aspiring toward our goals

I hope you often notice our Core Values as you come into the church building and take time to read them.  Those 5 values help our church leadership stay on focus as we seek to live as faithful followers of Jesus.  There are many options of good things we could do as a church, but if we focus on those 5, we will stay focused on what God has called us to do.

But, that doesn't mean we always do those 5 things as well as we want to.  For example, one of our 5 is passionate worship.  And while Wesleyans are known for many wonderful things, being overly excited in worship isn't one of them.  I noticed this especially during our mission trip this summer with the youth.  We were with several other churches from around the country and in a very different worship setting than our normal Sunday morning experience...different style of music, lots of dancing, lots of clapping...and it took our kids a bit but eventually they really got into it and had fun.  Soon they were dancing, laughing, clapping and crying during worship; really giving their whole hearts to God.

But when we came home, they were struggling to transition back into how our congregation is often more reserved.  

There isn't a right or wrong way to worship, I am not saying there is, but I do love when people aren't afraid to show their emotions during worship.  We should care only what God thinks and not what other people might think.  If you want to clap, clap.  if you want to raise your hands, raise them.  If you can't sing well, so what?  God doesn't care about quality but about the heart.  

So we will keep aspiring toward passionate worship.  It isn't fully realized yet, but we still value it.  We still are seeking toward it becoming true in our church.  Maybe someday we will be a church where we feel free to worship with our whole hearts...I hope so; because that's what heaven will be like; and why not get ready now?
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In Christ,
Pastor Scott