The primary principle that upholds a church is that it belongs to Jesus. He is the foundation (Ephesians 2:20), he is the Chief Shepherd (1 Peter 5:4), he is embodied by her members (1 Corinthians 12:11-27), and his love is set upon her (Ephesians 5:25). This has been true of our church from our beginnings and continues to be true in our fifteenth year. We've endeavored to remember these things and live in light of this truth: Indelible Grace Church belongs to Jesus. 

In 2024, we continued the work of rebuilding and restructuring our church. A few highlights: The Worship Study Committee thought and prayed through our values of worship and created a philosophy of worship for IGC. The Children's Worship Study Committee learned about and discussed the discipleship of our children in the context of the children's worship service, which was launched this year. The nursery for our littlest ones restarted. We had several Discipleship Intensive Groups begin, and we began reimagining what community groups will look like next year. The basketball ministry began. People were baptized. 

And yet we know that all those things, by themselves, are not the ultimate work of the church. As important as they are, they are still only partial elements that help us fulfill God's intention of IGC making disciples and being a place of prayer and worship. We recognize that no program, person, or plan can define us. Only the Spirit's sure and steady work in our congregation can do that. And so we look to God alone to guide us. 

In my time at IGC, I have learned that God usually works in slow - and sometimes imperceptible - ways. Sometimes a person's heart is dramatically changed, but most often it is changed tiny bit by tiny bit by tiny bit. I'm reminded of Eugene Peterson's quote about ministry in the local church: "Why do (we) so often treat congregations with the impatience and violence of developers building a shopping mall instead of the patient devotion of a farmer cultivating a field? The shopping mall will be abandoned in disrepair in fifty years; the field will be healthy and productive for another thousand if its mysteries are respected by a skilled farmer." Our task is not to build a community based on our preferences, compel actions and demand change in our people, or create unique and novel experiences for attendees. Our task is to patiently and faithfully tend to the soil that he has put under our feet. Jesus himself will build IGC as he sees fit because we belong to him. 

We will see more movement in 2025. Lord willing, we will worship in a new meeting space on Sundays. Lord willing, people will come to faith and come to love Jesus. Lord willing, God will use us to heal hurting folks, and defeat the reluctance of those who are wary of the church, and answer the questions of doubters, and raise up leaders, and reconcile broken relationships, and set a burning in the hearts of those who hear the scriptures spoken. We pray for these things.

But most of all, we pray that we will see the glory of Christ and be transformed into the same image of him, from one degree of glory to another (2 Corinthians 3:18). We belong to him; may he do his good work in us. 

Pastor Wade