“I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”
Looking back. Looking ahead.
They say that “hindsight is 20/20” . . . that you can see the past with much more clarity than the present. We see in these verses from Philippians that Paul is indeed looking back, remembering the church at Philippi with joy and giving thanks to God, not just for the Philippians themselves but for the gospel progress that their “partnership” is producing. This kind of hindsight is good for the church. As 2017 draws to a close it is especially poignant to reflect on the past year in the life of the church—to celebrate milestones, to remember the many people who work together week after week to bring LBC to life, to tell our story to one another all over again, and to give thanks to God every step of the way because we know that every good thing comes from Him.
But of course Paul, although he was writing from a Roman prison, was never one to stay “stuck” in the past. Though his future must have looked bleak from that prison cell he writes with great hope: “He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion…”
We’re glad to report that the future of Lake Baldwin Church is far from bleak—in fact we’re very excited about sustaining and growing our existing ministries in 2018 while highlighting a few focused initiatives. In this issue of BackStory we will look back (as the name suggests) but we will also look ahead to the future, resting in the hopeful promise that God will continue the great work that He has begun in our own hearts, in our church, in our community, and throughout the world.