Dear St. Lukers,

The summer events are over and it’s time for families to settle into another school year routine. But learning isn’t just for kids in school, it’s also time for a new year of discipleship classes for all ages. We are awakening our discipleship by focusing on how to use and interpret the Bible on Sunday morning and looking at difficult passages on Sunday evenings. Want to know even more and walk alongside others as you study the Bible? Join us for classes throughout the week! You can walk through the entire Bible in Disciple 1, study the “Bible in 12 Words” with an overview of biblical history in just 12 weeks, or maybe you want to focus on a particular book of the Bible. We have something for everyone. Click here for a list of classes to help you kick off the fall and awaken a deeper and more intimate connection with scripture. Wednesday night dinners, children and youth ministry, adult classes and arts opportunities start August 22 so sign up now and make growing as a disciple a part of your regular routine!

This Sunday we continue to look at the breadth of the Bible as we kick off two weeks of panel discussions around two topics we often struggle with: The Bible and science and the Bible and sexuality. This week we have three St. Lukers with backgrounds and careers in science. We will get to hear how they see God in some of the intricacies of their work. I invite you to pray over Psalm 8 as this will be our scripture for Sunday as we seek to praise God the creator of this incredible gift of the universe.

On Sunday, August 26, I’ll be joined by St. Luke’s founding pastor, Dr. Jim Harnish and Dr. Bill Barnes, our former lead pastor for more than twenty years, as we discuss the unity of the church in these ever-changing times. Our focus will be Galatians 3:25 – 29 and Jim and Bill will share the biblical vision for the church and how St. Luke’s has lived into this vision from its first days. Jim is also touch on the leadership team of Uniting Methodists, a new movement “called to be a unifying and clarifying voice” in our culture.

This work in August grounds us in who we are and leads us toward the months of September and October as we focus on our 2020+ Vision strategies. Each week we will see how the biblical stories of love and redemption in Jesus Christ, his teaching for us to care for one another and the call for the vision of the church and the early apostles to go into the world and share the message of salvation, will be lived out at St. Luke’s in the coming years. Each week we will focus on another 2020+ Vision Pillar that your input helped create as we Awaken Disciples, Grow Young, Navigate Life, Reach Beyond, Reconcile Love, and Restore Hope in Central Florida. Big dreams, you bet. Empowered by God equipping you to be a part of the vision with your gifts, talents, passion and life – absolutely. It’s an exciting fall as we move to the future as one church with a Holy Spirit driven Vision.

So…maybe not such a routine school year after all!! Can’t wait to worship, connect, grow and serve with you as committed St. Lukers!

Jenn.

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