To God’s Beloved At Cloverdale Baptist Church:
Who does God want us to be?
This month our focus has been on missions as we have had a number of different missionaries come to our church and share what God is doing in us and through us around the world. It is good to be a part of God’s work all over the globe.
One of the most important ways that we do that is to have a build a culture that cares about those who don’t know Jesus. This means that at the very core of who we are is an acknowledgement of the need of those around us who are living without God at the core of their lives. Our call to make disciples as the core of who we are as a church includes seeking to influence those we know and live around towards faith in Jesus.
So what is a culture of evangelism? It means that each person that calls CBC home is engaged in the process of sharing the Gospel, both individually, and then helping us to do that as a family.
We need to know the Gospel (will have a summary at the end of the email), as well as be driven together by the passion of living on mission for Jesus where He has placed us.
For us this includes three key ideas as we are aware of the mission field we live in, and long to live on mission for God…our vision as a church for this is to invest, invite and include.
INVEST:
This is the awareness of God’s call on our lives to represent Him as His Ambassador in the world He has placed us in. We live our lives for Him, and we look for opportunities to share His love with others (1 Peter 2:11-12). We long for people to see the hope that we live with as we look for opportunities to wisely share our faith with them. If you are not living this way, take the time today to meditate on 2 Corinthians 5:11-21, and ask how you can be an effective ambassador for Jesus.
INVITE:
We know that God has placed us in community and as such we want to invite people into the family of God. We know in this world that this is a strange place, and we want the strangeness of who we are to display the beauty of what God has done for us together. We seek to be Gospel Oriented, so our goal would be to declare the Gospel with our lives and lips at all of our gatherings, and to share the greatness of Jesus with our own hearts all of the time. As you invite your friends into our sphere of influence as a church, stay with them and help them to understand what is going on and what our passion is. Not that long ago we had a new person who was pretty sure we were cannibals at a communion service, or at least wondered, so try to be next to them, and as best you can explain what is going on.
Also take advantage of opportunities after to explain the richness of Jesus and constantly point people to Him.
INCLUDE:
This is the responsibility of all who call our church home, to look for those who are new, and to seek to make them feel welcome. If each of us comes with our antenna’s up, and seeks to be loving and selfless, we will create an atmosphere of love that will be undeniable. Obviously this is not possible as we live in a broken world, and some of us who come will be deeply hurting, but let us seek to the best of our abilities, to love those who come. To serve them and be friendly to them, and display the love of Jesus through who we are as a greater family.
God is bringing the mission field to our door, and your next door neighbours likely need Jesus (most of us have non-church neighbours in the current culture we live in). So…let us continue build a culture of evangelism at CBC.
Actively invest your life into the lives of those around you, invite them into our family, and include them when you see them with the love of Jesus!
This is happening, as children, youth, young adults, and adults are inviting people into our family. We are investing, inviting and including and people are seeing Jesus and seeking to follow Him with us. I am thrilled to report that many are coming to know Jesus because we are building this culture, but we are not where we should be, and can constantly improve...SO...
Will you join us in this passionate culture of evangelism?
Will you intentionally INVEST, INVITE, INCLUDE...
A fellow Ambassador,
Pastor Rob
Sunday Is Coming:
Title: Living A Missional Life
Text: Acts 13:1-4
- As you study this prayer meeting that changed the world, what stands out to you?
- What does it mean to be surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus, and how can you make sure you are?
- What does it mean to be Spirit led?
- How does this show in your life?
- How are you currently living on mission (participating in our culture of evangelism)?
- Do you know the missionaries in our church? Are you praying for them?
- What steps can you take to help us build a healthy missional church?
Bulletin
Missions Month Events
Sunday, Sept. 22 After the Service To conclude our Missions Month, we invite you to join us for lunch this Sunday, Sept. 22 after the service with Dean Eden, one of our missionaries serving in Ukraine.
Discipleship Classes All Ages
Sundays at 9:00 AM We believe in the importance of sound biblical education for all! Every Sunday at 9am we'll have an hour of teaching and discipling for all children, youth, and adults, where we can all grow in our understanding of the scriptures and the Christian life. Learn more >
Women's Retreat Registration
November 1st–3rd / Cedar springs, WA A 3-day retreat with a focus on building gospel friendships with special guest speaker Bronwyn Short, fun activities, and time to relax. Childcare will also be offered to mothers with infants. Register here >
Seniors Lunch
Wed. Oct. 2nd / 11:30 AM / Fellow. Hall Tickets available at the Ministry Centre on Sept 15 & 22 for our first luncheon of the season! $15 for a traditional Turkey Dinner with special guests Andrea & Amaris Pederson. Invite a friend to come with you!
Habits of Grace Conference
Oct. 25 & 26, 2024 / Cloverdale Baptist We are excited to announce the Habits of Grace Conference in partnership with Desiring God! Guest speaker David Mathis, executive editor for desiringGod.org, will be joining Pastor Rob to delve into how spiritual disciplines can deepen our joy in Christ. Breakout sessions specifically designed for men, women, youth, and couples will focus on spiritual growth. Lunch provided. Register today!
Join us in praying for our missionaries.
"A" & "J" — Middle East
- Continue to pray for "J"’s ministry to children. Pray that God would make His glory known, by providing ways for these children to hear the Gospel. Ask that He would remove barriers, and draw these children and their families to Himself.
- Pray that the Lord would grant endurance and strength to A & J as they minister in hard places.
- Pray for rest, refreshment and encouragement as A & J are on home assignment. Pray that the people and churches they visit would encourage and bless them.
- Pray that M’s residency permit will be approved.
THE GOSPEL:
The gospel is the good news about what Jesus Christ has done to reconcile sinners to God. Here’s the whole story:
- The one and only God, who is holy, made us in his image to know him (Gen. 1:26-28).
- But we sinned and cut ourselves off from him (Gen. 3; Rom. 3:23).
- In his great love, God sent his Son Jesus to come as king and rescue his people from their enemies—most significantly their own sin (Ps. 2; Luke 1:67-79).
- Jesus established his kingdom by acting as both a mediating priest and a priestly sacrifice—he lived a perfect life and died on the cross, thus fulfilling the law himself and taking on himself the punishment for the sins of many (Mark 10:45; John 1:14; Heb. 7:26; Rom. 3:21-26, 5:12-21); then he rose again from the dead, showing that God accepted his sacrifice and that God’s wrath against us had been exhausted (Acts 2:24, Rom. 4:25).
- He now calls us to repent of our sins and trust in Christ alone for our forgiveness (Acts 17:30, John 1:12). If we repent of our sins and trust in Christ, we are born again into a new life, an eternal life with God (John 3:16).
Now that’s good news.
A good way to summarize this good news is to biblically unpack the words God, Man, Christ,
Response.
- God. God is the creator of all things (Gen. 1:1). He is perfectly holy, worthy of all worship, and will punish sin (1 John 1:5, Rev. 4:11, Rom. 2:5-8).
- Man. All people, though created good, have become sinful by nature (Gen. 1:26-28, Ps. 51:5, Rom. 3:23). From birth, all people are alienated from God, hostile to God, and subject to the wrath of God (Eph. 2:1-3).
- Christ. Jesus Christ, who is fully God and fully man, lived a sinless life, died on the cross to bear God’s wrath in the place of all who would believe in him, and rose from the grave in order to give his people eternal life (John 1:1, 1 Tim. 2:5, Heb. 7:26, Rom. 3:21-26, 2 Cor. 5:21, 1 Cor. 15:20-22).
- Response. God calls everyone everywhere to repent of their sins and trust in Christ in order to be saved (Mark 1:15, Acts 20:21, Rom. 10:9-10).
(Some of this material has been adapted from The Gospel and Personal Evangelism by Mark Dever, p. 43)