August 2008 Newsletter Article

We Welcome You

Imagine what it must have felt like for Matthias. There he probably sat outside in some sort of waiting room along with Justus, waiting for the final verdict on who will be selected into the 12. I’m sure the two men made small talk, talking the weather or still trying to grasp what happened recently. You know that whole Jesus thing. Which one will it be and yeah, they know the other 11 but anytime you come into a new group, it can be a little frightening. No matter how many people you know.

Well friends, we are faced with that exact decisions. Although we are not replacing anyone in the sense the way the disciples were in Acts 1.12-26, we are gaining new members to our youth group. This is an exciting time of the year. As the school year begins, many of you will find yourself into new places, new schools, new friends, and new opportunities. Many of these will find you outside the walls of church and they will be challenging for you all. Yet, there awaits a challenge here too.

One of the greatest things about our youth group is our ability to have fun with each other. We always find a way to laugh together, to hang out, to try and become community and as this school year approaches, it will be no different. However, for those of you who have been a part of the youth group may have a difficult task at hand. We will be gaining at least 3 new students this year that will be entering into the 6^th grade: Mitchell Coomes, Maggie Davis and Catherine Triplett. We need to welcome them and accept them into our family/community/youth group with open arms and with love. In what ways can we do this?

Yet, although these 3 youth will have their first opportunity to come to youth group, there are still some who are old enough to participate and don’t. So I challenge you to pray for them and to, whenever you get the chance, encourage them to participate and know that we miss them and love them. We will become more intentional about our community and those who we are missing and who we want to spend time with.

Above all things friends, this is not some way to manipulate or guilt trip anyone into coming to youth group, but a way for us to evaluate ourselves and to recognize that we are incomplete when we miss anyone. That when we all come together, when we come together for anything, that something incredible can and often does happen. Together, and only when we are united in community with Christ at the center, can we do incredible things for the Kingdom and bring it forth here and now.

We invite you then. Familiar faces, new faces and even strange faces, we as you to come and join up with us. Come and learn along with us what it means to be a community centered in Christ. Come and learn with us what it means to love one another the way Christ loved us. Come and whenever you do know that, “All are welcomed, all are welcomed, all are welcomed in this place.” We love you!