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2021: The Year of GOOD News?
I have no predictions about what will happen to you or me during the next year except for this — we will endure hardship.
In January of 2020, we declared before our church family that it would be a year of Encounter. By that, we meant that we would spend the year creating more opportunities for people to gather publicly and to huddle closer in prayer. We launched a new monthly midweek service with a strong emphasis on the end-of-service response time. We anointed people with oil, prayed over the sick, and asked God to transform lives.
Our second of those monthly midweek Encounter services would be the last time we would meet together physically for eighteen weeks. When we did reopen, there were no groups gathering in the altar to pray together. Instead, we were six feet apart, wearing masks, and leaving empty seats between households.
Did we encounter God in 2020? Absolutely! But it wasn’t in any of the ways we had expected. We made plans for positive experiences of worship and fellowship. God chose for us to be drawn nearer to him through hardship instead.
As I write this, we’ve just announced that we’ll be meeting virtually with no in-person gathering again this coming weekend — the fourth week in a row for us to do so. And based on the rising number of Covid-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths in our local area (as with most of the United States), it could be a while before we’re gathering in person again.
So here I sit at my desk, praying over 2021. Every year, we choose a word or phrase that frames how we ask God to move in our congregation. One year, we prayed for Breakthrough — and we saw a lot of it. The following year was a year for Transformation — and again, we watched God change us in powerful ways.
For the last couple of months, I’ve listened as the Holy Spirit has put a phrase on my heart for the upcoming year of ministry…
2021: The Year of Good News
That’s right. Good news. 2021 is definitely going to be a year of good news.
It’s preposterous, isn’t it? 2020 was definitely a year of bad news. Warming and wildfires and giant storms resulting from climate change. A global pandemic that took most nations by surprise. An election year in America that divided…
