These are only five of the reasons our volunteers love serving in OriginsKids, and if you are one of the ones who does serve, THANK YOU. Thank you for your faithfulness and for being obedient to the calling of making disciples. As a church family, we choose how we approach our Kids. Are we serving well? Are we dreading time in the chaos and loudness? Do we look forward to seeing how they've grown since last month? Are we excited to tell them about our Savior, Jesus, who loves us and came to rescue us? Are we praying for the Salvation of our children? Let us be salt and light, even to the littlest.
Church membership can be a confusing and often divisive topic. I believe there are a few dominant reasons for that. The first has to do with how we have seen membership practiced in our previous church experiences. The second is due to a lack of solid explanation about the wisdom behind local church membership.
I cannot speak of your church history, but if it is anything like mine then you saw church membership as walking down front and letting the pastor or someone in leadership know that you wanted to join the church. They would likely ask about your salvation and if you said you did in fact believe in Jesus, then you would be presented as a member of the church. I am in no way knocking that process, but I rarely heard the rationale or meaning behind it. What did membership mean? How did it change your role or status? Were there any new privileges or responsibilities attached?
If you are a part of the Origins family, we want to be clear about our desire for “meaningful membership.” We want the why, how, and what to be defined so you know how it affects you and the rest of this amazing church family. When addressing the WHY, we can acknowledge the fact that the Bible does not expressedly command or require local church membership. And while this is true, if we take the time and apply sound Biblical wisdom, we can make a strong case for local church membership that is both meaningful and impactful.
Saratoga Springs, Utah, is one of the fastest-growing communities in the state. With a population of approximately 65,000 people and projections showing continued rapid growth, the need for gospel-centered churches is significant.
The area is predominantly LDS, with approximately 86% of residents identifying as Latter-day Saints and only about 0.4% identifying as Evangelical Christians. While there are around 20 LDS wards in the city, there are only a few gospel-preaching churches.
When Matthew and I were serving as Apartment Life missionaries, a group of women from Hampton First Baptist Church adopted us. For years, they were diligent about praying for our family and for our ministry. They also supported us financially and encouraged us with letters and emails during our early years with Origins.
One of the blessings and responsibilities we have as a church family is to seek the good of our city. (Jer 29:7) We desire families who live, work, and play in our city to have their needs met both physically and spiritually. We understand that we are incapable of doing this on our own and are grateful that the Lord has allowed us to build healthy relationships with local organizations that are also seeking the good of downtown Greenville! We hope that through these partnerships we can both serve immediate needs and share the hope of Jesus. Below are a few ways we have been able to serve alongside two of our partnerships, and also ways you can be praying with us heading into the summer!
Our mission is simple; we exist to Make Disciples who Love God, Love One Another, and Love
the City. We feel this is best accomplished through intentional relationships with those who
live, work, and play in downtown.
This summer, all elementary-aged children, including Lower Elementary and 4 and 5 year old will begin Sunday mornings in the main service, worshiping through song with their families. After the worship portion, they will be dismissed to their classes for a Bible lesson with their peers. Our two- and three-year-olds and nursery-aged children will continue to have classrooms available starting at 9:20.
On Sunday, we looked at Luke chapter 14, where Jesus is talking to the multitudes that were following him, and he began to discuss what it meant to be a disciple and what it took. One of the things that he discussed is counting the costs. He wanted to prepare the people that were following him so that they knew, when things came up, that they were prepared and that there was going to be some work and some costs involved in following him.
