What’s Next for CNaz? G.R.O.W.!

(from Pastor JanElle’s sermon on January 30, 2025)

In August our church board met with Dr. Askren for the 2-year pastoral review (already?!). As you may recall from the report after that meeting, half of that process was reviewing the pastoral relationship (am I serving you well as your shepherd, what needs to change for me to serve you better, and do you want to continue this pastoral relationship?) but the other part of the process was Dr. Askren helping us to discern where we are sensing God is leading us as a church family. 

The process began with a brainstorming session where we listed everything that came to mind that we would like to see for our church in the next four years - everything from building and property ideas, to how to make disciples, to goals, to visions for what our church is and could be for our community. As Dr. Askren guided us, a few key priorities began to emerge and we sensed we were starting down the right path but this process was more than we could accomplish in one evening. So your leadership committed to pray about it and we agreed to set aside an extended time to wrestle with this and tease out exactly where God is leading us in the next 4 years. 

In November we did just that. We took an entire Saturday to prayerfully ascertain where we are at and where we need to go. Everyone was in agreement that our church is a loving, unified family and that is an enormous blessing and testament to God’s faithfulness as well as a reflection of the faithfulness leadership during prior years (especially Pastor Ian who navigated the Body through COVID. He helped us to emerge on the other side of the pandemic intact and stronger than ever). The past two years have seen our family bonds strengthen. 

But where do we go from here? Basically we sensed two directions - down and out! (down and out?! Who wants to be down and out?!) By “down” I mean deeper in our connection with God. We want to go down deeper. In our conversation as a leadership team, it became clear that we long to be a people saturated with prayer; following God’s leadership in all things first and foremost. Becoming a people of prayer is how we will grow deeper in the Lord. By “out” we mean we want to reach out to others, both within our church family (strengthening those connections so we can truly be a people of transformation) and reaching out beyond our church family to our community (with the love and gospel of Christ).

We want to grow down and grow out. Hence the roots and far-reaching branches in the graphic above.

We are ready to position ourselves to grow.

Usually when a church talks about “growing,” it’s about numbers - people and money. Numbers really didn’t enter much into our conversation on that prayerful planning day. We feel the results, the numbers are up to God. Ours is to align ourselves with God’s leading - the rest is up to him. 

Positioning ourselves to grow deeper and reach out farther really resonated with us as we wrapped up that day of prayer and discussion. I truly believe it was God’s direction because we ended the day with peace and hopeful excitement. Those are good indications that you’re on the right path with God - peace and hopeful excitement. Does that resonate with you? You ready to go deeper and reach farther? 

We are going to take these next few Sundays before lent to explore together this vision to GROW - grow down deeper, grow reaching out to others. Funny, because I planned to start this series two weeks ago, before the furnace decided to take a mid-winter hiatus. I love how God works because instead of sermons about going deeper and reaching out, we instead spent one Sunday in basically a prayer meeting and one Sunday reaching out to others. It was like we got a small taste of what was to come; an hands-on introduction. I love that. For those of you who missed the intro - no worries! More hands on opportunities to come. 🙂

It’s a good, good thing to know where you are going. My daughter Cat, who is working after school in the produce department at Safeway, always comes home and tells us her “customer of the day” story. Sometimes it’s someone who was particularly kind or someone who made a funny comment. This past week she regaled us with a story of a shopper on an electric cart who didn’t pay attention to where they were headed and crashed into a display of cherry tomatoes, sending them everywhere and sending Cat on a hands-and-knees hunt for the bright red orbs. It’s important to pay attention to where we are headed!

So let’s declare together this morning where we are headed. Let’s make the apostle Paul’s prayer in Ephesians our prayer this morning.

We pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen us with power through his Spirit in our inner being, so that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith. And we pray that we, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that we may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

(adapted from Ephesians 3:16-19)

This passage from Ephesians 3 speaks to going deeper(rooted and established) and speaks to reaching out (together with all the Lord’s holy people).

Let’s GROW!

Each week until lent we’re going to take one aspect of how we are sensing God’s call to grow down and out and explore those directions and topics together.

Go to God FIRST as Individuals

To grow deeper, to be saturated in prayer in our personal lives, we each as individuals need to Go to God F.I.R.S.T.

Face

Psalm 119:58: "I have sought your face with all my heart; be gracious to me according to your promise" We each seek God’s face; his character, truth, and presence.

Incessantly

1 Thes 5:17: pray continually We each make prayer a continual part of our lives.

Realign

Matthew 6:9-13

9 “This, then, is how you should pray:

“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10 your kingdom come,
your will be done,
    on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
    as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation,[a]
    but deliver us from the evil one.[b]’

We each realign our purposes and priorities and provisions to those of God’s kingdom.

“Show me”

Psalm 25:4: Show me your ways, LORD, teach me your paths.

We each ask:

Show me the way I should navigate this situation.

Show me how I can share your love with this person.

Show me how to forgive.

Show me what you want me to learn from this situation.

Show me the lies I am believing and the truth that will set me free.

Thanksgiving

Philippians 4:6: Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

We each pray with thanksgiving, allowing thanksgiving to shape our perspective.

Go to God FIRST as a Church Family

(adapted from Pastor JanElle’s sermon on February 2, 2025)

On this Family Sunday, we together participated with  Acts 12:4-17a. In this passage, Peter was in prison and the believers were praying for him. From this passage, we learned that going to God first as a church family means:

Fervently

Acts 12:5: While Peter was kept in prison, the church prayed fervently to God for him. We need to pray together earnestly, intentionally, from the heart.

Impossibility

Peter was in an impossible situation. We need to be bold enough to pray together through impossible situations (addictions, brokenness, etc).

Results

Peter was released from prison and restored to his church family.

In Acts 4:23-31, we see the people praying together and as a result, the place was shaken, the Holy Spirit filled them all, and they were able to speak the word of God boldly.

We need to pray together to see results of release, restoration, and the power of the Holy Spirit.

Scripture

In Acts 4, the believers included scripture in their prayer.

We need to pray scripture together so we can be shaped by God’s purposes and priorities as we submit to his inspiration.

Together

Acts 4:24: they raised their voices together to God

We need to pray TOGETHER.

Sign ups for prayer teams are on the “GROW table” at the back of the sanctuary.

Reach Out to Others

(adapted from Pastor JanElle’s sermon on February 9, 2025)

If we are going to be a grow as a family who reaches out to others, we need to:

See as Jesus Sees

Matthew 9:35-36: Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

Step as Jesus Sends

Matthew 28:19-20: 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 and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.

Stay as Jesus Shares

John 15:4-5: Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.

Check out opportunities to reach out to others on the “GROW table” at the back of the sanctuary.