If you want to talk about ministry highs and lows, we can certainly join in.  We’ve gone through them both.  This month, it seems we’ve been on the high end.

God certainly blessed some very visible and tangible efforts of our ministry this month.   And that’s not to diminish or downplay the daily comfort he gives us in his Word — the forgiveness, peace, and eternal life we have through Christ.  Nor is it to diminish the daily privilege we have of sharing this comfort with people of all ages, races, stations, and situations.  It’s simply to recognize that God continues to heap blessings upon this family in Christ here in Battlement Mesa.

We hosted a Family Fun Night at a local park on a Friday night in late July.  We had done quite a bit of preparation and organization.  We mailed out invitations to each and every family in our community.  We put ads in the local newspaper and on the local radio station.  We passed out invitations as we took our regular, daily walks in the community.  We even had a youth group from Plymouth, Nebraska travel here to assist with the planning and organizing of our event.  This Family Fun Night was our way of saying thank-you to our community.  Sure, it also was a great opportunity for us to reach out, but we especially wanted people to know what an honor it is for us to be here, serving with the gospel.

Nearly 200 people came to our Family Fun Night at the park.  And for the record, that sort of number is unheard of in our community — especially for a church event.  The free concerts our city hosts each month draw an average of 50 people.  A well-known musician who traveled through the area only brought out about a dozen people for his concert.  We received more than a few comments from people along these lines: “It’s so nice to know that we have a church here that’s more interested in serving people than getting something from them.”

That’s our job as a mission church, isn’t it?  We are here to serve.  That’s why we have a certain phrase we like to repeat in our ministry.  We don’t care about membership, but relationships.  We aren’t here to grow our church or to pump up or membership lists, as nice as that might be.  We’re here to serve with the gospel.

Someone could very well look at this Family Fun Night and point out that we didn’t have a devotion, we didn’t teach any Bible stories, and we didn’t even open our Bibles the whole evening.  And yet, at its core, our event was nothing but gospel-centered.  The people that God has gathered here have been moved by the beautiful gospel message, and they wanted to say thank you to both God and our community.

I mentioned that our Family Fun Night was on a Friday.  Two days later, on Sunday, 10 people whom we had only just met for the first time at our Family Fun Night joined us for worship.  They got to hear the same gospel message that brings us so much comfort every day: through the highs and lows of ministry, our Savior Jesus remains the same.

Adam Lambrecht
Staff Minister, Shepherd of the Mesa Lutheran Church
Battlement Mesa, Colorado