Setting the Course 2012

Sunday, January 29th begins a two week season of fasting and prayer at The Grove Church.  This last year and a half has been an incredible journey.   God has blessed us tremendously as a church.  We have seen about 20 people put their faith in Jesus Christ.  We have seen attendance at The Grove nearly triple.  Missionaries have been sent out, and God has been moving in and through The Grove all around the world.

God has given as a mission first and foremost to Worship Him.  Then God has called us to Reach those who need Jesus, Grow believers deeper in their relationships with God and Send people into the world.  He has given our church a clear vision, but we have some challenges as well.  The first and most obvious one is overcrowding. If God continues to bless us with more people, where will they sit?  Another challenge is in finances.  We have been behind in what we need to meet our budget all year, and we need to see God bless us in our finances.

Beyond these challenges, we desire God’s blessing on everything that we do.  That is why we are taking these two weeks as a church to pray and to fast.  We as a community are going to seek God and ask Him to continue to lead us and to bless us.  If you are a part of The Grove, we are asking you to join with us these two weeks.

What we are asking everyone to do:

1) Pray everyday for The Grove.  You can go to our website here and download a prayer guide.  Take some time each day throughout the day to pray.

2) Fast from something.  If you are familiar with fasts for Lent, then you will understand this.  Take something that you do a lot and enjoy and make a commitment to not do it for the two weeks.  For example, our family is giving up TV for the two weeks (with one “Super” exception.)  The idea behind these kinds of fasts are that during the time that you would normally do the activity, you spend that time connecting with God, praying, reflecting, talking to God, etc.

3) Food fast on Wednesday.  There are obvious exemptions to this, like nursing moms.  Also despite my kids’ objections, I will not be sending them to school on Wednesday without breakfast.  We will talk more about the power of fasting on the blog later on this week.  In short, the sacrifice of a physical need, leads us to deeper reflection on our spiritual need for God.

4) Tweet/post what you see God doing in your life.  Use #stcgrove on Twitter or post on the Grove’s Facebook page.

This will be a great two weeks for us as a church.  We expect God to do great things in our lives and church during this time, and we want to see Him “Set the Course.”