst of the social and cultural disruption we are presently experiencing. In over thirty years of pastoral ministry, I have never encountered a more significant opportunity for the church to be the church in a culture of despair, fear, and hopelessness.
As we find ourselves facing these life-changing realities, I want to point your attention to another life-changing reality. During the initial weeks of the new year, while many are making commitments to exercise, diet, and start new habits, we have the opportunity to contemplate and understand more deeply the meaning and purpose of the church during this time. Beginning on January 9, I will begin a new sermon series entitled, “RE-imagine ACC.” As we look at many of the practices of Christian discipleship during this series, I invite you to look at your own practice of Christian discipleship as we enter into a new year.
As you find yourself coping with all the disruptions and perhaps fears associated with our present circumstances, let me encourage you to pray more intently, love more deeply, and follow Jesus more deliberately. As we do this together, our witness as a congregation will not be based in fear but in the confidence of knowing that God is calling the church to model a different way of living in the midst of uncertainty.
I, for one, will do my best to model and proclaim this truth as God gives me the opportunity. I hope you will join me.
Thankful for our partnership together,
Rev. Bradley J. Bergfalk, Interim Lead Pastor