read our full 2019 report.
BECOMING MORE LIKE JESUS:
2019 HIGHLIGHTS
“By the end of 2019, we will be a thriving, active family that others want to join through becoming more like Jesus in how we grow, involve, encourage, and invest.”
This goal guided our work as the Georgetown church of Christ throughout the past year and by God’s grace, it is clearly happening. We are becoming more like Jesus as individual disciples and together as members of His body.
Growing: Through heartfelt prayer and application of God’s word as we “speak the truth in love”, we have sought to “grow up in every way” into Christ (Ephesians 4:15). We steadfastly believe that if we work to grow spiritually then numerical growth will follow: praise God who is giving the increase! As our lives are being transformed, we are serving as witnesses of Christ’s resurrection, and God as our fellow worker has given us 17 baptisms, 15-24% growth in our worship attendance, and 19-36% growth in our Bible study attendance. You can read more about our efforts to grow on pages 5-10.
Involving: The church grows when “joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly” (Ephesians 4:16). Introvert and extrovert, younger and older, male and female: we all have something to offer as members of Christ’s body! When we started the year, around 40% of our members had an active role serving in the church. In 2019, we surpassed our goal of increasing to 60% involvement through: recruiting, training, and encouraging worship leaders and teachers; creating a dedicated team that privately prays over our weekly requests; and, engaging the congregation in a variety of service projects to shine God’s light in our community. You can read more about our efforts to involve on pages 11-12.
Encouraging: A growing church is one where “the body builds itself up in love” by encouraging others just like Jesus did (Ephesians 4:16). In 2019, we set out to purposefully encourage every member of our church family every month through making a visit or sending a card, call, or text message. While we fell short of our 100% goal, our consistent performance of personally encouraging over 90% of our growing number of members almost every month played a critical role in our spiritual growth. Combined with our activities to grow closer to God and each other through our various ministries and fellowships, our church family is one where members and visitors alike experience God’s amazing love when we are together! You can read more about our efforts to encourage on pages 13-14.
Investing: Jesus teaches us that “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21). So, we have been diligent to use the money, talents, and time God has entrusted to us on what matters most to Him! As a church family, we proved to be cheerful and generous givers by contributing an average of $4,231 per week. We also exercised careful stewardship of these resources, managing expenses so that we have saved over 10% for future growth. This was achieved while actively pursuing kingdom work, including: a mission trip and fundraising for the Millennium English Medium School in Andhra Pradesh, India; serving needs within our community; and completing needed maintenance on our building and grounds. You can read more about our efforts to invest on pages 15-16.
Looking Ahead: The work of becoming more like Jesus won’t be finished until He returns. As we become more like Him, we want to see the world the way He does. In 2020, we want to SEE THE POTENTIAL by: bringing people in our lives and around the world to see Jesus; rejoicing that Jesus made us a part of His church in Georgetown; and working together to develop each other’s gifts through involvement and mentorship. With ideas supplied by our members and plans developed by our servant leaders to guide us through 2020, we can’t wait to see where the Spirit leads us next as we glorify God together and proclaim the good news about His Son, Jesus Christ.
In His Service,
John Harrison Lance Justice Jay McClary Larry Sheehan
Elders of the Georgetown church of Christ