Thank You for 2017
God isn’t just concerned with where we end up. He cares about how we get there.
He is the God of ends and means, of results and ways. He says, “Fear not, for I am with you” (Isaiah 41:10), not just at the destination but in the journey. He strengthens and helps and upholds us not just when we arrive, but in our going out and coming in, and everything else in between (Psalm 121:8).
And this truth has been exceedingly precious to us as a church in 2017.
At the start of the year, we thought God was leading us one way, only to find out later he wasn’t. Then we thought he wanted us to settle into Minnehaha, only to find out later he didn’t. And so for nearly half the year, we have been on the move — the Riverview Theater, the University of St. Thomas, and now two different auditoriums at Concordia. Overall, our church has gathered for worship in six different spaces in 2017. And we have gathered for worship.
Wherever the space, we’ve shown up. We have worshiped Jesus; we have prayed together; we have preached and heard the word of God. Though our logistics have gone backwards, our numbers have grown. Our giving has increased. Our fellowship has deepened. And we are overcome by grace.
Even as I’m writing this, I’m awed all over again by the mercy of God.
This whole year — what we’ve been through and where we are now — it’s inexplicable apart from the sovereign care of a good Father. He has been with us! He is for us! He loves us! So let us praise him. Let us, at the close of this year, give him thanks for all his blessings. He has been kind to us, Cities Church. Praise him! Praise him! Praise him!
And then let’s “lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord” (Psalm 116:13). With grateful hearts, we ask for more.
As we enter 2018, our mission as a church has never been clearer: make disciples of Jesus Christ from all nations (Matthew 28:18–20). We want to know him and to live like he’s real, because he is. We want to make his gospel known in all the places he has sent us, and will send us. We want to multiply disciples, and Community Groups, and churches. We want Jesus to be impossible to ignore in the Twin Cities.
Thank you for joining this mission. Thank you, church, for sticking together through the thick and thin of 2017. It is an honor to be your pastor, and I love you.
By grace,
Pastor Jonathan
Cities Church is a community of Christians in Minneapolis-St. Paul who worships Jesus, serves one another, and seeks the good of the Twin Cities. Our straightforward mission is to make disciples of Jesus from all nations, just like Jesus says (Matthew 28:18–20).
If you would like to support our ministry financially, you can give a year-end gift directly online.
