Planning and Praying for the Future – St. Nick’s News Sept. 20, 2024

Full St. Nick’s News for September 20, 2024

Dear Friends –

Last weekend, your Bishop’s Committee had a working retreat to learn, plan, and pray about our future. We talked about our future as a Mission church and dreamed about the kind of church God is creating and calling out of all of us. We invited the Rev. Canon Joann Saylors to come and work with us. Rev. Saylors is the Canon for Mission Amplification in the Diocese of Texas. She oversees the church plants and missional communities in the Diocese of Texas our neighbor Diocese in Houston and Austin.

St. Nick’s is a vibrant and growing community of faith. We have come a long way from the summer of 2019 when twenty people gathered in my living room to dream about a new church and how we might plant a church centered in the Joy of the Lord. We have been witness to God’s incredible work in our lives. We have been guided through the excitement of new beginnings and led through a global pandemic. God has been with us through incredible challenges and blessed us with great friendships, an empowered and vibrant community, and an ever-growing faith.

Over four worship services in a week – two on Sunday, Dinner church and Thursday Healing service – an average of 124 people gather to praise, pray, worship, and grow in friendship with God and one another. We have added new youth sponsors to our growing youth ministry (thank you Howard and Brittany) and we have added two formation times for our children – one on Sunday mornings and one on Wednesday evenings. Our adult offerings continue to expand with meet-ups forming over Bible Study, knitting, art, congregational care, and service. These are all things to celebrate! God’s spirit is amazing!

As we grow, it is important to continuously communicate all of the opportunities we have to gather and grow in faith. This new program year we will be highlighting ministries, their champions and their team leaders in our newsletter and on social media. We also recognize the need for small groups and leaders to communicate with one another so we are looking into a new program called Planning Center for that purpose.

One of the invitations in our vision statement is that “Everyone is empowered.” Empowering ourselves and others to live a faithful life is one of the important works God has called us to. Sharing our faith through acts of service, care for one another, meeting together to pray and learn is the work of God’s beloved people of all ages.

The Bishop’s Committee and I want to invite you to continue the good and faithful work you are doing. If you are looking for a place to engage your faith, check out our small groups, bible studies, events, and service opportunities. St. Nick’s is also a place where we can create new small groups to share the love of Jesus with one another and our neighbors. You may feel called and empowered to do that work here at St. Nick’s. Please pray about how God might be calling you to continue to grow your precious faith. You can always talk to Rev. Beth, Jena our family minister, or someone on the Bishop’s Committee to learn more about St. Nick’s.

I commend to you this prayer from Mother Teresa, a faithful servant of God in caring for the poor –

Lord, increase my faith, bless my efforts and work, now and for evermore. Amen. 

May God continue to increase our faith, bless our efforts and work, and be with us forevermore.

God’s Peace, Love, and Blessings,
Beth+

Some pictures of the Bishop’s Committee from the retreat: