2018 Commitment

 

The Gospel of Luke speaks of a man who approached Jesus and said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” (Luke 9:57-58) Jesus wastes no time responding that following him isn’t easy. Jesus basically says, “Do you really want to follow someone who doesn’t have a home or even a hotel room to go to?” It seems rather strange doesn’t it? You’d expect him to say, “Well come on and join me!” but he doesn’t. I think we all realize that following Jesus isn’t always easy, nor does Jesus advertise it as such. Yet, Jesus’ call and invitation has always been very clear, “Follow me.”

Like the man who approached Jesus, it’s easy for us to tell him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” but it’s much harder to actually do it. Following Jesus requires us to surrender all; not just a little. Over the next three Sundays we will be looking at three different passages of scripture in which Jesus implicitly asks us, “Will you follow?” Christ’s love doesn’t coerce or force us to follow him, but invites us to trust him, even though we don’t always know where he’s leading us. Jesus calls out to all of us saying, “Follow me.” But the real question remains, “Will you follow?”

As we reflect on God’s faithfulness and call in our lives, I invite you to prayerfully consider how you can follow Jesus by participating in the privilege of giving of your time, talent, and treasure to support the mission of God’s work in and through FPC Boone. Together, in our giving, we follow Jesus as witnesses of his grace, using our collective resources to share his good news all over the world. Brothers and sisters in Christ, I challenge you to prayerfully consider how you can contribute to God’s work in 2018 in two specific ways:

1. To make a commitment to serve God with your time, and talents, and 2. To make a pledge to give of your financial resources, so that our operating budget may support the mission of the church.

Below you will find a printable version of the pledge card. Prayerfully consider how God is leading you to respond for 2018, and bring the completed pledge card with you to our combined worship service on Sunday, October 22 at 10:30am. You may also make your pledge online using the button below. May we follow Jesus, not only with our lips, but also with our lives, responding collectively, by giving of our time, talents, and treasure. Friends, may we do so joyfully together!

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Jeff 2018