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. The new church wanted to trust in a human leader and divide (perhaps our first view of Christian denominations?) some were of Paul… some of Apollos. But notice what Paul emphasizes… I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. (1 Corinthians 3:6–7, ESV)

It’s mentioned twice… “God gives the growth!” I think we all need to grab a hold of that. I know I do! Be encouraged in the work you're doing for and with the Lord. 

Updates:

• Answered Prayer: The family I asked you to pray for last month was able to miraculously find a house in our area that they could afford and are now staying put! This was so encouraging to us as they are a key family in our church!
• Answered Prayer: I asked you to pray for a church planting training I attended. I have to say, it came at a perfect time. The training was helpful and the fellowship with other church planters was life giving. 
• Recently a young man asked to meet with me. My pastor radar immediately went up as I was expecting something hard, but instead he wanted to talk about being a better witness for Jesus on his job! How encouraging!
• A few months ago a friend of mine interviewed me on his podcast. He wanted to hear more of my story of moving from pastoring a non-denominational church that was a part of the Acts 29 network to becoming an Anglican Priest. I think the interview turned out well and demonstrated a healthy story of how something like this can happen in the local church. Here is a link to it on Spotify. You can find it on iTunes as well. 
• Again we've had some new visitors this last month!
• For Pentecost we had a potluck after the service and saw several new folks join us for the meal! 
• It's been fun to see one of our lay preachers grow as a preacher!
• Our music ministers have also been a joy to work with as they bring a lot of energy and life to the music/liturgy. 
• I recently met a couple on a journey into Anglicanism in our area and interested in potentially planting a church in the future. Please pray! 

Prayer:

• In July we're hosting a church wide book discussion on this book. Please pray it will be well attended and act as a catalyst for some more development as a new church. 
• Pray we can keep reaching our community this summer and meet new neighbors as the weather brings people outside!
• Pray for some folks who have been visiting on and off this last year. Some have recently returned. Pray for connection and growth!
• Last year a church gave us $12,000 that they designated to cover my health insurance and annuity for the next year. Those funds are ending this month. Thankfully, two local churches together gave us $5,000 which will get me another five months of coverage. At this time I'm trying to raise an additional $7,000. Please pray for God's provision!

Thanks for your prayers and support!

- Fr. Rob