Dear Friends,

It's been awhile since you have heard from us because we are actively and prayerfully working towards our public launch in a few weeks! It is a deep joy to watch our Launch Team members generously use their gifts to build out Ministry Teams and structures that will allow us to welcome others to participate in the life of Church of the Good Shepherd. For the past few weeks, we've had what we call "practice worship." We are becoming acquainted with our liturgy and various roles and responsibilities on Sunday. We are also noticing and addressing various areas of need that must be tended to before we can offer the kind of warm and responsible welcome that we desire to offer. We are excited to continue working toward our public launch at the end of October! Know that we'll be sending regular email updates as that date draws near!

One of our Launch Team children recently asked Pastor April, “What is the church?” April responded with a question for the child to ponder, “Do you think it is a building or a people?” While so much effort for launch is going towards the structures of our church and Sunday worship, we are continually reminded that the Church is first a particular people called out and transformed by Jesus to be a sign and foretaste of the Kingdom of God. At Good Shepherd, the heart of our church will always be its people and our deep commitment to be formed together into Christ’s likeness. Toward that end, we are excited to invite you to attend an upcoming Prayer Ministry Training and to join our first cohort of Community Groups, even before we launch public worship!