New Years are a great opportunity for fresh starts.  It doesn’t mean that everything done before was wrong, but we can use this moment to reflect of what God has been doing and look ahead to the new things He may be leading us into.  So as church, even as we thank God for His faithfulness in 2018 and the years before, we can also look ahead and ask ‘what does God want for DFC in 2019 and beyond?’ 

As I considered this moment for our church, I felt God led me to the story of that very first church as told through the book of Acts.  It’s a story of people just like us with a calling just like us.  They weren’t superheroes just men and women who knew Jesus and were filled with His Spirit as we are and who were trying like us to fulfil Jesus’ Great Commission in their everyday lives.   

Rather than simply asking what we think church should be like, through Acts we will be discovering together what the Bible says a church should and could be like.  Rather than simply looking to what seemed to work before, we will be seeing church as God describes it and seeking to apply that to our church and our community.  The Acts churches present us with a fantastic vision of what a Spirit-filled, outward-looking, fellowship-focussed church is empowered to do - my heart is that we can move closer to that vision and begin to see more of the supernatural and kingdom advance that they got to see.   

As we journey together with this 1st Century church we are going to better know what it means to be a 21st Century one.  Let’s seek that same anointing and power as we pursue that same goal and vision - a church that will make disciples of all nations and make Jesus famous where He is not yet known.   

Ben