New friendships grow as God's Word is shared
New friendships grow as God’s Word is shared
When the PBC@W.COM (Prayer, Bible Class -at- Worship . Communion) team began meeting in April, a mission statement for the new ministry program of “Restoring My Faith” centered on bringing believing hearts to Jesus. Further the goal was to encourage St. Peters members to pray regularly and participate in Bible classes, worship services and Holy Communion.
With God directing us in every activity, many of those goals were accomplished in just a few short months.
Over the summer, we asked for your comments on how to best reach our members and what topics you would like to see offered in Bible classes. Your responses were shared with other ministry teams at church, many of whom agreed to help put your ideas into action. This winter our team will follow up with those areas of ministry to determine how much progress has been made in using your suggestions.
Perhaps the most visible suggestion that many of you had was the idea to visit our members on a one-to-one basis to share God’s Word and encourage prayer and more participation in Bible classes, worship and communion.
About 140 St. Peters’ members agreed to contact every family unit in our congregation this fall. These volunteers came to training meetings, learned the content of the “Restoring My Faith” booklet, and set out first to telephone and then to visit each of our congregation’s families. While the actual visitations took a few weeks longer than planned, the results were heartwarming.
To see St. Peters members’ eyes light up as they read the Word of God with us was a blessing in itself. To have members welcome us warmly into their homes (when we had not been previously acquainted) brought about new friendships. As we sat quietly with our fellow members and prayed with them and listened to their experiences through the years, we gave thanks that the Holy Spirit was working to extend and strengthen our Christian family.
Although we couldn’t make contact with everyone in the congregation and some decided to forego a visit, roughly half the families at St. Peters participated in the “Restoring My Faith” ministry. And that number no doubt will grow since several visits were still taking place at press time.
To celebrate the activities of the last several months, about 80 volunteers got together for a potluck in November to continue the fellowship and share stories of what a positive experience this has been.
“It wasn’t what people first expected,” one volunteer said. “They thought we were just going to tell them to go to church and give more money, but it wasn’t anything like that. Money was never mentioned.”
Instead “Restoring My Faith” focused on the blessings we receive when we attend worship services to hear God’s Word and participate in Holy Communion. It showed us how God encourages us to grow through Bible classes and how he strengthens our faith as we talk to him in prayer.
What a joyful experience we have all had in supporting each other in our Christian lives.
If we missed contacting you or you would like to visit and receive a copy of the “Restoring My Faith” booklet please don’t hesitate to call Pastor Kolterjahn at 920-743-4431 ext. 165.
But first let us pray, “Restore my faith in Jesus. Teach me to trust in Him with my whole heart. Drive away my doubts and comfort me with your Word. Amen.”
