leading that Kingdom work

Dear First Pres SLO Family,

Grace and peace to you in the name of Jesus the Messiah, who made us and redeemed us and calls us into service.

As we start a new church year, my first as your called pastor, I’m making plans for how we can work together to grow our ministry for the next generation. We have so much good work to do!

I want to develop my role as an equipping pastor—someone who helps identify gifts and calling, and works to grow both for service to Jesus. I love this part of my job.

In my relationship to the whole congregation, it’s my responsibility to communicate the wide range of opportunities for growing in spiritual maturity and effective service. That’s the focus of my teaching and preaching, my conversations and counseling, and (maybe most importantly) my listening. My role is to invite each person who makes First Pres their church home to hear God’s call, and then to help them live into that call in a meaningful way.

Here's how I plan to do that.

My goal is to be in a cycle of relationship that follows this pattern:

To inspire,

To equip,

To resource,

To celebrate.

Preaching and teaching are my primary means of inspiration. That’s more than just getting excited about something—it’s helping people find the place where God is stirring in their hearts.

Equipping is helping people walk through the process of praying about their calling, and growing spiritually in a way that allows them to step into a new role in ministry or service.

Resourcing is helping to organize the space and/or funding that is needed in order for this new area of service can be most effective.

Finally, it’s good for us to celebrate when some new effort or ministry bears fruit in the congregation or community. We don’t do this part enough!

If you’ve read this far, here’s my invitation: In addition to the way I will be doing this work with the whole congregation, I would like to enter into a more focused process of growth and training with ten people in the congregation. We’ll use the four steps to give shape to our work, and see where God might be calling you to deeper service. This will be a serious commitment—it will take time and effort and initiative. If this is something you’re interested in, please contact me at the church office, or by email: jdelia@fpcslo.org.

First Pres SLO has a future of service and impact in this community. Who wants to take the next steps toward leading that Kingdom work?

Blessings to you,

Pastor John