Building Disciples Together

So, if someone asked you
what was happening at Shepherd of the Hills, what would you say?

You might answer about
Generations in Faith Together (GIFT), our total-family Sunday school. You could talk about the Faith 5 becoming a
part of our worship and devotional lives, or our striving to think in terms of
discipleship not membership. Perhaps
you’d tell of our efforts for the food bank for October or look ahead to the
Alternative Giving Fair coming up in November.
You might talk about weekly youth meetings or youth preparing for the
ELCA Youth Gathering, an intergenerational game night, confirmation off to a
great start, or the wide variety of worship styles on Sunday mornings. Or Bible Fitness or choirs or Stephen
ministry or RE:New worship on Saturdays or the group going to the HPI soup
supper or men’s Bible study or women’s Bible studies or the “date for eight” fellowship
event-groups that are starting. Or, or, or…

There are so many things
happening at SOTH right now! Thanks be
to God!! We are a busy place but not
just a busy place. We seem to have
purpose in the things we do, like we are doing…mission!

So, how would I describe
our mission? Fair question, since I
asked you. The phrase that sticks in my
head right now is Building Disciples Together.
This is what I believe that God is calling us to do and be here at
Shepherd of the Hills.

Building

At SOTH we seek to grow
and build our faith, to pursue a deeper understanding of God’s will in our
lives, to press on to see what God has in mind for us. The Christian faith is dynamic, that is it’s
always moving and changing and we seek the presence of God to build up the body
of Christ (Ephesians 4:12) in this place.

Disciples

We’ve been saying it for
a while now—the great commission was not to go and make members! Jesus calls us to be disciples—followers,
learners and servants. We give because
God has given to us and instilled in us a need to give; we serve because Jesus
became a servant and we love because Christ’s love has been poured into us
(Romans 5:5). Being disciples takes
effort but we are fueled by the Holy Spirit!

Together

Shepherd of the Hills
values community—we do this disciple-building in community! We want folks to hear the invitation: you are
welcome at Shepherd of the Hills. We
value all generations and we celebrate the variety of people who have found
community among us. We also know that
faith happens in community, that is, we learn how to grow and love and serve
best when we are among others on the same learning journey.