PBPC Announcements

PBPC Family, Chapter 1: Created to Sail This chapter fleshes out some of the differences between a church that rows by its own effort and a church that catches God's wind, and sails. The difference between these two types of churches rests in "the attitudes of the members and leaders." For a rowboat church , "the dominant attitude is either ' We can do this,' or ' We can't do this.'" A rowboat church acts as if any growth or progress depends solely on its own strength, effort, and resources. This is a form of functional atheism. Rowboat churches proclaim in word that God is sovereign, but their actions betray their lack of trust; they live as if everything rests on their own shoulders. A sailboat church , " tends to focus not on their own situation, resources, or limitations but rather on discerning God's unfolding will." Sailboat churches live in the creative tension between two spiritual realities. 1. Without God, we can d...

PBPC Family, On Sunday, we began our study of Sailboat Church during our Adult Sunday School (all are welcome - more information below). In the coming weeks, I will use this space to provide a recap of what we read and discussed. In the first few pages, we are introduced to the driving metaphor of the book - the contrast between "rowboat" and "sailboat" churches. Rowboat churches, "do what they can with the resources - money, wisdom, energy, people, facilities - they have." But unfortunately, "many rowboat churches are finding that rowing is not getting them where they want to go." Sailboat churches are those that "operate under the power of God's Spirit, as sailboats run under the power of wind." A sailboat church "allows the wind of the Spirit to move the church where God wants it to go." As we begin to explore transitioning from being a rowboat church to a sailboat church, it will be tempting to think that the end of...

PBPC Family On Sunday, we will begin reading Sailboat Church and discussing it as part of our Adult Sunday School. I invite all of you to purchase the book and read it. If you can join us for our discussions on Sunday at 9:30, you can join in person or via Zoom (see below) and we'd love to have you! We are going to spend the next few months exploring our identity and mission as a church community and Sailboat Church is one way we will do this. For those unable to participate in the book study, I will use this space in the weekly emails to provide a recap of each chapter of Sailboat Church alongside some of my own thoughts and reflections. Whether you join us in this book study or not, I hope you will join me in praying for this journey at Park Boulevard. Pray that God will guide us into a deeper knowledge of God's love for us, that God will give us greater clarity of who God has made us to be, and that God will fill us with God's Spirit to energize and empower us for the...