Over the last two years, I have met many of you at Cokesbury services and functions and by talking to you by phone as I call members for the Congregational Care Team. My team and I are so happy to hear your voices when we call to ensure you are doing well, verifying your addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses. We are grateful that you are part of our church family. Where would any of us be without family members? I Thessalonians 5:16-17 says, “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
Reaching out to all of you is a joyful service for me and the Congregational Care Team. We serve our Lord with faithfulness and gratitude that we have our church family (as learned from Colossians 2:6-7. “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.”)
Each Sunday, I am hopeful to meet and greet as many of my Cokesbury family as possible, and I praise our Lord for each of you. If I haven’t met you yet, please introduce yourself to me or others on the team that helps keep Cokesbury informed of needs within our body and maintains accurate records to reach each family member. I Corinthians 12:12-27 tells us, “there is one body with many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body.”
When we call, email, or send you a note, we want you to know how valuable you are to our family, how grateful we are that you are part of our family, and we hope to be a blessing to you. Cokesbury genuinely cares and reaches out to ensure our family is physically and spiritually healthy. We need your help to make us whole, strong, prosperous, and a beacon to our community.
We are also very grateful that we can reach out to those of our church family who are homebound or live in assisted living facilities and those who are ill, grieving, or suffering. We must let them know we care for their mental, physical and spiritual health. As you look at the list at the end of each week’s prayer list sent out on eNews, please check to see if you know them and can reach out to them. If you know of a member who isn’t listed, please let the church office know so that we can add them, and phone calls, cards, and visits can begin for these, our special church family.
Prayerfully and with Gratitude,
Jane Nelson
Congregational Care Team
