|
We want to invite you this Sunday, January 31, at 3:30 p.m. to participate in our Shoreline Prayer Walk. We will have eleven prayer stations around our campus representing our church and its ministries. We will provide a Prayer Walk Booklet to share prayer needs and guide us in our prayers. If the past year has taught us anything, it has taught us we need the Lord and are completely dependent upon Him. This time of concerted prayer is an expression of our dependence upon God and a heart that desires to seek Him. In short, we want to walk with God more than ever before and see Him glorified in our lives. For those who are unable to join us in person, you can access a version of the Prayer Walk Booklet here and we ask you to join us in prayer at that time. You also can use the Prayer Walk Booklet as a guide in your private prayer time. God is doing an amazing work in people’s lives, let’s make sure we don’t miss out in what He wants to do in ours.
0 Comments
Hi Shoreline Family and Friends,
As a church we have tried to do our very best to follow the biblical principle of submitting to governing authorities and yet at the same time be committed to obeying the Lord in worshiping together and making disciples of Jesus Christ. Our first and highest priority during this time has been to honor the Lord in what we do. I want to say a personal word of thanks: our church has been extremely faithful and gracious as we try to navigate a very difficult and complex set of circumstances. I am deeply thankful to the Lord for you and the privilege the Lord has given me to be your pastor. A few weeks ago, the Supreme Court held in a New York case that the government cannot treat a church in a disparate way than the way secular establishments are treated. In other words, if people can go inside Costco or Lowes, they can go inside a church building. Additionally, the constitution actually gives religious activities greater protections than it does to other activities. Later they vacated several prior decisions and sent them back to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The Ninth Circuit recently held in a Nevada case that churches cannot be treated differently than retail stores and any orders that do so are not legal orders. Since we fall under the jurisdiction of the Ninth Circuit, we can now continue to submit to our governing authorities and worship indoors at the same time. Here is our plan beginning this Sunday (Dec 27).
As the pandemic is spreading more rapidly during these colder months, we want to be careful to do everything we can to keep it from spreading to others. If you are not feeling well, then please don’t come and join us online. If you have underlying health conditions or you are concerned about health concerns, then please join us online. The last thing we want is for someone to come and worship with us and become ill. For those joining us in person, I ask everyone to be especially cautious in the weeks ahead by practicing social distancing, wearing a mask, and using hand sanitizer. Last and most important, I ask you to pray. Pray for God to give our governmental leaders wisdom. Pray for God to keep our church safe. Pray for God to grow our love for Him and one another. Pray for God to give us a humble spirit. Pray for us to trust the Lord and lean not on our own understanding. Pray for God to give us opportunities to share His love and grace in Jesus Christ. Pray for us to advance God’s glory in our lives and community. God has been so faithful to us through this time. May God bless you and Merry Christmas, Pastor Matt I am sometimes asked why I do not focus more on politics. The simple answer is Jesus and the gospel. The mission of the church was given to us by Jesus in the Great Commission in Matthew 28:19- “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations…” The mission of the church is not a political mission, it is a spiritual mission. Our mission as a church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ and we are to pursue it with the same monomaniacal tenacity as did Jesus and the apostles.
The mission of the church is simply a continuation of Jesus’ mission. Jesus said in Luke 19:10- “for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” The zealots and many of the people who followed Him wanted Jesus to affect political change because of their exceedingly wicked and corrupt government, but Jesus made clear He had a higher and eternal calling. Jesus said in Luke 4:43- “I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, because for this purpose I have been sent.” Who the president is and what the laws are over the next four years will not even be a footnote of history a million years from now, but those who come to faith in Christ will eternally shine like the stars of heaven (Daniel 12:3). I am not trying to minimize the temporal implications of political happenings; I am defending why Jesus and the apostles chose to pursue the preaching of the gospel and the making of disciples over temporal pursuits. An essential aspect of making disciples is to speak and teach the truth of God, i.e., all things Jesus commanded. Jesus and the apostles addressed all sin issues, but always from a theological perspective and never from a political one. By doing so they made it clear our allegiance is to God and not man. Politics is often driven by compromise, but the Word of God never is. The church must address the moral issues of our day, but rather than saying, “Thus says the Republican or Democratic party…,” we should say, “Thus says the Lord our God.” If the mission of Jesus and the apostles was a political one we would have to say it was an utter failure. Not only did they fail to affect any political change, they never even advocated for it. Their concern was not to change the government, their concern was to obey God. Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36). The mission of the church is not external conformity, but internal transformation. Political transactions cannot cause a person to be born again, only the gospel of Jesus can transform the heart. However, does that mean following Jesus has no affect on how we view or approach politics? Not at all. In fact, it has everything to do with how we approach politics. Christians are called to be salt and light in a dark and depraved world, and in a democracy like America that includes the political process. As Christians we are to seek to vote in such a way as to promote the upholding of righteousness and the punishment of evil (Romans 13:1-7)—both of which are biblically defined—and to understand by doing so we are honoring God. God often calls some individual believers to pursue the temporal good of society through being more active in politics, and for that we should all be thankful. Politics is a great calling as are many other callings, but they all pale in comparison to the call God has given believers to preach the gospel. The church’s greatest temptation is for the good to become the enemy of the best. 1 John 2:15-17 says, “Do not love the world or the things in the world… the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.” Politics is passing away and so will our love and desire for it, but our King and His kingdom will be eternal. May we never become more passionate about politics than we are about sharing the gospel or teaching God’s Word. The gospel of Jesus Christ alone “is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes.” If that is true and it is, then Christians should primarily be known for being passionate about the gospel of Jesus Christ more than anything else. If you have any questions, you can email me at [email protected]. Hi Shoreline family and friends, As the pandemic has escalated, we have prayerfully considered our best course of action as a church. Here is our plan beginning this Sunday.
May God bless you, Pastor Matt Need to know how to join us? Our Sunday Worship service is at 10:30 AM. If you'd like specific information about Life Group, Children's Meetings, or Youth please contact the group leader directly. You can visit our website for list of leaders.
Hi Shoreline family and friends,
As your pastor I want to share with you that two of our church members have tested positive for Covid since last Sunday. All indications are they did not contract it at church, but they were at our service. We are not aware of it spreading to anyone else at church at this time. As far as I know they have contacted everyone they have had close contact with. Both of them are resting at home and their families are in quarantine. We certainly will be praying for a quick and full recovery. As the pandemic is spreading more rapidly around the world during these colder months, we want to be careful to do everything we can to keep it from spreading to others. If you are at high risk with an underlying condition, for the next few weeks I strongly recommend you consider joining us online. We ask that if you do not feel well or have any symptoms that you stay home and worship with us online. For those joining us in person, we have put mitigation efforts in place to greatly reduce the risk of spread if and when someone unknowingly has Covid. I want to ask everyone to be especially cautious in the weeks ahead by practicing social distancing, wearing a mask, and using hand sanitizer. I want to thank you for the love and unity you have shown as a church as we have walked through this pandemic. Your spirit and joy in a difficult time for the world and our lives has been a source of great joy for me, and a testimony for Christ to our community. I can see God working mightily in our lives. May He be glorified and may He empower us to continue to make disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ. Sincerely, Pastor Matt Hi Shoreline family and friends,
We have exciting news. Orange County has changed tiers and we are moving our Worship Service back indoors and to its normal time at 10:30 a.m. Please let everyone you can know about our service changing times. We will of course continue to Live Stream the service online for those who are unable to attend in person. We apologize we had a few technical problems on Sunday with our sound. The heatwave caused our amp for the sound system and one of our cameras to overheat. Our audio/visual team did a great job resolving the problems, but unfortunately it took a few minutes to resolve them. We have put a plan in place to keep the problems from happening again. With that said, moving indoors will also resolve the overheating problems. Our Life Groups are currently meeting online. Please be in contact with your Life Group Leader about plans for this Sunday. We are communicating with our Life Groups about the possibility of moving our Life Groups back on campus. There are a lot of moving parts across every age group and there are a lot of details and variables to work out. We hope to have a plan in place soon and will communicate that plan with you as soon as we know how we are going to proceed. I have greatly appreciated our church’s flexibility in the midst of a year of constant change. I am praying for and have seen the Lord produce faith and a spiritual depth in our church. God is working out His great plan and purpose for each one of us and for our church as a whole. Isaiah 26:3 says, “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.” My prayer is that through the constant shifting sand of our outward circumstances, that we will keep our minds stayed on the Lord and experience His perfect peace. I love you and you are in my prayers continually. Sincerely, Pastor Matt Shoreline Family,
Our church app has gotten some great updates. We are excited to now have our services available within the app! You can watch LIVE from the app and even engage with others live via the chat feature. This is a great way to engage with others watching live with you. The app will also have the lyrics and sermon notes for you on the sermon page. How do I find the sermons? To access the sermons simply log in to Church Center (our church app) and click "Sermons". Depending on your phone (or browser) the link will be on the top/bottom tab of your screen. Sermons are available for August forward. We are in progress of adding all the sermons from when we started to stream so stay tuned for those! Don't have church center? You can access the "app" on your browser here. Or download the app on your smart phone (Apple App Store or Google Play Store) Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have questions! Rachael Davis Church Secretary Shoreline Family,
I'm excited to announce the launch of our brand new directory! We've heard from so many of you that you'd like more information about our church members and now you can! How do I access the new Directory? To access the directory simply log in to Church Center (our church app) and click "Directory". Depending on your phone (or browser) the link will be on the top/bottom tab of your screen. Don't have church center? You can access the "app" on your browser here. Or download the app on your smart phone (Apple App Store or Google Play Store) How do I add my information to the Directory? The new directory allows YOU to choose what to share. Your picture, phone number, email address, and/or address are all available. Because of this you must be the one to request to be added to the directory. This is to protect your personal information and only those that want to share will be found in the directory.
I can't find how to add myself to the directory No problem! Click here to send me an email and I will get an enrollment link sent to you. Please provide your first and last name so I can get it sent to you. Rachael Davis Church Secretary Hi Shoreline members,
Our church bylaws require an annual member meeting, and this year our meeting will convene after the morning worship service on Sunday, August 16, 2020. This year our membership meeting is going to look a little different. COVID-19 pandemic considerations have resulted in many of our members being unable to attend worship services in person and we expect the same issue to impact our annual meeting. With this thought in mind, and a desire that all of our members have the opportunity to participate, our board has developed guidelines and procedures that will permit members with simple telephones, smart phones, tablets and desktop computers to remotely participate and vote in the meeting using the Zoom platform. We need to obtain certain information and consents for your electronic participation in the meeting and so we ask that you preregister for the Annual Member Meeting event using our website. The event registration is at here or on our Event Registration page. Once registered we will send you the necessary meeting connection information. A meeting package consisting of the order of business, nominations, budget, recommendations and reports are linked below. If you register online all the information will be sent to you via email immediately after your registration is submitted. Let us know if you have any questions or if there is any way we can help you. I continue to love you and pray for you as we walk through this pandemic together. God's throne is unshaken and His love is unfailing. With love, Pastor Matt Hi Shoreline family and friends,
The pandemic has made it difficult to communicate with the entire church at times, especially those unable to physically come to our worship services, so I want to do my best to regularly and directly communicate with you however I can. We have had a wonderful time of worshiping outdoors the past two Sundays. This past Sunday our physical attendance was greater than it has been in the past five weeks. We are thankful for the Lord’s blessing and I want to encourage you to invite family and friends, especially those who need to hear the gospel, to join us physically or online. Four weeks ago, we chose to continue singing praises to the Lord despite government guidelines to refrain from singing in public worship services—you can access the explanation here. Two weeks ago, in response to government guidelines, we chose to move our worship service outdoors. Why did we disobey one but follow the other? The reason is the Bible does tell us how to worship—singing, preaching, praying—but it does not tell us where to worship. Much of our Lord’s ministry and the ministry of the early church took place outdoors. The Bible tells us to gather to worship, but it does not tell us we must worship indoors. We must not confuse the building with the church. There are times when we must obey God rather than men, but it needs to be a clear matter of biblical obedience. With that said, there may be churches that have no viable outdoor option, and I don’t want to compare their situation to ours. We have sought to be faithful to the Lord and follow pandemic mitigation efforts wherever we could. As far as I am aware, there have been a very small number of Covid outbreaks at churches not practicing mitigation efforts, but there have not been major outbreaks among churches practicing mitigation efforts. We should be thankful to the Lord for that. Churches have done an amazing job of keeping their congregations safe. With that said, there is disagreement among Christians in terms of what mitigation efforts to take, and each Christian must seek to honor the Lord in their conscience and actions. As has been said, “In essentials we are to have unity, in non-essentials we are to have liberty, and in all things we are to have love.” May this be a time where we show the world true Christian humility, love, and unity. Our greatest goal as individual Christians and as a church is to honor the Lord in all we do. I ask you to please share with me any concerns or needs you have so that our church can do our best to encourage and minister to you while we seek together to honor the Lord at this time. May the Lord bless you and cause His face to shine upon you (Psalm 67). I love you and you are in my prayers continually. Sincerely, Pastor Matt |
