Church may look different now, but the mission remains the same. We still seek to spread the truth of Jesus into our community. We still desire to disciple and be disciples. The church’s job still remains to equip believers to make a difference in the community that they are in. Although recent happenings in the world and regulations change some of the ways we minister as a church, they do not change why we are here.
Weekly Services
We continue to have Sunday and Wednesday services by live streaming our current sermons on our YouTube channel. You can catch our most recent sermons here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaKDmfLCRACaIa06KPJhLDA. Sermons start at 10:30 am every Sunday and at 7 pm on the second and fourth Wednesday of every month. We are in the middle of a series through the epistles of John on Sunday mornings and nearing the end of 2 Kings on Wednesday evenings. It is amazing to see the sovereignty of God in our passage week after week. He seems to perfectly align our verses to the needs of our church and the circumstances of this world. It is clear God knows what we need and provides exactly that, and we thank Him for it.
Staying Connected
Being united has always been an important thing for us. It might be a little harder than before, but we’re finding ways to stay connected as a church. We seek to continue to encourage one another, to not neglect meeting together, to have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, to pray for one another. Although our circumstances may be different, God’s expectation of the unity, fellowship, and love that we are to have for each other hasn’t changed.
Getting together for a night of games seems to have always been a part of our church. We decided that we would do it over a video call. One night a group sharpened our drawing skills, and played Pictionary over a video call. It was a great time, although sharing snacks was made much more difficult.
Community Involvement
We still want to reach out and be there for our community even when our doors are closed to our typical weekly services. To do this we made a commercial to be put on social media and aired on local TV stations. The goal was to let the community know that we are here for them, that God loves them, and that we would be happy to pray for any of their needs during this time. The commercial was a combined effort of several members of the church which proved to be an interesting challenge while also being under a shelter in place order. Through technology we were able to all work on this project together. If you are interested in seeing the final video, you can find it on our website at jfbduluth.com.
Without a doubt the church calendar looks different than normal. God still has plans for us as a church and as individual believers. We intend to continue seeking Him and figure out what it is that He is accomplishing through us and perhaps more importantly inside of us. Please pray that we would cooperate with God. Ask that we would let Him to change us into the disciples of Jesus that He would have us be