December Newsletter

Friends of Shalom,

As we are in the midst of Advent, I'm reminded of how it's a season of tension. On the one hand we are looking forward to Christmas, to remembering our Lord's birth and all the beauty of the story. But on the other hand we are longing for his final coming when he will make all wrongs right. In Advent we're invited to be honest about our longings for freedom from cancer, oppression, sin, war, depression, and all the brokenness of the world while at the same time putting our hope in Jesus the shoot from the stump of Jesse (Isaiah 11:1-11). But this is how we always live isn't it? We live in the in-between and in a perpetual Advent of sorts! As Karl Barth said, "What other time or season can or will the Church ever have but that of Advent?"

So we live in the tension. And as a church planter I also live in the tension. I live with a heart of gratitude for all that God has done and is doing in our church while at the same time longing for more.

Updates

We held our first Christmas Party and had a sweet time eating and sharing what we've appreciated being a part of Shalom this last year.
I was able to get a Sunday off from preaching and go on a retreat for a few days!
We're in the midst of a doing Midweek Advent Service this month and have already had a few visitors join us for that.
Our catechism class wraps up this week! We've had a wonderful time of growing together in God's word and in community.
This weekend we're serving the clients of Scarlet Road (Local Non-Profit that works with survivors of sexual exploitation) during their annual Christmas party by baking deserts.
One family was able to bring their special needs son to church and he was warmly welcomed by everyone.
Our family was able to visit and worship with us Thanksgiving weekend!

Prayer

Please pray for our Midweek Advent Services, Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day services that folks would come who are looking for Jesus or a home church.
Please pray for financial needs.
Please pray that we might continue to share the gospel with our neighbors and friends this Christmas season.

Financial Update

When it comes to our finances, Shalom has come so far this last year. I've been able to be full time in my work. Our rent has been paid and we've been able to minister to our community. As we head into 2025 we need to grow in our inside and outside giving. Would you consider giving to our year end fund or even becoming a monthly supporter of our church plant?

Please click on the link and scroll down to our Financial Update with more details of our current needs and opportunities to give. I'm also always available to share more. Thanks!

Year End Financial Update

Thanks so much for all your prayers and support!

For the Shalom of Kitsap,

Rob and Beth

Comments

July Newsletter

Friends of Shalom, I’m sorry that it’s been 2 months since my last newsletter. From here on out I hope to send at least one a month. Personal Update Beth and I have had one of the richest seasons of our life. All our kids have had major life transitions. Some of these I’ve mentioned before. Miriam gave birth to our first granddaughter a few days before Easter. Sam graduated from George Fox as a mechanical engineer and got his first “real” job down in Oregon. Ellie got married to a wonderful man who loves Jesus and she is now Mrs. Clark. And Asher graduated from Bremerton High School and is preparing to begin a physical therapy assistant program at Olympic College in the fall! On top of that, my parents came for a 2 week visit as my dad hadn’t been able to travel out here since before COVID. We feel like we’ve been riding a wave of blessings! Shalom Update Since we began Shalom, I’ve often said to Beth after our weekly gathering, “Well, I guess we’ll keep doing this because p...

October Newsletter

Friends of Shalom, Through the years, I've had many friends who are teachers. And what they've all told me is that the first few years of teaching are the hardest part because you have to prepare ALL your lessons from scratch. Of course there's curriculum to pull from, but each lesson must be curated and put together. Once the new teacher has those lessons worked out and developed, the following years are much easier. In many ways, the early years of a church plant are like that. Like a new teacher, a church planter has to develop many "lessons." We have to work on websites, discipleship plans, policies, statements around key practices/beliefs of the church, etc. And that's the work I've been doing over the last month and it will likely continue for some time. Of course this work only makes sense if you have a "class" to teach. I'm so thankful that we have one! Over the last few months I have consistently heard from our folks how much they ...

June Newsletter

My wife and I have been building a garden… well, mostly my wife ;) I underestimated how much work it would be. We had to get stones out of the soil, lay down Beth's Garden mulch, then build a fence to keep the deer out. After that there was ordering dirt, wheelbarrowing the dirt, building planters, filling the boxes, and finally planting. This got me thinking about the work of ministry and specifically the balance between working hard, but then trusting God with the growth. In our garden we are working hard, but after we do our work we can’t make the plants grow. That’s outside of our realm. This partnership we have with God that began in Eden is a hard one. It seems like we’d rather just work hard and make it all up to us… or throw our hands up and just “let go and let God” to do it all. But neither is how it all works. We do work hard. We do build. At the same time, only God brings the growth! We see this in a wonderful text in Paul’s first letter to Corinth. T...

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