After careful and prayerful consideration for the safety and well-being of our church family, those that we love, and those we do not yet know, the Session has decided that in-person public worship will be suspended for one Sunday: December 27....
After taking a brief, one-week pause on in-person worship, the Session of Missio Dei Church has decided that we will be cautiously be gathering in-person this upcoming Sunday, December 6. ...
Pastor Paul is doing some reading for our next mini-series on shame which will start on Sunday, January 3. He is reading the book The Soul of Shame: Retelling the Stories We Believe About Ourselves. You can check out the book for yourself!...
Yesterday morning I spent some extended time in our sanctuary praying for each of you by name. As your pastor and as a fellow human walking through this strange and extremely disruptive and exhaustive season, I want you to know that am concerned for each of you. I know the condition of my own heart (see this Facebook post) and I think I can safely assume it maybe be true of yours in one way or another as well. ...
This Sunday we will be singing a new song together. Way Maker was originally written by a Nigerian songwriter/artist Sinach (her full name is Osinachi Okoro) and has become an anthem for many during the COVID-19 pandemic has also been sung by demonstrators marching for racial justice, calling out for God as a “way maker, miracle worker, promise keeper, light in the darkness.” This song fits beautifully into our Advent series as its simple lyrics remind us of our God who is truly with us!...
With the increases of COVID-19 transmission that we are seeing in our region and our local high schools having 100 confirmed covid cases, 600 in quarantine, and returning to blended learning, the Session wants to encourage all those who attend in-person gathered worship to exercise extreme care. We do not want any of our church family, those what we love, nor our community and workplaces to contract the virus....
I recently came across this blog post from Bobby Gilles, communiation director for Sojourn Church, titled "What is Advent? Why & How You Should Observe It". I have been trying to figure out how or what to communicate about the Advent seaon. For some of us we have been celebrating Advent for years and have often found it to be a very worshipful time. For others, who might b...
Keep ReadingMark Altrogge asks what kind of a statement we make about God in the way we worship. It’s worth thinking about: “If an outsider came into your Sunday meeting and observed you worshiping, what would he conclude you think about God?”...
Keep ReadingOne question I recently received was this: “How do you engage the mind without losing the heart?” It seems that everyone I meet has a personal or second-hand horror story about a chipper, well-intentioned believer bouncing off to seminary or a Christian college only to have their once-vibrant relationship with God cool to an ember (at best) or be snuffed out complet...
Keep ReadingWhat’s missing in this picture? Well, it is you! We have been working hard in getting all those last minute details in place so that we can start worshiping at 123 West Wood Street- THIS SUNDAY!...
Keep ReadingEvery once in awhile I see (personal experience or through social media) or hear about how former attenders or church members poorly leave a church they can no longer commit to for one reason or another. In time, I will write about when and how one should leave a church, but for now, I will let you in on some wise words from Tim Challies (HT)....
Keep ReadingEvery week the church, Missio Dei Church gathers to worship. Throughout the North American landscape, we see that there is a growing lack of prioritizing of the gathering of the church. Family birthday celebrations, trips for the zoo with the kids, a day in the city, little league games, lawn mowing, or just a family day at home for tired souls are all vying for the averag...
Keep ReadingThere are several hopes that we as the leadership of Missio Dei have for this next season of ministry as we transition to our Missional Outpost in New Lenox. The church is an identity of God’s “called out†and “gathered people,†whose foundation is God’s revelation and the work of Christ (Matt. 16:13-20). Therefore, we want to be faith...
Keep ReadingIf you know me well enough, you probably know that I don’t really follow baseball, I can’t give you any stats about the players or the teams that they play for, nor do I honestly care, but I do enjoy a good game and all that come with it (beer, hot dogs, friends, etc.) and watching people and their responses to the game....
Keep ReadingThere is silence. Everyone’s mouths are closed and a single vocalist steps up to the microphone. She takes a deep breath and releases an effortless stream of pure tone. This audio-joy fills the room and the beauty cleans you from the inside out. This is a picture of what the Church is like. She gets to sing a beautiful message to the world about Jesus. That message is...
Keep ReadingD.A. Carson, Tim Keller, N.T. Wright, Mark Driscoll, etc.: they all say this in one way or another. Why do they all agree? Because the Bible is so clear about this principle. In some ways, the whole story of the Bible’s conflict after Genesis 3, that is the theme of sin, is really the conflict between the worship of idols (created things) and the worship of the true god ...
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