During the past few months, the Adult Bible Fellowship group has been considering the core values of being a local Body of Christ and the rapidly changing culture around us. We have agreed that a biblical founded church is oriented toward Upward (worship), Inward (discipleship and fellowship) and Outward (outreach) actions. We also agreed that the principle values on which we operate would include Authenticity (being real), Gifts Driven Ministry (using our talents) and Interdependency (being cooperative). Finally, we agreed that a church cannot be a “business as usual” organization and be effective at shining the light of the Gospel into the community on Cape Ann. Therefore, we will being the new year by rediscovering what it means to be First Baptist of Manchester-by-the-Sea and how we can be an effective Gospel-shining church.
Imagine for a time that, due to some strange geological instability, a sink-hole opened up behind the church late one evening and the church building fell into the hole. Our church building is gone.
Aerial Photo of Recent Sink-hole that swallowed a church on School St.
We would initially be in a state of shock; what will we do now? Now imagine that on Sunday morning, January 6th at 9:30am, we met together to consider what we lost and what we needed to do next. Will we disband and begin to attend different churches? Will be consider rebuilding? Will be seek an alternative location and rent space? How do we restructure ourselves to move forward?
If you are a part of the church family, your input into this discussion will be vital to our “rebuilding” effort. Please join us at 9:30am on Sunday, January 6th as we begin our revisioning process.