I Am Thankful For You!
As I reflect upon the Lord's kindness to me and to my family, one of the greatest reasons for me to rejoice is being given the privilege of serving alongside the people of Hays Hills Baptist Church.
What a blessing it is to serve a congregation of people whom I love and who love me and my family. What a blessing it is to pastor a people that I can be so incredibly proud of!
Hebrews 13:17 tells us to let those who keep watch over our souls do so "with joy and not with groaning" and Hays Hills I am so thankful that my labor among you is one of joy.
I'm proud of you, I know the LORD is proud of you, and I look forward to what the LORD has in store for us as a congregation this year and pray I have the privilege of serving alongside you for many years yet to come.
Gender Is One of God's Good Gifts
In our beliefs statement, we confess as a church, "Gender is not a social construct but a gift from God." That's a counter-cultural statement in our world today and has wide ramifications.
We believe the Bible teaches that men and women are of equal worth and are to be treated with equal dignity and respect. (Genesis 1:26-27)
We believe men and women are not interchangeable, but have been designed by God to complement one another. (Genesis 2:18)
And we believe that a local church will flourish when men and women are serving alongside one another utilizing their gifts for the good of the church. (Ephesians 4:16)
However there are often questions about what does that look like in the life of a church? How should God's good gift of gender be seen in the church in such a way that men and women are seen to be of equal worth and treated with equal dignity and respect, while also highlighting that men and women are not interchangeable, but have been designed by God to complement one another?
And so the elders, with the assistance of our Titus Women, have prepared a brief position paper on how gender is to be celebrated as a good gift from God in the life of the church and would like to present it to the congregation for your consideration.
On Sunday, March 19th, we will gather at 6pm in the sanctuary and I will present the position paper and teach through it. Most importantly, I will take time at the end to answer your questions.
Then at our members' meeting on Sunday, March 26th, the elders will make a motion for the position paper to be adopted by the congregation.
As our culture becomes increasingly confused on the topic of gender, we want to be increasingly clear as a congregation. May God be glorified in our faith and practice!
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