Have you ever had a moment of revelation when it seemed as if someone had switched on a bright light in your mind, and the solution to an important issue in your life suddenly became crystal-clear?  I experienced such a luminous moment back in 1979, during in an orientation session at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia. Professor Wade Huie was talking to us new seminarians about our calling to the ministry of Word and Sacrament, and he quoted the following words from Ephesians 4:7-13: “each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ's gift….The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ.”

“That’s it!” I thought.  “My purpose as a pastor and teacher will be to equip the people of God for the work of ministry.”

My sense of calling and purpose was strengthened as I learned how much emphasis our Presbyterian heritage places on the ministry of lay people:

people who have a strong personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior;

people who are being educated in the Word of God and the historic doctrines of the faith;

people who are knit together into a strong and caring community for mutual support;

people who are working together, using their gifts and resources to reach others for Jesus Christ, to make                                      disciples in his name, and to transform their community with his love.

Everything I have learned about our Reformed tradition has strengthened my sense of responsibility to enable and encourage the ministry of every Christian.  I am energized by the Reformation understanding of the Church as a “priesthood of believers,” based on the words of 1 Peter 2:9: 

“you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”

My experience as pastor of Lewes Presbyterian Church has been joyous and exciting because of the growing corps of gifted and committed people, eager to develop the faith and the gifts God has given them for ministry, who have responded faithfully to my ministry of equipping and encouragement.

It is because of their—and your—enthusiastic engagement in ministry that we now have three different weekly worship services, plus the monthly First Light service,  enriched by the music ministry of our gifted organist, the Choir, the Chimers, the Praise Band and the First Light Ensemble. 

It is because of your willingness to grow as disciples of Jesus Christ that we have a vibrant Sunday School program, an active youth group, and a Kids for Christ program, an After School program and a Vacation Bible School that fills our activities building.

It is because of your willingness to grow and participate in ministry that we have several study groups meeting throughout the year and a small group dinner program.

It is because of your enthusiastic participation in ministry that we have an active and growing caring ministry and an expanding food and fellowship ministry that is filling our Fellowship Hall with people from our church and our community.

It is because of your enthusiastic engagement in ministry that our mission budget is growing, along with our vision for sharing the good news of God’s love in Jesus Christ with our community and our world. 

The vision for ministry that God has given us was captured in the vision statement adopted in 1996, which I hope you all now know by heart:  “Believing, growing and sharing the love of Christ.” Since that time we have been working to: 

Increase our outreach to children, youth and adults, inviting people of all ages to believe in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord;

Develop a comprehensive Christian education program for adults as well as children, with a small group emphasis, to help us grow together as disciples; 

Expand and renovate our activities building to accommodate our growth, restore our sanctuary, and expand the worship opportunities and programs through which we are sharing the love of Christ with our community.

These goals are organically related, and rooted in the vision for ministry that God has given us. It is our growth as a strong congregation of people with a mission that necessitated the renovation, expansion and restoration of our facilities; and it is the expansion and restoration of our buildings that will enable us to continue to grow and to realize our growing vision for ministry. 

This organic relation between the growth of our congregation in mission and the expansion of our building led us to embark on a capital stewardship campaign in which the first priority was to help us grow spiritually by reflecting prayerfully together on the vision for ministry that God has given us. The organic relation between our spiritual growth as a congregation and the expansion of our building has also led us to choose our campaign motto from the following scripture from 1 Peter 2:5:

“like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”

From this scripture we took our campaign motto, “Building a Spiritual House with Living Stones.”  Through God’s blessing and the generous giving of our members and friends in our first Living Stones campaign, we successfully completed the renovation and expansion of our activities building.  In the current For His Glory campaign, we are seeking to raise the needed funds to restore our historic sanctuary.

I appreciate your participation in the life of our church, as well as your reflection on our vision and mission goals.  Please be in prayer about your part—both in our capital campaign and in the growing ministry of our congregation.  Thank you.