This next Sunday I will complete a three and one-half month supply for a church so that their pastor could have a sabbatical. As a final meditation to the church, I completed a list of ten statements for them. They are a small, supportive church. I grew very fond of them in that short time. If you were finishing a stay at a church, what would you want your final ten statements to be.
1. Speak the truth in love but always err on the side of compassion.
2. Spend lots of time in prayer both individually and as a church but spend at least half of your prayer time listening.
3. As you read and study Scripture, continue to ask yourself what specifically God might want to say to you through this passage of Scripture.
4. Believe that your church is part of the Body of Christ & always seek to understand how God’s word is being fleshed out in what is happening.
5. Remember that you are saved, not from the world, but for the world.
6. Be humble enough to recognize that you are neve3r so right that you can’ learn from others who differ from you.
7. At least twice a year stop and ask Doug to share with you where he senses God may want this church to move in the development of your ministry.
8. If we can’t enter the Kingdom of God except as we become little children, then occasionally stop and ask the children and teens to teach you.
9. Tithe as an act of gratitude for all the many ways God has blessed you.
10. Always seek ways to have fun and laugh
With that in mind I leave you with the final words of Paul in Ephesians, “Grace be with all who have an undying love for our Lord Jesus Christ.”
