Welcome Guests

Below is a bulletin article intended for our guests this Easter Sunday.  But perhaps it will edify you, as well, Christian reader ... remembering the sorts of things that a Christian church is all about.

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If you are visiting with us this Easter morning, we are delighted that you have come! By way of introduction to our church, you may have noted our mission statement on the front cover of this bulletin. PRBC is:

A community of believers dedicated to pursuing the glory of God by resting in all that Jesus is for us – and calling our neighborhood and the nations into that rest.

While we believe that all the words in our mission statement are important, the highlighted words would be especially helpful in describing to you who we are, and who we’re on mission to be. Let me explain them briefly…

The glory of God. It seems most essential to say that we, along with everything else in creation, exist first and foremost for the glory of God. We believe God created us, loves us, redeems us, and will someday bring us to live with Him in heaven – not first of all for our own self-actualization, or for the achievement of our own version of ‘the good life’ – but to bring honor to Himself! God, and not we, must always have the first place in all we say and do. And so all that we do must be motivated by one final goal … the glory of God.

Resting in Jesus. We believe that the chief means by which God obtains the glory He deserves is through the redemption of sinners like us through His Son Jesus. And we sinners are rescued only as we rest in Jesus: in who He is (the Son of God), and in what He has done for us by means of His sinless life, sacrificial death, and resurrection. We use the word ‘rest’ intentionally. It means we stop running from God, and stop kicking against His laws. And, for us religious folk, it even means we stop our frantic efforts to save ourselves … and bank our hope – past, present, and future – on Jesus Christ. In Jesus we can rest, knowing that he has done all the saving work for us! And so we are constantly reminding ourselves to rest in Him … to the glory of God.

Community. God has created human beings in such a way that we glorify God and rest in Jesus best when we do so in the context of a community … a supporting, encouraging, sincere group of fellow sinners saved by grace. So we seek to cultivate this kind of environment for the glory of God, and we hope you’ll consider joining us in that pursuit.

Calling. Part of the church’s task is to invite as many people as possible into this God-glorifying rest in Jesus Christ. So we make it our aim to be in our own neighborhoods, and (through our missionaries) among the nations, calling people to rest in Jesus, for the increase of the glory of God! Perhaps that’s why you’re here today – someone in our community invited you for this Easter gathering because they want to see you, too, find the rest and forgiveness and hope that they themselves have found in Christ. So listen in today as we consider this Jesus together … and find your rest in Him. And consider linking up with our community as we seek to cultivate this rest together … all for the glory of God!