At the beginning of this year, our preaching theme was taken from the Book of Acts where we explored what it meant for the early church to live out their faith in their culture. What we saw, as we read their story, was that Christ’s Church was never meant to be isolated or invisible to the surrounding culture. Instead, as the believers gathered together for worship, exhortation and encouragement, the end result was for the church to be out among the world (not OF the world, but IN it). That’s why we reviewed the Book of Acts to see what it means for the church to be “Externally Focused.”
    This summer our Vacation Bible School theme is about serving in the Name of Jesus. Our children will be learning how to be a servant in the home, with friends, to their neighbors, in the community, and out to the whole world. For the five Sundays surrounding VBS week (August 3-7), we will be following the same theme to look at areas of service: Family (July 19), Friends (July 26), Neighbors (August 2), Community (August 9) and World (August 16). We will also highlight a corresponding ministry area each of those weeks: Pregnancy Resource Centers, local schools, Gladstone Food Bank, Love INC and missions with Vic and Pam deLeon.
    Hopefully we won’t just listen to messages, study about or hear what others are doing to serve, but will also put into practice what we hear, read and see. That’s why the Staff and Elders of GCC have designated Sunday, August 23, as CHURCH “OUT”! Sunday.
    CHURCH “OUT”! is exactly what it sounds like—the whole church going out into our community to serve--young and old; families and singles; women and men. We already serve as a church body in a variety of ways and in varying degrees of organization and numbers. CHURCH “OUT”! Sunday is intended to be a specific and intentional sending out of the church on a Sunday morning. Instead of gathering for worship, we will be expressing our worship in action giving a whole new meaning to worship “service”. Instead of being seen gathering together in one location we will be “seen” scattered throughout our neighborhoods serving in the Name of Jesus.
    Here’s just a few ideas of where to serve and what we hope to accomplish:
Picking up trash and doing pruning in Meldrum Bar Park

• Clean up at “high rocks” and along the Clackamas River walk
• Various projects at the homes of clients of the Gladstone Senior Center
• Clackamas Rehabilitation Center
• Gladstone Schools
• [You may have other great ideas of ways to serve in the community – let me know.]

    So on Sunday, August 23, there will be NO regular worship service or Sunday School classes. We will meet at 9:00 a.m. for prayer, instructions and an assignment (wear your grubbies; bring tools and gloves). We plan to return about 11:30 a.m. for a time of reporting and celebrating, ending with a communion service in the Community Center. We will provide nursery up to age 5 during the morning, and will have a group of prayer warriors in the building to petition our Lord on our behalf while we are out serving.
    What will come of our efforts? We may never know the full impact but at least we will have shown the community our faith in action. Remember what it says in the Book of James about “doing” the Word and showing our faith by our deeds? (James 1:22 and 2:17) Will we have an opportunity to explain why we are doing this? I sure hope so (but only if asked - see 1 Peter 3:15). Will the Lord bless us for this effort? I have no doubts about that, for it was His idea in the first place to send His "CHURCH OUT"!          

Denis Whittet