Becoming the Church God Needs Us to Be

From August to the end of October, we will be prayerfully considering our next chapter at Austin Global Methodist Church. We know that we are called to be a House of Prayer (Matthew 21:13) and we are called to be the church/ekklesia (Matthew 16:18). We know we cannot be the church/ekklesia without the power of prayer.

We’ve taken two weeks to talk about the importance of prayer, both personal and corporate, through studying the Lord’s Prayer and the Aaronic Benediction. We sent our students and teachers out into the community with the blessing of the LORD on them as a covering. We celebrated our first confirmation class. What a joy!

The next weeks we will be focusing on what it means to be a church, not just come to church. I encourage you to read “Ekklesia Rising” by Dean Briggs over the next weeks as an accompanying resource to the new sermon series.

I pray that this new study will help us become the people God created us to be. We may have to unlearn some old habits and adopt new healthy spiritual habits as we move forward but with God’s help we will.

As John Wesley prayed, let us also say, “Lord, I am no longer my own, but thine. Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt. Put me to doing, put me to suffering. Let me be employed by thee or laid aside for thee, exalted for thee or brought low for thee. Let me be full, let me be empty. Let me have all things, let me have nothing. I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal. And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, thou art mine, and I am thine. So be it. And the covenant which I have made on earth, let it be ratified in heaven. Amen.”

Lord, build your church.

Blessings,

Rev. Lauren Green Yates, MDiv.

Pastor of Austin Global Methodist Church

austingmcpastor@gmail.com 

737-287-4716