Dear All Saints Family,

Greetings in the name of the Lord! Nowell, Laurie, Rusty, and I had a wonderful time at the Winter Conference this week in Greensboro. Thank you so very much for sending us!

In spite of us having to come home a day early because of the weather, all of us come back encouraged by an experience of God, have some fresh ideas, a sense of renewal, and some clarity in direction for the future. I had planned to give you an update in Sunday’s service before we had to cancel it and do hope you will all come to TNT this Thursday (where we will offer the Eucharist), but I wanted to share some of what I came away with before then while it is still fresh in my spirit.

First, many people from around the Mission, and in our local network, came to me to share how excited they were for us, especially how far we’ve come in such a short period of time. I was amazed to learn how many other churches and individuals were praying for us, and further, how they believe their prayers for us are being answered.

I’ve always been a churchman, keenly aware that the Church is much bigger than our local congregation, but was exceedingly humbled to learn how much others care for us. I found myself grateful, in a new way, to be part of something so much bigger. Let us remember we are not alone in our journey.

One of the goals we presented in our Annual Meeting a couple of weeks ago is to increase awareness of what it means to be an Anglican Mission Church. The AMiA is about much more than having a place to hang our hat while we operate as orthodox Anglicans; it is our missional identity. While I’m still pondering some of the best ways for us to own this, please know that it will include building an awareness of and developing relationships with other congregations in our surrounding cities and states.

Another one of our goals from the Annual Meeting was to increase the awareness of our Rwandan identity. There is so much we can learn from our African brothers and sisters. Spending so much time with them this past week, I’m reminded again how they teach us so plainly what it means to be a Christians in spite of challenging circumstances; how to have joy in the midst of adversity and how to praise God for the littlest of blessings. We need to be more like them; we need to hear their message. We need to take part in being Rwandan.

Nowell, Rusty, and I spent an afternoon learning what it takes to establish a relationship with a sister parish in Rwanda. Look for us to do that this year, with Rusty at the helm, as well as some other things to help us see ourselves as one church on two continents on mission together.

One way we can do both, increase our AMiA and Rwandan identities, is for more of our people to go to Winter Conference next year. It is open to everyone, and we do hope that at the very least we will have a contingent made up of members from our Council, ministry heads, and worship team. I will let you know 2011 dates as soon as I have them.

At the conference, I received a lot of affirmation about how we are moving forward as All Saints. We are doing a lot of things right, the Lord is blessing us, and I know that we are all grateful. However, and I wrote once about this already, that as a church, that in our receiving much, from us much is required. I became convicted, or felt the Lord saying, we need to really focus on three foundational things in our next season together. Fortunately, they are all in our goals for 2010 and the Lord did not send us off into a new direction.

First, I came under conviction that our prayer life as a congregation has room for improvement. I’m not sure that we’ve scratched the surface of what it really means to be a “praying church,” a church bold enough to ask God for our wildest dreams and humble enough to give him thanks for the littlest of things; an utter dependence on the Lord and a recognition of his sovereignty. Look for an emphasis in this area in the coming months. I’m also reminded that TNT is a great place for us to engage in significant prayer together.

Second, I believe we have a real need for discipleship and accountability. This is a season we have called “going deeper.” I would like for us to figure out ways in which we can study together and develop relationships between ourselves that allows us to trust and count on one another as disciples of Christ. We will continue to offer deep theology in our Sunday school, sermon series that focus on where we are in the life of the church, looking for ways to develop relationships, and we really want to increase our participation in TNT as sort of the all-church small group.

Third, while our giving is much improved over last year, and all of this progress worthy of tremendous celebration, and I don’t mean to make light of that at all, there is a significant room to increase giving. The tithe remains our standard and a mark that all should strive for. The good news is that with an average Sunday attendance around 80 people, we already have the money in our midst to come off the mission grant by July 2011 if we never added another member, it just has not found its way from our people into the offering plate yet. I encourage you to aim for the tithe, and beyond, into “sacrificial” giving for things like our liturgical wish list and fellowship space renovations.

All of these things are necessary, along with inviting people to come to church or just to get to know you, as we enter into our third season called “turning outward”. As we get our house in order and go deeper in maturity, we will be prepared for growth later in the year. Later in 2010, look for an Alpha course to be developed, perhaps the beginning of a small group in Greenville , some new advertising ideas, some relevant outreach intentions, and an all-church participation in some community event.

We are indeed a blessed people, loved and favored by God and our fellow brothers and sisters in AMiA and Rwanda. May we be prepared and be faithful stewards of God’s favor, responding with penitent hearts, prayerful decisions, the boldness of the Holy Spirit, the fruit of faith, and joyous celebration.

See you next Sunday,

Charlie+

PS: To learn more about the Winter Conference, please visit www.theamia.org.