multiplication in small groups and Adult Communities that includes starting new small groups and Adult Communities. Given our space constraints, we’ll have to cooperate and be innovative on how to create space in our Sunday morning schedule for new Adult Communities. I believe God is at work and leading us towards a growth in these ministries. Another ministry where we’ve seen impactful growth has been in men’s ministry. While we were unable to host the Men’s Conference due to COVID-19, we relaunched Wednesday night Men’s Bible Study in September of 2019, and it’s been producing fruit at a steady rate all year. Men have been discovering more about God through the study of systematic theology, growing in their relationships with each other through weekly discussion (thanks table leaders!) and impacting others by sharing their testimonies and the gospel with other men outside the church. As we’ve moved to an online format in the final few weeks due to COVID-19, I’m amazed at how many men continue to tune in virtually. And I’m grateful for Victor Kuligin, who has stepped in to teach and has done a wonderful job serving the men with his gifts. On a personal note, Men’s Bible Study is a weekly highlight. It’s a joy to study the Bible with and be challenged by men of all ages who are eager for biblical camaraderie and Holy Spirit-wrought growth. As this church year comes to a close and another one is set to begin, we are being challenged with a new normal. We’re considering programmatic and budgetary adjustments, among other things. But one thing is certain. Discipleship will continue no matter what. All we need is two or more people and a Bible. So, as we make plans and pray about what the year ahead might hold, we are being forced out of our comfort zones, perhaps reentering that realm of discovery. What are you discovering about God, yourself and the church that you did not before? What are you re-discovering that you had forgotten? In what
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ways is God growing you in relationships with others and with him? And, as you’re growing as a disciple of Jesus in these unusual days, how will you take what you are learning and impact the lives of others in the coming year for the sake of the gospel? My family and I are grateful for another year to serve you, College Church family. Let’s trust the Lord together for an impactful 2020-21!
Erik Dewar
Pastor of Worship and Music For a church that so eagerly participates in corporate worship together through shared experiences such as singing and reading together, this season of sheltering in place is unusual. As a church for whom the important consistent musical “voice” on a Sunday is the singing congregation, the removal of that voice is disorienting. We love to sing together. How could we refrain with so great a salvation and so beautiful a Savior? He has put a new song in our mouths, and we long to share it together. We see both the vertical and the horizontal experience of congregational singing when the Apostle Paul writes, “addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart,” (Ephesians 5:19). Though during this season, we have found ourselves addressing only a few family members or roommates or even simply our own soul, may our song continue. I take comfort knowing that, during the live broadcast, as we provide accompaniment for living rooms around Wheaton, even though none of us can hear each other, God’s praises continue. He is still being worshiped during COVID-19, perhaps like never before in our own hearts. May it be so.
