Pastor Weekly - 4/8/26
Hello ICC Family!
What a great Resurrection Day celebration we had on Sunday! And a worshipful and meaningful Holy Week overall. I appreciate everyone who contributed in different ways last week - food, decoration, dancing, reading, clean up, …everything! Each one of you are a blessing to the church, and it was wonderful to see us working in unity to celebrate well.
…As a fellow elder, I appeal to you: 2 Care for the flock that God has entrusted to you. Watch over it willingly, not grudgingly— not for what you will get out of it, but because you are eager to serve God. 3 Don’t lord it over the people assigned to your care, but lead them by your own good example.
1 Peter 5:1-3
The theme of unity will come back to the forefront of our minds as we continue this week in 1st Corinthians. We are getting to the latter chapters of Paul’s letter which start to focus directly on our actual worship within the church service. Several principles are evident from Scripture that direct our worship and organization. We are going to see right away in Corinthians that our worship should be orderly. While all Christians are capable of relating to God directly, there should be an order to our worship. Everybody can’t just be doing what seems right or feels right to themselves. Another principle is that decision making in the church should be broadly based. Each person in the church is filled with the Holy Spirit, and their opinion and gifting and service is vital to the health of the church.
These two principles (orderliness and the priesthood of all believers) are both stressed in Scripture, and at times seem to conflict with each other. Which is one reason as to why there are so many forms of church government. In episcopal forms of church government, the structure is top-down, so that there is an orderliness that can be more easily managed. In congregational forms of church government there is a democracy that allows each member’s opinion to count. It should be no wonder then, that many churches and denominations end up being organized just like our U.S. government - as a representational democracy, with elders being elected to represent the will of the people. This is the leadership structure that we have at ICC, with deacons being elected as well. In general, elders are elected to lead and deacons are elected to serve, but these categories are not mutually exclusive. Elders serve their people by leading, teaching, praying, counseling, etc.; and deacons may lead others in service. There is not a strict line between the two, especially in a church the size of ICC.
I bring this subject up to remind us all of the importance of leadership in the church. No one person has the time or energy or giftedness to do everything that needs to be done in the church. And as we have seen in our study, we are better - we are healthier - when everybody plays their part. On Sunday we will announce our leadership candidates for the coming year to the church, so that we can be in prayer for our leadership elections on April 26th after the service. It’s an honor and a privilege to serve as your pastor. Please be praying with me that the right people are put in place to lead and serve with me the next year.
Blessings to you all!
And know that I am praying for you!
Pastor Aaron
What a great Resurrection Day celebration we had on Sunday! And a worshipful and meaningful Holy Week overall. I appreciate everyone who contributed in different ways last week - food, decoration, dancing, reading, clean up, …everything! Each one of you are a blessing to the church, and it was wonderful to see us working in unity to celebrate well.
…As a fellow elder, I appeal to you: 2 Care for the flock that God has entrusted to you. Watch over it willingly, not grudgingly— not for what you will get out of it, but because you are eager to serve God. 3 Don’t lord it over the people assigned to your care, but lead them by your own good example.
1 Peter 5:1-3
The theme of unity will come back to the forefront of our minds as we continue this week in 1st Corinthians. We are getting to the latter chapters of Paul’s letter which start to focus directly on our actual worship within the church service. Several principles are evident from Scripture that direct our worship and organization. We are going to see right away in Corinthians that our worship should be orderly. While all Christians are capable of relating to God directly, there should be an order to our worship. Everybody can’t just be doing what seems right or feels right to themselves. Another principle is that decision making in the church should be broadly based. Each person in the church is filled with the Holy Spirit, and their opinion and gifting and service is vital to the health of the church.
These two principles (orderliness and the priesthood of all believers) are both stressed in Scripture, and at times seem to conflict with each other. Which is one reason as to why there are so many forms of church government. In episcopal forms of church government, the structure is top-down, so that there is an orderliness that can be more easily managed. In congregational forms of church government there is a democracy that allows each member’s opinion to count. It should be no wonder then, that many churches and denominations end up being organized just like our U.S. government - as a representational democracy, with elders being elected to represent the will of the people. This is the leadership structure that we have at ICC, with deacons being elected as well. In general, elders are elected to lead and deacons are elected to serve, but these categories are not mutually exclusive. Elders serve their people by leading, teaching, praying, counseling, etc.; and deacons may lead others in service. There is not a strict line between the two, especially in a church the size of ICC.
I bring this subject up to remind us all of the importance of leadership in the church. No one person has the time or energy or giftedness to do everything that needs to be done in the church. And as we have seen in our study, we are better - we are healthier - when everybody plays their part. On Sunday we will announce our leadership candidates for the coming year to the church, so that we can be in prayer for our leadership elections on April 26th after the service. It’s an honor and a privilege to serve as your pastor. Please be praying with me that the right people are put in place to lead and serve with me the next year.
Blessings to you all!
And know that I am praying for you!
Pastor Aaron
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