A Stewardship Emphasis
from the Book of James
I pray your summer has been rich and full! In the life of the church, it’s been a time to both slow down and to engage in neat ministry. Church camps and Vacation Bible School are summer staples and a focus of much of our time in these months. Disciples Women have been enjoying monthly game nights. Weekly Chair Yoga and Upper Room prayer group have remained faithful throughout. We’ve seen the largest attended non-holiday Sunday of the year thus far. We’ve also witnessed people take trips, enjoy family, take in the lazy days of summer, and soak up the gifts of summertime.
As it always does, Summertime gives way to Fall. The evenings, cooler. The mornings, crisper. Young ones don their first-day-of-school outfits. College students go off to new adventures. Football and Festivals. Routines come back and settle around us. And even though it’s later in the year, there’s an air of new beginnings with goals to be set and accomplished.
I want to invite you to take this opportunity to join us for worship this Fall. We have so much to be thankful for, and God deserves to hear our collective gratitude in prayer and song. I also believe that God has a word for us, and congregational worship is a routine discipline that helps us to hear that word and live lives of focus and intentionality. I also believe that worship is what we were created to do, and there’s something right and good and ‘home’ about being in the worshiping community. A life rooted in worship empowers us to be our most authentic selves everywhere we go.
September will be a rich month. Our Music Director, Mary Jo, is offering a three-week course for those interested in learning the basic skills of choral music beginning Sept. 5th at 7p.m. entitled: “Singing the Light: A Choral Orientation.” That same Thursday, our Bell Choir resumes rehearsals. Choir practice will begin Sept. 26th. Our Disciples Women will be leaving for their annual Spiritual Life Retreat Sept. 6-8th. Sept. 10th at 8p.m. begins an 8-week Zoom course with Disciples Men from across the country studying biblical examples of masculinity and leadership. Sept. 29th we’ll be offering worship and a meal for the students of West Liberty University Campus Ministry. There are many places for you to join in to the life of the church.
September will also begin our Stewardship Emphasis Month. Taking the great admonition of James 2:26 “faith without works is dead,” we’ll be focusing on a faith that gives life! A living church sharing a living faith of gratefulness, focus and authenticity. Not only will this be the focus of our worship life together, but you’ll also be receiving information and an invitation to join in the financial stewardship life of the congregation. It is our hope that on Sunday, Sept. 15th we’ll be able to consecrate our financial pledges for the 2025 budget year to God’s good use in sharing life abundant, and living towards life eternal, from our doorsteps to the ends of the earth.
James is right; faith without works is dead. The witness of our congregation is a living faith that proclaims God is still at work—in us, among us, and through us—for the building of a Kin(g)dom that has no end. Thank you for embodying this faith. Please join us in all the ways you can.
Gratefully Alive in this Faith with You,
Rev. Kenny