"Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money
and without price"
Isaiah 55: 1

Dear Friends in Christ,

The Church of Christ is one of the most unique "social institutions" among those institutions serving humanity. Among all the institutions in the social milieu of influences persuading people to travel down a particular path of life, the church is one of the greatest influencing powers driving us. The uniqueness of the church's message of Salvation is the fact that the gift of faith is offered at no cost to the recipient. God, the Father has already paid the cost of the Believer's Salvation through the gracious sacrifice of His Son, your Lord, my Lord and the Lord of all Believers. The additional Grace of it all is the Truth that the same gift is offered to all God's children, believers or not. The spirit of sadness prevails when we believers realize that not all God's children accept the free gift of God's Salvation meant for everyone. Lets all continue to work hard at sharing that saving grace with everyone.

The great prophet of old preached: "Come, buy and eat without money or price". Such is the Scriptural Message offered to all who accept the gift of salvation bought with the blood of Christ. In that sacrificial understanding of Christ, we could say: "a church of Jesus is not a church of Jesus unless it is ridiculously generous not only in the Gift of God's redeeming Grace through His Son, but also in the church's blessings of showing compassion, kindness, forbearance, forgiveness and redeeming encouragement through the Sacrament of the Ministry offered by the Church.

For those of us with more than a few years of church leadership experience, we have learned for certain: "a congregation that is most generous in giving help, hope and happiness to others is a church that is alive and well." On the other hand a congregation concerned only with her own survival is a congregation rapidly moving toward her own demise. But my friends, don't accept that notion as truth just because I or any other highly experienced church leader says so. I urge you to do your own personal research and in so doing, you too will find such a prognostication to be true. Consequently, we will all conclude that: the congregation with the strongest record of generous giving for the benefit of others is also the healthiest and strongest congregation growing among all churches.

I dream of St. John's Congregation being a congregation of ridiculous generosity and I further pray that such a spirit of generosity will continue to motivate the giving spirit of each member to also reach a ridiculous level of generosity of thought, word and giving in deed.

Faithfully yours,
Rev. Dr. Delmar D. Wiemers
Senior Pastor