Some comments on the State of the Church Address

On Thursday night Bishop Gwinn started his State of the Church address with three questions. 1) Who are we? 2) Where are we? 3) What is our call? He went on to say that we are people that have a personal relationship with Jesus--and that our hearts have been warmed. We are experiential people--whose hearts have been touched by the power of the Holy Spirit and that God has changed us into children of God. He went on to say that we are on the edge of something different. We are on the cusp of now becoming something different, but there are a couple of things holding us back. He said that we need to give the ministry back to the laity--that we do not need to professionalize the ministry. Ministers do not need to be responsible for everything that goes on in the church. He also said we need to forget about making everyone happy--instead we need to stay in love with Jesus. Then we went on to explain that we need to be extravagant in our encouragement toward one another. We are to practice what we preach by encouraging one another. We also need to practice what we preach by living for Jesus and with Jesus. Our residence is to be found in the God who laid down his life for us. Our call is to be ones who go with Jesus all the way--not half way--but all the way.