Vision Sunday 2026 - Part 2

We have a bit of a different service plan, so if you've come expecting a sermon, I'm sorry, you're going to be a bit disappointed. We are going to open God's Word together and share a few things, but we are kicking into Romans, our series in Romans next Sunday, so make sure you come back for that. I'm really looking forward to that. We're going to spend a couple of months working through the first eight chapters of the book of Romans. This morning we're going to have a bit of a tag team.

So we've got a few different people that are going to come and share about some different areas of church life. They're around our mission goals. So if that is new to you, you can grab one of these up at the new here table up the back. We have our mission goals even if you're not new here and you're thinking, I vaguely remember something about this, you can come grab one of those at the end of the service too. But last week we kind of kicked off by talking about our mission goals as being a tangible expression of the vision that God has given our church, which is Jesus, for generations.

And so we want to be a church that thinks and lives and acts in terms of generations, not just to be building something for now, but to be building something that will last, that will continue to bless people, that continue to point people to Jesus long after we've gone. And so last week we spoke through mission goal number one and I was going to quiz you this morning, but I'm feeling gracious towards you. And so mission goal number one, if you've forgotten, is that each one of us would have a family member or friend who come to know Jesus. And so we're praying for that. We encourage you last week on your personal dedication card to think about who that person is in your life, who is the person in your world you are committing to praying for, walking alongside and sharing the gospel with over the course of this year.

And so make sure you grab one of those. The other one that we spoke about was our mission goal three and we talked about that working hand in hand with God, ANSWERING Mission goal one and mission goal three is that we are believing that by 2030 will be a choice church that is resourced and ready for the future. And so what we want to build towards is by 2030 having the financial foundation to have three full time ministry staff to equip the church for the work of ministry. And so we spoke last week about taking the first step of that journey and the first step of that journey was that for the first time ever, in the middle of last year, our church went to having a full time minister, which was a great step of faith for us. And what we're believing is that God's going to continue to stir it in our hearts to support that.

Because what we need to see is an increase in our giving now by $4,000 a month. And so we talked about just prayerfully considering God, how might you be asking me to partner with that? We also spoke about our second step on that journey, which is to go to two staff members, which would be $11,500 a month increase on. Now, now that sounds a lot. It sounds daunting, doesn't it?

But we believe again that God can do that through his people. But what we saw is that both of these goals, the goal of seeing people one for Christ, our friends and family, and the goal of sowing into the church financially, it's so easy to think, oh, isn't it great someone else will do that, praise God, that he's going to put that on somebody else's heart, that they're going to be really led to partner with that. But we know that both of these things are biblical imperatives, that is that God's Word instructs it. And so we want to be people who are shaped by God's word and partner with these things because they are the fruit of a faithful follower of Jesus. And so my challenge for you today is as we work through the other mission goals as well, is not to think God, would you stir that in somebody else's heart, but to prayerfully consider God.

What might you be asking me to do?

We see across scripture that as a church we need to prepare for growth. And we spoke about that last week. We've seen incredible growth over the last 12 months. 35.7% increase in the church. And that's great.

I mean, praise God that he's bringing people in. We're so grateful. If you're one of those that has joined the church in the last year, we're so grateful you're here. And for those who joined the church before that, we're still grateful that you're here. That was sounding really bad, wasn't it?

We're grateful you're all here. Praise God for you. But we see across scripture that we should prepare for the momentum of the gospel so as the gospel spreads and as God continues to answer our prayers, that we need to be a community who is preparing to meet that need, that as people come to Find Jesus as they connect in with church family, that we can disciple and care for them. Well, in Acts 2, we get a really great model for the way that church growth should happen. And we've talked about that a bit over the last couple of months.

But Acts 2 gives us a healthy pattern for church growth. And there's two things we see in the early church. Firstly, that it grows bigger, and secondly, that it grows smaller. Now, that might sound like a bit of a contradiction to you. You think, how can those things be possible at once?

But we see that they grow bigger as they come together and they worship at the temple. We see a huge crowd of diverse believers from many different cultures coming and worshiping God together. We see Peter get up and preach. Must have been a cracker of a sermon because 3,000 people respond and come to know Christ and they're baptized and added to the church. And so there's something really rich in being together in a large group in a growing church.

But we also see that they grow smaller because in the same breath that Luke says they worship together at the temple. In Acts 2:46, those words will come up on the screen. It says that they met in homes for the Lord's Supper. They shared meals with great joy and generosity. You see, there is something deep and close about gathering together around the table.

It's the place where your name is known, where you can share your story, where you share the joy and the burden of your life and you have people to walk alongside you. Luke makes it clear that the purpose of them growing bigger and smaller, there in verse 47 is, it says, and each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved. You see, the early church didn't see it as one or the other. They didn't see it as either big gathering or small gathering. They saw it as one and the same.

That for it to flourish in the Christian life in a world that is often difficult to live out your faith, that there was joy and there was growth in bigger and in smaller, and it was never bigger for bigger's sake. It was never bigger just so that they could say, look how great we are. There was a desperation amongst the early church to see people won for Christ. There was a desperation that people would find a family to belong to as they joined in the church. And so again, I want you this morning this simple question.

I want you to ask as we talk about these mission goals, Lord, what is my part? What are you inviting me? What are you inviting my family to step into so that more people can know Jesus and so that more people can find family here at Horizon. And so with that on our hearts, I'm actually going to hand over to Pastor James and he's going to come up and he's going to talk to us about mission goal number two. Just going to talk very briefly about this mission goal, which is we're becoming a church that's deeply connected with our community.

We're forming these deep connections with our community. So we're talking about the people that live around this church, we're talking about the people of Western Creek. And our desire is that we would be connecting with these people so that they come to know who Jesus is and what he's done for them. That's our desire. And we're doing that through partnerships with people.

We're doing that through outreach events, through our presence in the community. There's a bunch of things there we're doing. And so we want to essentially learn about what the needs are of our community. And I'm reminded of the words in 1 John 3:18, which tells us that we're to love people through our actions, that we're not supposed to just talk about loving people, we're supposed to show that truth through our actions. And so I believe that that's what we're doing here.

We want to know that essentially we're here for the benefit of this community. We want the community to know that about us as a church. And we believe that people come to know who Jesus is through that. And so we've set a goal on this, that we'll reach 500 people in our community every year through our outreach events and through engaging with the community. And this is just a goal that we've set to help give us a bit of vision and direction, helps us take meaningful steps towards engaging with our community.

And those specific ways that we're doing this are through outreach events. So think about our Christmas event, for example. That's an opportunity for people just to know that we exist, that we exist, and an invitation for them to become part of this community as well. We're also looking at partnerships, so working with established organisations that work in this community that are doing things, that are meeting the needs of people in this community and how can we partner with them, to help them with their goals and also just with our presence in the community, just this church, volunteering, doing things out there in the community for its benefit so that people know that we're here to serve them. I did only want to talk briefly.

I'm going to hand it over now to Karl Morris. He's going to talk a bit more about the details about some things that the Community Engagement Team been actively involved in over the past 12 months. So I'll hand over to you, Kyle, for those that I haven't met and haven't had a chance to speak with yet. Yeah, my name's Kyle. My wife Celeste and our two boys, Frances and I, Frances Archie moved to Canberra early last year.

Our first service was actually when Pastor Simon, Pastor James were launching the 2030 mission plan. So being part of a church that cares for actively looks for ways to engage with the community, support and live out in action. God's love for the community is incredibly important to me. It's a real privilege to be sharing this update from the Community Engagement Team this morning.

What is the Community Engagement Team? The Community Engagement Team was established to Support Mission Goal 2 Becoming a Church with deeper connections to our community. We began meeting late last year looking for ways to actively support and engage with the community who's in it. The team's currently made up of seven members, including myself. Apologies if I mispronounce any last names, particularly arj.

Although I did get a lesson prior to this. I'm going to give it my best shot. We've got Joshua Toysuta. Hopefully I got that right. Chris Randall, Arjuna Sikiran.

I think I might have got that right. And these ones are easy. Pastor Simon, Pastor James Christmas at the Duffy Shops Look, I'm already looking forward to this year's event. I haven't quite got the countdown on my calendar yet, but maybe next month I'll add that the first point of action was to plan this for the team, was to plan this outreach event at the Christmas Shops.

This is an event that Horizon had previously held and had an incredibly positive response from the community. So we began planning this, looking to build on what had already been a successful event. There were Christmas carols, magic shows, face paintings, sausage sizzles, kids craft, bouncy castles, market stalls, and even Santa at Christmas time. As Christians, I feel it's always important to share God's love and live this out in front of our community and reminding them that Jesus is the reason for the season.

This was an incredible way to reach out and bless our community while having them connect with our church. At the event we had over 500 people from a diverse range of backgrounds attend through the event as well. There were five to six people sign up for the January series, around 20 people requesting playgroup information, which is also one of the church's outreaches. The event allowed us to build positive relationships with the local shop owners. The stool operators had great success with some of them even selling out of stock and noting that they had to bring more next year.

We had a level of engagement from the church. The volunteers was outstanding. Even people that just turned up on the day and just rolled up their sleeves and got stuck in was incredible. Future engagement. What's next?

Perinatal Wellbeing Centre. It operates here within the Western Neighbourhood hall and they are a Canberra based mental health service providing support and resources for parents throughout the perinatal period. We're going to support them with an important event that they hold for their clients each year. Each year in mid to late May, receive a large supply of bulbs from the Floriard which they plant on their grounds. Come springtime they host events for their clients where they get to get a chance to sit amongst the blooms, paint and do other flower related craft activities while their children are minded.

These events are always a highlight for their clients and give them an opportunity for connection while being surrounded by beauty.

Our church is going to assist in preparing the garden beds and planting the bulbs, so get ready to glove up. This has typically been done by the wellbeing centre staff who take time away from calls, pull weeds, turn over soil and dig in a few hundred bulbs. So again, this is another simple and exciting opportunity for the church to create a connection with the community and particularly one that's here, right in front of us, right under our noses and bless a local organisation in a way that allows them to focus their time where it's best needed.

Clean up Australia, that's another one. Might have to get the gloves back out. We have registered to do a cleanup around Western Creek, Western Oval and Western Nabboard Hall. Cleanup Australia inspires and mobilises communities to improve and conserve our environment. Eliminate litter and waste.

It's again another simple community that we're here and that we care and that horizon is a beneficial part of the community. So stay tuned. We're going to start meeting again very soon, well, next month, next week actually, so we'll have plenty more to come.

Mission goal 2 so by 2030, we're trusting God to be a church that builds relationships with 500 people in our local community each year. So as I trust God this year, there's one clear practical step I'm committing to taking on. The.

Importance of prayer cannot be underestimated. Pray for opportunities to arise, the events, pray for blessing over the organisation we partner with and anything else that gets Placed on your heart.

Invite someone to a church or a community event, again through prayer. If someone's on your heart prayerfully, consider how you might invite them and encourage them to come along to either church or an event and begin their connection with church and their journey toward Christianity. And then finally, serve, support our community engagement team. So again, preferably consider how you can serve and support our community engagement team. If you guys, yeah, anything gets placed on your heart, please share it.

You know, Pastor Simon and Pastor James, speak to any of the team as well. Let's give Kyle a big round of applause.

So awesome to hear about the work that that team's doing in our local community. And the Perinatal Wellbeing Centre, their building is just right here at the back car park. And so they do incredible work in our community and we just want to bless them. We want to show that we're here for their benefit. We're going to move on to Mission goal four.

So if you have a look at your sheets here, you'll see that mission goal four is that we're becoming a church mobilized for service and mission. And so we're committing that by 2027, so the time is counting down that we'll have an operational leadership structure that drives spiritual maturity, church involvement and mission right across our congregation. Now, this one kind of sounds a bit like the boring one of the mission goals, and that's maybe not as exciting as, you know, more staff or connecting with our community. But I think of this one like the plumbing of church life. Plumbing is time consuming, it's laborious, it's often underground where you can't see it, but if it's not working, everyone notices it.

And so we are putting a lot of things in place and working behind the scenes. And the goal is clear. It is to ensure that every person in the life of the church has a clear next step. Because we're a growing church, it can become very easy for people to slip through the gaps, to miss them as they come. And then even when you've been in church for a while, it can be hard to know what is my next step towards belonging or church involvement.

And part of what we're doing here is we're building clarity. We're building clarity so that there are clear pathways for each of us about what it means to be connected in with church life, to grow spiritually and being developed, to lead others. Now, there's a few things that we're working on, particularly over the next 12 months in this area, and we want to share a Couple of those with you this morning. And I'm going to share this first part and then I'll invite Arjuna to come and share the second part with you. We've been really blessed as a church by having some incredibly gifted leaders here.

But what we've found, particularly as the church has grown, is that we are relying really heavily on a very small group of people. What we know is that to build something generational, we actually need to increase our capacity here. We saw that developing leaders, equipping people to lead is not just a nice idea, it's actually a biblical idea. We saw last week, and I'll take you back there, Exodus 18, that Moses is confronted by his father in law, Jethro, who comes to him and he basically says, moses, the weight you're carrying in leadership is too much. You need to.

Yeah, if you don't do something, you're not going to be able to endure and the people are going to suffer. And so he says to Moses, raise up capable leaders, equip them to lead, and some will lead 10, some will lead 50, and others will lead 100. And this will enable you to share the load, to structure the care so that the people are served well. Now, Jethro wasn't rebuking Moses. He wasn't saying, moses, you're leading poorly or you're not doing a good job.

He was simply saying what you're doing isn't sustainable, that if you continue to do this, you're not going to care for people well and you won't cope. And so we are working on. It's nearly ready to launch. We're working on a leadership pipeline, a development program for developing leaders right across the life of the church. And what this is going to give us is a structure to equip people with leadership skills specific to this context, to equip them to know the vision and the mission of the church and then to support them as they step in to lead.

And so my challenge for you today is simple. Is God asking you to get involved in leadership here at Horizon. What we're looking for is not perfection or not even necessarily you being able. Right now, what we're looking for is you being faithful. That's the number one goal.

We can equip you, we can support you, we can train you. And so for us, it's. Has God put that on your life? Have other people noticed it in you? Have you got those skills to get involved and to lead?

And there are so many needs here for this. The mission goals right across the board for them to be realised is that we know that we need more leaders. Now we often think of a leadership development program as being something for young people. This is not it at all. We need people right across the life of the church to equip them and get them ready to lead.

And so if that's you, can you come and have a chat with me, can you mention it to me? And we're going to have an information session coming up in March about later this month about, about what this would entail and the commitment and all those kinds of things. The other thing is that as a church board we've been praying and talking about the need to establish a connections team. And so we've got a wonderful greeting team. We are so blessed by them.

But you see, in a small church it's easy to integrate new people into the life of the church because someone is new, everyone notices. It's so easy to connect with them and encourage them and get them involved. But what we've seen is that on some Sundays we'll have three or four new people or new groups of people, new families. And it's so easy as the church has been growing so fast to look around and, and to say are they new or do they just like usually sit on the other side and there's no seats there, They've come over here. And so what we've realized is we actually just need to be intentional about this.

The informal way of doing it worked to a point and it's not something we've particularly been doing as well as we'd want over the last couple of years. And so we began saying, well God, who is your person to lead this ministry? And as a team the church board started praying about this. And it was incredible to see the way that God worked because as we were praying about like who is the person to establish this? Arjuna came up to me a couple of weekends ago and he said in this meeting recently, I really felt God had put it on my heart to really focus on getting people connected in with the life of the church.

And he didn't know that we were discussing this, praying about someone to lead it. But God had spoken to his life and he was receptive to that. How cool is that? And so he is going to step in and lead this new team, this new ministry area. So I'm going to get Arj to come and share his heart with you.

Now before I start, I would like to share a quick little story. 21 years ago, this 19 year old Sri Lankan boy with A lot of hair, spiky hair. Walking to a completely different church in Philip. And, you know, I was two weeks in, I moved. I've never, never ever left Sri Lanka for more than two weeks.

And I've kind of decided to move here for study. And my auntie, Auntie Nalini, who used to come here before she got unwell, said, let's go to this church. And we rocked up. And I remember very young Simon, Adam, Uncle Joel with a bit more hair as well, and Cindy and Beth, they all kind of greeted me with open arms, like I've known them forever. That's the first time I met them.

And that always sat with me, you know, even when life, life happened, which means that I was working on the weekends for about 10 years, I couldn't get a chance to go to church. But then, you know, when Peace and I got married and we wanted to make sure that we went to a church where we grew our girls in faith, Horizon was the option. That was just from that greeting and the relationships, we grew up. So you would have heard the way my name was pronounced a few different ways, but my name is Arjuna Segraja, Segran, but you can call me aj, Ajay, or any of those is fine. My wife, Peace, and my daughters Abby and Talia have been calling Horizon home for the last five years.

This isn't just a place we attend. This is. It's family for us. The family which has loved us, prayed for us, and walked with us through every season over the last five years, over the last 12 to 18 months, I've been praying about how I can serve God and serve his people more intentionally. And I kept coming back to one simple question and the experience I had 20 years ago.

How can we make every single person who walks through our doors feel seen, valued, and at home? And then Simon and I spoke a couple of weeks ago, and it definitely felt like a calling and an answer to a prayer over the last 12 to 18 months. Hebrews 13:2 reminds us, do not forget to show hospitality to strangers. For by doing so, some. Some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.

And Romans 15:7 says, welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you. Welcoming people to church isn't just a smile at the door, it's a ministry. It's creating a space where someone who feels alone finds family, where someone new to Canberra or Australia finds belonging, where someone carrying something heavy walks in and feels care and supported. This isn't about personality. You don't have to be loud or outgoing.

It's about heart. It's about noticing people sitting with someone new, following up and praying for them. We recently surveyed people who have joined Horizon in the last 18 months and their responses were encouraging. But they also showed us how we can grow. So we've made some changes.

We've created a more intentional space for first time guests to connect both on arrival and after service. Right at the back, we're adding more seating in the hall and we're making space for new people to feel comfortable. We've also created clear signage for new people to come to Carpark one. And also we'll be running regular welcome gatherings for people to help build community as well. But for all this to truly serve our people, we need to grow the team.

We would love to see 8 to 10 more people join our Connections team. We'll train you and support you and pray with you and be there every step of the way. Connecting to a church can be hard. Some people have just moved countries and some have moved cities. Some are reconnecting with faith.

Some are walking into church for the very first time. Our heart is that Horizon would be a place where they know they will be cared and connected. So if you feel a sense of call to invest in this area of church life, if you're passionate about people finding home and community here, I would love to hear from you. Let's be a church where no one walks in unnoticed and no one walks out unknown. So if you look at mission goal four, by 2027, we are trusting God to be a church where people take clear next steps in serving, leadership and mission as disciples of Jesus.

So my ask of you is pray. And if you want to serve by using your gifts to bless others, or if you want to lead being shaped to lead others, or if you just want to pray for this ministry and all the other ministries and praying intentionally for our leaders, that'll be awesome. If you want to know more about this, I'll be around afterwards and Simon and James will be too. So if you want to come talk to us, feel free to come say hi. Thanks, A.J.

yes. Round of applause. Well done.

Going to ask Beth to come and share mission goal five. And as she comes, I'll just mention one other practical change. We noticed last year that the line for coffee was getting quite long. A few years ago, Lisa came to us and said, hey, I want to serve coffee at the end of church. Is that okay?

And we said, yes, absolutely, that's okay. And so we got equipment and that equipment was serving us really well. But particularly on the Bigger services. We found that the line was getting very long and particularly first time guests would sometimes join it and then think, oh, this is going to, we're going to be here forever. And they would leave without being connected and welcomed.

And so we moved across to a different model of coffee, to the percolated coffee, which, you know, for the coffee purists among us, you know, it's a better quality coffee direct from the beans. It's not, you know, glorified instant coffee that, you know, is the pod coffee. You can come argue with me later if you disagree. And we're serving that now. We're still perfecting the, the strength and all the bits and pieces.

But it's another practical way that we're saying, hey, we want to be equipped and ready to care for people. Well, gonna ask Beth to come. So our last mission goal, mission goal 5 is on belonging. We would love this church to become a church where each person feels deeply connected. So not just coming on Sunday and then going back to life, which is so busy and can fill our thoughts so easily, but really deeply connected with one another and able to live a life following God.

So the Target is by 2030, we will be a church of deeply connected people where small group ministries, small groups, ministry teams and serving opportunities are the heartbeat of the community. With more than 80% of of our church actively engaged beyond Sunday. So this looks like we really want to cultivate as a church that after we're coming together on a Sunday, that the next, the natural next step is to join a group, whether that's a ministry team, a connect group, but somewhere where we're not just coming here for that hour on a Sunday, but we're actually living life together. We want to strengthen our small group and ministry leadership team. So if you feel like that's something you're interested in, let us know.

We want it to be the primary space where people are praying together, where we're studying scripture, encouraging one another, and we'll try to actively create groups. All our groups are quite different. They occur at different times or daytime or evenings with different frequencies, things like that. And we want to kind of keep this trend of not just having the same thing because one size doesn't fit all. So if I asked everyone here, if I got everyone to put up their hands and let me know why they think connect groups are important.

Everyone's I'm sure getting an A. You all know these things. They are important. You know, we can, we study the Bible, learn more about God, we can pray for each other. We can bring the things that we're going through to the group to be prayed over and we can have.

We can really speak into each other's lives. But I just really like to emphasize something as part of this, we also join connect groups. We come together in ministry teams to. Because God has called us to live as a team. So it's not just about us and what we can gain for this, but.

But it's how we can serve each other. So in Colossians 3, 12, 16, God really paints a picture of what this should look like. It says, therefore, as God's chosen people, wholly and dearly loved, clothes yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another. If any of you has a grievance against someone, forgive as the Lord forgave you.

And over all these virtues, put on love which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace and be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, Spirit singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And so much of this isn't about ourselves. So much of this is how we're serving others and how we are actually working together as a church.

And this happens in connect groups and ministry teams. This is where this deeper level happens, where we're patiently, kindly, and humbly helping each other grow in Christ, where we can serve, serve and to soak in the Word together. So if you're so we're not there for ourselves. We're there because God designed us to grow side by side. And it's just another reason, a great reason, to be connected.

So if you aren't in a connect group or a ministry team, I'd encourage you. Why don't you give it a go sign up? You can speak to myself or Pastor Simon or James, and on the dedication card you have, you can see that, you know, you can join a connect group, consider joining a team. Or consider, if you're already involved, inviting someone who isn't and who would really benefit from that deeper connection. Isn't it great?

Beth oversees our Connect Group ministry. And so we've got five groups at the moment. And our prayer, our hope is to launch two more this year, but we need leaders for those and we need houses to host them in. And so would you prayerfully consider whether that might be something God is calling you into? And so we definitely are looking for two.

We need another one of those, ideally to be on the north side, but really just if you would prayerfully consider what God might be asking of you. Well, we've come to the end of our time together. And so I want you to have a look at these again, get them in front of you, because our hope is not that these would just be something that you leave in the car for the next three months and then throw into a bin, but actually that you would take these and that you would prayerfully fill them out and then you would put it somewhere special, somewhere where you'll see it maybe beside your bed. And that this year those things that you've committed to do or committed to pray about, that you would do that. Our prayer is that we would be an Act 2 church that's growing bigger, bigger, growing smaller, and that we would do that together as a church family, that everyone would find connection and belonging here.

And those who need to meet Christ do that. And so this morning we're going to pray, we're going to commit these things to God and these dedications that you've made around the way that you want to grow in faith this year. So would you join me as we pray? Lord, we thank you that you're building your church. We thank you that it's you who saves people, Lord, that you draw people in, that you take strangers and you form them into family.

And Lord, right now we lift before you the things that we've written on these cards, these steps that we're going to take this year to grow in faith, for the names that have been written down. Lord, we pray for those people we're praying for, that we're walking alongside, that we're believing for. Would you give us boldness and wisdom? Would you help us to have those conversations with them? Would you soften their hearts to the gospel?

Lord, as we commit to step into deeper connection, into serving into leadership? Lord, would you give us courage to take those next steps? Would you help us to prioritise the things of God and the people of God in the midst of lives that can be so busy? Would you raise up leaders right across this church, God, that we would be a people who are equipped and ready to lead so that we would point people to Jesus? Lord, we pray for those who have committed to sowing into the life of the church, for those who are giving now or committing to begin giving.

Lord, we thank you that they're responding to your word in this way. Father, we pray that you would take what they give and that you multiply it. That God you would bless them and provide all that they need as they faithfully follow you. And Lord, as you work in, in and amongst us, in and amongst this church, Lord, do what only you can do, which is to bring people from death to life. We offer all of this to you, all of these dedications, all of these commitments to you.

In Jesus name we pray. Amen.