Communion, Communication and Community Acts 2:44

 Covenant Relationship does matter  Covenant Relationship is important  Covenant Relationship within the Presbyterian Church (USA)does matter and is important  It’s all about Discipleship  Just because something doesn’t do what you planned it to do doesn’t mean it’s useless.  Thomas Edison  Th

 Tasks and functions (G )  (All citations are from the Book of Order)  Responsibilities (G )  To provide encouragement (G f)  To provide pastoral care (G g)  To maintain relationship to higher governing bodies (G t)  To visit (G c)

 Communion, Community, Communication From the Latin communis, meaning common Jesus immediately built community The disciples immediately built community The Bible was formed to facilitate community Paul spent his whole ministry building community Our American life, indeed all human interaction around the globe, is built on community

Community = Connection = Commitment = Mission

 What did we ask? What would God have us be? What would God have us do? What did we learn? Mission is important Connection is important Christian Education is important Pastoral Care is important

 “You are the Presbytery of Redstone”  Did they get that?  Did they care?  Did they want to be a part of a greater whole? The overwhelming answer was both YES! and HUH? The overarching answer was “Thanks for coming.”

 New Structure built around the answers  Ambassador program to build on visits  Visiting invites pastors and elders to leave the safety of their offices and the pleasantness of their committee meetings to be active courageously in the world. Kennon L. Callahan, Twelve Keys to an Effective Church  And now, the next logical step in that process is The Community of Redstone  To be presbytery together  To strengthen covenant relationship  To listen and encourage each other  If you want your people to be responsible, you must be responsive.  Blanchard, Hybels and Hodges in Leadership by the Book

 How much can we do?  How much should we do?  How do we explain what we are doing?  How do we build the trust level?  And ultimately, who must be the WE.  If WE do not become “The Presbytery” then the presbytery ceases to exist

 To embrace our common goals  To embody our own vision  To live our own mission statement Communicate the word Carry on the work Change the world Together  The Church universal consists of all persons in every nation, together with their children, who profess faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and commit themselves to live in fellowship under his rule. (G )

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