The recent launch of EBC’s new website has provided an additional platform for the elders to better communicate and teach - a blog. Yes, we understand what you’re thinking, “Welcome to the 21st century, elders.”, and you would be right, blogs have been around for quite a while now, but this is a new and welcome addition to EBC’s ministries, and the elders are hopeful that it will become another effective means for helping them better serve the church. On top of being able to regularly communicate the monthly board reports (or other board information), the elders are also planning to use the blog to share their own personal testimonies, to communicate how God has been at work in the lives of others at EBC, as well as provide a question-answer forum and regular teaching from God’s Word. The elders are excited about the opportunities that the new blog will provide, and are eager to see what God has in store for our church, as we look to start the next chapter in EBC’s history.
Seeing as this is the very first blog entry, it would be a great time to take a moment and remember to prayerfully lift up our Missions Team as they are currently serving in Colombia. We thank God for their willingness to go, and for their hard work in preparing. We ask that God would protect and provide for all of their needs, and that he would fruitfully bless their time in Colombia. We also ask God that the words and deeds of each team member would be used for the clear, bold proclamation of the gospel. It is staggering for us to consider that an all-powerful, sovereign God who created and sustains the entire cosmos, and who must have had unlimited miraculous options to get His gospel message to the world, chose to use us for that purpose – frail, sinful, vulnerable, unimpressive believers.
How can anyone ever call on Christ when they have not believed in Him? How can anyone believe in Christ when they have never heard the message about Him? How can people hear the message of Christ unless someone goes and tells them? How can anyone tell others the message of Christ unless they are sent? Consider how beautiful the feet are of those who have been sent to bring the gospel message of Christ. For saving faith can only come from hearing the message, and the message is the Word of Christ... the gospel! As Paul’s line of rhetorical questioning from Rom.10 clearly explains, God has ordained that the spread of the gospel is accomplished through those who are sent; through those who go and proclaim it. As a church, we enjoyed the incredible privilege on March 3rd of commissioning our Missions Team to be sent for that purpose, and we continue to petition that the Lord will work powerfully in and through each of the team members for His glory. We recognize that the feet of each team member are beautiful because they carry a proclaimer of the glorious message of Christ to Colombia, but what about the feet of us who have not gone to Colombia? What about those of us who have not been dedicated and commissioned to go on a missions trip? Well... there really isn’t a believer who hasn’t been commissioned and sent; in fact, each believer has been directly dedicated and sent by Christ with a ‘great commission’ to go and make disciples (Mt.28:18-20; Mk.16:15). Most of us may not have our feet carrying us to another country this week, but as we get out of bed in the morning and our feet touch the ground of South Huron, we are no less ‘sent’ to proclaim the message of Christ, then those whose feet are walking on foreign ground.
As we continue to remember and lift up our Missions Team, we pray that God would open doors for them (Col.4:3,), that God would give them the boldness and words to convey the message (Eph.6:19), and that they would continue to rely wholly on God for all aspects of their time in Colombia (Jn.15:5). And as we pray for our Missions Team, let us not forget that we too have been commissioned and sent; we too have a daily mandate to take the gospel message to our families, our community, our schools, and our workplaces (Mt.28:18-20; Mk.16:15).