Church Family Update - September 9, 2020

“Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.” Jeremiah 29:12-14

Good morning everybody! Today I wanted to give you some more details about the online discipleship course that will be available for our church family to participate in this fall. 

It’s called Emotionally Healthy Spirituality and it is taught by Pete Scazzero and his wife Geri. Pete was the pastor of a large and successful church in New York City when he came to the realization that he was not spiritually healthy. Despite constantly doing things for God, he found that he didn’t have a healthy relationship with God. This caused him to reassess and then deepen his relationship with God. The Emotionally Healthy Spirituality course is the fruit of Pete’s journey towards spiritual health and maturity. It’s an invitation to cultivate a joyful, satisfying, biblical daily walk with the Lord. 

Marco and I have benefited greatly from Pete’s ministry and we are excited to experience this course with our Ebenezer church family. Here’s how you can participate: 

Sometime in the next couple of weeks, you will be given the opportunity to register for the course. After you register you will be placed in a small group so that you can experience this course with other members of our church family (all meetings are online and not in person). A typical meeting will consist of a video teaching from Pete, an opportunity for self-reflection, and an online discussion with your small group. 

If you would like to take this course with your current small group OR if you would like to assemble your own group to go through this course, just let us know, we can accommodate that! For myself, I plan to experience this course with my current small group. 

Once you’re registered and placed in a group, we’ll have a pick-up day when you can stop by the office and get your resources. You will be receiving a book, a workbook, and a daily devotional that go along with the course. Ebenezer will be subsidizing the majority of the cost of these resources but we ask those who are able to donate $10.00 to cover the cost of the books. 

The course will begin on October 22nd and will meet online every Thursday at 7:30 PM for 8 weeks ending on December 10th.

I realize that things are going to feel different this fall. But I think this is a great opportunity for all of us. We’ve selected this course both because it will help us deepen our personal walk with the Lord during these unusual circumstances and it will also provide us with opportunities to stay connected and safely experience online fellowship with one another.

That brings me to the verse above. God has promised that when we seek Him, we will find Him. This course is one way that we can put this into practice and seek Him with our whole hearts. In a previous update, I mentioned that I don’t ever want things to go “back to normal.” I’d rather have things get “better than ever.” I believe this course is one way that our whole church can grow together and become stronger even during these challenging times. 

One last thing. Marco and I are in the planning phase. We are in need of individuals or couples who would be willing to be “table leaders” for these groups. Your role would basically be as a discussion facilitator and we would provide training for you. Please let Marco know if you would be willing to fill this role. 

I think that’s it for now. Stay posted for more information and a registration link. And let either Marco or myself know if you have any questions at all regarding this special opportunity. 

Blessings,

Pastor Jason