Update on Spiritual Formation, Bristol & Our Building

This past Sunday, we gave a brief update on some of the major projects going on at The Well. Since it was a holiday weekend, many of you were out of town. So, I wanted to take a minute to bring the rest of you up to date on the conversation.

We continue to focus on being a community that is shaping people to follow Jesus more fully and sending them out into the world as his representatives.

We are currently focusing our attention to three projects that are important to the effectiveness of our mission:

1) Spiritual Formation 2) Bristol Ministry. 3) Our Building.

Below you will find updates to each of these three areas of focus:

Spiritual Formation:
One of the things that we have learned is that we need to think more intentionally about cultivating an environment of discipleship. This summer, we have been seeking wisdom about how we grow in this area. It has become clear that there is no big program we can launch that will make this a perfect, easy three-step process. Rather, we need to understand that it is a lifelong process. We feel that one of the major tasks before us is to learn and rediscover the ways the church has always approached this. Over the next few months, we will begin teaching and practicing some of these ways together. This may take the form of a class or learning together on Sunday mornings. Other times we will encourage you to enter into intentional relationships to engage each other more personally. Discipleship is clearly a vital part of our mission because in order to represent Jesus to others, we must be experiencing the grace Jesus in our own lives. Shanna Cummings has been leading this. If you have any ideas, questions, thoughts or concerns, she would love to talk. splatt20@hotmail.com / 267-614-6145

Bristol Ministry:
This summer a small group has been meeting on Sunday evenings for dinner and worship at Brian and Dorie Morgan’s house in Bristol. This group has spent a significant amount energy discerning how God is calling us to serve this community. We’re excited to say that God has been working! He’s bringing about new friendships with local Bristol-ites (is that what you call them?!), new ministry partnerships and new opportunities to serve. In all of this, it is becoming clear that God is calling this group to serve in Bristol beyond this summer. The prospect of sending this team to the community of Bristol is very exciting since “sending” is part of what The Well is all about. Please continue to pray for and along with this group as they seek God’s specific calling in this community. Gary Alloway has been leading this group. If you have any ideas, questions, thoughts or concerns, he would love to talk more. garya@thewellpa.com / 609-240-9295

Our Building:
One of the blessings of the “recession” is that it makes you take a good hard look at how you are using your resources. As we have done this, it has become clear that we are not using our space to its fullest potential. We believe that our space is a great strength for our witness. Because of this, we are seeking to be more intentional about how we are using our space to bless others. As we have been in our space for the last four years two key areas of focus have emerged: Education and The Arts. Therefore, over the next year, we will be focusing on using our space in those two key ways. This might mean hosting art shows and educational events. It may also mean partnering with outside organizations that desire to serve others and are in need space. One exciting example is that for the next two weeks the New Beginnings Program at Bensalem High School (a program for pregnant and parenting teens) will be using our space for their annual summer camp. This fall we will potentially be hosting some educational events for the Latino Leadership Alliance which focuses on serving the hispanic community in Lower Bucks County. We will also be running our own programs and events as well. Our desire is that these programs and events match the dreams and passions of all of you. If you are passionate about serving children, let’s talk about ways to use our space for that. If you are passionate about serving single mothers, let’s talk about ways to use our space for that. If you are passionate about art, let’s continue to talk about ways to use our space for that. One thing is clear, we desire that our space be used to serve those primarily outside of our community. How we do that depends on people at The Well who are passionate about an idea and have the willingness to take leadership in seeing these ideas become reality. Todd Hiestand is overseeing the use our space. If you have questions or ideas, please contact him. toddh@thewellpa.com / 267-254-8201

On Mission Together,

Todd Hiestand