Evangelism:
Transforming Congregations – Engaging Communities
Commissioning Service
Saturday, Nov. 5 – 11:30 AM
Silent Meditation
God, Divine Friend of us all, call us forth to
respond to all that we have head and learned.
Continue to speak to us when we return home
with a new energy to do Your work.
You empower and bless us with the Holy Spirit.
Give us grace to use that power and our gifts
wisely – to build Your community .
Gathering Music
• Rev. Yvette Flunder and Gideon Lawson
Call to Worship
• Leader: From the past we reap rich, time-tested
wisdom from sacred Scriptures and from faithful saints.
• Congregation: Praise be to God for the heritage
of the old!
• Leader: For the future we need fresh inspiration
and broadened insights.
• Congregation: Praise be to God for the hope
of the new!
• Leader: In the present we live in the power of the
Spirit between Christian heritage and Christian hope.
• C
Congregation: Praise be to the eternal God of
the old and of the new!
Called as Partners in Christ’s Service
• Called as partners in Christ's service,
Called to ministries of grace,
We respond with deep commitment
Fresh new lines of faith to trace.
May we learn the art of sharing,
Side by side and friend with friend,
Equal partners in our caring
To fulfill God's chosen end.
Called as Partners in Christ’s Service
• Christ's example, Christ's inspiring,
Christ's clear call to work and worth,
Let us follow, never faltering,
Reconciling folk on earth.
Men and women, richer, poorer,
All God's people, young and old,
Blending human skills together
Gracious gifts from God unfold.
Called as Partners in Christ’s Service
• Thus new patterns for Christ's mission,
In a small or global sense,
Help us bear each other's burdens,
Breaking down each wall or fence.
Words of comfort, words of vision,
Words of challenge, said with care,
Bring new power and strength for action,
Make us colleagues, free and fair.
Called as Partners in Christ’s Service
• So God grant us for tomorrow
Ways to order human life
That surround each person's sorrow
With a calm that conquers strife.
Make us partners in our living,
Our compassion to increase,
Messengers of faith, thus giving
Hope and confidence and peace.
Invocation
Words of Thanks
Gospel Scripture
• Matthew 9: 35 – 38
• Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages,
teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the
good news of the kingdom, and curing every
disease and every sickness. When he saw the
crowds, he had compassion for them, because
they were harassed and helpless, like sheep
without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples,
‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are
few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest
to send out laborers into his harvest.’
Commissioning
• Leader: Truly we are standing at the future’s
threshold, poised to share the Good News, the
Gospel of Jesus Christ, with the world. Go forth
to proclaim all that you have seen, all that you
have heard, all that you touched and all that has
touched you concerning the Word of life.
Continue to listen for the Still Speaking God.
Prepare yourself to transform your congregations
and engage your communities. For it is in your
going forth and in your proclamation that
your joy will be complete.
Commissioning
• Go forth from this place in peace. Go forth; knowing your faith is
the assurance of things you hope for and the conviction of that
which you have yet to see with your eyes. Go down from this
mountaintop, setting out like Abraham, not knowing where God is
leading. Leave this service, not yet knowing where God is leading.
Leave this service, not yet having received all the promises of God,
but seeing them in the distance. Press on in faith. Step back into
the everydayness of your life desiring to see God in heaven, not
ashamed to be called God’s people. Let us go out committed to
breaking through walls that divide the children of God, willing to be
open to differences among us, but yet covenanted by sameness
with brothers and sisters of faith, whoever and wherever
they may be.
Commissioning
All: We came expecting and we received. We
came and seen visions of new life and new
ministries. We have hears stories of hope. We
have been touched by the power of the Holy
Spirit. We have been transformed and engaged.
Commissioning
• Leader: May these visions and stories empower
you to live your lives in bold unimagined ways.
May the power of the Holy Spirit keep you and
uphold you, now and forever.
• All: We go into the world empowered by faith.
We go embraced by God’s love. We go knowing
that our joy will be complete. We go knowing
that God has answered our prayers. We
willingly accept the challenge to transform
congregations and engage communities.
Act of Commissioning
• Write on commitment cards
• Write your commitment of what you are going to
do as you go forth from this event in your
congregation, community, family, workplace in
your life.
• Write it on two cards and sign it.
•
Bring both with you to the front for the
Offering of Commitments
Benediction
Guide My Feet
• Guide my feet while I run this race.
Guide my feet while I run this race.
Guide my feet while I run this race,
for I don't want to run this race in vain!
• Hold my hand while I run this race.
Hold my hand while I run this race.
Hold my hand while I run this race,
for I don't want to run this race in vain!
Guide My Feet
• Stand by me while I run this race.
Stand by me while I run this race.
Stand by me while I run this race,
for I don't want to run this race in vain!
• I'm your child while I run this race.
I'm your child while I run this race.
I'm your child while I run this race,
for I don't want to run this race in vain!
Guide My Feet
• Search my heart while I run this race.
Search my heart while I run this race.
Search my heart while I run this race,
for I don't want to run this race in vain!
• Guide my feet while I run this race.
Guide my feet while I run this race.
Guide my feet while I run this race,
for I don't want to run this race in vain!