Last Sunday I announced that I would be taking a sabbatical for all of July and August this year. Many people cheered at the news, and a few booed! I'm going to assume they booed not because they don't want me to have a time of refreshing and refocus, but because they don't want to come to church without me there.

That's kind of nice to know, but mainly it's not really a good thing. I understand that God uses leaders and pastors to do things, but He doesn't need me. This church is not Evan's church. It is not created in my image. It is not built on my good looks, magnetic personality, incredible skills or my captivating charisma (partially because I don't have those things!). People have not started coming to this church to see me, or to follow me, or to give their attention to me. This church is built on Christ, in His image, for His glory and it has been built by Him.

There are very few things I have my hands on in this church. All our major ministries are run by other leaders, who are far more gifted in those areas than I am. Even Small Groups, the only department I directly manage, is really based on the other Small Group Leaders! Sunday mornings, I have an incredibly small amount of involvement in the Worship Team and basically none in Kids Ministry! 

Now, if you booed because you don't want me to have time off because I don't deserve it, you are probably feeling pretty validated at this point! "This guy doesn't do anything here!" Touché. God is doing the work here, and He is using the leaders and volunteers in mighty and incredible ways to do it. Am I glad to be part of this work, of course! But, make no mistake, God is the builder and He is the One we show up to see on Sunday.

Don't worry about who the preacher is; he or she is just a messenger reading a letter. Focus on the person who wrote the letter.

Come looking for Jesus. 

1. As The Big Give approaches, we are realizing more and more that it is an event that has become anticipated by our community. Not just are people watching for it so they can come get free stuff, but we have people in our community waiting for it so they can donate!

2. EDGE Youth attended One Con this past weekend with 12 teens and saw them engage and begin thinking more about God and faith and how that affects them.

3. We are seeing people inviting people inviting people to Sunday and events at AWC! It's fantastic to hear about one person coming, inviting their family member, who then invites their friend, who then invites their friend!

Our culture and society have fully embraced a fairytale perspective of marriage that is based only on the emotion of love, but that backfires because when the love runs low, it doesn't usually result in "happily EVER AFTER." When we look at what God says about marriage and how He feels about it, it becomes obvious that He meant marriage to be something quite different. God views marriage very seriously, and so should we.

Marriage is about staying together.

Malachi 2:13-16

Everything must go, for FREE! It's like a yardsale, but everything is free and in decent condition! Event will run 8-11am with a FREE BBQ.

Donations can be dropped off at the church starting June 4th until 9th. 

- The church will be open every day, except Tuesday, until 7:30pm to drop stuff off.

- Tuesday the doors close at 4pmStuff should be here by the end of the day on Friday.

- We need volunteers to help with the event itself, you can sign up in the lobby.

- This is part of our mission here to be down to earth people. We hope you can be part of this event.

Join us as we pray over our pastors and their families. As Pastor Evan goes on sabbatical for the summer and Pastor Sheryl and Pastor Brad run things while he is away, we want to cover them all in prayer and cover our church in prayer.

Join us downtown for a Canada Day Celebration!

This is one of the biggest events we are part of throughout the year and allows us to make a ton of connections with people. Be watching for sign-ups and ways that you can be part of this incredible opportunity to share Christ with our community!

Do you need to get out of the house so you can talk to other adults? Do your kids need to get out of the house so they can play with other kids and have some space to run around?

Come check out our casual play group on Thursdays. There is no agenda and parents are responsible for their own children. Our basement space is a large open space and perfect for letting kids run and play together!

You can also see our full calendar here!

Download the Tithe.ly Church App and then search for the Amherst Wesleyan Church to stay connected with sermons, events, giving, social media and more!