Annual Meeting 2024

You can see the first part of the service on YouTube. Unfortunately internet went out during the service and much of the recording was lost.

https://youtube.com/live/mWfwJSNkDak

Annual Meeting 2024

Numbers 21:4-9

Psalm 107:1-3,17-22

Ephesians 2:1-10

John 3:14-21

What is the purpose of the church? Why does it exist? What makes the church so special? Does size matter for it to be significant? How do you measure its effectiveness or success? These are the questions that a pastor must ask him or herself at the end of each church year. The vision of our church is to be a church of Christ like disciples who read and obey the Truth of the Biblical Word. Our mission is wrapped up in our vision and we are to seek, find, and make disciples of all nations teaching them how to live and obey the truth of biblical scripture. We exist to fulfill our mission and to seek out our vision for a better world for our community. In order to do that action must take place and action can take on many forms.

In my last year’s report, I asked the question of what if we were to be the church for those in need in our community. We get calls and messages on our answering machine all the time about people needing help, and prayers. What if instead of just taking out of church funds to help some of these people, what if we brought the need to the attention of the church and see what happens. We had someone needing help from Hikone the last year and many in the church came to their aide and provided to help them keep their furniture and their water during a time of job loss. Ephesians 2:10 tells us that “we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” We are called to do good works in the name of Christ. This new church year may we prepare ourselves to again do good works in the name of Christ and meet needs, when possible, for us to do so.

One of the purposes of the church is to share and point to the truth even in a world where culture points to the opposite and believes that truth is relative to however one feels. If God created me to be a man and yet I feel that I am actually a woman then what I feel must be the truth. If God commands that I should not commit adultery and yet if I feel that being with someone else besides my wife is good then this must be true. If God commands that I should not steal but if feel that I really want something and that I deserve it then it must be that it is ok for me to take it without paying for it. The problem is that the definition of the truth has nothing to do with relativity. The truth is the truth regardless of what we want or feel. 2+2=4 no matter how much we may want it to equal 5. It does not change. Sin and right from wrong is defined by God no matter how much we want to be in charge of defining sin on our own. In order for people to know the truth though they must hear it. The church’s job therefore is to get the word out. One of the ways in which we do that here is through our church services. You come every Sunday morning to hear a message of truth. However, there are some who appear online to hear the same truth. This past church year we had a total of 580 views which averages almost 12 viewer per week on top of all who attend our church in person. We also added 5 new subscribers to our YouTube channel. Some of these people I have met when out and about and these are people who used to attend our church in person but for other reasons are not able to come meet with us in person anymore. However, they appreciate being able to worship with us and hear the truth online.

Truth is so important in this day in age with the culture in which we live. It is according to our human nature to prefer lies over the truth. In the desert the Israelites did not want to believe in the truth that God was bringing them to a land flowing with milk and honey. They complained that they had their life better under slavery in Egypt. God therefore sent them serpents to guide them back on the right path. God had Moses raise up a serpent in the wilderness for the people then to look up at and then be saved. Jesus is the same as that serpent on a pole other then he hung on a cross and when we look to him, we can be saved from our human flesh. Whoever, believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. His Word tells us that those who do not believe are condemned because they do not believe. John tells us that “Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.”

There is a reason for why in our culture today people prefer to live according to their feelings and desires over the truth. John tells us in chapter 3:20, “Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.” This is the reason to choose feelings over truth. Recently in the news a University Biology professor has been reinstated to teach. About a year ago he was surprisingly terminated after 20 some years of teaching and was not given a cause or reason for why. He didn’t do anything apparently wrong according to him. He just taught the same lessons on the same subject that he has taught for over 20 years and no all of a sudden in our culture today there was a problem that would cause him to lose his tenure at the school. Later on, the truth came out that the reason why he was let go was because he taught in his class that 2 X chromosomes biologically define a female and an XY chromosome combination defines a male. Same scientific truth he has taught for years. A few students in his class complained about this and accused him of religious preaching in the classroom. Because of that he lost his job. After a time in court, he is finally being reinstated to his formal position this next fall so that he can fulfill his calling to teach.

There is a push in our world, culture, and government to make our Christian faith illegal. This is because of the purpose of the Church. The Church serves its community. It provides sanctuary for those living in fear. It provides hope for those lost in addiction. It provides supplies in times of crisis. It provides medical care to those who are sick. It provides education to children so that they may have a better chance at success in life. All of these things we do when we tithe to our local church and when we give for crisis care kits and school pal packs. These things we do when we open our doors to AA groups to meet to support each other in their struggles with addiction. Our culture wants the church to be illegal because it shines a light upon the darkness and it wants to remain hidden.

So, what is the purpose of a little church of 15 members, averaging 22 in attendance on a Sunday and 12 online on a weekly basis? What is the purpose of a seemingly little church like that? Our purpose is to serve as a light shining in the darkness, exposing the darkness for what it is. Our purpose is to serve our community however way we can and to speak the truth of the written Word always. Our purpose is to serve those who have been forgotten and to bury those who have moved on to be with the Lord. Our purpose is to not live our lives based upon our feelings but to be an example of living out the truth of the Word. Our purpose is to also seek new ways and opportunities to share that light with others. Our purpose is not to stay confined and silent behind these walls so that the rest of the world doesn’t have to hear us. Our purpose is to share the light of love with love. So, I ask for this next church year to share with others our online services, invite people to come to church to see what this truth is all about. Love and serve people and meet their needs. Eventually, the culture of the world will try to back us into a corner, throw us into jail, fire us from our jobs for being Christ followers. However, we are called to let our light shine in the darkness. Know that it is because your light shines and exposes them that this is the reason, they have become hostile to the Church and to Christianity as a whole. We have a limited time left to share the truth with the world around us because Jesus is coming soon. So let the Church serve its purpose no matter how big or how small it may be.