Though we don’t often recite it together, I want to remind you of our church vision statement: Yates Baptist Church is a community of believers who seek to bring people into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and encourage each other toward spiritual maturity. By living into that vision, every facet of our life together should serve to deepen that relationship — personally and corporately. This fall, we will step into the new and exciting future of church construction, renovation, and enhancement that we believe equips us to live into this vision. We want, above all, to be faithful to the call to introduce our community to Jesus and make mature disciples well into the 21st century.
Honestly, I cannot wait to begin this once-in-a-generation — if not once-in-a-lifetime — step of faith with all of you. I think what we are doing for our campus will also be reflected in our personal and congregational life. And I think we all recognize that we cannot do this alone. We must seek God’s leadership, provision, and direction every day of the way. We have to learn how to carry on a relationship in an immediate and trusting way — one that does not run ahead of or fall behind God, that does not diminish God’s personality or preeminence, or seek in one way or another to earn God’s favor by the work we undertake as a church.
Because of this, I’m very excited to announce that Yates will be engaging in a church-wide book study of Skye Jethani’s With: Reimagining Our Relationship to God. In the book, Jethani examines the different postures we take in our relationship to the Triune God. The study asserts the primacy of — and prayerful practices that support — a relationship “with” God, rather than beginning from some other customary postures: “over God,” “under God,” “from God,” and even “for God.”
The Scriptures testify that in Christ, God has disclosed a way to be in personal, perpetual relationship with him. In Christ, God came in human flesh to be with us. He left his throne to have a relationship with us. He lived in our sinful world to be with us. He stood under temptation to be with us. He became sin, even though he knew no sin, to be with us. He willingly laid down his life so that he could be with us. God raised Christ from the dead to be with us. He sends the Holy Spirit to dwell with us. When we live lives that originate from being with God, we are free to live lives that show faith, hope, and love more fully and faithfully every day. The new house being built at the corner of Chapel Hill and Cornwallis Roads will be filled with people who, in Christlikeness, invite the world into the joy of life with him, too.
It’s timely for a church experiencing such an “extreme makeover” to assess our posture toward God, and by extension, our future with him. The study is intentionally anchored to the launch of the construction phase of Growing God’s House. It begins the Monday after Homecoming (October 3) and runs through November 20 — seven weeks to cover six sessions of group discussion and prayer, each running roughly an hour to an hour and a half. You’ll have several options for joining: a weekday discussion group, Sunday mornings, or Wednesday nights. I hope you’ll find a place to engage with your brothers and sisters at Yates in this meaningful conversation.
I look forward to this season of study and reflection with you!
Grace & Peace,