Uncategorized Murray McLellan on 12 Nov 2007 12:22 pm
Mmmmm… Nov. 12, 2007
Monday, Nov. 12, 2007
Good morning, saints!
Who is like the Lord our God? Where will you go to find a Savior or such a gracious and compassionate Lord? Tarshish? How marvelous that we have a God who pursues us! How foolish to run from Jesus – He alone can and will ultimately satisfy. Why do I look to other things? Thank you, Lord, that there is forgiveness with you – for You, who knew no sin, became sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in You.
Fellowship in the Hall
I am waiting to hear back from the Sutherland Hall manager regarding using the upper room on the first Sunday of each month. As long as it is open, we will have our first meal on Sunday, December 2nd.
In-Depth Studies
I still have not received a lot of feedback regarding any Bible seminars. Would you participate? Are there people you would like to invite? Would a once a month study be better than a weekend seminar? Would you like to see the study connected to a fun outreach activity or event?
Community Groups
Please check out our “Community Groups” section of the church website (at the bottom of the fellowship page … http://grace.ids.org/fellowship/. Read this information, including the frequently asked questions, and let me know what you think. This will let you know what we are trying to accomplish with our community groups, and how they fit into the whole of what Grace Fellowship is attempting to be, as a light for the King.
Discipleship site
I have finally added our “starting points” stream to the discipleship website. The opening session is “Who is Jesus?” I will continue to add to it, as people join in and leave comments or send me their summary notes from the audio. I have also included some notes that complement the topic. If anyone would like to work through the sessions and create outline notes that could be used by others who follow in their footsteps, it would be very helpful. Currently, Julie’s notes are online in the advanced stream where there is a series on hermeneutics by D. A. Carson.
Support
The move to Saskatoon was step one in our attempt to focus on a church-planting movement stemming from this city. Our next step is to increase our level of support so that I am not using up the bulk of my time driving up and down the highway and teaching in the public school to support the work of the ministry. Time will be a key resource needed to build upon the foundation that has already been laid. To that end, Jessica is putting together a booklet for me to promote the church-planting ministry that we would like to see established and flourish. I am looking for at least 10 individuals who would consider using some of their time and resources to promote the support of this church planter. These individuals would take the booklet and seek to drum up some support among people they know. If we can achieve a high enough monthly support level, I would retire from the school, and focus on church planting and developing leaders full time.
Giving
Just to keep you informed on what happens to any giving to Grace Fellowship. Any gifts passed on for Grace Fellowship go to cover some general ministry expenses (i.e. things like Hall rental; communications such as logo, sign and misc.) and 10% of the general giving goes to support other church planters. Any monies received above these monthly expenses is passed on to Murray to help cover a portion of what he spends seeking to serve in the kingdom of Christ. Any gifts that are designated specifically “for Murray” are passed on to him in their entirety. You may also support Murray by passing on gifts to him directly through In-Depth Studies Canada, which is Murray’s teaching ministry. Canadians will receive a charitable giving tax receipt at the end of the year. Pass on gifts for Grace Fellowship to David Cortens. You can also direct any questions you have to David.
Thank you to everyone who has supported us and made it possible to do what we do! To God be the glory!
Prayer
With David and Julie gone this week, there is no regular prayer list. May we continue to remember one another in prayer this week, and that God would be glorified in our lives and in His world.
Thank God for answered prayer. May He work in our hearts that the cause of Christ and His kingdom would be our continual aim.
May we love God, one another, and the city of Saskatoon.
Jesus, build your church in Saskatoon for the glory of our heavenly Father.
Much love in, and dependence upon, the Savior,
Murray
“Boldly and without hindrance he preached the kingdom of God
and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ…”
Acts 28:31
“The story continues…”
on 20 Nov 2007 at 7:19 pm 1.Julie Cortens said …
Hi Murray,
To answer a few of your questions in this weeks mmmmmm and comment on a few others….
I am all in favour of more fellowship around food. It is difficult to accomodate the whole fellowship on Sundays in our home, so a shared meal at the hall where all are offering hospitality to one another, is a great idea. Perhaps we can focus this fellowship meal Sunday on outreach and invite people to come…and then have opportunity to minister to them after fellowship over our shared meal. This allows us to open our homes to smaller gatherings for hospitality at other times.
I am getting a little comfused re the agenda for house gathering groups. Is it our focus to be doing “The Gospel-Centered Life” – the 9 week relational study? or will our focus be a sermon based group approach, focusing on the teaching from the previous Sunday as per the Fellowship site of the web site?
Bible Seminars. I am all in favour of a monthly or every second Sunday evening study for those seeking answers to who Jesus is and what the Bible is all about. Perhaps some of these attendees will come from our Sunday shared meal time. This seems like a good venue - to meet at Sutherland hall for 1-2 hours Sunday evenings. I would think it best to keep it simple - maybe juice and cookies after - until we know who is coming and what they desire from us. Any further socializing would hopefully arise as the Saints reach out to visitors and offer hospitality in their homes on a small more intimate relationship building level. Big outings with everyone are fun….but people can easily hide in such events and conversations are rarely deep and personal in a crowd. Just my thoughts. :)
In Him,
Julie
on 20 Nov 2007 at 8:55 pm 2.Murray said …
Hi Julie!
Sorry about the confusion re: house groups. What I would like to do is to start with 9 weeks of “gathering” using the “Gospel-centered life”. Those who go through that and “stick” with us could then continue on in a sermon-based group. The sermon-based idea is great for those already a part of Grace Fellowship, however, I think we need to focus on reaching out more than “maintaining” at this point in time. Once we have gone through the GCL sessions as a ministry team, each of the participants would then host their own GCL outreach. Lord willing, there will always be a GCL (or similar evangelistic study) for outreach and newcomers, as well as sermon-based groups for the membership’s encouragement and growth.
Hopefully that is a little more clear.
on 26 Nov 2007 at 6:15 pm 3.Julie Cortens said …
Sounds like a good plan. I guess we need to have a set plan and yet be prepared to be flexible. Our gathering groups will each take on a flavour of their own d/t the diversity of each group. We need to move with the needs of our group - and that may be displayed differently in each group.
Our first task however is to begin to “gather in”. I would like to start talking to a few people - do we have a time frame set out? Will we begin 6 into the new year after the leaders have worked through the course?