SPIRITUAL MINISTRY
Church is not something we do, but what we are invited to participate in by the God who has called us. Our response to this call takes many forms:
- we worship together
- we educate our youth and each other
- we share our faith and invite others join with us
- we make ourselves vulnerable to the Spirit, to God's direction
- we stand with others in times of stress and of delight
The picture of God's people as being part of God's family is a delightfully warm theme in our scriptures. And we hope that metaphor is equally obvious in our congregation.
Being a family has several dimensions. For those already within, there is warmth and loyalty; when one member experiences pain, the family rallies around. When new members are introduced, there may be curiosity and a tentative reaching out, until the acceptance becomes either formalized or personally affirmed. So when we are first introduced to prospective in-laws there is sometimes the hesitant sizing up, before the genuine warmth of acceptance is felt. Sometime, for whatever reason(s) that warmth is there immediately; sometimes it takes longer to develop. Personalities - of the individual and of the family - play into this.
And so the church is a family. And NPMC is a family. We provide support for each other (death, illness, financial stress). When new members come, we begin the process of acceptance - and it IS A PROCESS, not a single event. Some entries into the family are immediate; others take much longer. Sometimes our emphasis on our family make it difficult for new people to feel welcome, as we go through the process of sharing each other's family stories and creating a new family system in the process.
As we move into new phases of our family life at NPMC we try and remember how important it is that we remain open to accepting and assimilating and learning from new members; and strengthening and caring for each other. "You are no longer strangers and aliens...but members of the family of God." Ephesians 2:19.