Welcome to our blog! Our posts will include the pastor’s sermons, faith reflections from congregation members, and stories of our ministries. We hope that this blog will be a reflection of our community as we seek to fulfill our mission statement: Called by God’s grace to make disciples as we minister to the needs of a broken world.
Writing and speaking about our faith is important, because it makes us active in our relationship with God and each other. It reminds us that as Christians we are not called to simply by spectators to our beliefs, but dynamic participants in the life Christ has called us to live. In this book Testimony: Talking Ourselves into Being Christian (Jossey-Bass, 2004), theologian Tom Long writes that sharing our stories of faith is important to our own growth, saying:
“We don’t just say things we already believe. To the contrary, saying things out loud is a part of how we come to believe. We talk our way toward belief, talk our way from tentative belief through doubt to firmer belief, talk our way toward believing more fully, more clearly, and more deeply. Putting things into words is one of the ways we acquire knowledge, passion, and conviction. . . So it is that trying to put our faith into words is a part of discovering what we know about God, believe about God, and trust about God . . . When we talk about faith, we are not merely expressing our beliefs; we are coming more fully and clearly to believe. In short, we are always talking ourselves into being Christian.”
Thank you for joining us in this journey as we explore faith together. We hope that this will be a way for you to connect with the life and ministry of our congregation as we share our stories, but most importantly we hope it is a place you will be inspired to grow in your own faith. We invite you to continue these conversations with us by posting below, connecting with us on our facebook page (www.facebook.com/heritagepres), or joining us for worship or one of our many programs.
