Ours, for better or worse, is a mainline Protestant congregation. The late Richard John Neuhaus, speaking of such churches, once remarked: “The mainline has long become the oldline which is fast becoming the sideline.” The statistics I’ve read prove his point. Numerically, mainline Protestant Christianity is in a numerical free fall.
Personally, I have neither the time — or the desire — to twiddle my thumbs, crunch numbers, and ponder the whys and wherefores that surround this state of affairs. (I’ll leave that to the academics.) I would much rather set to work with you to do our part toward a renewal of mission in our midst.
With that in mind, I’m going to be presenting, during the summer months, a series of light and lively messages on the mission of the God which is, of course, the mission of the Church in the world. Picking up on popular television program of yesteryear and, more recently, a series of motion pictures, I’ve titled the series THE M FORCE.
Do I hope you’ll enjoy the series? Of course. But far more importantly, I hope the Spirit will use our summer Sundays to inspire us to fully realize the unique gifts and possibilities that are ours both individually and corporately.
Baptized and taught in the Name of the Triune God, all of us are part of THE M FORCE. The mission is ours — if we decide to accept it. By the way, this email will not “self-destruct five seconds” after you’ve read it. Feel free to forward it to your friends and acquaintances!
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