The New Life Family – by Greg Mattson

“Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it” (1 Corinthians 12:27).

Paul often starts his letters off by giving thanks for the people he is writing to. In his letter to the church at Philipi he writes in verse 3 “I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

Last Saturday the partners of New Life got together to celebrate what God has done at New Life over the past year in a meeting called the annual meeting. We celebrated the opening of the Resource center, completion of the classrooms/ kitchen and all the work on the lighting in the worship area. We celebrated the various ministries at New Life including the coffee ministry, grief support, building and grounds, Children’s ministries, Missions, meal relief and the finance ministry. I am sure I probably left something out but the reason I wanted to bring this up is that the pastors and elders get together and pray for the body of New Life with great thanksgiving for the people God has called to this body.

We have been blessed as a body to have people with various gifts who have stepped forward to serve at New Life. As you enter the building today, I would ask you to look around at all the volunteers who work in front and behind the scenes from the youngest to the oldest. It’s amazing and a blessing! With that being said one of the overwhelming requests that was made during the meeting was that every ministry has room for more help. If you like coffee there is room to assist in the coffee ministry. If you enjoy teaching children and have the gift of patience then there is plenty of room in the various children ministries. If you like cooking there is room on a cooking team or in the meal relief ministry. If you are a musician there is an opportunity in the music ministry. You may have even noticed a very recent request for help – in loving those in our fellowship who may be housebound and in need of a conversation or a ride to an appointment etc (check this newsletter for more details). There are many opportunities at New Life. As Paul wrote above, we are all part of the body of Christ. If this is your first time at New Life we want to welcome you to the family and we want you to realize that you are an important part of God’s plan, for no one part of the body is more or less important than another part. We are thankful you are here today and hope that you will want to make New Life your home.